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Latest News - January
30th January 2010 Jonathan hits super 6 as Reading athletes fare well at tough Parliament
Hill course!! Reading Athletic
Club's cross country squad descended upon the spiritual home of cross country this past Saturday as they travelled to
Parliament Hill Fields, London, to compete in the South of England Cross Country Championships. The
course is widely regarded as one of the toughest in the winter calender and this year was no exception, in the early morning,
the ground was covered by a sharp frost with a covering of snow, however, when it got to race time, the snow soon melted and
it made for a very muddy, stick and tough race.
U15 star, Jonathan Davies secured the best club position of the
day as his excellent form continued into 2010 as he set about in confident fashion in the U15 boys race. He was always amongst
the front runners and his confident attitude paid off as he secured a superb 6th position, in his first major championship
race. This help inspire the team to the club's best team position of the day as Daniel Breeds occupied the 2nd scoring
slot with a very pleasing 62nd, Ben Priddle was in hot pursuit as he finished in 77th, whilst completing the team was track
specialist, Daniel Brock, with a very decent 84th, to give the lads 7th team on the day.
In the U13 boys race, Callum
Gregory led the way for the club, he had a pleasing outing and he too produced a strong disaply, bringing him home in a very
good 19th position. Alex Harris-White was just outside the top 100 with a 113th finish, with Tim Kenyon soon following in
139th. Unfortunately just one short for a complete team, as was the case for the U17 Men, however, David Lewis can take satisfaction
from his pleasing 64th place finish. Jonny Roberts was just outside the 100 mark with a good 105th place finish, whilst Ed
Stockdale took 137th.
Senior Team manager, Ray Stevens, was disapointed that only 4 men were willing to make the trip
to London for the race, leaving him 2 short of a complete team. Carl Bradbury led them home in 114th. Richard Kinnersley,
just weeks back from Australia, heads back to fitness with a 258th finish. Darren Stevens crossed the line in 405th whilst
vet John Gregory ran well and finished 615th The
U13 girls tackled the 3k course with 8 girls facing the starter and it was the fast emerging Georgia Walton that led the club
home. Despite only being in her first year as an U13, she is firmly establishing herself as the top U13 distance runner at
the club, thanks to her committed and determined attitude towards both her training and racing and the combined results of
this is beginning to pay dividends! Out of 217 finishers she finished a creditable 58th place in what was her first major
race. Lois Meredith, like Georgia, is another first year U13 and she too has improved as the season progressed, she was the
next club athlete home, closely followed by Katherine West, whilst it was Alice Milsom who held on to snatch the final scoring
place for the team to take 18th team on the day. The U15 girls saw a very healthy turnout
of athletes. Beki Taylor started the race well and fared well over the 4k course to finish 38th. Mollie Haines is beginning
to come into some fine form and this continued Saturday with an excellent race, particularly the 2nd half of the race, as
she finished 67th. Cerys Aicken was another strong finisher, as she was next in 79th position, whilst Bethan Taylor's
good form continued as she come through to take the 4th scoring slot, just outside the top 100. This gave the U15 girls team
a respectable 11th on the day. Julia Henderson's return to fitness and form continued
as she covered the 5k course well. She showed the confidence to go with the early pace and held on well as she recorded a
position of 28th. Naomi Forshaw turned in a much improved performance than the previous week and will have been pleased with
her 57th place finish. Alyx Gregory soon followed with a good 2nd half of the race, whilst Hayley Randell completed the scoring
4 to give the team a very pleasing 7th on the day. The Senior ladies faced a tough
8k course, that was well churned up with mud by now, but they gave a solid performance. Leading them home, was Lucy Daniels,
whose natural strength saw her hold her race together well and finish just outside the top 100 out of almost 500 finishers.
Rachel Phillips and Susan Francis had quite a battle with the former just holding off the latter in the final 100m. Caroline
Stevens produced perhaps her best cross country race this season, maybe even a few season's as she rolled back the years
with a very impressive display to finish just a few places behind Phillips and Francis, as Stevens completed the scoring 4.
Nicky Cooke and Andrea Curson soon followed, whilst Hayley pearce and Charlotte Phillips both produced improved performances
that will have pleased coach, Gerry Stevens
23rd January 2010 Reading athletes amongst medals at Berkshire Schools Cross Country Champs! The Berkshire Schools cross country championships were held this past weekend and
it proved a productive one for Reading Ac's athletes.
The
main aim of those competing was to secure a top 16 slot and gain selection to represent Berkshire at the Southern Inter County
Schools Championships in Surrey next month.Many achieved that, coupled with 5 medals in the process.
