National Gold and UK Record For Reading AC Athlete

Reading ACs combined events athlete Sammy Ball, coached by Mike Dyer and Kevin Cranmer, has won the English Schools intermediate boys’ octathlon in a UK all time best score of 5,820 points. The competition was held at the Bedford Stadium on 18 and 19 September 2021 and was the culmination of this year’s combined events calendar.

Representing Berkshire Schools Sammy led the competition from start to finish and contributed to Berkshire also winning the gold medal in the team competition.

Although Sammy did not achieve any personal best performances in the eight events (long jump, discus, javelin, 400m, 100m hurdles, high jump, shot put and 1,500m), when all the performances were added together his overall score surpassed his own previous UK best ever performance by seven points.

Training buddy Joe Frew competed in the senior boys decathlon finishing in fourteenth place from a field of thirty-five with a score of 5,535 points. Two other members of the Reading AC training squad who had qualified for the championships, Hal Rust D’eye and Charlotte Bigmore were unfortunately not able to compete.

Sammy will now go on to represent England against Scotland, Wales and Ireland at an indoor pentahlon on 4 December 2021 in Glasgow.

For the competition results, please follow the link below.

2021 English Schools Combined Events Results

To see the YouTube video of Sammy’s performance, please follow the link below.

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Sammy Ball

2021 English Schools’

Octathlon Champion

Four Medals for Reading AC Athlete at National Champs

Reading ACs combined events specialist Sammy Ball managed to earn himself four medals at the England Athletics Championships in Manchester on 7th and 8th August.

The U17 athlete had entered into four events across the two days: high jump and shot put on Saturday and Long Jump and 100m hurdles on the Sunday.

During a wet high jump competition Sammy managed to clear the bar at 1.85m but struggled with the weather conditions to get closer to his 1.90m personal best. It was good enough, however, to secure the bronze medal.

Later that day in the shot put Sammy managed a 15.55m throw, a 1 cm personal best, and more importantly a bronze medal, eight centimetres ahead of Peterborough and Nene Valley’s Donovan Capes.

Sunday morning started with the long jump where although down on this year’s club record performance’s Sammy managed to leap 6.75 metres to secure the silver medal losing by 15 centimetres to WSEHs James Taylor.

The final event was the sprint hurdles which Sammy went into the final as the fastest qualifier. The final was won by Havering’s and UK number one Jacob Blanc with Sammy finishing in silver medal position managing 13.45 seconds, a quarter second down on his personal best.

Overall, a good weekend.

Please see a link below to Sammy’s YouTube video.

Reading AC Hidden Stars: Dylan Harris

Many club members may not know the hidden stars in our membership.

Celebrating Dylan Harris 2021

Imagine being in a league that defines what and who you are… a diamond.

At first many of us struggle to see our strengths but we can only imagine how difficult that must be when you also have a physical disability to contend with. Disability in athletics is very rarely celebrated if at all and I believe that this is something we need to change. Starting with ourselves as individuals and as a club. So, we should be sure to acknowledge what an inspiration they can be and help them to celebrate their journey, because at the very least they need to be reminded of how amazing they are on and off the track. just like our very own fellow athlete Dylan Harris.

For those of you who do not know him Dylan is 24 and is a T38 para- athlete and competes in 100m, 200m and 400m. Dylan has Cerebral Palsy and also has a hearing impairment. At times Dylan also struggles with confidence he has not let this stop him powering through his journey in life on and off the track.

Dylan’s track story changed when he paired up with Coach Roddy. Roddy was approached by Dylan’s parents for help with strength and conditioning and ever since then their relationship has grown. You only have to look at them to see the trust that has been built in order for them to have the bond they have.

Dylan found his love for running as a child after winning a race against his brother and he has never looked back and since then he has gone on to achieve big things, making himself, his coach and the club proud.

Dylan has shared some of his difficulties regarding training and competing with having cerebral Palsy, muscle pain being one of his most frustrating complications and knowing that there’s no cure can sometimes make some days more difficult than others. He pushes through by taking one day at a time. He finds this is the best way especially when it comes to other things that are out of his control, like not having enough time to be ready to compete for due to the way the governing bodies have the rules and regulations set. This is a common issue with all para-athletes. Even though Dylan has a hearing aid he still sometimes has difficulties hearing and being able to respond when the environment is loud. Nevertheless, this has not stifled his love for communication, when he is not competing and training, he enjoys a good laugh and a chat.

After reaching all of these achievements:

4 silver medals in the England athletics disability champs

1 bronze medal in England athletics disability champs

2 bronze medals in Berkshire champs

2 bronze medals in Berkshire champs

1 gold medal in Berkshire champs

100m and 200m finalist in 2016 para-athletics Euorpeon Championship

Also took part in the Paris Handisport Grand Prix and wore a Reading AC vest on a European event.

Dylan also received the Reading sports personality Adversity Award in 2016

Dylan has come to see that he is his own inspiration as it’s concentrating on himself and where he needs to be that has helped him to achieve the things that he has. This now includes getting a 100m PB at the London Marathon Community track

Running his first 400m of this season

Getting another 100m PB at the end of June

Competing in the Diamond League 400m mixed category at Gateshead International Stadium

And in the English disability Championship at Bedford which was streamed live via YouTube.

