U15 & U13 Boys at Loughbourough Inter-Counties Cross Country Champs.

Eddie and Joseph lead Berkshire U17s to 11th in Inter-Counties.

A number of Reading's lads represented Berkshire in the Inter-Counties Championships on a muddy course at Loughborough on Saturday, with mixed fortunes.

In the 6km U17 race Eddie Steveni was the leading Berkshire runner, finishing in an excellent 32nd place in a time of 22.22. Joseph Mott continued his recent good form with 62nd position in 22.57 as Berkshire's second scorer, helping the team to a very respectable 11th place, while among the non-scorers for Berkshire was Tom Nike in a good 104th place in 23.38.

For the U15 Berkshire team in their 5km race, the reliable Laurie Baker was Reading's leading runner, finishing in 195th place and third home for Berkshire in 21.11, but Tom Rickards found the going tough, finishing as the team's fourth and final scorer in 202nd position, recording 21.16, and Mattie Raynor unfortunately lost a shoe in the mud soon after the start and was forced to retire. The
Berkshire team finished 35th.

Reading had two runners in the Berkshire team which finished 29th in the U13 3km race, but although Fraser Bradshaw kept going well, he was outside the scoring team in 252nd place in a time of 15.14, while Ollie Craggs was another to fall foul of the tough conditions, having to retire at around halfway.

A number of the Reading squad will be competing again this Saturday in the final cross country event of the season, the English Schools Championships at Leeds.

Report by Keith Whyte