Congratulations to Reading ACs Mia Waldmann, Sophie Crumly and Vicky Hiscock who combined to great effect to replicated last season’s results at the Southern Cross Country Relays at Wormwood Scrubs, London on Saturday 17 October. The trio claimed a terrific silver medal after a very close battle with Belgrave Harriers and Thames Valley Harriers for the medal places.
Mia led the team away with a terrific run, bringing the team back in the lead as she clocked 9:56 over the 3k course. Sophie ran the middle leg and held her form well, battling hard with the Belgrave athlete to keep the team in the medal positions, handing over in 2nd. On the anchor leg Vicky produced a blistering performance, in the process clocking the second-fastest time of the day with 9:44 to fend off the TVH athlete and cross the line 2nd to secure the silver medals.
Lara Tolson, Shirley-Ann Dix and Lucy Daniels combined for the B-team, all givingdetermined effort. Lara was tasked with leading her team away and she mixed it well on the frantic opening leg, covering the course in 10:55. Shirley kept her team in the mix with a solid effort, leaving Lucy to close the race out and bring the team back in 17th position.
For the senior men’s A team Luc Jolly started although was not in the best of shapes after working abroad and came in in 7th position in 13:05 mins. Charlie Madeleine took over the second leg was just 2 seconds slower than last year, recording 14:00 mins. On the 3rd leg, Robbie Bradford was not quite as fast as last year, clocking 14:39 mins. Running the final leg was Jonathan Hiorns, who was having his first cross-country race for us and brought the team home in 7th place with a time of 15:05 mins.
For the senor men’s B team Adam Rennie opened with a great time of 14:13 mins. Adam handed over to Sandeep Simon who ran 11 seconds faster than last year, finishing in 16:06 mins. On the 3rd leg, Mike Twomey was not at his best and ran 18:02 mins before handing over to Matt Rodda was having his first run after injury and finished in 15th place with a time of 18:33.
For the younger Junior endurance Group athletes there was a fantastic start to their cross-country season with some brilliant racing, teamwork and club spirit throughout the day!
U14 Girls – 15th
Briony, Naomi and Lily combined really well to finish in 25:27.
A brilliant club cross-country debut for Lily, who flew around the final leg in 7:30, recording the 4th-fastest final leg of the U14 Girls’ race!
U14 Boys
Solomon and Ted gave Reading a great effort over the opening two legs. Unfortunately, we were unable to field a third runner. Solomon got the team off to a strong start in 7:34, with Ted in his first race for Reading following in 7:54.
U16 Boys A – 5th
A superb performance from Ted, Wilf and Noah, who produced our highest team finish of the day in 19:45. Ted clocked Reading’s fastest 2km leg of the day with an excellent 6:28, backed up by strong runs from Noah (6:37) and Wilf (6:41).
U16 Boys B – 10th
Joshua, Fergus and Irving combined brilliantly to finish in 20:19, putting both Reading U16 Boys teams inside the top 10. Joshua ran a superb 6:35 opening leg, with Irving (6:50) and Fergus (6:54) completing another excellent team performance.
U16 Girls – 24th
Great determination from Iris, Imogen and Josie as they battled hard to finish in 26:38. Iris opened strongly in 8:30, Imogen followed in 9:33, before Josie in her first race for Reading brought the team home with a strong 8:35 final leg.
U18 Girls – 9th
Victoria, Stephanie and Brooke produced another great team performance to secure a top-10 finish in 35:59. Victoria led our 3km runners with an excellent 10:43, followed by Stephanie (11:40) and Brooke (13:36) to bring the team home in 9th.
A brilliant first relay event of the season and a day full of teamwork, determination and Reading AC spirit!
Well done to every athlete who pulled on the Reading vest, and a huge thank you to our coaches, team managers and families for all their support.