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

Reading Athletes Compete at a Weekend of Regional and National Events

Reading AC Athletes were in competition around the country on the weekend of 25, 26 and 27 June.

At the Mueller British Championships Jonny Davies achieved fourth position in the 5000m with 13 mins 39.75secs whilst in the field, Charlotte Payne earned ninth position with 58.69m in the hammer throw.

It was also the weekend of regional schools’ combined events for the multi-eventers coached by Mike Dyer and Kevin Cranmer. Three of his female athletes were competing for Oxfordshire Schools in the Midlands area and three male athletes for Berkshire in the South East region.

Georgina Ashby was part of the Oxfordshire who secured third place in the Intermediate girls team with her first ever Heptathlon. Meanwhile, Charlotte Bigmore finished second in the Juniors Pentathlon, with. Charlotte Ashby also helping the Oxfordshire team win silver. Charlotte Bigmore will now progress to the national final in Bedford in September.

Meanwhile in the South East Championships, Joe Frew ,who has now moved up to the Decathlon, collected numerous personal best performances to secure the third place the Seniors and hopefully a place in the national final to be confirmed shortly. Hal Rust D'Eye and Sammy Ball helped the Berkshire win gold in the Intermediate Boys Octathlon and so also progress to the National final.

Hal, in his first year in the age group attained six new personal bests and gained valuable experience in the move up from the Pentathlon. As previously reported Sammy Ball won individual title, setting six personal bests and a UK all time record!

UK All-Time Best Performance in Octathlon

Reading ACs Sammy Ball competing in the U17 Octathlon for Berkshire Schools has scored the highest points total ever.

Sammy started the two-day event in Lee Valley, London with a 6.77m long jump which is forty centimetres down on his 7.17 m personal best. He compensated for this with a seven and a half metre improvement to his discus attaining 37.92m. Javelin followed with a 39.84m throw, close to his previous best. Day one ended with a blistering 49.3 second 400m run smashing three seconds off his previous best in October 2020 and going home with a respectable 2,669 points, three hundred and fifty points up from his previous best.

Day two commenced with a safe 100m hurdles in a personal best time of 13.4 seconds. Sammy then cleared 1.86m in the high jump, four centimetres below his best. To make up for that, he then broke his own shot put club record by twenty centimetres with a put of 15.20m.

Going in to the final event, the 1,500m, Sammy was 780 points short of the all-time UK record of 5,800 points. This equated to an estimated time of 4 mins 24 secs meaning Sammy would need to cut eight seconds off his previous best performance. After a good first lap his pace dropped over the second and third laps leaving him four seconds off the pace with 300m to go. Sammy then moved up a few gears, and came into the home straight with the entire stadium in support to help him across the line in 4 mins 22.8 secs.

In his characteristic style, Sammy stayed on his feet, turned around and clapped home every other competitor. Without a timer on the finish line there was an agonising few minutes wait before the announcer informed the stadium that the previous UK all time best performance, dating back Birchfield Harrier’s Ed Dunford in 2001, had just been beaten. Overall, Sammy’s score was 5,813 points. Together with his Berkshire team which won the overall competition, he now moves on to the National English Schools Octathlon in September in Bedford.

52 Year Old Record Broken

Another busy weekend of athletics competitions!

Reading ACs Reuben Henry-Daire won the Southern U20 400m title at Bedford this weekend with a fantastic time of 48.03 secs. The time broke the previous record of John Edwards set back in 1969.

Meanwhile, elsewhere Reading AC’s Jonathan Davies broke his own Senior Men’s 5,000m record at a meeting in Nice, France by clocking 13:21.56 mins that cut almost two-and-a-half seconds off the previous record.

At the Berkshire Schools championships at Palmer Park, Reading, Sammy Ball jumped 7.17 metres to break his own U17 and U20 records keeping his lead on the national rankings and hopefully securing his place at the English Schools Championships in Manchester in July. Mia Greenidge-Knell also broke the U17 Women’s shot put record at the same competition with a best put of 12.74m.

Overall, Reading AC had 31 athletes take part in the Berkshire Schools, with twenty-five finishing top three and sixteen first places and sixteen new pbs. Also standing out was Hagen Mzee running a 10.9 100m to go second U17 in the UK .

At the BMC in Watford there were almost pbs all round for the four female athletes who went. Lauren Church knocked ten seconds off her 1500m time, with 4:25.65, Emma Howsham ran 4:29.23, Kirsty Walker 4:33.60 (sb) and Anna Boniface ran a 5000m pb of 17:00.63.