With hope and expectation both running high the U11 county teams travelled to Burgess Hill. The teams were selected following performances by young athletes in both the Berkshire County League and Berkshire County Championships held through the autumn.

Both the boys and the girls team performed fantastically well. Throughout the afternoon they were incredibly well supported by parents, siblings and other supporters as Berkshire supporters once again proved themselves the loudest and most supportive in the region.

After a satisfactory start to the afternoon athletes competed in a range of field and track events with the momentum building throughout the afternoon as we began to realise the fantastic results on the track were being matched by many of the field performances.

Amongst the girls, Hope Dandjinou (Holy Family Catholics School) was placed second in both the chest push (6.00m) and the standing long jump (2.05m); Chloe Eames (RAC) was 1st= in the balance test achieving a maximum 60 second score; Emilie Richardson-Tuitt (SJAC) won the standing long jump (2.12m) and Millie Quaintance (Team Kennet) won the javelin (16.0m).

In the boys Jamie Bonella-Duke (RAC) was 3rd in the chest push (5.50m) on count back just behind Connor Rapecki (SJAC) also 5.50m.

On the track Olivia Phelps (MAC) and Sophie Hutchings  won the 1+1 lap race; Olivia then paired up with Hope Dandjinou for a convincing win in the Paarlauf and the 4x1 relay team (Emilie Richardson-Tuitt; Sophie Hutchings; Madeline Barnes; Olivia Phelps) were very good with the hand-offs to take 1st place by a convincing margin.

The boys had notable success on the track completing the 1+1 lap double (Elijah Oladunjoye SJAC and Noah Walcott RAC); in the 2+2 laps (Max McGarvie SJAC  and Cameron Langley Team Kennet) were second as indeed Cameron was again second when he partnered with Leon Bradshaw (RAC) in the Paarlauf. To cap a great afternoon the boys showed that they too could make some wonderful baton hand offs as they powered to victory in the 4x1 lap relay (James West; Noah Walcott; Connor Rapecki; Elijah Oladunjoye) - noticed by a number of other team managers who made the point of complimenting the boys on their baton changes and the overall performance.

At the end of the afternoon the boys were placed 2nd overall, behind Kent and ahead of Surrey whilst the girls were 3rd behind Kent and Bucks.

A special mention must be made of the parents and other supporters at Burgess Hill and also to Olivia and Francesca (SJAC), who officiated through the afternoon. They were all equally brilliant in the support they gave in making it a memorable afternoon for everyone.