Reading Athletics Club played host to the third Hampshire League Cross-Country fixture of the season.
Prospect Park would be the venue for the proceedings, and one small lap followed by two larger laps totalling approximately 9.25km would await the men in red, white and blue.
As was to be expected for a fixture held in the middle of January, conditions underfoot were somewhat slippery, and the runners would have to navigate their way around some particularly treacherous sections of the park, in particular the steep downhill stretch at the far end of the course.
With a pack totalling more than 200 runners from various clubs across the South of England, home advantage meant that Reading’s men were out in force, with a total of 18 runners ranging from U20 right through to V60 lining up on the start line.
The mud and undulating terrain were no match for Dan Thorne, as he successfully made his way around the course to cross the finish line in 6th place in a time of 31:49, making him the first Reading man home.
Close behind him was the in-form Isaac Farnworth, who finished in 7th place with a clocking of 31:59. Making it three Reading men in the top-10 was James Rennie, who was 9th in 32:26; Rennie was also the first U20 finisher, 58 seconds ahead of his closest rival.
4th scorer was Richard Price, who came through in 23rd position in a time of 33:27, enough to earn him a very impressive 2nd place ranking amongst the Vets.
The fifth and final scorer was Sarab Dhillon, who posted another very decent performance to finish in 28th position in a time of 33:53.
Not far behind Dhillon was Ryan O’Brien, who, in spite of an unfortunate incident involving a concrete pillar earlier on in the week, managed to get round in a very respectful time of 34:55, earning him 42nd position. Following on from O’Brien was Haider Razzaq, who ran a very good race for his Reading AC debut to come through the finishing funnel in 44th position, and 35:12 on the clock.
Next through was Tom Nike, who as always had a solid outing to get himself home in 55th position, and a time of 36:20. Arturo Martínez de Murguia continued a run of good form to be the next Reading man home, positioning himself in 76th place, with Vet Jeff Titmas not far behind in 37:56, the two of them clocking 37:16 and 37:56 respectively.
The next man through was David Lewis, who is just beginning to get back into fitness, and who was just outside of the top 100 in 108th position, with a time of 39:16. U20 Aryan Gupta was not far behind David, having a decent run to cross the line in 39:46, earning him 116th place.
Veteran Charlie Madelaine mastered the mud to earn himself 135th and a time of 41:19, followed by Andy McDonald, who rounded off a solid afternoon of running with 158th position and 43:52 on the clock.
Hot on the heels of McDonald was Neil Walker, who successfully navigated the course in a time of 44:19, giving him 163rd place. Fellow Vet Sergej Filippov was just two places behind Walker, crossing the line in 165th position, and with 44:29 on the watch.
Finishing in 197th place was George Reich, who ran a time of 48:27, and rounding off the Reading contingent was Gerry O’Driscoll, who had a very decent outing to finish in 203rd position, and a time of 48:57.
In terms of the team results, as always the first five runners formed the scoring team. With an impressive tally of 73 points, this was enough for a very decent third position behind AFD (38 points) and Southampton (49 points); this cements us into third place after three fixtures.
As for the individual rankings, Richard Price is currently joint leader amongst the Veterans, along with James Baker of City of Portsmouth AC. Dan Thorne is ranked in seventh position across on the Senior Men’s leaderboard.
A reminder that the fourth fixture of the Hampshire League will be held on Saturday, February 19 at Popham Airfield near Basingstoke, so I look forward to seeing all of you there! As always, a big thank you to Ray Stevens for all his organisation as team manager.
