1,000+ runners set for link road 10k

The unique event, which is being organised by the Bexhill and Hastings Lions Clubs, will take place tomorrow (Sunday), starting at 10.30am.

The race will be a chance to run along the Combe Valley Way, as the new £100m+ link road has been named, before it’s opened to traffic.

Race director Eric Hardwick said: “We’ve had a lot of help from the road contractors and it’s all coming into place nicely. The event is not about prizes, it’s simply about taking part. Hopefully it will be a nice family occasion.”

Based at Bexhill Leisure Centre, the run will start just north of the London Road junction and will head 5K out to near the Queensway junction in St Leonards and then 5K back to the start.

Around 1,130 entries had been received by the middle of this week. Entries will still be available online at www.hastings-half.co.uk prior to Sunday and at the venue on race morning itself until the 1,200 limit is reached.

Entries are open to all runners aged 15 upwards. All finishers will receive a special commemorative brass and a free souvenir programme will be available.

In terms of who might be battling it out to win the race, Jeff Pyrah (race number 170) will be a strong contender having finished third in the 2015 Hastings Half Marathon and fourth last year.

Also likely to be in the mix are two of Pyrah’s clubmates at Hastings AC in the form of Max Thomas (886) and Daniel Anderson (1026).

Thomas is a former winner of the Hastings Runners Five-Mile Road Race and came third in the Sussex Cross-Country Championships this year, while the evergreen Anderson has been the leading local runner in the Hastings Half Marathon a number of times down the years and was runner-up in the Hastings 100th Anniversary Marathon seven years ago.

The race for the distinction of being the first lady, meanwhile, appears very much up for grabs.

By taking part, runners will be passing through 10,000 years of history. Each kilometre of the undulating course will be represented by an historical time zone which has been discovered, from palaeolithic through to modern.

The organisers of the event are grateful to Hochtief Taylor Woodrow Joint Venture, who have given permission for the race and are sponsoring the project.

* THE ninth annual running of the Big 10K along Bexhill seafront was due to have taken place tomorrow morning as well, but the race has been postponed.

A line on the Big 10K website reads: “2015 race has been postponed due to another 10km race in the town clashing dates.”

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