TWO magnificent runs from Chris Reynolds and Jonathan Hassell put Woodford Green into the silver medal position at the halfway stage of Sunday's South of England road relay championships at Aldershot.

Reynolds gave the club a good start, running strongly to record the fifth fastest overall time of the day. Jonathan was quickly overtaken by eventual winners Aldershot, but he soon overtook the Windsor runner to stay in second place.

Greg Highton ran well over the first part of the course, but a stitch meant that he dropped to seventh. Daniel Crump held on to this position to give Woodford Green their best place in the under-15 age group for some time.

The under-17s were led off by Jonathnn Powell, who ran well to finish tenth. Paul Manson, suffering from a cold, dropped a few places but Jamie Cromie managed to pull one place back.

On the last leg, Andrew Abley ran strongly over the last part of his stage to put Woodford Green into 18th position, six better than last year.

The first of the five races in Woodford Green's schools cross-country league took place last week at Ashton Playing Fields. With 13 primary schools and secondary schools taking part, there was a feast of racing with honours widely shared. First winner was Louise Webster (Snaresbrook College) who had a good lead at halfway but had to call on all her determination to hold off the fast finishing Sylvia Nyamaah (Chingford Hall) with both being given the same time.

Chingford Church of England School packed their runners in the best to take the team competition, well ahead of Woodford Green Prep and Forest.

Forest made amends in the boys race with an easy win ahead of Woodford Green Prep and St John's, Buckhurst Hill. In this race, Adam Freeman (Avon House) had a good win, improving on his top ten place of last year. Just behind Mark Gradosielski (Woodford Green Prep) and Daniel Hurd (St John's) took the minor places.

The secondary schools races were equally exciting, with the top ten in the boys race all being winners of Woodford Green's primary league in previous years.

First home was Bertie Powell (Forest) who stormed into the lead on the first lap and was never headed. Thomas Bristow (Forest) pulled back some of the lead on the second lap but was seven seconds behind at the tape.

Third was Adrian Paul (Forest). With this packing, Forest were easy winners of the team event.

Roding Valley finished second with Heathcote third. In the girls race, Roding Valley proved strongest with Bancroft's just beating Davenant for second place.

The race winner Amanda Nicholson was worried at the start that she would not be able to make the distance, but held off Charlotte Dale (Forest), winner of the primary league races two years ago. Hayley Woods (Roding Valley) finished third.

Orion Juniors also started their cross-country season by competing in all three age groups -- under-13, under-15 and under-17 boys -- at Aldershot.

The under-13s ran well. Joe Harding clocked 13min 14sec, Gregory Bonser 13min 43sec, Danny Shaw 12min 57sec and Andrew Young 13min 32sec. The team finished 21st.

In the under-15 3,000m, James Young ran the first leg and handed over to Sean Reilly. Young's time of 10min 31sec brought him in ninth. Reilly ran 11min 47sec, Edward Kennedy 12min 43sec and Ryan Reed 13min 17sec. The team finished second from 30 starters.

In the under-17 3,000m, Kieron King ran the first leg and finished 32nd. Daniel Holder was 33rd. King's time was 11min 08sec. Holder's was 12min 16sec.

Martin Clarke had a good run to pull the team into 28th, clocking 10min 17sec. Thomas Pounds, the Essex 3,000 metres champion, ran a fast race, finishing in 9min 35sec, to bring the team in 23rd out of 35.

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