Women’s Senior and U20 Reports by Lucy Danniels (senior) & Katherine Tolson (U20)
The 2022 national cross country held at the iconic Parliament hill in London did not disappoint as the ultimate test for cross country running. Starting with a field of 1010 runners stampeding up the huge uphill start and navigating many large hills within this 8k, runners battled through deep muddy wet terrain. Reading AC saw some great running by everyone to finish off the cross country season.
Jess Gibbon had an incredible run, making history for Reading AC to finish strongly and win the national cross country title. This is the first time in RAC history that one of the oldest clubs in the country has had a female win the title over the recognised toughest course in the country.
Second home for the team was Kirsty Walker finishing like a bullet on the home straight to come an amazing 6th place. This is her first national championships as a senior women and she continues to show her excellent form. Katie Rodda stormed home in 147th with another great run and Hayleigh Wood, who has been in fine form this season, smashed her race finishing 255th to complete the scoring team.
Eva Thomas who ran her first senior cross country race had an amazing race to finish 317th. Lucy Daniels looked strong up the hills and finished 338th and Lydia Blythe worked hard through the mud to finish 345th. Lynne Henderson-Nike ran extremely well to finish 486th and Kathryn Tolson battled to stay upright to finish 610th, both racing with smiles on their faces throughout showing very determined runs.
Overall the senior team finished a superb 13th out of 104 completed scoring teams.
The support was great with team captain Sarah, coach Debbie and team manager Izzy cheering them on around the course.
The Under 20s had a smaller field of 145 athletes and Reading were ably represented by Evie Warren and Lara Tolson. Evie, still coming back from injury, secured 56th position, an excellent result. Lara, struggling more with the conditions, battled through to finished in 100th place. Well done to both girls on completing an extremely challenging course.
Men’s Senior and U20 Report by Ray Stevens
This year National Cross Country Champs was back at the home of Cross County running, Parliament Hill, and with the sunshining this iconic course again produced some great running across all age groups. With over 2500 senior men lining up it is one of the best sights in distance running to see them charging up the hill at the start of the race to go out on three gruelling laps of Hampstead Heath.
This year we had 10 runners willing to test them self on this tough course. The finishing order for us was:
Sam Rodda 145th 47.10
Pete Cook 601st 53.49
Arturo Martinez de Murguia 652nd 54.45
O/40 Vet Charlie Madelaine 1272nd 1-03-18
O/50 Vet James Quinn 1458th 1-06-28
O/50 Vet Andy McDonald 1499th 1-07-15
O/50 Vet Neil Walker 1722nd 1-11-12
O/60 Vet Gerry O'Driscoll 1853rd 1-14-35
Matin Mesghali 2021st 1-24-20.
We had just one in the junior race James Rennie who finished 26th 35-12.
In the team race we finished 7th with 5627 points. That was the last club cross country race for the season, thank you to all who ran well done.
Our next race is the SEAA 12 Stage Road Relay at Milton Keynes on Sunday March 27th.
Men’s U13, U15 and U17 Report by Keith Whyte
The Parliament Hill course may have been bathed in sunshine, but its challenging mud and hills were the same as usual for the National Cross Country Championships on Saturday. Reading's lads put up a good showing in all three age group races, although only the U17s were able to complete a team, finishing 15th.
Reading's U17 team in their 6km race were led home by Chris Parker, with a determined effort for 83rd position in a time of 24.16. Ollie Craggs was next to finish, recovering from an early fall to battle through and place 105th in 24.41. Adam Methven ran well for 147th place in 25.23, and the team was completed by Ed Lewis in 215th with 26.43, as their 550-point total gave Reading 15th place.
In the U15's 4km race Reading had just two competitors, Maddox Gillas ran strongly for 98th place, recording 16.32, while James Titmas had the misfortune to twist an ankle twice, but carried on bravely for 144th place in 17.02.
Reading's U13 team were also unfortunately short of a full complement for their 3km race. However Noah Tyers had an excellent run to finish 103rd in a time of 13.26, and there was a fine race by Oswald David-Oppong for 166th place in 14.00, while Seb Clark's persistent running gave him 285th place in 15.06.
Once again the National provided a stern test for the runners, and a great spectacle for the rest of us. Congratulations to all who took part in this final club competition of the season, although some still have the Inter Counties and the English Schools Championships to come.
Many thanks to all those who have competed this season and to all the parents who have helped throughout the last few months.