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Thursday, April 16, 2020 48

Newbury Weekly News

Read Tim Dellor’s Royals column PAGE 47

Izzy races to No 1 spot in UK rankings 19-year-old has been rated as the top women’s U20 cross counytrunner

nance mode’ for the time being. “It’s nice to enjoy running for what it is without the stress of being race ready. “When we get a little more certainty of when races will start again I will build back up, but for now it’s a case of trying to look after the body and keep safe.” The 19-year-old admittedshe’s adapted to different ways to train and said: “Trying to stay in a routine when everything around you has changed is difficult. “I’m having to do all my runs and sessions on the road as there aren’t any grass areas that I can session on near me. “It’s something I’m not used to and because physio is no longer available I’ m having to listen to my body a lot more and take a rest day when it needs it. “Not having a gym available has also been difficult, however, in these circumstances it’ s a small price to pay,” she added.

“I’d say this season changed a lot of things mentally for me too. “I never had much self-belief, but the last fewmonths have defi- nitely mademe believe in myself a bit more.” The Newbury AC member has already set her sights on new goals once the Covid-19 pandemic is over. She said: “If everything settles back to normal in time I’d love to qualify for the European Cross Country Championships in November again. “Although I have moved up an age group to the U23s, I’m look- ing forward to the challenge.” Fry has had to make changes to her routine as she currently has no access to some facilities. “To be honest I’v e struggled for motivation as there’s obvi- ously no races for the foreseeable future,” she said. “I’ve tried to take the pressure off myself by staying in ‘mainte-

NEWBURY Athletics Club member Izzy Fry has added another title to her list as she has been crownednumber one in the women ’s under-20s cross country rankings. The 19-year-old has enjoyed success this year, both individu- ally and as part of a team, which has seen her climb the rankings. But she was still shocked when she saw she had risento No 1 in the United Kingdom She said:“It’s a really nice feel- ing knowing all my hard work and race results were recognised this season as it’s definitely been the best one yet. “It came as quite a surprise considering last year I didn ’t make the top 20 in the rankings. “Looking back over the season I’m really happy with how I progressed. “My two main aims were to qualify for Europeans and run well at Nationals and I did both

Report by LIAMHEADD email liam.headd@newburynews.co.uk twitter @liamh_nwn of those so I’m happy. “The highlight of the season was definitely leading the GB team home to a gold medal at Europeans in Lisbon.” The former Park House pupil has represented GB on a number of occasions this year and she was due to do the same at a cham- pionship event in Marrakech. However, due to the coron- avirus outbreak her season, like many athletes, had to be cut short. Fry said: “ I was really looking forward to it as it was another chance to represent the GB vest, but this time in the World University Championships. “However, I can ’t be too disap- pointed as this was my first full cross country season with no major setbacks.

NewbuyrAC’s Izzy Fyr

Thorne: It would have gone to the wire NEWBURY Blues captain Dan Thorne believes the relegation fight would have gone down to the wire, had they been able to complete their South West Premier campaign.

Memories of a Country Pub. Before the horses were declared the owner had dinner with her trainer in our restaurant, she finally agreed to enter him late that evening. It was a popular decision in the pub and many regulars placed their bets first thing the next morning, some getting better than 33-1 before the declaration. Not being a keen betting man, I applied to the Magistrates Court for an All Day Licence for the day after the race. They eventually agreed to grant the licence subject to the horse winning. The only time a licence has been granted with such a condition. The chairman of the bench addressed me saying ‘I assume this horse has some chance of winning’, I replied that the odds were down to 9-1 that morning, he thanked me with a grin. The pub was packed for the race with everyone’s heart pounding as he almost fell, at an early fence, by the end of the race everyone was standing on tables and chairs to cheer their horse on. We never sold as many bottles of champagne for many years. The following day the winner was brought down the pub and the celebrations continued. Watch it on youtube. 1988 Grand National. When we fi came to the pub, we wer keen o establish it as a music venue, we started with a local Jazz Band on Sunday Nights, then expanding to a Monday night with a duo known as Gypsy Jazz. To keep the entertainment fresh we’d feature regular ‘star’ gues s. On of my favourit s w s Johnny Van Derrick, a violinist whose most renown works were with Henry Mancini for whom he played the violin solos on Moon River and The Pink Panther theme, amongst many others. Sitting round the fire after he’d played, he would entertain us further with his life story; he was initially a trumpet player with one of the big bands, but just after WW2 he was playing at the Glasgow Apollo, in the interval he and his bandmates slipped out to a nearby pub where someone smashed a bar stool across his mouth. He could no longer blow a trumpet and so took up the violin. Johnny sadly died back in the nineties but he was a real Jazz legend. Memories of a Country Pub

Blues’ season was ended with four games to go due to the coron- avirus outbreak and the RFU announced earlier this month that leagues around the country would be calculated on a best playing record formula. As a result of this, Newbury were relegated to Division South West 1 East. “The most frustrating thing is not being able to control the outcome ourselves, especially with the momentum we had gained in the second half of the season, ” said Thorne. Blues struggled during the early stages of the campaign and Thorne believes that proved decisive. He said: “We were backing ourselves to get a fair few points from our last four games, but as we know from previous experiences, when other teams are fighting for their lives they tend to pull out some big results too. “We didn’t get enough results in the first half of the season, and that made it a difficult job. “My heart says we would have done enough, but it would have gone right down to that last game again.” Throughout the campaign, though, Blues produced some strong performances and Thorne wants to take this and use it when they return to action next season.

He said: “We have got some brilliant young players around the squad, like Toby Holland, who have come on leaps and bounds playing week in, week out at South West Premier this year. “I am very excited to see what he, and the rest of the squad, can produce in SW1 next year. “Our main objective will to be keep improving so that we are competitive at the top end of the table at Level 5. “We will definitely have some tough battles next season though to get back there and I’m already looking forward to the clashes The Blues squad raised money for the NHS

with Bracknell and Banbury especially.” n During the coronavirus pandemic, a number of campaigns have been completed to raise money for the NHS. Thorne and his teammates decided to shave their headswith all proceeds being donated. He said: “We decided to get right behind the ‘ Shave Donate Nominate’ campaign, which is helping raise funds for the NHS. “A few of the boys were defi- nitely apprehensive, myself included, but it’s for such a great cause we had to do our bit to help.”

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