READING AC’s youngsters competed well at Bournemouth on Saturday in the opening fixture of the Hampshire Cross Country League, with the Under 17 women winning their race decisively and the U17 men finishing an excellent third.

Individually, there were second-place finishes for U17 Hermione Walker and U13 Holly Haldane.

The U17 women ran superbly in their 4km race over a fast and mainly flat course to finish as clear winners from Aldershot.

Walker was again on top form, finishing in 15min 24secs, and there were fine runs, too, from Naomi Harris (15.45) in fifth place and Georgia Whalley (16.08) in eighth to complete the scoring team.

Alannah Chadwick (16.20) was close behind in 10th, followed by Lara Tolson (17.12) in 14th and Oonagh O’Driscoll (18.04) in 25th.

In the 6km, U17 men’s race, Mattie Raynor was Reading’s leading runner at first, lying in fifth position until dropping out with stomach problems.

It was left to Ben Rollings and Joseph Mott, running together, to take up the challenge, and towards the finish the latter pulled away to come through strongly for seventh place in a time of 21.19, while Rollings held on well to finish 11th in 21.35.

Olly Moor completed the scorers, finishing 19th in 22.59 to give Reading third place behind Aldershot and Andover.

For the U13 girls in their 3km race, Haldane ran brilliantly to finish in 12.08, just a second behind the winner.

Next home was Lydia Godfrey with a good run for 27th place in 13.18, followed by Emma Yeadon in 40th place with 13.50 to complete the scoring team and give Reading a sixth place finish.

There were good runs too from Lola Batt (14.07) in 46th place and Zoe Rennie (14.11) in 49th.

The U13 boys team in their 3km race were led home by Aidan Marshall, who battled well to finish 14th, recording 11.43.

Next to finish was George Urwin-Mann, whose strong running gained him 32nd place in 12.10. The scoring team was completed by Adam Tivey, who competed well for 40th with a time of 12.24, giving Reading a finishing position of fifth.

Outside the scoring three, Nicholas Haldane ran determinedly for 57th place in 12.50, and Elliott McCarthy persevered for 80th in 13.30.

In the U15 boys’ 4km race, Reading suffered an early blow when Ollie Craggs was forced to pull out feeling ill in the first kilometre.

However, Laurie Baker fought hard to lead the team home in 30th position with a time of 14.43, and Ben McCabe ran strongly for 32nd in 14.53.

Daniel Cleare completed the scoring team with a determined effort for 57th place, recording 16.17, to leave the team in eighth place, and Elio Babb was not far behind, finishing 63rd in 16.37.

For the U15 girls in their 4km race, Talia Painting was Reading’s leading runner, finishing in 36th position with a time of 16.57, followed by Katie Barnes (17.33) with a good run for 40th place, and Hollie Cramner, whose persistence gained her 59th and gave Reading 11th place in the team contest.

Meanwhile in the 2km U11 races, not part of the league proper, Alex Marden and Molly Barnes ran well in the girls race to finish fifth and 14th with times of 8.36 and 9.09 respectively.

In the boys’ race, Charlie Wills came 28th with a time of 8.47 and Jayden Burles-Nash was 49th with 9.38, both showing promise for the future.