The club's hopes of qualifying for the National YAL Finals for the first time were dashed by a series of late post-event corrections which showed that Reading had actually snatched the fourth slot when the scores were finally released on Wednesday.

The club had been presented with the fourth place trophy on the day and told that they had qualified and there was no inkling that major scoring errors had affected this until early on Wednesday, and when results were finally received later that morning they confirmed Reading headed HMAC by 14 points. The club Chairman Doug Tierney has formally complained to the league about this "totally unacceptable" situation.

As befits a Southern Final the competition was extremely tough and top three places in both A & B events were hard to come by. Many athletes improved their PBs but found themselves well back in the pack.

The Under 17 Men provided five of the twelve individual victories and  Josh Olawore had a hat trick of wins taking full points in the 100m hurdles, with a new PB, and adding long and triple jump wins. Adam Wileman won the B hurdles with a new PB and cleared 12m for the first time to finish second in the B triple jump. In form Hoseah Gikungu was victorious in the 3000m event. Third place points were gained by Jon Seekings (400m hurdles B), debutant Alfie Burr (1500m B) and Jake Nelson (high jump).  Good points went begging in the vault as Andy Kerr hit his head in warm up and was not allowed to compete.

The Under 13 girls gave a strong showing with three wins and a runners up spots. There was a high jump win double for Chenice Constable and Sarah Wilson, both in PBs, while Sarah added another victory in the B 800m, in another PB performance, and Heidi Surman-Wells was second in the 800m A. Heidi and Freya Gutteridge were both third in the 75m hurdles races.

The usually powerful Under 15 Boys had their work cut out and notched up just one win, but four seconds and three thirds. Alex Habbershaw provided the sole victory in the B long jump, and stepped into the hurdles and had a fine run in second. Alex Law was second in the A long jump but a muscle strain ruled out any further part in the proceedings. Other second places came from Nick Shade (B pole vault) and Dan Bristow (javelin). Karl Tucker's high jump PB earned him third place, and Finbar Smyth was also third in the B. Thomas Howard added another third in the B discus.

The Under 15 girls scored well in discus & 1500m. Georgie Taylor again dominated the discus winning the A string and an under the weather Rachel Forder did well to win the B. was close to her best in winning  the B. Lydia Hallam smashed her PB in finishing second in the 1500m and Francesca Smith did well in placing third in the B. Bethany Chambers equalled her long jump best in placing third in the A string. Club vault record holder Mercy Gutteridge had to sit out the competition as her pole had somehow been left out of the bag of poles collected from the stadium. 

The Under 17 Women struggled to make an impression. Becky Stanley improved her 800m PB for the second time in seven days and added a new best in the 3000m for third place in each event. Nicola Peachey also added a pair of third places in both 80m and 300m hurdles events while Sophie Baggs was also third in the discus.

The Under 13 boys had Sean Wilson to thank for their only victory as he leapt to high jump success. Second place B string honours were added by Thomas Pitkin (800m) and William Hart (1500m). 

So instead of a trip to Manchester on 4th September, the team must now look ahead to a good performance in the Eastern Young Athletes Final one week later.