Reading AC Senior Ladies enjoyed a breezy 8km around a two-and-a-bit lapped course which included a couple of challenging hills and lots of gentle undulations.
Short spikes were needed as the going was very firm with several gravel path sections, with no mud in sight.
Reading had six senior ladies take to the start line: Lydia Blythe, Lucy Daniells, Jess Gibbon, Katie Rodda, Kathryn Tolson and Hayleigh Wood.
Jess led from the start and remained unchallenged throughout the race, finishing in 1st place in 28.16.
Katie had an excellent run to finish 51st in 32.36 and Hayleigh ran strongly to dip into the top 100 in 34.36.
Lydia rounded off the team score to finish well inside the top half of the field in 113th and 34.55, improving on her 2020 position by a fantastic 27 places.
This gave Reading a brilliant 7th place finish out of 40 teams. Backing up the scorers, Lucy finished in 163rd, a great run and huge improvement on her 253rd position from the Southerns in 2019, and Kathryn brought it home in 266th, leaving 100 runners in her wake.
The team are now looking ahead to the Nationals where they compete in a few weeks time.
