Chichester Runners show stamina at Goodwood – and it’s a marathon not a sprint for Bognor athletes

With a high standard set at the relay championships two weeks earlier, competitive races were expected in all age groups and the many spectators were not disappointed.

Juniors – Under-11s

Chichester soon found themselves in contention in the girls’ race.

Emmy Pemberton was content to stay just behind the leaders on the opening 1000m lap and then swooped past the rest over the closing stages to record Chichester’s first win of the day with an impressive, well-judged race.

Not far behind were Maya Stair and Mia Hollands in 15th and 16th respectively with Molly Bye, 24th and Ella Franklin in 26th completing the club’s scoring. There was a top 10 finish in the boys’ race with Alfie Luxford a good 7th with Archie Holloway a spirited 31st.

Under-13s

The under-13 age group is particularly strong in Sussex at the moment so it was great to see the squad of 10 Chichester runners acquit themselves with credit.

Elodie Hill continued the excellent form she had shown in a schools’ match earlier in the week with a fine 6th place at Goodwood. Rose Pemberton had a solid run in 29th while Anna Wyatt finished 49th in her first year in the age group.

In the boys’ race, Matthew Mainwaring was up with the leaders from the early stages and looking comfortable in a fast moving bunch of athletes.

At the finish, Mainwaring was only pipped by Sussex under-15 track record holder Fin Lumber-Fry from Eastbourne and left a trail of UK top 20 runners in his wake.

Close behind was Ben Stewart in 11th with Harry Cruttenden closing the scoring for the A team in 22nd for third team place. Behind there was good packing from Max Gayle in 29th, Harry Dunne 36th, Freddie Gay 40th and Arthur Reynolds 41st to put the B team into 11th.

Under-15s

In the first of the two under-15 races, Chichester had their second individual winner of the day thanks to a well-judged race from in-form Molly Smithers.

Electing to let the leading pack take a slight lead on the opening small lap, Smithers stepped up the pace over the longer lap though the woods and was soon in third place with only the pair of Crawley AC favourites ahead of her.

Gradually she ate into their lead and swooped past over the final 800 metres to score her first ever Sussex league victory.

Carrie Anelay also made the top 10 in ninth place with Ela Pemberton completing the scoring in 15th and reserve Phebe Holloway 40th.

Their team total of 25 points was good enough for equal second place on the day.

In the under-15 boys’ race, Ben Ward ran a disciplined race over the same 4000m course and let a leading pack of a dozen athletes go off from the start at what proved to be too fast a pace.

Ward gradually reeled the pack in to finish in seventh place and well in sight of the leaders.

In probably the most hard fought race of the day, all of Chichester’s squad of nine runners packed well. Monty Hill was next to finish in 20th with Will Bailey completing the scoring for the A team in 31st and a close team fifth place.

Very close behind were Sam Cato in 33rd, Digby Fulford 37th and Will Allen 42nd for 9th team place. A good measure of the club’s depth of talent in this age group can be seen from the C team of Isaac Siddle in 44th, Sam Wyatt 44th and Dan Ellis 49th.

Senior women

Chichester’s senior women’s team hung on to their Division 1 status last season and made a spirited defence at Goodwood thanks to contributions from all ages group ranging from under-17s to veterans.

In fact there were four different age groups represented in the A team with senior Alice Cox-Rusbridge a fine 18th, over 35 Fay Cripps 26th, under 20 Cerys Dickinson 29th and Anya Barrett, still an under-17, in 35th.

The club’s B team was no less representative with two senior athletes in their early 20s, Grace Wills and Charlotte Reading being joined by top veterans Jane Harrop an over-55 athlete and nationally ranked over-65 Helen Dean scoring 35th, 39th, 44th and 62nd.

The B team is not only lying fourth in Division 2 but the veteran trio of Cripps, Harrop and Dean are currently a close third in the veterans league rankings.

Senior and under-17 men

Unlike in the women’s races, the under-17 men have their own 5000m race due to the length of the senior course at 8000m.

