The final match of the season took place at Aldershot on Sunday and we would like to say well done & thank you to all the athletes who have competed in the league this year, the parents for their great support and all the coaches and officials who voluntarily give up their time to ensure the events go ahead.
Full reports from the individual team managers follow (quadkids, boys u13 -u17 & girls u13-u17) & Photos from Emma Guite can be seen here:
Many congratulations go to U13′s Lily Gohara, Ellie Krefting, Charlotte Payne & Archie Betts who have been selected to represent Berkshire in the Southern Inter Counties U13 Track and Field match at Kingston, Surrey on Sunday 27th July as a result of their achievements this season so far. There will be 13 other counties from across the South of England competing in one of the biggest competitions for the U13 age group in the region. We wish them every success.
At the Great Bustard 5 mile race Nige Popplewell was 5th (2nd Vet 40) and Dave Wright 6th in 37:16 and 38:48 respectively. This was Nige’s first trophy and I’m sure it won’t be his last. The race was held up due to a lorry crash on part of the route which required a delayed start and a hastily re-arranged route of nearly 6 miles. Congratulations should go to Pewsey Vale Running Club for their efforts in achieving this.
Needless to say the undulating course and hot weather was testing to say the least!
Congratulations to our three club members who all finished in the top ten in their events at the English Schools Championships held at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham. Jamie Kuehnell (St Barts ) threw an excellent 57.80m in the Inter Boys Hammer which placed him 5th, Michaela Whitton ( Kennet ) finished 7th in the Inter Girls Discus with 36.22m, and Ella Houston ( Downe House ) also finished 7th in a very tight Junior Girls High Jump competition clearing 1m63.
On a very hot and sunny day, Newbury AC took their smallest team of the season so far down to Tonbridge for the fourth round of the Southern Athletics League, facing the home team along with Dartford Harriers and Worthing & District Harriers.
The team got off to a perfect start, with the first track event of the day, the 400m hurdles producing wins for both Monique Krefting and Jemma Colbourne in the women’s A and B strings. The men’s equivalent saw an A string win for Sam Plumb and a solid B string third place for Matt Davies, making Newbury the early pacesetters. This race also saw Sam pick up the men’s “athlete of the match” award. However, this would prove to be the highlight of the day, as from then on in the opposition upped their game, with Dartford and Tonbridge showing us exactly why they were placed second and third in the league heading into this fixture. Despite some promising individual performances all round, Newbury wins proved hard to come by. Continue reading
Didcot 5: Steve Barnes ran 27:19, the fastest 5-mile time by a club member this year by some considerable margin, to finish 6th overall (3rd M40) in the Didcot 5. This performance takes Steve ahead of Geoff Anderson in the club’s Age-Graded League
Tadley 10K: Four members tackled the Tadley 10k this weekend, it was Andy Varney who came home first for the club in 17th place and breaking the 40 min barrier by 32 seconds. Sue Van Huyssteen was next as she clocked a time of 44:45 to win the V45 age group in 54th place, Pete Choules finished in the top half of the 250 runners coming 113th with 49:52, and Malcolm Knight came 150th in 54:41.
Successful U11's Marcus Chitty, Maisie Jeger & Luci Robertson
Newbury AC fielded a total of 43 young athletes at a warm Woking track today with the highlights of the day going to the under 11s. Luci Robertson and Maisie Jeger finished joint top of the U11s girls table taking the girls team top on the day. Maisie also succeeded in breaking the U11 600m club record which was held by Sophie Crumly since 2001 in a scorching time of 1.55m. Not to be outdone the boys also stepped up the mark with Marcus Chitty finishing in 7th place overall and again breaking the club record time in the 600m set by Louis Beale since 2004 with a time of 1.46m knocking 9seconds of his pb! We are also awaiting confirmation but we believe he has also broken the league record!
Emma Guite
Report by Chris Hobson:
Charlotte Winton ran the ‘The Wall’ ultramarathon , a challenge along the length of Hadrian’s wall . It was billed as a 69 mile course but she covered 32.5 miles day 1 and 38.5 miles on day 2 and was very pleased to finish 12th WV40 .
The overnight campsite was at Vindolanda with plenty of sheep and midges. With the weather on day 1 very hot, a flat out effort was not on the cards , Charlotte got scared seeing others being ambulanced off. She didn’t need an ambulance herself although she did stop to patch a blister but at least that meant using some of the kit that is compulsory to carry. Good grub served up by the Royal Navy was very welcome at the finish.
Full results can be found on this website ; http://www.ratracethewall.com/
Report from Liz Harkness:
Vets Ladies 4 * 200m victorious team - Monique, Jess, Sue & Jenny
The ladies team finished the season on a high note with victory for a second successive match. The 4* 200m relay team of Monique Krefting, Sue van Huyssteen, Jess Franklin & Jenny O’Connor won by a huge margin.
However despite all our efforts we were narrowly beaten to the league title by just a half point at the end of this season by rivals Radley AC.
Full results can be downloaded here