The only gold medal
from the day came from the U19 girls race, where Julia Henderson collected her 4th consecutive Berkshire Schools title, having
won the U17 title the previous 2 years and the U15 title back in 2007. For Julia it marked a significant return to form, since
a brief spell on the sidelines at the tail end of last year, however she now looks back to full fitness and victory will only
boost her confidence. Club mate and fellow Bulmershe pupil, Hayley Randell held on well and secured the bronze medal in the
same age group.
Mollie Haines produced one of the performances of the day in the U15 girls race, looking back to the
form she showed over the country last winter, she ran an exceptional race in a quality field to secure the silver medal. Just
out of the medals, but with an equally good performance was Sian Wakerley who took a fine 4th. Elsewhere in the race, Katherine
West produced a very good effort to secure 12th whilst Alice Milsom just made qualification to the next round as she
finished strong to secure 16th.
The U15 boys race saw Ben Priddle produce a very fine performance as he secured himself
the silver medal with a hard fought race. Callum Gregory's first race at U15 level resulted in a very strong 4th position
for him, in what was also a very tough field.
Beki Taylor was another one to secure a medal and she secured the bronze
medal against good opposition in her first race as an U17. Alyx Gregory was the next Reading girl home in 10th, whilst Bethan
Taylor produced her best ever cross country performance with an exceptional 12th place, a place ahead of Josie Hogge who took
13th, whilst Naomi Forshaw still made the top 16, as she finished in 15th.
The first race of the day saw the talented
Georgia Walton run a gutsy race to secure 4th, narrowly missing out on bronze. David Lewis battled round the tough 7.8k race
for the U19 boys and he secured 5th in the process. Whilst Jack Gregory and Sam Dyson both made the Surrey race as they finished
12th and 13th respectively. In the U17 boys race, Dan Breeds' first race at U17 level saw him produce an excellent 6th
position. Daniel Brock was doing likewise as he battled round to take 11th, with the ever improving Jonny Roberts coming through
to take 12th
17th January 2010 Reading athletes amongst medals at South of England Championships!! The main of the South of England Indoor Track and Field Championships were held this
weekend at the Lee Valley Centre.
A small number of events were held the week previous and it saw U15 Georgina Westwood
secure the silver medal in the U15 girls Pentathlon. A pb in the 60mh hurdles kicked things off, before she soon followed
that up with another best in the shot, a impressive 1.65m in the high jump. A decent 4.70m long jump effort followed before
ending the competition with a decent 800m effort to secure silver. Also in action that day was Chris Bell and Adam Hassan,
who both went out of their respective heats of their 400m races.
The majority of the events were held this weekend and
on day 1 Georgina had not finished collecting medals. On the Saturday in her specialist event she produced one of the performances
of the day as she won the high jump with a personal best equalling 1.68m to claim the gold and more significantly set a new
Championships best performance. More medals were to follow however, Lukesha Morris completed a clean sweep of races,
comfortably winning her heat and semi final races before romping to victory and the gold medal in the 200m final for U15 girls. Another high jump medal was soon to follow, much to the delight of
high jump coaches, Steve Chapman and Terry Rajkumar. Pippa Rogan produced a consistant set of jumps and was rewarded with
the bronze medal in the U17 event. Amy Holder, established as one of the club's leading pole vaulters, is showinig that
she is producing an equally strong 2nd event in the shot, as a superb personal best of 9.99m saw her take the bronze medal
in the shot. Elsewhere on day 1, Freya Tubb leapt a good 1.45m in the high jump and tackled her first 60mh race, whilst HCA
member, Jenny Robinson, smashed her personal best competing for first claim club Exeter, she was crowned the 60mh champions
for the U20 women with a winning time of 8.89. Making his club debut, Sabeel Asghar competed in the U17 men's 200m
race and secured 4th in his heat.
Day 2 saw yet more
medals come Reading's way and the star of day two saw Ryan Bonifas steal the show in the U17 Men's High Jump Competition
with a personal best winning height of 1.97m to comfortably win the gold medal and claim the 3rd medal at these championships
from the high jump squad. Elsewhere, Lukesha Morris and Jessica Pointing were in action in the 60m for U15 girls, both girls
comfortably won through their heats and semi finals and in the final, both girls medalled in an exceptionally close final.
Lukesha secured the silver in 8.08, with Jessica claiming bronze in 8.15.
Shelley Bowen continued her superb indoor form
and comfortably qualified through her heat, in the semi finals she set a lifetimes best and club record as she clocked
an impressive 7.67, a time she replicated in the final in very good company to take 6th. Tristan Coles continued to sharpen
up his speed and in the 60m U17 heats clocked 7.5, before clocking a new best in narrowly going out in the semis with 7.47.
