Sport down the years

SPORT has always been covered in the NWN down the years. We look at the unforgettable moments from 10 years ago

10 years ago February 03 2011

Best in 10 for Newbury

NEWBURY Athletic Club’s senior women set a new club best when finishing in the top 10 teams at the South of England Cross Country Championships held at Parliament Hill in Hampstead Heath on Saturday. Newbury finished ninth of the 62 competing clubs, with Sophie Crumly leading the individual contribution. She worked her way up from a top 40 placing during the first lap, making her way to 19th place with Susie Bush finishing 36th and Jess Franklin 53rd in the field of 381 runners.

Jane Mackey’s 143rd place finish secured the all-important fourth scoring spot that gave Newbury a points total of 252.

Newbury’s veterans also showed up well with Sue Van Huyssteen 155th, Bev Hall 210th and Sarah Fowler 217th as Newbury finished ahead of host club Highgate Harriers and Woodford Green, and 197 points ahead of the nearest Berkshire club, Reading AC, in 16th place.

James Craggs produced a good run to finish 223rd in the senior men’s race with Dave Wright also making the top half of the 885 runners in 396th spot. Team Kennet were represented on the day by their under-13 girls, who were led by Yasmin Ryder in 26th position, just over a minute behind the winner of the 250-strong race.

Georgina Bradford ran a solid race to finish 108th with Charlie Estcourt 165th and Carys Cox 171st as the team claimed 22nd place.

Rhea Walter finished 169th in the under-15 girls’ event and Michael Randall had a good run to finish 50th in the under-17 men’s race, with Tom Munt 215th in the senior event.

Team Kennet’s Luke Conway went close to breaking the two-minute barrier when he won his 800 metres race for under-20s at the London Indoor Games.

He clocked 2 mins 00.3 seconds at the Lee Valley Stadium, while club-mate Simon Scholes cleared 3.50m in the men’s pole vault and Bertie Lewis clocked 52.73 seconds to finish second in his heat of the 400m.

It’s now or never

NEWBURY BLUES will go into Saturday’s home game with Canterbury in an entirely new frame of mind – bearing a real hope that they can score a victory!

They take on a Kentish side that is under relegation threat and which crashed at home to fellow strugglers Shelford last week – their seventh straight defeat.

That may pale alongside Blues’ 17 of this term and six of last, but it offers Newbury a realistic chance of ending that woeful record or – if they cannot pull it off on home turf – being all but condemned.

“There is a real positive feeling in the group that we can win,” said director of rugby Andy Widdop, “especially after our performance at Taunton.

“It has been in our planning about getting through these last three games with as few casualties as possible and then going into a run of games in which we have to get something if we are to get out of this.

“But there is a definite feel-good feeling and these are the games in which we have chances to get out of it.”