National Gold and UK All Time Record for Reading AC Athlete

Reading ACs Sammy Ball won the national U15 boys indoor pentathlon at Sheffield on Sunday 10 March 2019 and set a new UK all-time record of 3,176 points, surpassing the previous record by 44 points. In a field of twenty-four, including the Scottish champion and leading Welsh pentathlete, Sammy, coached by Reading ACs Mike Dyer and Kevin Cramner, achieved three personal bests in the competition with 1.80m in the high jump, 12.26m in the shot put and 2:11.39 mins in the final event, 800m. Sammy also managed 8.96 secs in the 60m hurdles opening event (0.1 secs off his personal best) and 6.02m in the long jump (5 cms off his personal best.).

This fantastic achievement comes exactly two weeks after Sammy achieved a gold, a silver and a bronze medal in the national indoor individual long jump, high jump and shot put championships respectively.

Click image above to play video

Reading AC U13 Girls Help Berkshire to National Sportshall Final

Following a successful indoor sportshall season for Reading AC athletes, 12 were chosen to represent Berkshire in a very competitive inter counties match at Burgess Hill, Sussex yesterday.

The U11 Girls team including Katelyn Broadley, Mia Corbin and Rose Daser placed 5th while our U11 Boys Jacob Bangs and Kitan Alabi helped their team to a superb joint 1st place with Kent.

In the U13 competition the Berkshire Boys, including Hal Rust-D’Eye and Aaron Lamb, finished a very creditable 2nd. However the team of 12 Girls, with 5 from Reading AC, were worthy winners and go forward to represent the South East in the National Final in Manchester on 13th April. Very well done Kaya Slater, Annie Jonkers, Charlotte Ashby, Charlotte Bigmore, Tomi Adejuwon and the rest of the county team!

National Gold, Silver and Bronze Weekend for Reading AC

National gold, silver and bronze medals were won by Reading AC athletes last weekend.

At the National Indoor Championships in Sheffield, U15 boy Sammy Ball won gold in the long jump with a 5.99m jump in the last round, a silver in the high jump with 1.75m and a bronze with a single throw, due to a timetable clash, in the shot put achieving 11.47m. Several other Reading AC athletes also attended the indoor meeting with Hagen Mzee reaching the final of the U15 boys 60m sprint finishing fifth.

In another part of Yorkshire, at Harewood House, Leeds, athletes gathered for the National Cross-Country finals with Reading ACs U20 men following up their recent victory at the Southern championships s with a team bronze at Nationals.

Well done to everyone who participated. See photos at bottom of page.

2019 Track and Field Fixtures Posted

Reading ACs 2019 Track and Field season is getting close. Most of the fixtures have now been posted on this website.

Go to the Competitions page.

Reading Athletes Race at Müller Indoor Games

The Reading AC U13 and U15 relay teams were in action in the Club Connect 4x 200m relays at the Indoor Grand Prix at Birmingham yesterday.

The relays took place just before the international athletes took to the arena to compete in a great afternoon of athletics that included an indoor world record in the men's 1,500m and an indoor British record in the mile for Laura Muir.

A number of Rading ACs athletes had never before run on an indoor track Indoor track and so were starting their indoor careers in style. £250 was awarded to each race winner so there was an added incentive to do well.

It's fair to say that the there were some exciting moments in all the races. We were pipped into 2nd place in the U13 girls race despite being awarded the same time as the winners. The U13 boys and U15 boys also placed 2nd in their races, whilst the U15 girls unfortunately dropped the baton but continued to finish the race in 6th.

A few photos appear below and also here is a link to even more. Thank you to Rupert Ashby for taking and making these photos available:

Game Changers 2019

If you are aged 14-24 and interested in becoming a Game Changer, come along to a brief meeting after training on Tuesday 8 Jan in the club house to find out more.

Game changers are young volunteers who can learn how to become coaches, officials or take on other roles in the club, and earn free gifts such as water bottles and backpacks for hours spent volunteering. It’s also rewarding, enjoyable and a way to give back to the sport.

If you can’t make next Tuesday then let me or Charlotte Webb know that you are interested at training or via email.

Julie Rayfield

Medal Hanger Seasonal Gift Idea

Ideal Christmas presents for your favourite athletes!

Each hanger can hold up to 40 medals – simply screw the hanger to the wall and slide your medal ribbons onto the arms of the hanger.  Adjust the length of the ribbons to make maximum use of the space.  Alternative wording to ‘Athletics’ can be specified.

The hangers can be bought by cash or cheque (made payable to Reading AC) from Bob Allden in the Club Office at the top of the stands behind the announcer’s box on any Tuesday or Thursday evening during training sessions.

Price: £20 (25% goes to Reading Athletic Club)

For any queries or multiple orders contact Sarah Ball on sarah_ball@live.co.uk

Athletes wanted for Radio 5 Live interviews

BBC Radio 5 Live is looking for athletes to interview for a prerecorded broadcast which will air on Sunday 9th December.

They are looking for a few athletes to interview to talk about their understanding of nutrition, the issues associated with under fueling and awareness of Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S)

If you are interested and available at training on Thursday 6th December, then please contact Anna Boniface- annaboniface@hotmail.co.uk

Club Kit Sales

Our club kit suppliers will be at training on Tuesday with plenty of samples to help you pick the correct size for Xmas presents.

We also have a limited stock of old style club hoodies for sale from the office at a discount price of £10 each, sizes from Medium to XL.

And don’t forget when you are Xmas shopping online that you can raise money for the club by shopping through www.easyfundraising.org.uk

Track Closure Dates (during Nov 2018 - Jan 2019)

This is to let you know of a few dates that the track will not be available for training.  Please check with your coach if they will be making alternative arrangements for these dates if they affect you.

The track is not available on Sunday 11 Nov and over the Christmas period it is not available Friday 21 Dec and closed Christmas Day, Thurs 27 Dec and 1 Jan.  It is open as usual on Sunday 30 Dec.