Please note: times displayed are indicative only

Times are indicative

There are also U11 races for boys and girls.

Exact location in Liverpool not known at time of publishing

Times are indicative

Please note: Times are indicative only.

Girls’ Report by Jilie Rayfield

Sunday saw a welcome return of the BBO Cross Country Championships at a new venue, Henley Showground. This must be both the most beautiful and toughest of courses, so it was rewarding to see all the Reading AC runners complete their races when others faltered.

The first girls to race were the U13s covering 3.5km. There was a very small field. Our own team of 4 being hit by 2 late Covid withdrawals, but our two debutants; Susannah and Araliya bravely lined up to face the challenge. They struck to the task and finished close together in 5th and 6th.

Next off were the U15s with 4 runners ready for the 4.3km challenge, which may have had the hardest hill of the day on the medium loop. They all showed good pace judgement to maintain or move up the field as the race progressed. Georgie, in particular stormed through the final section to move up and take a well deserved 2nd place. Alex was just 21s behind in 4th and Lucy came in 7th to complete the scoring team, with Poppy a valuable back up in 10th. The team won silver, just 1 point behind gold.

In the mixed U17 6.4km race good pace judgement over the hills and with the longer distances, was again on show as Zoe came through to get 4th and Emily L made a solid debut in 10th.

Well done to the girls who should all be proud of their performances. Full results: https://bbocca.uk/.../2000-2049/2022-BBO_Champs-Prov.pdf

Boys’ Report by Keith Whyte

Reading's small turnout of lads for the Berks Bucks and Oxon Championships at Henley Showground on Sunday meant that team medals that were there for the taking went begging. Nevertheless it was good to see those taking part compete with real courage and commitment.

In the U13 3.5km race on the tough hilly course Sam Weeks fought hard to the end, and although he was unable to match Bracknell's eventual winner, he well deserved his silver medal, as he finished 17 seconds behind in a time of 14.40. Damian Wisinski too ran committedly to the finish, managing to secure sixth place in 16.01.

The U15 team in their 4.3km race were weakened by the absence of their leading runners, and were further handicapped by injuries sustained during the race, but were all able to complete the course. They were led home by Noah Tyers in eighth position in 18.46, who had overtaken Elliott Hily on the steep hill after he had twisted his ankle. Elliott continued gamely, finishing 14th in 20.01, while James Charlton-Perez came through strongly for 17th place in 20.18, and Ollie Shears despite a significant knee problem finished two places behind in 20.31. Unfortunately the team result left them outside the medals in fourth.

Finally Ed Lewis showed a welcome return to form in the 6.4km U17 race, finishing fifth in 26.53.

Men’s Report

Sunday 20th November 2022 saw Henley Showground host the 2022 edition of the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire Cross-Country Championships. To our knowledge, this is the first time that the Senior Men’s race has been run over a shorter 8km course, as per recent changes meaning that Senior Men and Women run over the same distance.

The course was made up of one medium lap and two large laps and encompassed large swathes of Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire countryside, and with some extremely undulating sections, made for some tough running.

Sadly, this event has not fully recovered its pre-pandemic popularity, and as such there were only 41 U20, Senior & Veteran Men finishers on the day.

Continuing his fine recent form, Richard Price powered through the Henley hills to emerge in first place and comfortably win the race in a time of 29:46; as a Vet, he also topped the Vet individual standings! Next across the line was U20 Chris Parker, who had a very good run, placing 5th (and 2nd amongst the U20 standings) with 31:11 on the clock. Just behind Parker was Haider Razzaq, who also posted an impressive performance to finish in 6th place in 31:28. Fourth scorer for Reading’s men was Ben Rollings, who ran solidly to finish in 13th place in a time of 32:46. Next across the line for the Palmer Park men was Sultan Abdullah, who in spite of suffering from a stitch for much of the tail-end of the race, came through in a very respectable 19th position in 33:56. Sixth and final scorer for the A-team was Tom Nike, who ran well to finish two places behind Abdullah, with 34:11 on the clock.

Following on from Nike was James Quinn, who had a promising run to finish in 30th place in 38:04. Not far behind was ever-present Andy McDonald, with a decent 32nd place in a time of 38:52. Packing closely behind McDonald were Neil Walker and Matt Rodda, who came through in 33rd and 35th place respectively, in times of 39:09 and 39:56. Shaun Watson was the fifth scorer for the B-team and made it round in 44:40 for 40th place, and not far behind him was Gerry O’Driscoll who mastered the Henley hills to cross the line in 41st place and a time of 49:03.

As for the team rankings, the A-team just missed out on first place, as they were pipped by Abingdon by a margin of just four points, leaving them in second place with 65 points. The B-team also did well for fifth position with a tally of 211 points.

The next fixture for Reading’s Senior Men will be the Hampshire League event to be held at Kings Park in Bournemouth on Saturday 3rd December, with the race starting at 14:30. Look forward to seeing you there!

There are also U11 races for boys and girls.

Times are indicative

Entries at: https://data.opentrack.run/en-gb/x/2022/GBR/bob-lewis-memorial/

For Reading AC members only. U11, U13 & U15

Times are indicative

Entries close on 29 July.

Entries at: https://data.opentrack.run/en-gb/x/2022/GBR/ggacopen/