JESS Gibbon was an impressive winner of the senior women's 6k race at the Hampshire Cross Country League match at Aldershot on Saturday.

The Reading AC runner, who was following up her victory in the previous match, left the field of more than 160 far behind to finish in 21mins 58secs, a healthy 32 seconds ahead of Aldershot's international runner Steph Twell.

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Club colleague Georgia Hayes was fourth and the first Under 20 runner to finish in 22.41, while Reading's scoring team was completed by Naomi Mitchell, who was fifth in 22.58.

Reading won the team event with a total of 10 points, nine fewer than Aldershot, Farnham and District.

Sophie Crumly was 10th in 23.47, Sarah Urwin-Mann 20th and first veteran in 24.30, Ali Bird (67th, 28.31) and Julie Rayfield (73rd, 29.00).

Other Reading competitors were Laurie Marlow (28th, 25.32), Anna Godfrey (41st, 26.38), Abi Hancock (U20, 46th, 27.13), Debbie Taylor (vet, 75th, 29.11), Lynne Henderson-Nike (vet, 85th, 30.05), Sue Francis (vet, 95th, 30.32), Caroline Stevens (vet, 97th, 30.34), Kathryn Tolson (vet, 101st, 30.35), Sian Rollings (vet, 113th, 31.39), Lee Fellowes (136th, 35.08) and Heidi Painting (159th, 41.15).

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In the U17 women's 4km race, Naomi Harris had a splendid run to finish second in 16.51, while Mia Waksman recovered from a bad start to claim ninth in 17.29. With Lara Tolson 16th in 18.43 and Evie Warren 21st in 19.56, Reading finished third in the team event.

Holly Haldane led Reading's U15 girls home in their 4km race, finishing an excellent sixth place in 17.07, one place ahead of Ella Newman with the same time. Evie Elson was ninth to give the team 22 points and second place behind Winchester.

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In the U13 girls' 3km race, Reading's Alex Marden finished 13th in a time of 13.09, with Georgina Langdon 15th in 13.18, Emma Yeadon 22nd in 13.35 and Caitlin Haversham 32nd in 14.13, earning the team fourth place.

The senior men's event was the last of the 10-race programme, leaving the runners with very muddy conditions.

Reading were led home by Dan Thorne, who was 13th with a time of 33:26.

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Will Gardner, in his first race for the club, was 17th in 33:39, Ed Stockdale 26th in 34:21, Cullum Gillett 31st in 34:35 and U20 James Fox 39th in 35:10, leaving them fourth in the team standings.

Reading's next three to finish were all O50 veterans, with Colin Simpson 174th in 42:29, Gerry O'Driscoll 229th in 47:00 and John Whittle 263rd with 57:02.

In the U17 men's 6km event, Mattie Raynor was seventh in 21.53, Laurie Baker 20th in 23.17 and Rohan Brooks 25th in 23.44, giving Reading third place in the team competition.

Chris Parker led the Reading U15 boys home in the 4km event, finishing sixth with a time of 15.25. Five second behind was Ollie Craggs in seventh. Oli Snoxall was 10th in 15.53 and Nick Haldane 44th place in 17.25, giving Reading second place behind Aldershot in the team result.

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First home for Reading U13 boys in the 3k race was Maddox Gillas, who was eighth in 11.28. George Godfrey (12.42) was 33rd place, while Finley Hannigan and George Bundy finished 37th and 38th respectively with the same time of 12.48. Myles Bartlett was 53rd in 13.54 in only his second race for the club, who were fifth in the team list.

In 1.5km U11 races held in conjunction with the league competition, there were promising runs from Isobella Wood, who was sixth in the girls' race in 6.58, and Sebastian Clark, 24th in the boys' event with 7.15.

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