Saturday 13th April saw team Berkshire U13 Girls assemble at Sportcity in Manchester for yet another very exciting and tense day of Sportshall athletics. Representing the South region is always an honour and knowing the level of competition in the region the girls arrived with a high level of self-belief but no complacency.
Full report available in the attached file.
On an enthralling and exciting day of Sportshall at Burgess Hill on Sunday 3rd March Berkshire’s young athletes once again excelled at the South Regional Finals.
U11 Boys and Girls
The day began with the U11 boys and girls. With a mix of experience and athletes competing for the county for the first time for team Berkshire Sportshall we knew it would be a challenging match with strong teams from Kent and Surrey, as well as Buckinghamshire emerging as another strong competitor in recent years.
Both teams ran, jumped and threw to the best of their ability and showed great team spirit, working well with and supporting each other throughout the morning.
The boys ended the day 1st= with Kent whilst the girls came 5th, which in no way reflected the effort and commitment they all showed.
U13 and U15 Boys and Girls
The afternoon match saw the U13 and U15 teams competing against the other counties from the South region and also the U15’s competing as individuals for the title of South Regional All-Round champion with the individual and team winners progressing to represent the region at the National finals in April.
Our U13 boys arrived as defending champions with a strong team on paper. They all performed brilliantly but were up against a very strong Surrey team who showed great skill across all of the events. Our U13 boys came a very creditable 2nd .
The U15 boys team competed fantastically well with great determination attempting to make it 5 consecutive victories at the Regional final, despite losing a couple of first selection athletes shortly before the competition. We could not have asked more of the team as they pulled together to push Surrey very hard throughout the afternoon. We came 2nd only 23points behind eventual winners Surrey but very proud to have pushed them so hard. Trey Bennett (SJAC) came 2nd in the All-Rounder competition; Ben Britton (BAC) 4th and Gregory Menkiti (SJAC) 5th which was fantastic especially as Trey and Chris are in their first year as U15 Sportshall athletes.
Our U15 girls also fought strongly and with great spirit throughout the afternoon. Lucy James (BAC) and Lucy Chalmers (SJAC) both threw PBs in the shot; Lauren Watkins (BAC) won the speed bounce and Lucy Chalmers was 3rd in the 4-lap race – very strong performances. The girls ended up 5thoverall, again not necessarily a reflection on the hard effort they put in throughout the afternoon.
Our U13 girls arrived with many of the team having performed brilliantly coming 2nd at the National final in 2018 and looked very strong on paper. They did not disappoint. Victories on the track in the Obstacle relay, 4×1 lap relay, 4×2 lap relay put the team in a strong position and this was followed up with great individual medal winning performances from Eden Hill (SJAC 1st shot); Demi Obilanade (SJAC 3rd2 lap race; 1st vertical jump); Annie Jonkers (RAC 3rd standing triple jump); Madisyn Woodley (SJAC 1st standing long jump; 3rd 6 laps time trial); and Tomi Adejuwon (RAC 1st standing triple jump) and with all of the athletes in the field events finishing in the top 10, meant the girls came away comprehensive winners by over 100 points from Surrey in 2ndplace.
Berkshire Sportshall teams and supporters were very proud to see Yasmin Grosvenor (BAC), in her role as Sportshall Ambassador having won the National Sportshall All-Rounder title in Manchester in 2018, give a very thoughtful address to the U13 and U15 teams before their event started encouraging everyone to engage with Sportshall athletics, highlighting the pleasure it has given her, and how it has helped her in her development as a national top 10 combined event athlete, before presenting the medals and certificates to the teams at the end of the afternoon.
