Girl's Report
Thank you to all the athletes that made the trip to Beckenham for the SEAA Championships. It turned out to be a pleasant day, with good running conditions and hard racing.
The top club result on the day came from U17W Holly Haldane, who got into the small chasing pack and stuck to her task to be rewarded by a 6th place finish.
In the U15G race, Eve James got into a good position from the start and ran strongly to finish in 58th, while Georgie Langdon had to make her way through the field having been boxed in off the start. Georgie made it through to finish in 68th and just 15s behind Eve. Only another 34s behind Georgie was Alex Marden in 91st, completing the Reading trio all in the top half of the field. Unfortunately, one more runner was required for a team.
Boy’s Report by Keith Whyte
Reading's lads competed against tough opposition in the South of England Cross Country Championships at Beckenham Place Park in SE London on Saturday. Our U15 team finished 23rd, and our two runners in each of the U13 and U17 races also did well. The undulating parkland courses may have been an improvement on those used last year at the same venue, with fewer stony paths, but for many this location, in contrast to Parliament Hill, still fails to provide the real test that a regional championships should offer, especially in relatively dry conditions such as Saturday's.
In the 4.5km U15 race Maddox Gillas made a brave effort to get among the leaders, but eventually he had to settle for 21st place in a time of 14.32. Second home for Reading was Elliott Hily, who ran strongly throughout to finish 100th in 15.44, and Noah Tyers and Ollie Shears both battled well for 141st and 161st positions in times of 16.30 and 17.00 respectively. The Reading team was weakened by James Titmas's withdrawal through illness, and in the end their total of 423 gave them 23rd place. Apart from the senior women this was Reading's only team result of the day.
As expected, Sam Weeks was our leading runner in the 3km U13 race, with another fine effort for 19th place in 10.33, and Harrison Hunter continued recent good form to finish 64th in 11.14. In the 6km U17 race team captain Ed Lewis was always a little way ahead of Adam Methven, and managed to maintain his advantage as both produced strong finishes, with Ed in 71st place and Adam in 78th, as they recorded times of 20.23 and 20.33.
Well done to all who took part, and to the parents who once again gave valuable support and assistance.
Women’s Report by Debbie Taylor.
The Southern Cross Country Champs this year was held at Beckenham Place Park on Saturday 28th January.
The race was over a 2 lap course of 8k with over 400 runners competing. Weather conditions were good and fairly dry underfoot, although the athletes had to navigate different terrains with some stony parts through the wooded area which made it more difficult with spikes.
Reading AC had a successful outing with Laurie Marlow finishing in 35th. She raced the race of her life and stormed through the course looking strong every step of the way. Next up with another strong run was Lydia Blythe in 109th position. Not too far behind in 137th place was vet 50 Helen Antrum whose strength in training is showing during racing.
Next was a battle throughout between Lucy Daniells and Shirley Ann Dix who both finished together on the line with the same time but positioned 174th and 175th. Shirley was given the 4th scoring place but she couldn’t have done it without working hard with team mate Lucy.
Then Claire Mills ran her strongest race of the season in 276th followed closely behind by Millie Dainton in 287th.
Kathryn Tolson had an incident near the race start when an athlete fell badly in front of her. She showed true sportsmanship when she had to go and find help from a Marshall and about 10 minutes later continued with her race, having to pip off runners in front, finishing in an impressive 344th place. This showed true grit.
The team finished in a very strong 14th place with 47 complete teams and should all be very proud of their excellent running.
Our Under 20 team unfortunately only had one athlete (Lara Tolson) competing over the 6k course, which was a big shame. Lara ran her best race and ran strongly to finish in 21st place. She should be very proud of her performance.
Overall it was a very successful day for the athletes.
