A packed Surrey Sports Park arena saw two very tense and exciting U11 South Regionals finals on Saturday 10^th February. Berkshire arrived with strong teams in both the boy’s and girl’s competitions, selected based on performances across the county league and county championship events held at TVAC in the autumn and earlier in the year.

Both teams started very well with solid performances in the obstacle relay and it soon became apparent our main rivals would be Surrey and Kent.

In the girl’s competition outstanding field event performances from

Demi Obilanade (SJAC) winning the vertical jump with a leap of 59cm to win; Carys Westcott (RAC) 2.12m standing long jump; Lexie Gill (SJAC) and Sophie Winters (RAC) scoring maximum 60 seconds on the balance test - with Lyla Goodwin (TK) 8^th despite achieving a magnificent score of 56 seconds; Tomi Adejuwon (RAC) triple jumping 6.23m for a 2^nd ; Maddie Sturt coming 3^rd in the target throw place meant the girls were in a very strong position. Whilst these were top 3 positions and important for points the other two athletes in each field event are equally important in realising the overall position for the team and they did not disappoint with almost everyone finishing inside the top 10 positions – a magnificent achievement.

On the track the girls were equally as good with 2^nd place in the 2+2 lap race (Demi Obilanade and Tomi Adejuwon); 3^rd place in the 4x1 lap relay; 2^nd place in the 6 lap Paarlauf; and an excellent victory in the hurdles relay.

At the end of the afternoon just 5 points separated Berkshire girls in the runners’ up position from the winners Surrey.

The boys were also very strong on the track with second places in the 4x1 relay; 6 lap Paarlauf; over and under relay; and third place in each of the hurdles relay, Grand Prix relay and 2+2 lap races.

In the field the boys were less strong with Jake Kabelu (Holy Family CS) our only top 3 finisher coming 2^nd in the vertical jump (56) and winning the chest push (8.25m); Dre Ruan (Lynch Hill PSA) was 4^th in the target throw.

The boys managed to score 432 points for 2^nd place behind Kent (454).

It was yet another fantastic afternoon of Sportshall athletics filled with excitement and fun for all. Our supporters were once again amongst the loudest and most enthusiastic in the arena - for which everyone competing was most grateful.

3 Teams 1 Individual to Represent South Region at National Sportshall Final as Berkshire Complete Amazing Success

The U13 Boys, U13 Girls, U15 Boys teams and Yasmin Grosvenor (Bracknell AC, U15 girl All-Rounder winner) all qualified to represent the South region at the National Sportshall finals in Manchester in mid-April following an amazing afternoon of Sportshall at Burgess Hill on Sunday 4^th March.

The U13 Girls have qualified for the first time having fought out a tense and very exciting afternoon against Surrey and Sussex. The whole team performed very well throughout the afternoon with the all-important “second” string athletes proving once again the importance of working as a team and for each other and ensuring good points are scored. The girls were never out of the top 10 finishers in each event through the course of the afternoon.

Top 3 medal winning performances were achieved by:

The U13 Boys arrived as defending Regional and National champions. As with the girls the team had a mix of first and second year U13 boys and Surrey were particularly keen to give us a run for the title. A mixture of experience gained last year at both the regional and national finals combined with the enthusiasm and great skill of the first-year athletes coming through saw the boys retain their title.

Top 3 medal winning performances were achieved by:

Our U15 Boys arrived also as defending regional champions. Once again, a very solid team performance across all events saw the boys retain their title for the 4^th consecutive year.

Top 3 medal winning performances were achieved by:

Feranmi Sanni was 3^rd in the All-Rounder competition; Adam Ulhaq 5^th=; Elijah Oladunjoye 8^th; Luke Turner 10^th; James Shefford 15^th and Harry Booker 18^th=

The U15 girls were in very close three-way competition with Kent and Surrey throughout the afternoon. At the end Kent prevailed (618), with Surrey second (607) and our girls third (595).

Top 3 medal winning performances were achieved by:

Yasmin Grosvenor (BAC) retained her All-Rounder title and will again compete at the National final as an individual representing the South. Hope Dandjinou was 6^th; Abbie Sillett 9^th=; Layla Beaud 15^th=; Olivia Phelps 19^th and Lauren Watkins 22nd