THERE were some good performances from Reading AC's young athletes at the National Road Relay Championships in Sutton Coldfield on Sunday, particularly the Under 15 girls team who finished ninth, and the U15 boys team who came 11th.

On a fine autumn day at the testing Sutton Park course, Reading's U15 girls took on their 3x3.88km race.

On the first stage, Ella Botha came 23rd in a time of 15m 04secs, and Holly Haldane had a brilliant run to bring the team up to 10th with 15.00, before finally Ella Newman's determined final stage brought Reading home in ninth place with a time 15.13.

Talia Painting ran the opening stage for Reading's B team, coming in 45th with a time of 16.09, followed by Evie Elson with a strong leg to come in 33rd with a time of 15.33, and Katie Barnes then ran 17.18 to give the team 34th position.

For Reading's C team first leg runner Lola Batt ran well for 57th in a time of 17.01, and on the second leg Jemima Crocker advanced to 47th with 16.05 before Lydia Godfrey brought the team home in 38th with 16.37.

For Reading's U15 boys team, Chris Parker competed strongly on the opening stage of their race over the same course, to hand over in ninth position in a time of 12.52.

Ollie Craggs was then able to move Reading up to eighth on stage two, recording 13.23, while Oli Snoxall also ran well, although unable to avoid slipping to 11th place on the the final leg in a time of 13.46.

For Reading's B team, Aidan Marshall's good effort of 14.34 on the first leg left the team in 52nd, and Adam Tivey hung on well for 55th place on the second stage in a time of 15.38 before George Urwin-Mann was able to bring Reading through to 47th at the finish with 14.51.

There were some good runs too from Reading's C team, for whom Nick Haldane opened with 15.23 for 69th place, which Adam Methven improved to 59th with an impressive 15.02 on stage two, and Bradley West then brought the team home in 61st with 17.13.

In the U17 women's race over the same course, Naomi Harris ran a really good opening stage for ninth place with 14.54.

Renee Whalley then battled well for 27th in a time of 17.19 and Alana Chadwick's 16.25 final stage left the Reading team in 22nd.

The B team also had good runs, with first-leg runner Tessa Weavers 36th in 16.17, Oonagh O’Driscoll 35th with 16.44, and finally Lara Tolson bringing the team through to 28th place in 16.57, while for an incomplete C team Evie Warren had a much-improved run to finish 44th on the opening stage with a time of 17.24.

Mattie Rayner's determined effort of 12.42 for Reading's U17 men's team in their race over the same course gave Reading 29th on the opening stage, and Tom Rickards gained six positions with his strong 13.00 before Aryan Gupta's good run of 13.35 kept Reading in 23rd place at the finish.

For the incomplete B team, Laurie Baker ran strongly with 13.30 on stage one for 54th place, and Rohan Brooks in his first run for Reading held on well with 15.07 to leave the the team in 55th at the end of stage two.

Reading's young and inexperienced U13 teams competed impressively over the same 3.88km course.

Tommy Elson ran first for the boys team, with a fine effort to hand over in 37th place in 15.22, and Josh Smith gained 11 places on stage two with an excellent 15.06 before George Godfrey gained a further position with his determined run of 15.31 to bring Reading home in 25th place.

For the B team, Billy Newman ran a good 16.17 on the opening leg for 50th place, and Jacob Sheikh pulled the team up to 45th with a strong 16.11, with Laurie Hahn's 16.54 clocking then gaining another three places on the final stage for Reading to finish in 42nd place.

For the U13 girls, Mollie Barnes finished the first leg in a time of 18.43 for 58th place, which Emma Yeadon then improved to 44th with 17.58, and finally Caitlin Haversham in her first run for Reading came in at 18.14 to give the team a 52nd placing.

Now Reading's youngsters look forward to the challenges of the cross-country season, starting with the first of the Hampshire League fixtures at Bournemouth on Saturday.