Category Archives: Charity

2026/27 Cross Country Opening Fixtures Report

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Reading Roadrunners kicked off the 2026/27 Cross Country (XC) season with a double header weekend. First up was a trip to the coast for the opening Hampshire League fixture hosted by Bournemouth AC on the Saturday.  Then it was off to Hillingdon on Sunday, for Metros Running Club’s Thames Valley fixture. Roadrunners Chair Tony Page reports on the action at Bournemouth, with new Ladies’ Captain Anna Balogh sharing an account of events at Hillingdon.

Hampshire League Fixture Report — Kings Park, Bournemouth, Saturday 10th October

Report by: Tony Page

Reading Roadrunners took on clubs from across Hampshire and the surrounding counties at Saturday’s Hampshire League fixture at Kings Park, Bournemouth.

The women raced approximately 6.5 km and the men 8 km, rather than the expected 10 km. Full results are available at HCCL 2026/27 – Bournemouth – Saturday 10th October | Hampshire Athletics

Women’s team

Helen Pool, Alissa Thiel and Sam Whalley secured 16th place for the women’s team against runners from 30 other clubs. Helen finished 43rd overall, 14th veteran and third in her age category. Alissa placed 91st in her first cross-country race for Reading Roadrunners, while Sam finished 104th overall and 56th veteran despite the lingering effects of a bad cold.

 

 

Men’s team

With only Tony Page and Pete Jewell competing, Reading Roadrunners could not field a scoring senior or veterans’ team. Tony finished 134th overall, 46th veteran and 19th in his age category. Pete withdrew because of sickness and did not finish but thankfully it soon passed before the car journey back to Reading.

Next fixture

Next up is our local Hampshire League fixture at Dinton Pastures on Saturday 15th November. Let’s fill the start line with green vests.

Thames Valley Cross Country League Fixture Report – Hillingdon House Farm Fields, Hillingdon, Sunday 11th October

Report by: Anna Balogh

The first event of the Thames Valley Cross Country League (TVXC) took place in Hillingdon on Sunday the 11th October. This event is organised by Metros and it’s at 4pm. A slightly unusual time for a race, it puts runners’ lunch strategy to the test. What was also unusual is the lovely weather – real summer vibes with balmy temperatures and bright late afternoon sunshine. Not a speck of mud anywhere to be seen. Will the stream even be there?

The infamous stream that this run crossed twice was, on occasion, up to waist level in previous years, providing considerable challenge to even seasoned cross country runners. This time, to the disappointment of many, and to the relief of others, it was barely ankle deep with a bit of a “sludgy” part as reported by some of our runners.

26 green vests smashed through the start line and one of them, Chris Lucas finished first after completing the course that’s just under 6 miles – well done on your great achievement, Chris! Our runners had many reasons to be proud of themselves: Liz Johnson completed her first XC race in 5 years – welcome back! A few club members tried XC for the very first time – Alice Baderin, Alex Ballinger, Matt Clover-McCann, Lauren Shaw, Zac Laschok and Fiona Paterson – the latter 2 having only been a club member for a matter of weeks, that’s dedication! Hope you all had a brilliant time and will be back at other XC races. Another notable first was Angela Burley doing this particular race for the first time ever – nobody is quite sure about how she managed to get away with it until it. Last but not least, celebrations were due for Sally Caldwell to get through the race injury- and pain-free — long may that continue.

Both our men’s and women’s teams came in third place in terms of scores – excellent work from everyone!

Scoring Reading Roadrunners women were Chloe Lloyd (77th overall); Pip White (82nd); Holly Curtayne (101st) and Liz Johnson (103rd).

From the men’s team Chris Lucas (1st overall); Alex Ballinger (20th); Fergal Donnelly (32nd); Chris Moseley (34th), Phil Hine (43rd) and Rees Cooper (49th) achieved scores. Congratulations on the excellent running from all.

