Burgess Hill Runners take on marathons with a twist

On Saturday Jamie Goodhead, who is in the process of joining BHR, completed a 100 mile race - the “Thames Path 100”. This ultra-marathon was the first of the marathon variants this weekend and Jamie clocked a superb time of 20:28:50 for this race (almost 4 marathons back to back!).

The second unusual marathon of the weekend was the increasingly popular “Sussex Living Marathon”, a total of 26.2 miles but split over 3 days including a 10 mile race in East Grinstead on Saturday, 10 miles in Haywards Heath on Sunday and 10k in Burgess Hillon Monday. Runners can take on one, two or all of the events for a special medal set to commemorate their huge achievement. Completing all three events were: Joe Carey (1:11:54 15th place, 1:15:17 and 1:08:31 respectively), Annette Maynard (1:27:22,1:26:14, 53:37), Lee Crow (1:27:44, 1:26:19, 51:23), Mark Craigs (1:31:53, 1:31:08, 55:12), Andy Carr (1:34:49, 1:40:00, 1:01:13), John Carey (1:41:12, 1:39:18, 1:03:43), Gary Foley (1:43:59, 1:47:49, 1:06:17), Claire Giles (1:52:14, 1:53:17, 1:09:50) and Helen Carr (2:01:02, 1:59:34, 1:14:38). Other BHR at East Grinstead were: Nigel Cruttenden (1:27:43), Julie Green (2:01:17) and Angie Bower (2:04:48). At Haywards Heath: Nigel Cruttenden (1:29:34), Simon Thompson (1:23:01) and Kelly Tomsett (1:55:54). At Burgess Hill: Jonathan Lelliott (43:44 19th place), Leigh Smith (45:32), Ross Wiggins (47:12), Matthew Cawthra (51:20), Mushtak Miah (55:46), Linda Russell (55:57), Claire Tucknott (59:12), Carole Mills (59:36), Clare Payne (1:02:49), Angie Bower (1:04:18), Malcolm Slater (1:06:08), Hannah Watkins (1:10:47) and Tracy Brownings (result not available). The ever popular Junior Academy were also in action over the weekend and were well represented at the 1 mile Junior race before the BH10k. Whilst results weren’t available, the club were proud to see many of their youngsters perform so well.

Finally, on Sunday the Three Forts Marathon took place in wet and windy conditions around three of the more challenging local hills on the South Downs. The sting in the tail of this one, if the multiple hill climbs weren’t enough, was that this ‘marathon’ actually totals 27 miles which many would say qualifies as a foray into ultra-marathon running. Mark Nicholls was the first plucky club member to finish with a fantastic time of 4:01:21 in 29th place overall. He was followed by Sharona Harrington (4:39:42), Steve Matthews (4:41:26), Darren Chilcott (4:54:44), Neil Dawson (5:05:35), Cath Beckett (5:27:29), Vicky Connolly (5:27:29), Nick Dawson (5:27:29), Philippe Ecaille (5:32:51) and Diane Delderfield (5:32:51). There was also a half marathon offering and BHR weren’t short of participants in this challenging race. Leading the club to the finish was James Sorbie (1:55:32) who was followed by Oliver Dewdney (2:14:47), Talya Caldecourt (completing her first ever half marathon aged 19 to raise money for an orphanage in Tanzania, with a time of 2:39:38), Sheryl Caldecourt (2:39:38), Hannah Watkins (2:55:08), Nina Ecroyd (2:57:38) and Helen Pratt (2:57:39).

Outside of the weird and wonderful world of marathon running, taking the famous blue colours on tour, Keith Brown completed the Shinfield 10k near Reading. Keith was pleased to complete the race in a brilliant new PB of 50:27.