Half term saw a drop in numbers competing in the Hampshire League, as most of the Reading AC girls’ squad seemed to be off skiing! But those that did turn out were rewarded with perfect running conditions and personal best finish positions in league races.

First off was Stephanie in the U13 race. She over came her nerves about running her first league race and came through to finish a very respectable 26th in 13:54.

In the U15 race there was also only one Reading athlete, but Eve made up for the lack of numbers with a confident run to a best ever finish position of 6th in a time of 15:37. She’s now up to 7th in the individual rankings and getting better and better with every race!

In the U17s there were 2 Reading athletes, who both ran strongly. Lily Stevens finished an impressive 9th in 23:24 and Amelia ran a well paced race to come 13th in 25:37, closing in on 12th place towards the end.

Boys’ Rport by Keith Whyte

Reading's U13 boys produced another good performance in their quest for Hampshire League medals in the latest league fixture at Popham on Saturday. However, for the first time this season our U15s failed to finish a complete team, and our U17s had just one runner.

In benign conditions on a grassland couse that is tougher than it looks, Sam Weeks was soon near the front in the 3km U13 race, but as the race continued he was unable to prevent the leading trio breaking away. However Sam had judged his race well, and on the final hill and the downhill finishing stretch he moved through to eventually finish a convincing third in a time of 10.50. Harrison Hunter ran strongly for a hard-fought 15th place in 11.29, and Damian Wisinski completed the team with another determined effort to finish 29th in 12.26. The team total of 47 points gave Reading third place on the day and leaves them in third position on aggregate with one fixture still to come.

Reading's U15s were severely weakened by half-term absences, but were well represented by James Titmas and Ollie Shears in their 4km race. After recent illness James found himself unable to stay with the leading group of five, and despite his best efforts had to settle for a finishing position of ninth in a time of 14.09, while Ollie's persistent running earned him 29th place in 17.03. Despite missing out on this occasion in the team contest, Reading remain in third place on aggregate, with the final postions being decided on the best four results of the five races.

Adam Methven may have been Reading's only reprsentative in the U17 5km race, but he ran a fine race to move through the field and eventually finish in an excellent seventh place in 18.24 for his best league position so far. However our U17s are now out of the running in the aggregate competition.

Now there's a brief pause before the National Championships in a fortnight's time for those entered, and then the final league fixture, before for some the challenge of the Inter Counties and the English Schools.

Women’s report by Debbie Taylor

The Hampshire league race was held in Popham on 11th February . Unfortunately due to illness and injuries we had a smaller turn out for Reading AC. However the ladies who did race, did us proud and worked hard throughout the course.

It was a very mild day compared to the same race year so underfoot was good and the athletes didn’t have the wind to battle against this time which helped with fast conditions.

Big improvements shown with every race was our first athlete home, Shirley-Ann Dix. She has showed that commitment is finally paying off and finished 39th in a strong field. Our first vet home and coming back strong after having covid at Christmas was Sue Francis with a placing of 48th and then running well was vet Lucy Daniells in 56th who finished strongly.

Our next 3 runners, also vets were Julie Rayfield, Millie Dainton and Claire Mills who battled hard changing positions throughout the race and finished 68th, 74th and 78th.

Our vet ladies had to step up due to the lack of senior ladies but they did good!!!!

Congratulations all.

Men’s Report by Ray Stevens

The 4th Hampshire League match was at Popham Basingstoke on Saturday. The race was held in perfect conditions for running with no wind and the course being dry with very little mud. After doing so well in our home match it was very disappointing to have just one senior turn out with the rest of the team being vets.

Luc Jolly had a very good run to be the leading vet to finish in 10th (33:35), and our only senior runner was Haider Razzaq who also had a good race in 19th (34:42). Neil Walker was 105th (43:06), Andy McDonald 112th (43:42), Matt Rodda 113th (43:44), Sandeep Simon having his first run for us was 158th (50:20) and the ever present Gerry O'Driscoll was our final finisher in 164th (52:03).

Well done to all who ran and thank you for turning out.