Amazing Grace beats ex-Olympian

The 15-year-old Rye College pupil pulled off a superb victory for Hastings Athletic Club following her exertions running for Great Britain in Edinburgh the previous weekend.

Baker clocked 17:34 in the 5km race at Bexhill Down to beat off Beijing 1,500m Olympian Susan Scott, a Glaswegian now living in Worthing and making her debut in Sussex cross-country events.

Prior to the race Baker was unaware of the pedigree of her illustrious opponent, but such is her current level of confidence, it is unlikely that she would have run any differently had she known.

After a somewhat disappointing overall performance at the previous weekend’s county championships, Hastings athletes appeared to be inspired by running on local turf in the third Brooks Sussex League fixture of the season.

Rebecca Elphick and Louise Nash made it a Hastings AC one-two in the under-15 girls’ race, while Mat Herring and Kris Everett were runners-up in two of the male events.

The full article will appear in Friday’s Hastings Observer.