Reading’s girls travelled to a breezy Hillingdon on Sunday to begin their defence of their Alder Valley League and came away with a hard fought victory by 37 points from old adversaries Windsor. Exams, illness and injury stripped the U17 team to the bones and for once couldn’t fill every gap but those that went competed admirably to help achieve the win.
The U13 sprints saw Olivia Lowrie and Sophie Hutchings both finish runners up in their 75m races while Ellise Belgrave and Lulu Broadbent contested the 150m. Ellise, Olivia and Sophie were joined by Angela Lowe to finish 2nd in the relay. Angela was runner-up in the 75m hurdles with Ellie running well for 4th in B string. Hermione Walker and Ellie Cleveland ran the 600m with Olivia and Emily Scrivener doing the 1200m, Olivia running a great race to win by over 5 seconds leaving her rivals stranded over the final 150m.
Olivia and Emily again joined up in the long jump with Ellise and Isobel Barnett scoring well in the high jump. As is normal nowadays, the throws returned big points with Angela and Florence Joslyn winning both shot strings with Angela also winning discus. Isabelle Church won the javelin A string with Ellie claiming 3rd in B string.
In the U15 springs Esther Adikpe and Megan Shaw both ran well in the 100m for 3rd places and in the 200m Esther was 4th with Amelia Walcott 3rd in B string. Esther, Meg, Rebecca Richardson and Aisha Austin then claimed 3rd place in the relay. Esther was 4th in A string hurdles with Kia Slade winning B string. The middle distance girls were in good form, Kirsty Walker recovering from a slow start to show her ability by winning A string 800m with Sophia Lunn 4th in B string while in the 1500m Nancie Bowley ran another great race with a fantastic finish to win A string by over 6 seconds, while Ella Saundes pushed the B string winner all the way to finish a close 2nd.
In the field Jasmine McCallum won A string long jump with Meg runner up in B string, Molly Bates winning A string high jump and Charlotte Vyvyan scoring points in the B string. Reading dominated the throws, Caitlin Stacey and Leah Runnacles both finishing 2nd in the shot and hammer, Caitlin and Eleanor Hoyle won the discus, Charlotte West was 2nd in A string javelin and Chloe Zmuda winning B string.
The U17s saw Amber-Leigh Hall maintain her tremendous early season form, winning A string 100m, 200m and 80mh (in a new league record of 11.5s) with Alana Rayfield finishing 4th in B string 200m. Georgia Walton and Kate McKim ran the 300m and 800m together scoring good points. Katie Holt was runner up in the 80mh and then teamed up with Katrina Vidzupe to record a double victory in the 300mh.
Olivia Hammerton was third in the high jump with Phoebe Thomas 2nd in the pole vault before filling in at the long jump. Amy Herrington and Michaela Whitton teamed up to devastating effect in the throws taking a clean sweep of victories in the shot and discus (Michaela and Amy) and hammer (Amy and Michaela) with Amy’s throw of 51.72 setting a new league record. Katie Holt and Kate McKim both finishing runners-up in the javelin.
A great start to the Alder Valley League season and with the promise of more victories to come with a full strength U17 team to follow after exams and return to fitness. Thanks to everyone for making the trip and giving your usual commitment and effort to the cause.