Hill’s Sargent at his best with superbeighth place finish in half marathon

It was another busy weekend for local runners, with Haywards Heath Harriers and Burgess Hill Runners well represented at Sunday’s Barns Green half marathon.

BHR had an incredible 40 members in action and there were some spectacular performances around the scenic 13.1 mile course, that includes the grounds of Christs Hospital School.

There was a superb eighth place overall out of the 1,240 runners and a new club record for this event by Paul Sargent, who clocked 1hr 19mins 24secs.

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Mark Nicholls was 36th in a new pb by 4 minutes of 1.25.44, Neil Grigg 112th in 1.33.19, James Sorbie 176th in 1.37.35 and Trevor Symes 246th in 1.41.07.

Top ladies were Sharona Harrington in 1.44.17, Alison Dunks 1.43.57, Liz Carter 1.50.45, Cath Beckett 1.52.33pb and Emma Buckland 1.54.39.

There were also pbs for Alan Fry 1.42.25 and Karen Harvey 2.11.03.

Haywards Heath Harriers were also out in force at Barrns Green, where they had a 30-strong contingent competing in warm and windy conditions.

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First Harrier home was Rob Watts, 10th in 1:19:47, followed by Steve Dallman 1:25:58 and Phil Payne 1:27:11, both also inside the first 50.

Barry Tullett was not far behind in 1:31:13, while Ann Sinnett, a former winner of the women’s race, was second Vet50 woman in 1:35:52, just 13 seconds off the club record for her age category over the distance.

Several Harriers recorded personal bests: Jack Chivers 1:32:30, Sarah Banks 1:48:52, Klara Boarder 1:57:31 and Natalie Chivers 2:01:29.

The other finishers in the race were William Herbert 1:34:54, Mike Scholes 1:37:23, Carl Bicknell 1:41:32, Ben Adams 1:42:26, Graham Jenner 1:42:37, Stuart Austin 1:43:57, Howard Booth 1:47:30, Kat Barrett 1:49:50, Colin Light 1:51:00, Marion Hemsworth, second Vet60 woman in 1:53:11, Errol Curling 1:55:45, Neal Barton 1:59;09, Peter Cobbett 1:59:29, Richard Neale 2:03:26, Deborah Day 2:05:05, Maureen Rea 2:11:21, William Davies 2:14:22, Justine Denyer 2:24:51, David Peel 2:26:53 and Jennifer Denyer 2:47:13.

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Meanwhile, on Saturday morning Andy Biggs was in contention to win the Clair Park parkrun when disaster struck. On the final lap of the 5-kilometre course he injured his achilles heel and calf muscle but still managed to hobble to the line in third place in 21:11.

Junior Patrick Kenward had better luck, setting a new personal best for the course of 24:56.

Further afield, Harrier Dave Roper posted a personal best time at the Berlin Marathon, in a speedy 3:28:20.

Several Harriers will be travelling to Chester this weekend to run the city’s marathon, which crosses the border into North Wales, and is so described by organisers as the UK’s only international marathon”.