The Parliament Hill course is widely regarded as one of the toughest in the country and those with any form of racing experience will always tell you their love/hate relationship with the venue.

With its long uphill sections and the course always being exceptionally muddy, it is a course that whilst it's hard to tackle, it can be very satisfying to take part in.

That none more so evident for the ladies as they enjoyed a superb turn-out of athletes across the five age groups.

In fact, Reading were only one of three club's in the entire country (along with Aldershot and Tonbridge) to field complete teams in every female age group - which in itself is some achievement considering the huge amounts of clubs involved.

The highlight of the day came from Walker in the U15 girls race which was ran over a 4k distance.

Despite suffering a small injury at the end of October, Walker made her return to training before Christmas and began to knuckle down hard.

At the turn of the year she began to show some good form with plenty of positive signs as she regained her full fitness with some solid Hampshire League displays as well as some promising performances in the schools and Southern Championships.

While Walker has an abundance of talent, it takes determination and a good attitude to put that into effect and has previous results have shown, she is a big-time racer.

Having set off fast, she maintained her position in the leading group after the first lap, which from then on in she continued to get stronger and, as she entered the final field for the closing 600m, she looked in the form of her life as she almost floated across the muddy course to storm home in 9th position from a field of 379 finishers.

Coach and Team Manager, Tim Richardson, beamed: "That was undoubtedly her best race. Kirsty is the perfect example of what hard work can achieve, she has been very focussed in her training and races the last few months and her result has highlighted that."

It proved a good age group for the club. Yasmin Bartlett was the next one home in 106th place ahead of Ceri Barnes (137th) and Ella Saunders (174th) to complete the scoring team that took 14th on the day from 40 complete teams.

Claudia Rowe showed her battling qualities, as despite losing both her spikes during the race, she nonetheless continued in bare foot in the thick sticky mud to cross the line in 270th. Becky Houghton had a better performance as she finished 317th, ahead of Chloe Robertson in 339th, Grace Bedford in 341st and Abbie Cox in 344th.

Another eye-catching performance came from Hermione Walker in the Under 13 girls race ran over 3k.

An impressive 433 athletes finished the fast and frantic race and Hermione produced probably her best performance in a club vest with 84th position.

Charlotte Yeadon was next across the line in 122nd followed by Oonagh O'Driscoll (207th) and Naomi Harris (242nd) which secured 24th place for Reading from the 49 complete teams.

Georgia Whalley produced her best club performance as she took 247th position, whilst Renee Whalley had undoubtedly her best club race with a 277th place finish. Amber Hoadley was next in 349th, followed by Paige Mills in 362nd and Lucy Robertson in 385th.

The senior ladies were out in action and it was pleasing to see eight athletes taking part.

Team Captain Anna Boniface will no doubt have been delighted with her effort however and her commitment to training certainly paid dividends for the gruelling 8k race.

In all, 865 athletes finished the race and Boniface produced a very good performance to finish inside the top 100 in 98th.

Sarah Wilkins was next home in 107th. Naomi Forshaw followed in 135th place, while Rachel Phillips edged herself into the scoring team in 313th place to give the ladies an impressive 20th from the 93 complete teams.

Sue Francis was close behind as she finished 322nd, with Lucy Daniels taking 348th place. Shirley-Ann Dix tackled her first senior 8k race on this course and placed 437th, while Charlotte Phillips crossed the line in 522nd position.

Reading had four athletes complete the U20 Women's race, led home by Mollie Haines in 94th.

Katherine West was next home in 116th. Ella Saunders made her return to action for the first time in three years as she finished 125th which gave the team 13th. Emma Taylor came 128th.

The Under 17 Women opened the day as they ran over 5k.

Track specialist Georgia Walton led the way in 123rd place. Lois Meredith was next in 166th. Roisin O'Donahue secured 186th, whilst Alanna Rayfield edged her way into the scoring quarter with a good performance to cross the line in 192nd as the girls took 17th in the team standings.

Yaz Thompson took 204th, with Kate McKim crossing the line in 227th.