There is much more to come from this delightful young gem so be sure not to miss it. He is a joy to be around, he is always polite and never forgets his manners. He is very supportive of his training group and says that the only advice he has to offer is to trust the process, there will be negatives and positives but always be yourself and always be ready to train and to race.

Gold for Reading AC Athlete at European U20 Champs

Reading AC athlete Reuben Henry-Daire in his first international match helped the GB 4x400m team win the gold medal at the European U20 championships in Talinn, Estonia on 18 July 2021. Reuben was part of the six strong squad and ran the third leg of the qualification round on Saturday in a split time of 47.32 secs.

Elsewhere at the championships, Reading AC’s Charlotte Payne qualified for the final of the hammer throw and just missed out on a podium place finishing fourth with a throw of 62.13m.

Pictured below is Reuben with his medal alongside proud coach Paul Herrington.

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Reading AC Athletes Feature at Prestigious English Schools Championships

Well done to all Reading AC athletes who competed for their county schools (Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Hampshire) at the English Schools Athletics Championships at Sportcity, Manchester from 9-11 July 2021. Overall there were several personal bests, invaluable experience, two golds, one silver and two bronze medals for their counties.

In the senior boys and girls (U19), four Reading AC U19 athletes were in action. Reuben Henry-Daire qualified for the 400m final winning his heat in 48.08 secs clinching the gold medal in an exciting final and setting a new PB and Reading AC U20 club record of 47.71 secs. What a great send off for his trip to Estonia next week for the European U20 championships. Emily Scrivener won an excellent bronze medal in the pole vault with 3.50m. A great result considering that she has only had 2 weeks training following her return from a broken foot. Mia Waldmann finished a fine 5th place in the 3000m knocking a massive 6 seconds off her PB. Her time of 9.47.91 secs was a new Reading AC U20 club record. In the javelin Lucy Odell finished in 13th place with 33.39m.

In the intermediate boys and girls (U17) Sammy Ball secured gold in the long jump with 7.10m to consolidate his number one position in the age group so far in 2021. Hagen Mzee won the silver medal in an exciting 100m A final. His time of 10.95 secs equaled that of the gold medalist and they could only be separated by the photofinish. Both Sammy and Hagen now qualify to compete for England at a schools international fixture in Derby on 25 September. Well done. In the pole vault Charlie Orbell at his first championships finished ninth with a 3.20m vault. Meanwhile, in the girls pole vault, Ruby Harris vaulted 3.00m for eleventh place. Mia Greenidge-Knell finished in 6th in the shot with a best of 12.26m, Finley Hanham, a first year athlete in the age group, was 7th in a close hammer competition with a throw of 46.97m and Amelia Walsh was 7th in the 80m Hurdles A final setting a new PB of 11.66 secs. Kaya Slater ran 12.66 secs in the 100m heats though had to retire from her second race due to a niggling injury.

In the junior boys and girls (U15) Reuben Anthony-Deyemo sprinted to a bronze medal in the 100m in a new PB of 11.29 secs. Kahlon Nneke ran a new PB of 12.07 secs in his heat of the 80m Hurdles, a significant improvement on his previous best, and he proved victorious in the B final with 12.10 secs. Aaron Lamb set a new PB of 38.17 secs in the 300m to place equal 5th. Lexie Thompson ran 12.92 secs in her 100m heat, and improved to 12.91 secs in the B final. Charlotte Bigmore (5m) and Owen Ho Wang Chan (5.54m) both placed 9th place in their respective long jump finals. In the 75m hurdles, Tomi Adejuwon unfortunately injured herself at the first hurdle so was unable to complete the race. It showed great character and courage to step onto the start line following a recent injury, and we wish her a speedy recovery. Chloe Huskinson was selected to compete in the pole vault although at time of writing the results were not available.

Nineteen Reading Athletes Selected for English Schools

Reading AC wishes the very best to its nineteen athletes selccted to compete in the prestigious English Schools’ National Finals on the weekend of 9, 10 and 11 July in Manchester.

This year’s competition has been more difficult to gain selection for as current restrictions on numbers have only facilitated the top sixteen applicants for each discipline with many fine and aspiring athletes missing out on the opportunity.

The selected athletes are:

For Berkshire Schools:

  • Senior Boys 400m Reuben Henry-Daire

  • Senior Girls 3000m Mia Waldmann

  • Inter Boys 100m Hagen Mzee

  • Inter Boys Hammer Finley Hanham

  • Inter Boys Long Jump Sammy Ball

  • Inter Boys Pole Vault Charlie Orbell

  • Inter Girls 100m Kaya Slater

  • Inter Girls 80mH Amelia Walsh

  • Inter Girls Shot Mia Greenidge-Knell

  • Inter Girls Pole Vault Ruby Harris

  • Junior Boys 100m Reuben Anthony-Deyemo

  • Junior Boys 300m Aaron Lamb

  • Junior Boys 80mH Kahlon Nneke

  • Junior Boys Long Jump Owen Ho Wang Chan

  • Junior Girls 100m Lexie Thompson

  • Junior Girls 75mH Tomi Adejuwon

  • Junior Girls Pole Vault Chloe Huskinson

For Oxfordshire Schools:

  • Senior Girls Pole Vault Emily Scrivener

  • Junior Girls Long Jump Charlotte Bigmore