SIXTH Form Reading Blue Coat student Oliver Matthews, together with the rest of the team competing for Berkshire, won the Intermediate Boys’ Octathlon Team event at the English Schools Multi-events Championships recently.

It is the first time Berkshire have won the team event at any age group in the 30 years the competition has been running, with the other three members of the Berkshire team Stuart Bladon – who qualified for the England team – Joel Cable and Harrison Thorne.

Sixteen-year-old Matthews, from Peppard Common, had a particularly good weekend, with a career-best performance.

On day one, he recorded personal bests in the long jump and the discus, while he was also the best octathlon performer in the javelin.

He recorded another PB in the 100m hurdles on day two.

“An English Schools title is an excellent achievement,” said Simon Cook, head of athletics at Blue Coat.

“Oliver trains very hard and is a dedicated athlete, and to be able to achieve such performances in eight different events is very impressive.”

For Matthews the English Schools Championships “felt like a normal competition – except the competitors were of a much higher standard.”

In addition to competing for Blue Coat, for the last two years, Matthews has been a member of Reading Athletics Club, where he is coached for multi events by Mike Dyer.

As multi events take place only a couple of times a year, he also competes in javelin and 400 metres as individual events.

He recently completed a Coaching Assistant course at Loughborough University, which will enable him to assist with coaching at his club.