Nevertheless they were unable to prevent Aldershot from completing a trio of aggregate victories, with Reading finishing as runners-up in all three age-groups.

In the 3.2km Under 13 race, Zak Colvin, Ben Rollings and Joseph Mott were in the leading group from the start, with Ethan Howes not far behind.

In the final kilometre, Colvin opened a significant gap over Rollings and, although McLuckie of the Isle of Wight finished strongly and overtook Rollings towards the end, Colvin judged his effort well and came home to win in 11:07.

Rollings had another fine run, finishing a close third in a time of 11:09, while Mott, despite dropping a couple of places towards the finish, had his best league result of the season in seventh place, recording 11:32, and giving the team an unassailable 11 points for a clear victory over Aldershot on the day, although they had to settle for second place on aggregate.

Ethan Howes also finished in his highest league position in 20th in a time of 12:23. Individually, Colvin and Rollings picked up the silver and bronze aggregate medals, just reward for a series of races in which they have always been at or near the front.

The U15 team in their 4.2km race produced an equally dominant performance, winning by 21 points from Camberley.

Chey Kemp and Nick Wiltshire gave the favourite, Zak Mahamed of Southampton, a very hard race before Mahamed was able to surge away with around a kilometre to go.

However, Kemp renewed his challenge and was closing rapidly before being forced to concede victory, finishing in second place in a time of 13:13, just one second behind the winner.

Wiltshire, who is improving with every race, had an excellent run for third in 13:20, and behind him it was Sam Rodda who completed the scoring team in a fine eighth place, recording 13:57.

Eddie Steveni's typically determined effort gained him 12th place in 14:05, while Bradley Ware, in only his second appearance for Reading, ran a steady well-judged race for 30th in 16:03.

Despite four team victories in five races, a sixth position in the second race when key runners were unavailable meant that Reading lost out to Aldershot by the narrowest of margins in the aggregate team competition, with the tied positional points score being resolved in Aldershot's favour by the total team points score in the five races.

Individually, Kemp gained a well-deserved silver medal on aggregate, with Wiltshire placed sixth.

In the U17s, 6.1km race, no-one was able to live with Southampton's Mahamed Mahamed, who won by 26 seconds.

Reading's leading runner was Mikey Lennon, who was back to his pre-Christmas form with a great race for third in a time of 19:41.

Peter Cook battled his way to ninth place in 20:08, and Alex Sutton ran strongly for 10th, recording 20:38.

Michael Anderson also had a good run for 12th place in 21:10, and Jack Harlowe's efforts earned him 23rd as he recorded 23:38.

Reading's team total of 22 was good enough for second behind Aldershot, and maintained their aggregate second place in the league.

In the individual aggregate positions, Lennon inished in a fine third place, with Cook in fourth.

It was another encouraging day for Reading's young distance runners, but the really significant tests are still to come including the National Championships at Parliament Hill in a fortnight's time.