READING AC's youngsters ran well on Sunday in the opening fixture of the autumn/winter season, the South of England Road Relay Championships at Crystal Palace, with the stars of the day being the Under 15 girls team with an impressive fifth-placed finish.

In their 3x3.1km race, Ella Botha (11m 32secs), Ella Newman (12:07) and Holly Haldane (12.02) ran well, while the B team of Evie Elson (12:29), Talia Painting (13:02) and Katie Barnes (13:01) combined to finish 26th.

The U15 boys of Ollie Craggs (10:56), Edward Lewis (11:44), Chris Parker (10:31) and Oli Snoxhall (11:05) came 13th in their 4x3.1km race

The B team of Aidan Marshall (11:46), Adam Tivey (12:35), Bradley West (14:03) and Nick Haldane (12:53) ended in 39th, while the incomplete C team of George Urwin-Mann (11:45), Gregor Jones (13:51) and Elliot McCarthy (14:05) were 46th at the end of stage three.

In their 4x3.1km race, the inexperienced U13 boys team of Josh Smith (11:37), Jacob Sheikh (13:10), George Godfrey (12:20) and Tommy Elson (12:01) finished 18th, while Billy Newman, as the only B team runner clocked 12:40 to be 32nd on the first stage.

The U13 girls race format was 3x3.1km, and Olivia Botha (13:14), Emma Yeadon (14:22) and Molly Barnes (14:36) took 36th while in the incomplete B Team Georgie Langdon had a time of 13:22 and Zoe Rennie ran 14:26.

For the U17 men in their 4x4.8km race, Mattie Raynor (16:06), Laurie Baker (16:51), Aryan Gupta (16:30) and Tom Rickards (15:55) combined for 19th, while the incomplete B team of Sam Kral-Waters (18:28), Isaac Mileham (19:34) and Ben McCabe (18:06) were 39th at the end of stage three.

In the U17 women's 3x3.1km race, Naomi Harris (12:12), Renee Whaley (13:02) and Lara Tolson (13:13) were 25th.

For the B team, Oonagh O'Driscoll (13:27) Tessa Weavers (13:18) and Evie Warren (13:51) finished 39th.