There was another impressive victory for Reading Athletic Club's Hermione Walker in the Hampshire Cross-Country League fixture at Prospect Park on Saturday, as she led the Under 17 women to team success.

Walker dominated the 4km U17 women's race to eventually win by six seconds in a time of 14min 51secs.

With strong back-up from Abi Hancock, who finished sixth in 15.20, and Renee Whalley, 10th in 16.23, and non-scorer Oonagh O'Driscoll, 15th in 17.18, Reading AC were clear winners of the team competition, and with one league fixture remaining now have an unassailable aggregate lead.

Reading's U15 girls packed well in their 4km race, being led home by Talia Painting, who after a strong start finished in a good 24th position in 13.44, just one place ahead of Jemima Crocker in 13.55, and the scoring team was completed by ScarletTaplin in 27th (14.02), giving Reading fifth place.

Close behind came Katie Barnes in 29th in 14.13, while Anna Macklin (34th in 14.41), Evie Warren (36th in 14.52) and Camilla Linton (37th in 14.53) also ran well.

There was a fine performance too by Reading's U13 girls to finish as second team in their 3km race.

Ella Newman had a splendid race to finish fourth in a time of 11.14, while not far behind were Evie Elson in ninth place with 11.21 and Holly Haldane 10th in 11.29 with excellent runs to complete the scoring team, and move Reading up to equal second in the aggregate league table with one fixture to go.

Lydia Godfrey had another strong race finishing 19th in 12.00, and there were good runs too from Emma Yeadon (29th in 12.21), Lizzie Ryan (34th in 12.37), Lola Batt (39th in 12.47), Zoe Rennie (52nd in 13.53) and newcomer Nina Lawson (58th in 14.23).

Ben Rollings led Reading home in the U17 men's 6km race, and although he was forced to let the leading group get away, he judged his effort well to finish in eighth place in a time of 18.22.

Second home for Reading in 11th position with 18.49 was Joseph Mott with a typically strong run, and the team was completed by Mattie Raynor, who fought well to finish 18th in 19.47.

Reading's total of 37 points gave them third place in the team competition behind Aldershot and Basingstoke, with whom they tied on points for second but were beaten on the position of the final scorer.

In the U15 boys 4.3km race, Ollie Craggs had his best league race of the season so far to finish ninth in a time of 13.27. He was well backed up by strong runs from Laurie Baker and Aryan Gupta, who finished 21st and 25th respectively, recording 14.14 and 14.26, to give Reading fourth place in the team contest, while non-scorer Rhys Primrose ran well for 39th place in 16.36.

Edward Lewis was again Reading's leading runner in the U13 3km race, with his persistence gaining him 18th place in a time of 11.18.

A strong run for 25th place in 11.38 by George Urwin-Mann gave him his best league result so far, while Aidan Marshall's effort gained him 31st in 11.49 to complete the scoring team, giving Reading fifth place.

Of Reading's non-scorers, Adam Tivey overtook Nick Haldane as they finished 38th and 39th in 12.08 and 12.14 respectively, and Jacob Sheikh ran well for 45th place in 12.30.

Louie Bellanti made an impressive debut for Reading in finishing 48th in 12.48, while Elliott McCarthy and Rio Scott-Smith both kept going well to finish 53rd and 62nd respectively in 13.11 and 14.48.

In the U11 2.5km races held in conjunction with the league fixture, there were excellent performances by Georgie Langdon, fifth in the girls race in 10.28, and Josh Smith, fifth in the boys race in 9.48.

There were very encouraging runs too in the girls race from Alex Marden (9th, 10.44), Mollie Barnes (18th, 11.14), Jemimah Ogston (19th, 11.27), and Amelie Greenfield (20th, 11.38), and in the boys race from Billy Newman (12th, 10.08), Tommy Elson (15th, 10.20), Charlie Wills (17th, 10.42), Noah Greenfield (19th, 11.01) and David Stobie (20th, 11.07).

l READING AC’s senior ladies stormed home to an excellent team win in their home fixture of the Hampshire League Cross-Country at Prospect Park on Saturday, eight points ahead of Aldershot Farnham & District AC.

The scoring team of Jess Gibbon, Georgia Hayes and Naomi Mitchell led home a 19-strong team of Reading AC ladies, while the club’s veteran ladies also secured their first team win of the season, with Sarah Urwin-Mann, Sue Francis and Lucy Daniells the scorers.

Gibbon backed up her recent Oxfordshire Cross-Country Championships win to come in first, with Hayes runner-up and Mitchell fifth.

Anna Boniface finished 12th, which now places her third senior lady overall in the league standings to date, while Sarah Urwin-Mann’s 17th place finish puts her second veteran lady in the league standings.

Hannah Wright had a good race to finish 27th, while Georgia Walton and Hayleigh Wood had a close battle all the way to finish 35th and 37th, respectively.

Sue Francis (42nd) and Lucy Daniells (49th) completed the veterans scoring team.

Debbie Taylor was 59th, followed by Rachel Phillips (63rd) and Julie Rayfield (67th). Katie Hartgrove was 70th, and Charlotte Wright had a great run for 74th.

Sian Rollings (88th) and Charlotte Phillips (95th) also made the top 100. Sprinter Lee Fellowes finished 103rd, and Heidi Painting came 132nd.

On aggregate, Reading Ladies are now third in the senior team competition, and second in the veterans competition.