17th January 2010 Reading athletes amongst medals at South of England Championships!! The main of the South of England Indoor Track and Field Championships were held this
weekend at the Lee Valley Centre.
A small number of events were held the week previous and it saw U15 Georgina Westwood
secure the silver medal in the U15 girls Pentathlon. A pb in the 60mh hurdles kicked things off, before she soon followed
that up with another best in the shot, a impressive 1.65m in the high jump. A decent 4.70m long jump effort followed before
ending the competition with a decent 800m effort to secure silver. Also in action that day was Chris Bell and Adam Hassan,
who both went out of their respective heats of their 400m races.
The majority of the events were held this weekend and
on day 1 Georgina had not finished collecting medals. On the Saturday in her specialist event she produced one of the performances
of the day as she won the high jump with a personal best equalling 1.68m to claim the gold and more significantly set a new
Championships best performance. More medals were to follow however, Lukesha Morris completed a clean sweep of races,
comfortably winning her heat and semi final races before romping to victory and the gold medal in the 200m final for U15 girls. Another high jump medal was soon to follow, much to the delight of
high jump coaches, Steve Chapman and Terry Rajkumar. Pippa Rogan produced a consistant set of jumps and was rewarded with
the bronze medal in the U17 event. Amy Holder, established as one of the club's leading pole vaulters, is showinig that
she is producing an equally strong 2nd event in the shot, as a superb personal best of 9.99m saw her take the bronze medal
in the shot. Elsewhere on day 1, Freya Tubb leapt a good 1.45m in the high jump and tackled her first 60mh race, whilst HCA
member, Jenny Robinson, smashed her personal best competing for first claim club Exeter, she was crowned the 60mh champions
for the U20 women with a winning time of 8.89. Making his club debut, Sabeel Asghar competed in the U17 men's 200m
race and secured 4th in his heat.
Day 2 saw yet more
medals come Reading's way and the star of day two saw Ryan Bonifas steal the show in the U17 Men's High Jump Competition
with a personal best winning height of 1.97m to comfortably win the gold medal and claim the 3rd medal at these championships
from the high jump squad. Elsewhere, Lukesha Morris and Jessica Pointing were in action in the 60m for U15 girls, both girls
comfortably won through their heats and semi finals and in the final, both girls medalled in an exceptionally close final.
Lukesha secured the silver in 8.08, with Jessica claiming bronze in 8.15.
Shelley Bowen continued her superb indoor form
and comfortably qualified through her heat, in the semi finals she set a lifetimes best and club record as she clocked
an impressive 7.67, a time she replicated in the final in very good company to take 6th. Tristan Coles continued to sharpen
up his speed and in the 60m U17 heats clocked 7.5, before clocking a new best in narrowly going out in the semis with 7.47.
3rd January 2010 Reading athletes fare well in Indoor Open!! After the Christmas and New Year break, a vast amount of Reading athletes travelled
the short distance to Eton to compete in a indoor open competition on the 3rd. For many it was a warm up for up-coming South
of England Championship competition's being held later in the month.
On the track, Reading's Shelley Bowen took
to her first indoor 60m sprint for a while and came out with a decent 7.78 clocking. U15, Lukesha Morris continued her good
indoor form with a decent 8.02 clocking in both her races, whilst fellow U15, Jess Pointing raced to a time of 8.20 in round
1 before going quicker in round 2 qith 8.16. U17 triple jumper, Tristan Coles sharpened up his speed with a 7.50 clocking
in his second race whilst Adam Hassan clocked 7.83 in his race. In the younger age groups, Keenan Morris bettered his
U13 60m record with a slightly improved time of 8.80. Barnaby Coles clocked 9.23 in his race. U13, Abby Reed showed her ability
with a 9.23 clocking in her 1st race before improving to 9.16 in round 2. In the hurdles, HCA member, Jenny Robinson clocked
a new best of 9.06 in round 1. Nicole Harkness had a pleasing round 2, clocking a pleasing 10.39.
The fiel events saw
some fine competition involving the Reading athletes, none more so than the shot putt. Amy Holder continues to excell in that
event and threw a very decent 9.24m. Chelsea Pritchard continues to progress well in her first year as U15, she threw 8.45m,
with high jump specialist, Georgina Westwood showing her all-round ability, by throwing 8.43m, Becky Keating was just behind
with 8.20m
Tristan Coles led the U17 men's triple jump with a 12.78m effort, he then matched that in the long jump
with a winning leap of 5.82m. The event proved a double family joy as Barnaby Coles won the U13 competition with a best of
3.79m. In the girls long jump, Georgie Westwood was 2nd with 4.68m, with Nicole Harkness leaping out to 3.99m and fellow U15
Amy Holder recording a best of the day of 3.90m.
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Reading Athletic Club
Established 1881
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