Reading's U15 boys finished in a very good ninth place in difficult conditions at the National Cross Country Relay Championships at Mansfield on Saturday 2 November 2019, with our U13 boys securing a highly respectable 19th position and the injury-hit U17 men coming 58th.

Although the morning's heavy rain had eased somewhat by the time the U15 3x2km race got under way, Reading's strong team were undaunted by the challenging Mansfield course which had been made more difficult by stretches of mud churned up by previous races. A peculiarity of the Mansfield course is that because the starting point is different from the handover position the first stage is some 40 metres shorter than the other two, probably worth eight seconds or so. Ollie Craggs coped well with the jostling on the start line, and proceeded to run an excellent first leg in finishing 16th in a time of 7.00. Oli Snoxall then managed to gain four places with a good 7.21 clocking, and Chris Parker with a fast 7.13 on the final stage took Reading to a fine ninth place at the finish, only 25 seconds behind the winners. For Reading's B team, Aidan Marshall opened with a good 7.53 effort for 86th place, and Adam Methven's determined 8.06 on stage two took the team up to 64th before Adam Tivey's gutsy 8.39 gained another two places for a finishing position of 62nd.

The U13s in their 3x2km race earlier over the same course ran bravely in what was probably the worst of the weather. Samuel Lindsey-Halls competed well on the first stage to finish 27th in a time of 7.31, and Josh Smith hung on doggedly to 28th place, recording 8.10. Maddox Gillas's excellent effort of 7.38 then brought Reading through to a very good 19th place at the finish. For Reading's incomplete B team Jacob Sheikh ran well on the opening stage, recording 8.08 for 67th place, and George Godfrey's resolute running with a time of 8.55 left the team in 72nd place at the end of stage two.

Reading's U17 squad was hit by injury and unavailability, but Mattie Raynor competed well on the opening stage of their 3x3km race with a 10.10 clocking for 48th place, before Laurie Baker's determined 11.10 and Rohan Brooks's encouraging 11.22 gave the team a final position of 58th. Meanwhile inexperienced Isaac Mileham ran the opening stage for an incomplete B team, finishing 103rd in 13.00.

Report by Keith Whyte
Photos by Russell Gillas, Hannah Lindsey-Halls and Jon Snoxall.