Latest update on SEAA Competitions

SEAA COMPETITION LIMITED

With restrictions by the UK Government on movement in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 still in place, and with the following guidance received from UK Athletics.

“The suspension of athletics competition within the UK has now been extended until at least 30 June. The decision has been made collectively in light of the ongoing UK Government restrictions and the need to give athletes, coaches, clubs, event organisers and officials clarity, advance notice and time to plan”.

SEAA Competition Limited is working with England Athletics to reschedule individual championships if possible. As a result, we will be postponing the U20/Senior Championships that are scheduled to be held at the end of June. The U13/15 and U17 Championships are under review and further information will be posted in due course.

The All Age Group Combined Events Championships scheduled for July and the U15/17 Inter Counties Championships scheduled for September have been cancelled.

SEAA Competition are still working on providing a full Indoor, Cross Country and Road Running season if circumstances permit.

John Gandee

SEAA Competition Chairman 

1ST May 2020

Covid-19 Latest

You can keep up to date on the latest advice at : https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus

Keeping fit and healthy is a way to reduce the risk of serious illness, but do remember to only go out for exercise once a day, not to meet up with others and stay 2m apart from others you may see. There has just been some research released suggesting that more than 2m may be needed if someone is in the slip stream of another person, so keep further apart if you are able.

Wishing you all the best

Latest news on YDL

In the light of the continuing uncertainty around the Coronavirus situation the YDL management committee held a Skype meeting on 29 March to look at all the possibilities for the 2020 season and have decided regretfully that all matches scheduled for the 2020 season will be cancelled forthwith.

There were a number of factors influencing our decision, namely:

  • Whilst government guidelines have forbidden mass gatherings until the end of May, it’s by no means certain that this won’t be extended, indeed if one were to use other countries as a model, it’s more than likely that this will continue for at least a further month if not longer.

  • We have been made aware that first aid support from St John’s Ambulance at meetings is likely to be withheld until at least the end of June.

  • We are aware that a number of tracks intend to extend their closure until June or July at least.

  • We felt that it would be helpful to clubs if we were to make a definitive decision so that they have as much notice as possible to cancel tracks or transport arrangements to avoid possible charges.

  • With the limited number of weekends likely to be available for competitions, there would be undue pressure on those dates, and clubs and athletes may be more willing and able to compete at a more local level than having to travel some distance to compete. This being the case we have requested that any dates previously allocated for YDL, be reserved for clubs who wish to organise local and open competitions.

  • We wish to support the Home Countries in their endeavours to try and salvage what remains of the 2020 season, and hope that our decision gives a little clarity to a confusing situation.

  • We also considered the duty of care owed to our officials, some of whom may have to undertake a 12-week isolation period, which takes us well into June.

There are continuing costs involved in keeping the league working towards next year, and we can assure clubs that individual match team fees collected for 2019-20 will be automatically credited towards meeting the match costs of the 2020-21 season.

This decision was based on advice being communicated at the Government daily briefings where restrictions may be turned on and off and has not been made lightly; we would like to ask our clubs for their forbearance and thank you all for your support. It’s not a situation of our choosing but we hope that being pro-active will help clubs with any forward planning and help cut down any additional costs being incurred. 

We also ask our clubs to please pass on our sincere apologies to all those athletes for whom this season would be their last opportunity to compete in YDL. We are aiming to keep a watching brief of performances of all the athletes who would have hoped to compete in the league this year and wish them all the best in their future athletics career.

Good luck and the very best wishes to you all.

Grace Hall (Chair)

ALL TRAINING CANCELLED

Dear Members, following the government advice issued today, against all non essential social contact and travel, we are cancelling all training until further notice. Please also take note that Palmer park stadium will be closed by Reading Council from tomorrow. ( Exercise is still an important part of staying fit and healthy at this time, so if you are unsure about what to do please ask your coach for suggestions.)

Wishing everyone good health and a speedy return to normal,

Julie

Chair

Latest Coronavirus guidance from England Athletics

As a result of the coronavirus outbreak, England Athletics would like to ensure that all athletes and runners, officials, coaches and volunteers are aware of the following advice from Public Health England (PHE) recommending that the following general cold and flu precautions are taken to help prevent people from catching and spreading COVID-19:

  • cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze. See Catch it, Bin it, Kill it

  • put used tissues in the bin straight away

  • wash your hands with soap and water often – use hand sanitiser gel if soap

    and water are not available. See hand washing guidance

  • try to avoid close contact with people who are unwell

  • clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces

  • do not touch your eyes, nose or mouth if your hands are not clean

  • athletes and runners are entitled, should they wish, not to shake hands or

    have any other form of physical contact with their opponents or officials

    If you are experiencing difficulty breathing, have a high temperature or cough, please return and stay at home and call NHS 111. Do not go directly to your GP or other healthcare environment. Further information is available on the PHE blog and NHS.UK.

