Chichester athlete Helen tops UK rankings after fab five-mile effort

At the Victory 5-mile road race in Portsmouth on Sunday, Helen Dean capped a wonderful year by setting a new personal best of 34min 45sec to catapult her to the top of the National UK rankings in the over-65 category.

Not only is Dean over a minute faster than her closest rival in the 2022 rankings and a full two minutes faster than the third placed runner, but her time lifts her into third place in the UK all-time rankings, by far and away the best national standing by any member of the club in its 38-year history.

Not content to rest on her laurels, Dean also passes on her expertise to Chichester’s new batch of juniors as well as joining in with Chichester University students in a weekly tough interval session where she leaves some of the students standing.

Sussex Cross Country League

Cross country runners of all ages travelled to Stanmer Park, Brighton, on Saturday for the third fixture in the Sussex Cross Country League.

Conditions underfoot were conducive to a fast pace but a strong, chilly easterly wind coupled with hilly terrain made the races a stern test for all the competitors.

First off for Chichester were regulars in the under-11 races Emmy Pemberton and Levi Pearce, who finished well up in 7th and 19th respectively.

For the under-13s, the girls showed fine team packing to finish 4th with 48 points with Elodie Hill leading the club home in 9th closely followed by Rose Pemberton in 16th and Daisy Hillyer 23rd.

Things were even tighter in the boys’ race with Harry Cruttenden just edging out teammate Max Gayle in 20th and 21st respectively. Bringing the team home was Arthur Reynolds in 35th for a team total of 76 points and 8th team placing.

Chichester most successful junior team this season has been the under-15 girls and again they lived up to their form.

Mollie Smithers, winner of the first two meetings at Goodwood and Ardingly, had to be content with 7th place at Brighton but this still represents a fine first season in the age group, having moved up from under-13s last year.

Ela Pemberton was a good 11th with Carrie Anelay 16th and Millie Isitt a good back-up in 28th. The team total of 34 points keeps the team in line for end of season team medals.

It was good to see Stanley Wilkes back in action after a nasty cycling accident in the summer and he led the team in 16th, followed by Will Bailey in 27th and Same Cato 29th. Just edged out of the scoring team were Digby Fulford in 30th and Sam Wyatt in 37th showing Chichester’s depth of talent in this age group.

Chichester’s senior teams were below strength but those who competed made up for a lack in numbers.

Improving under-20 Callum Lorimer led the club home in a very competitive men’s race in 46th followed by Mikeey Kwoka in 77th and the veteran pairing of Steve Davy and Jason Boswell in 103rd and 104th respectively.

Fresh from his fine achievement as West Sussex Fun Run League, team manager Peter Anderson brought home the whole field of 165 runners in fine style.

It was an all veteran showing in the women’s race with Fay Cripps again on good form to finish 28th, 6th over-35 across the line.

Nadia Anderson was 64th overall and 4th in her over-55 category while evergreen Wendy Whelan was 107th and second over-65 to finish.

UKA Cross Country trials

Two Chichester Runners had the honour of running in the UKA European Championships Cross Country Trials at the end of November with both acquitting themselves with credit.

Held over the tough Sefton Park course in Liverpool, Ned Potter had one of the best runs in his career to date with an excellent 16th place, a mere 30 seconds off a selection place for a GB vest to run in the European Championships in Turin this Sunday.

In the women’s senior race, Beth Garland made the trip down from Scotland, where she is based, to finish 37th in a strong field led home by Olympian Jess Judd.

Both plan to line up in the Sussex county championships in Bexhill on January 7 aiming to gain individual medals and places in the Sussex team for the National Inter-Counties in Loughborough in March.

Tone Zone

Bognor’s Tone Zone Runners presented Frame Of Mind CIC with a cheque for £3,647.

The money was raised by Tone Zone Runners and Rotary Club of Bognor Hotham following the successful running of the 2022 Bognor 10k, which returned for its first year since the pandemic.

Paul from Frame Of Mind CIC received the cheque on behalf of the charity. Paul described how the money would help the charity to continue to do more amazing things for people in the community.

Ian from Frame Of Mind CIC said: “It has been a great honour for Frame Of Mind to be chosen as the Bognor Prom 10k charity partner this year and these donations have meant even more in these difficult times. We’d like to thank everyone from the Bognor Hotham Rotary and Tone Zone Runners for all their help and support."

Frame Of Mind provides vocational training and wellbeing places for adults with mental health issues, learning disabilities or dementia.