Reading Athletic Club

Four of Reading AC’s veteran (masters) women were in action representing their area veterans’ organisations in the England Masters AA Outdoor Inter-Area Track and Field Challenge at Yate on Sunday.
Anna Godfrey was first to compete, representing Welsh Masters in the W35 1500m. Despite the pressure of being the pre-race favourite, Anna rose to the challenge, going straight to the front and leading the race from start to finish for a comfortable victory in 5:08.23. Sarah Holmes and Sue Francis represented Southern Counties Veterans in the 800m. Sarah put her early-season injury and illness problems behind her and put in a strong and confident performance in the W35 race, to finish 3rd in a pleasing season’s best time of 2:37.00. In the W50 race, Sue Francis was drawn in the outside lane and was surprised to find herself leading the race at the 100m break-line. Taking advantage of the fact that two of her faster rivals had already raced the 1500m, she held the lead for 600m, eventually finishing 2nd in 2:39.91. Julie Wilson was representing Northern Masters in the W60 throwing events, finishing 2nd in the discus (25.56m), and 4th in the shot (8.59m).
The match was won by Midland Masters, with Southern Counties Veterans close behind in 2nd place.

With so much of the focus on the athletes, well done also to our officials who assisted at the Commonwealth Games last week. The week was very tiring but also rewarding. An unforgetable Tuesday night downpour will be remembered for a long time.
From left to right: Helen Apsey, Chris Apsey and Julie Dew.

What a great experience for Reading ACs Sammy Ball. Overall fourth in the Commonwealth Games, 7,893 points and a serious competitor for a medal. A wealth of experience to learn from and memories to cherish.
Great to see so many Reading AC members in the crowd watching and cheering him on.
All being well, Sammy will be competing for Reading next weekend at the Southern Athletics League meeting at Little Marlow.
Photos from England Athletics, Pat Isaacs and Decathletes of Europe

Good luck to Reading ACs Sammy Ball competing for England in the Decathlon at the Commonwealth Games today and tomorrow. Live coverage on HBO Max from 10:10am.

