We had a great start to the first cross country race of the season around the woods of Benyon’s Enclosure, Silchester. The ladies did us proud, as usual, with a brilliant 2nd place with 50 points (behind Basingstoke and Mid Hants. AC on 15 and ahead of 3rd place Hart Road Runners on 99).

Our men had a mighty fine 3rd place on 94 points, behind 1st placed Denmead on 29 points and 2nd placed Basingstoke on 41 points, but ahead of 4th placed Fleet and Crookham on 111.

Overall we finished in second with 5 points behind the host club Basingstoke on 3 points but ahead of third place Alton on 8 points.

Liss runners individual positions: Ladies: 8th Caroline Brown, 10th Catherine Seager, 14th Nicky Thornycroft, 18th Lara Jackson, 20th Polly Sharpe, 31st Helen Purchase, 39th Laura Batey, 41st Kate Parker, 42nd Laura Rogers, 52nd Sue Godsell, 62nd Emily White, 149th Emily Durrant and 150th Mel Jenson.

And for the men: 16th Andy Turner, 18th David Reid, 26th Andy Brown, 34th Steve Armstrong, 40th Tom Bennie, 47th Tom White, 77th Paul Turner, 78th Warwick Parker, 81st Tom Frost, 86th Andy Paton, 113th James White, 164th Kevin Durrant and 191st Neil Gwatkin.

A message from our men’s team captain Steve Armstrong: MASSIVE thank you, and well done to everyone who turned up and represented our club. 13 men and 13 women made it, I believe, a record turnout for a XC race. We had 21 at Bourne Woods last season. Warm welcome to our new members racing for us for the first time, and existing members getting their first taste of XC action. We had the perfect temperature and conditions for racing. I don't think I've ever been so clean after a XC race. I think we'd all agree it was still pretty tough going, but great fun! That's the first of 6 down. Looking forward to seeing the final results, and really looking forward to seeing you all, and hopefully even more at our next race.

Special thanks go to Laura, and Stuie for supporting the runners with childcare, photography, and the recording of scores.