Both Chichester runners acquitted themselves well with Harvey McGuinness scything his way through the field over the latter stages for a fine second place, a good start to his quest for an individual medal, having been just pipped last season.

Josh Dunne ran solidly for 24th place as he builds up a strong basis for next summer’s track season.

With none of the medal winning senior quartet from the relays able to compete in the league match it was Conrad Meagher who led the club home with a fine 13th closely followed by Chi Uni student Isaac Brown in 19th.

The club were thankful that five of their veterans made up the scoring with Jason Boswell in 79th, Rick Pullen 82nd, Tim Brown 95th, Paul Stallard 114th and super-vet over 70 Peter Shaw in 135th.

TONE ZONE RUNNERS

Autumn marathon season includes races in places like Berlin, Dorney Lake, Loch Ness, London, New York and Chicago. And it’s been a busy one for Bognor’s Tone Zone Runners.

The club have had runners all around the UK competing at different marathons, with a few heading over to Berlin and Palma to fly the flag.

In late September was the Berlin Marathon, where Daryl Fairbrother and Sarah Zacal ventured over to run alongside Eluid Kipchoge as he broke a marathon world record in 2:01:09.

In good form was Zacal, who had been training harder and smarter all summer to achieve a new PB and finish below her target in 3:48:18.

Fairbrother had one goal, to get the sub four-hour marathon under his belt, Also with some smarter training throughout the summer he ran an even split race and hung on for a 3:59:23 to bag himself a personal best.

One week later was the London Marathon, Loch Ness Marathon and Dorney Lake Marathon, with a whole host of club runners taking part.

In the capital 11 of the blue and orange army pounded the streets all the way from Blackheath, across Tower Bridge, through Canary Wharf, past Buckingham Palace and down The Mall.

Jack Penfold was first home for the club just sneaking under the 2:55 barrier with a sprint finish in a time of 2:54:52.

Also running a sub three-hour marathon was Christo Oosthuizen. Despite having a tough end to his training with injuries, Oosthuizen continued to impress and finished in 2:59:08.

Anne Kari Enes was back running London once more and finished in a time of 3:42:07, just 23 seconds ahead of Max Page who made his London debut.

Kari Mack finished on the 3.50 mark just eight minutes back.

Lisa Broad was running her first London Marathon and ran an extremely controlled and well-paced race to run a PB by 1hr 44 in 4:34:07.

Lucy Brand ran with Lisa Wadey, who was running her first marathon, and both finished in 4:55:05.

John Abell was also aiming to complete his first marathon, running with a smile for 26.2 miles John finished in 5:55:29.

Good friends Karen Butcher and Rebecca Sleet, another debut marathon runner, ran together and finished one of the best marathons in the world in a time of 6.49.

Coincidently just 26.2 miles away at Dorney Lake were Jason Abell and Emma Tidmarsh, ready to complete four laps of the lake and claim their medal.

Abell, who ran at Manchester earlier in the year, managed to finish fourth overall in a time of 2:49:21.

Tidmarsh ran 10 miles with her good pal Nik, who was running the half marathon, before pushing on and running the last 16 miles very evenly to finish in a time of 5.08.

The third marathon of the day with a Tone Zone representative was the Loch Ness Marathon.

Zoe Hemes had made the pilgrimage up to Scotland to run the picturesque race. Finishing in a time of 5.05, Hemes achieved a new personal best by 53 minutes.

Just a week later were the Richmond Marathon and Palma Marathon.

In Richmond Marzena Stevens achieved a five-minute PB with a time of 3.53. Tony Holcombe was also running the marathon and finished just under the five-hour barrier in 4:59:22.

In a slightly warmer climate Mark Williamson was running the Palma Marathon, despite the undulating course and warm weather Mark finished in an impressive time of 4.06.

The final marathon of the autumn block was the Beachy Head Marathon in East Sussex, a very tough course which takes in the Seven Sisters.

Michelle Maxim was running her third Beachy Head Marathon and finished in a time of 7.14.