Full results are available here: https://tvxc.org.uk/league-results

While the buffet food may have run out before we all managed to get some, the smiles didn’t disappear from our participating members’ faces. Thank you all for joining in the fun, and don’t forget to sign up to the remaining seven TVXC races on My Clubhouse. The next fixture is at Datchet Dashers’ fixture at The Brocas, Eton on Sunday 8th November. Hope to see you there.

RR Charity 2021/22

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I’m pleased to announce the official charity we will be representing this year is 1st Charvil Scouts Group

Charity Coordinator Vroni would like to thank all who nominated them

Further details on our charity page here.

RR Charity 2020

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Message from our Charity Coordinator Rachel Helsby charity@readingroadrunners.org

 

Charity of the Year – Parenting Special Children

I am feel honoured and privileged that members have voted for me to be the charity organiser of the year to raise money for local charity Parenting Special Children (PSC) which supports over 2,500 Berkshire families last year.

Parenting Special Children was set up by Ruth Pearce, Founder and Chief Executive in 2006 and its mission is to provide specialist parenting support to parents and carers of children and young people with Special Needs, so that they can create positive change in their lives.

The charity offers specialist parenting support to families of children and young people with Special needs and/or disability in Berkshire. From Autism, ADHD, trauma and attachment, to sleep and diagnosis support they offer a wide range of services. They also run a number of family events each year so that these families can have the sort of every days-out that other families would do routinely.

PSC also helps these families feel less isolated by running a number of support groups. For example they have a group for family members who are caring for children who cannot be cared for by their birth parents and, more recently, they have set up a dads and male carers support group which is proving very popular.  It is always good to talk.

We will shortly be setting up the charity page on our Reading Roadrunners website, and also a direct fundraising page for members who wish to raise money for the charity directly.   Money raised through Reading Road Runners will go towards funding PSC’s sleep service.  Children with additional needs are at increased risk of sleep difficulties and, as a results, parents/carers and siblings also don’t get enough sleep a key element of well-being.

I hope you will get an opportunity to learn more about the charity and the variety of work it does through meeting the volunteers at club events throughout the year. In the meantime, you can find out more about the charity by visiting their website:

https://www.parentingspecialchildren.co.uk

RR Charity page is also here https://readingroadrunners.org/charity/

As your charity organiser, I am committed to giving as much time as I can to the role and, as a very local charity, PSC volunteers are also ready to help me. I am very open to constructive ideas from members about how I can do my role and welcome advice from those that gone before me.  Please do not hesitate to come and talk to me at track on a Wednesday evening.

By raising the visibility of this charity and the work it does, I also I hope I will also encourage us all to think a little more about people that act a bit differently to the norm. To stop and think. To show a bit more compassion. And be kind. Because God knows right now the world needs a bit more of that.

Rachel Helsby

Dinner Dance 2020

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Dinner Dance & Roadrunners Charity Donation

Our club held it’s annual Dinner Dance on Sunday 8th March. Anne Goodhall who arranged the event commented ‘It went like a dream’. Our runners are normally used to pounding the track, roads & trail but last night many could be seen strutting their stuff on the Dance Floor. Awards and thanks were handed out to runners, volunteers & committee members.
One of the highlights of the evening was our Chairman Phil Reay handing our 2019 club charity First Days Children’s Charity a cheque for over £10,000 raised by our club with the help of our charity coordinator Zoë Browne.

Our Charity For 2019

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Reading Roadrunners are proud to have picked First Days Children’s Charity as their chosen charity of 2019.

It’s a local charity providing much needed essentials to children & families living in poverty. Below is a clip from their website.

At First Days we believe all children deserve the same start in life.
We provide everyday essentials to families who are living in poverty across Berkshire (and further afield) by distributing clothes, toiletries, school uniforms, equipment, furniture, toys and books.

Roadrunner Zoe Browne will be representing them at our club and first port will be Reading Half Marathon on Sunday.

We wish Zoe, Annette and her team all the best for 2019 and hopefully they can raise shed loads of much needed cash & supplies during the next 12 months.

More details available on our Charity page.