U.K. Inter Counties Cross Country Championships
Saturday, 9th March, in the grounds of Prestwold Hall, Loughborough
BERKSHIRE RESULTS
| Under 13 Girls | 8th team | Under 13 Boys | 11thteam |
| 13 | Josie Robertson | 28 | Aidan Dias |
| 33 | Freya Willcox | 47 | Julian Abass |
| 75 | Kirsten Fraser | 72 | Benjamin Dewar |
| 79 | Evie Elson | 81 | Nicholas Thomas |
| 90 | Holly Haldane | 104 | Nathan Rollins |
| 98 | Isabelle Thorpe | 145 | George Thomas |
| 100 | Ella Newman | 176 | Tathan Brooks |
| 170 | Marnie Fieldsend | 268 | Sam Pemberton |
| Under 15 Girls | 11th team | Under 15 | 13th team |
| 36 | Jasmine Young | 38 | Luke-Lom Hynes |
| 39 | Abigail Baines | 53 | Sam Hodgson |
| 83 | Jessica Hatch | 85 | Max Stevens |
| 119 | Eloisa Harris | 103 | William Goddard |
| 126 | Manisha Dave | 135 | Marcus Nye |
| 136 | Cara Terry | 139 | Oliver Craggs |
| 151 | Luci Robertson | 189 | Charlie Borgnis |
| 188 | Jemima Ridley | 279 | Jack Campbell |
| Under 17 Women | 3rd Team | Under 17 Men | 9th team |
| 13 | Amy Young | 99 | Oliver Hall |
| 15 | Naomi Harris | 112 | James Rennie |
| 52 | Hermoine Walker | 165 | Max McGarvie |
| 70 | Lucy Wells | 185 | Tobias Allen |
| 127 | Hannah Read | 199 | Adam Gambrill |
| 170 | Bethan Philp | 201 | Ross van Heerde |
| 175 | Alannah Chadwick | 213 | Harry Withers |
| Ella van Heerde | 217 | Henry Fieldsend | |
| Under 20 Women | 3rd team | Under 20 Men | 18th team |
| 13 | Isobel Fry | 59 | Eddie Steveni |
| 18 | Georgia Hayes | 63 | Daniel Brookling |
| 51 | Emily Faulkner | 124 | Thomas Nike |
| 53 | Katie Rodda | 139 | Toby Draper |
| 64 | Niamh Reai-Smith | 160 | Bradley Thomas |
| 66 | Hannah Barnard | ||
| 134 | Emilly Spencer-Jones | ||
| Senior Women | 22nd team | Senior Men | 19th team |
| 5 | Amelia Quirk | 98 | Matthew Seddon |
| 53 | Kirsty Walker | 147 | Isaac Farnworth |
| 190 | Laurie Marlow | 155 | Mark Apsey |
| 199 | Rachel Allen | 159 | Matthew Green |
| 222 | Rebecca Turton | 164 | Joseph Branch |
| 240 | Kirsty Bennet | 181 | James Craggs |
| 241 | Helen Pool | 185 | Edward Stockdale |
| 248 | Susan Francis | 211 | Adam Rennie |
| 255 | David McCoy |
The final medals table for the Wokingham half is now available.
The provisional points table is also now available. Please contact me with any discrepancies, especially if you were marked as a DNS and you did indeed run.
On a very windy day, just one step ahead of Storm Freya the Berkshire team faced stiff competetion from the fastest endurance runners in the South. The mens team came 8th, led home by Tom Easton (in 40th) and the ladies team (who all had to score due to illness and injury), came 5th led home by Becky Atkinson (12th lady).
Well done everyone.
The following team were selected to represent Berkshire:
Ladies:
Becky Atkinson (WSEH)
Vicki Taylor (Finch Coasters)
Elly Maggs (Maidenhead AC)
Men:
John Burnett (Bracknell Forest Runners)
Tom Easten (Maidenhead AC)
Bruce Poll (Bracknell AC)
Andrew Stay (Finch Coasters)
Many thanks to all the road runners who made it along to the AGM last night. Its been a great year, with 151 local runners entering the Championships this year and with 128 medals and 8 Trophys spread amongst 49 runners across 10 different clubs, lots to celebrate.
For those that didn’t make it, the Trophys (for most points awarded across all 4 races) went to:
MSEN Rob Corney (Reading Roadrunners)
M40 Tom Easten (Maidenhead AC)
M50 Wayne Lillis (Newbury AC)
M60 Alan Freer (Reading Roadrunners)
and for the ladies…
FSEN Laura McBride (Reading Joggers)
F35 Jill Collett (Datchet Dashers)
F45 Denise Robertson (Bracknell Forest Runners)
F55 Helen Bolt (Datchet Dashers)
So what about 2019 ?
**Introduction of a new F65 category for ladies 65 years and older**
Races chosen are: Wokingham half marathon, Maidenhead 10 miles, Burnham Beeches 10K and Marlow 5 miles.
How to enter?
The championships are open to ANYONE and EVERYONE who either lives or was born in Berkshire.
1. Enter the races as normal with the race organisers.
2. Send e-mail to berkshireroadrunning@gmail.com at least a day before the first race of the year you want to be included (confirming M/F and date of birth for category) and I will do the rest. No need to e-mail before each race, no need to tell me your race number. One e-mail covers you from that date onwards. Please don’t e-mail until January 1st 2019.
The new Sportshall season got off to a fantastic start yesterday with just under 300 young athletes representing clubs and schools from across the county met at TVAC for the first round of the 2018 -19 league. We were particularly excited to welcome the athletes from ACS Egham International School joining the league for the first time.
Throughout the afternoon the atmosphere was competitive and very exciting as athletes new to Sportshall combined with those with a few years’ experience battling for every available point for their teams. Fractions of seconds made the difference between top scoring and middle ranking places in the track and especially the hi-stepper and obstacle relay events. There were also some excellent performances in the field with shot in particular looking to be a strength across the county and the age groups.
The leaders after the first round of the league competition are:
U11Girls Lynch Hill PSA Boys Slough Junior AC
U13 Girls Slough Junior AC Boys Slough Junior AC
U15 Girls Maidenhead AC Boys Bracknell AC / Maidenhead AC
With no more than 8 points separating the top 2 in all but one competition it promises to be a very exciting season ahead.
Next match 25th November 12:30 TVAC
