On an enthralling and exciting day of Sportshall at Burgess Hill on Sunday 3rd March Berkshire’s young athletes once again excelled at the South Regional Finals.

U11 Boys and Girls

The day began with the U11 boys and girls. With a mix of experience and athletes competing for the county for the first time for team Berkshire Sportshall we knew it would be a challenging match with strong teams from Kent and Surrey, as well as Buckinghamshire emerging as another strong competitor in recent years.

Both teams ran, jumped and threw to the best of their ability and showed great team spirit, working well with and supporting each other throughout the morning. 

The boys ended the day 1st= with Kent whilst the girls came 5th, which in no way reflected the effort and commitment they all showed.

U13 and U15 Boys and Girls

The afternoon match saw the U13 and U15 teams competing against the other counties from the South region and also the U15’s competing as individuals for the title of South Regional All-Round champion with the individual and team winners progressing to represent the region at the National finals in April.

Our U13 boys arrived as defending champions with a strong team on paper. They all performed brilliantly but were up against a very strong Surrey team who showed great skill across all of the events. Our U13 boys came a very creditable 2nd .

The U15 boys team competed fantastically well with great determination attempting to make it 5 consecutive victories at the Regional final, despite losing a couple of first selection athletes shortly before the competition. We could not have asked more of the team as they pulled together to push Surrey very hard throughout the afternoon. We came 2nd only 23points behind eventual winners Surrey but very proud to have pushed them so hard. Trey Bennett (SJAC) came 2nd in the All-Rounder competition; Ben Britton (BAC) 4th and Gregory Menkiti (SJAC) 5th which was fantastic especially as Trey and Chris are in their first year as U15 Sportshall athletes.

Our U15 girls also fought strongly and with great spirit throughout the afternoon. Lucy James (BAC) and Lucy Chalmers (SJAC) both threw PBs in the shot; Lauren Watkins (BAC) won the speed bounce and Lucy Chalmers was 3rd in the 4-lap race - very strong performances. The girls ended up 5thoverall, again not necessarily a reflection on the hard effort they put in throughout the afternoon.

Our U13 girls arrived with many of the team having performed brilliantly coming 2nd at the National final in 2018 and looked very strong on paper. They did not disappoint. Victories on the track in the Obstacle relay, 4x1 lap relay, 4x2 lap relay put the team in a strong position and this was followed up with great individual medal winning performances from Eden Hill (SJAC 1st shot); Demi Obilanade (SJAC 3rd2 lap race; 1st vertical jump); Annie Jonkers (RAC 3rd standing triple jump); Madisyn Woodley (SJAC 1st standing long jump; 3rd 6 laps time trial); and Tomi Adejuwon (RAC 1st standing triple jump) and with all of the athletes in the field events finishing in the top 10, meant the girls came away comprehensive winners by over 100 points from Surrey in 2ndplace.

Berkshire Sportshall teams and supporters were very proud to see Yasmin Grosvenor (BAC), in her role as Sportshall Ambassador having won the National Sportshall All-Rounder title in Manchester in 2018, give a very thoughtful address to the U13 and U15 teams before their event started encouraging everyone to engage with Sportshall athletics, highlighting the pleasure it has given her, and how it has helped her in her development as a national top 10 combined event athlete, before presenting the medals and certificates to the teams at the end of the afternoon.