VETERANS’ LEAGUE MATCH 4: Sunday 5th July
Report: Sue Francis

Reading AC’s officials and veteran athletes did the Club proud at the fourth and final Veterans League match, their home fixture at Palmer Park, on a very hot Sunday afternoon. Not only did we stage an excellent match that was appreciated by the seven other participating clubs, but, with 13 wins, we achieved our best result of the reason, both the women’s and men’s teams finishing 3rd. What’s more, two Club records were broken.
The team got off to a great start with the 100m races – a W35 race win for Monia Conforti (14.0s), a W50 win for Leanne Wellings (14.3s), and 2nd places for both Alan Chan (M35A, 12.5s) and Ken Chan (M35B, 13.2s). In the 800m, Sarah Holmes made a return from injury and illness to take 3rd in the W35 A-race (2:38.5), Rachel Phillips smashed her own target to clock 2:52.0 (3rd W35B), and Sue Francis clocked a season’s best of 2:39.0 for 2nd W50. Máté Lorincz took 6 secs off his 800m PB in finishing 4th in the M35A race (2:31.4). Tony McCreery (M70) set a fine example to his younger team-mates as he volunteered to fill gaps in the 800m and 400m in addition to his usual throwing events. Tony was 5th in the M50 8000m against men 20 years his junior (3:19.0).
Kevin Cranmer had a very busy afternoon. Having already helped with pre-match set-up of the field events, he competed in three, securing excellent wins in the M35 javelin (34.14m), and pole vault (3.00m), and 3rd in the discus (25.93m). Kev was joined in the throws by Tony, who impressed with a win in the M60 javelin (21.78m) and 5th place in discus (19.90m). Other good field event wins for Reading AC came from Alan Chan (M35 long jump, 10.52m) and Julie Wilson (W60 discus, 22.99m). Julie also competed in the shot, where she was joined by Lee Fellowes, both securing 2nd places (Lee W35, 6.54m; Julie W50 8.70m). Lee is another great team-player who took on two further field events, triple jump (3rd W35, 5.84m) and 5th discus (13.98m).
Back on the track, the 400m races were next up, and two women’s Club records were broken! Leanne took 0.1s off the W50 Club record with 70.7s (3rd W50), while Sophie Crumly, usually a middle-distance runner, showed she has a great turn of speed, winning the W35 A-race to break the W35 record by 2.2s (61.6s). Lucy Daniells had a good run in the W35 B-race for 3rd (74.8s). Our men ran equally well, Jonathan Hiorns victorious in the M35 A-race (55.5s), Alan runner-up M35B (60.1s), and Tony 5th in the M60 race (91.0s).
Reading AC had a clean sweep in the women’s 3000m. Anna Godfrey led from gun to finish to be the outright race winner and 1st W35A in 11:06.7; Angel Langlade, competing in the 3000m for the first time, had a great run for 1st W35B (12:42.2), and Sue was 1st W50 (12:00.9). In the men’s race, Sandeep Simon ran well for 5th M35A (10:44.3), while Máté did well to break 11 minutes on tired legs (10:59.7, 4th M35B). Michael Twomey had a great race for 2nd M60 (11:47.3).
The final events were the 4x200m relays, where both our men and women had fantastic races. Alan, Ken, and Jonathan, with Kev on leg 4, won the men’s race in 1:44.4, leaving pre-race favourites Oxford City AC 1.5 s adrift. Oxford’s team manager said later how impressed he was by our men’s team! Reading’s women (Monia, Lucy, Anna, and Leanne) also ran brilliantly to finish 2nd (2:03.9).
It was a great end to a good season, where Reading AC’s women finished 3rd overall in the league and the men 4th.
Thank you to all who competed and all who officiated or helped for Reading AC (and co-hosts Reading Roadrunners) for their hard work to ensure the match went smoothly: Julie Dew, Helen Apsey, Chris Apsey (field team), Sarah Urwin-Mann, Richard Whybrow, Emily Whybrow, Ann Gordon, Sam Whalley (track team), Neil Walker, Derrick Nixon (starting team), Mark Balchin, Julie Rayfield, David Noble (timekeepers), Kevin Cranmer (field event set-up), Lincoln Ball (results spreadsheets and field cards set-up), Malcolm Francis (photos), Tony Page and Ian Giggs (results) and Toni McQueen (refreshments).

National Sports Open Weekend is 18-19th July, with free taster sessions at Better Leisure Centres, including Palmer Park:

National Sports Open Weekend - 18th and 19th July Better leisure centres, libraries, swimming pools, gyms, spas, pitches and other community spaces. Find you nearest centre and join the movement.

Congratulations to all Reading AC athletes at the England Athletics championships in Bedford at the weekend. Georgie Langdon qualified for the final in the U20 800m and had an overall best performance of 2:12.48 minutes. Ibrahim Turay competed in the 200m clocking 23.03 secs.
In the decathlon which also served as the British Championships Sammy Ball won the competition to become outdoor British Champion to complement his indoor title in February. Meanwhile With his coach Mike Dyer watching on, Will Alexander completed his first senior decathlon with an impressive 7,085 points and some fantastic performances including PBs in 100m, 110m hurdles, discus and equalling his pole vault PB.

Reading AC’s veteran long- and triple-jumper Dave Shields was in action at the Welsh Masters Champs in Yate last weekend, bringing home two silver medals in the M65 age category. In the triple jump, Dave leapt to a season’s best of 7.75m. The long jump followed almost immediately, and, with fatigued legs, Dave jumped 3.40m.
Dave (who is a GB/ US dual national) was also delighted to learn that he finished 4th in the M65 USA 2026 indoor triple jump rankings and has been awarded ‘all American’ status, having been in the top 10 many times since 2014, for which he received a commemorate jacket – the only person outside the USA to receive this from the USA Masters. Well done Dave!