    Please return home, stay indoors and avoid contact with other people if you’ve travelled to the UK from the following places, even if you do not have symptoms:

  • anywhere in Italy on or after 9 March

  • specific areas in northern Italy in the last 14 days

  • Iran in the last 14 days

  • Hubei province in China in the last 14 days

  • Daegu, Cheongdo or Gyeongsan in South Korea in the last 14 days

Please return home, stay indoors and avoid contact with other people if you’ve travelled to the UK from the following places in the last 14 days and have a cough, high temperature or shortness of breath, even if your symptoms are mild:

  • Italy (outside specific areas in northern Italy) before 9 March

  • mainland China outside of Hubei province

  • South Korea outside of Daegu, Cheongdo and Gyeongsan

  • Cambodia

  • Hong Kong

  • Japan

  • Laos

  • Macau

  • Malaysia

  • Myanmar

  • Singapore

  • Taiwan

  • Thailand

  • Vietnam

    Use the 111 online coronavirus service to find out what to do next. Do not go to a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital.

    Thank you for your understanding.

Senior Women win Hampshire League Cross Country title

The 2019/20 Hampshire League came to a conclusion yesterday, with the final match at Popham. In near perfect, calm weather before the storm and with no mud in sight, the Reading AC women took 1st, 2nd and 3rd places (jess Gibbon, Naomi Mitchel and Anna Boniface) in their final race, to win team Gold for the first time! Jess also won the individual gold, with Naomi in Silver and U20 Georgia Hayes in joint 3rd overall and gold in the U20s. The Vets Women team also finished the season in 2nd place and Sarah Urwin-Mann won the individual Vet award.

The men’s team finished 4th in the final race and 4th for the season, with Dan Thorne saving his best run to last and finishing 3rd yesterday.

Reading also had success in the girls races with Naomi Harris winning the U17 race, finishing 2nd individual overall and the U17 team (Naomi Harris, Lara Tolson and Oonagh O’Driscoll) winning on the day and winning gold for the season. Unfortunately the U17 men didn’t have a complete team yesterday, but Laurie Baker and Issac Mileham represented the club well and the team finished 4th for the season.

In the U15 girls race Reading packed well in 4th, 5th and 6th (Ella Newman, Holly Haldene and Evie Elson), but unfortunately Southampton had 1st, 2nd and 3rd, so we were 2nd and 2nd for the season. In the U15 boys, Oli Snoxall had a strong run to finish 5th, the team were 6th and 6th for the season.

The U13 girls finished 5th team yesterday and 4th for the season. The U13 boys were only represented by one runner yesterday, Jacob Sheikh who finished 29th. The team finished 6th for the season.

Well done to everyone who has been racing in the mud and rain this season, especially those not named above who help the team even when not counting, as backup runners and pushing other team’s runners further back. Let’s have more boys out racing next season to keep up with the girls!

County Sports Hall Winter round up- Gold for U11G team and silver for U13G

All our under 11 and under 13 teams have competed well over winter in the county Sportshall programme. The 3rd of the mini league matches took place last Sunday when our top year 6 (U11) Girls’ team were worthy winners while our best under 13 Girls’ team took 2nd place.

Our U11 Boys’ teams found the competition tough going to finish mid table but our U13 Boys finished 3rd in a close contest.

We are hopeful some of our athletes will now be selected to represent Berkshire in the regional final on Sunday 22nd March.

Grateful thanks to all parents for their superb support at these matches!

Jess Gibbon wins Gold at SEAA XC, while U20W take silver

Jess Gibbon made club history by being the first Reading AC winner of the women’s senior title in the SEAA cross country championships at Parliament Hill yesterday. She had a clear 20s lead by the finish, as she lead the field of almost 700 runners home.

The U20W team who struck silver were lead home by Georgia Hayes in 4th despite a fall, Kirsty Walker finishing strong in 7th, Abi Hancock in 33rd and Herminie Walker in 50th. Every place counted as they were only 1 point ahead of 3rd place Shaftesbury Barnet.

The club had a great turnout across all the races, with 7th places for the U15G and U17W teams and 9th place for the Senior Women’s team.