Eastbourne aces star at cross-country … Hailsham in hurry at Crowborough

Eastbourne Rovers' under-15s led the way at the recent Sussex Cross Country League fixture at the South of England Showground near Ardingly.

Outstanding wins came from Freda Pearce in the 4k under-15 girls’ race and Tom Petherick in the boys’ race.

On a very challenging hilly course, Freda broke away on the second lap and finished with a winning margin of nearly a minute.

Tom, in a close fought race, broke away from the lead group near the finish, along with a Chichester athlete, and finally out-sprinted his rival up the last small hill and finishing straight.

This signals a big breakthrough for Tom, whose consistent training has paid off to give him his first ever leage win.

Freda was backed up by Raya Petrova, returning to top form in third, and by the fast improving Lexie McLean, still a first year in this age group, in ninth. This sealed the team win.

They were followed by the B team runners Chae Wai (15th), Katy Brown (24th) and Grace Allitt (45th), who were all pleased to have improved since the first fixture in October.

Tom was followed by George Armstrong Smith in 6th and Teddy Jones in 20th, giving them second place as a team, a great performance as they were missing several of their teammates, two of whom were competing in the Cardiff Cross Challenge that day.

Other notable performances came in the U13 boys' race (3k) where the A team achieved second place (Byron Roberts 4th, Archie Franklin 9th and Adam Meyer 11th).

Fintan Pearce had an excellent run in the U17 boys' race (5k) where he placed third behind two boys who have run internationally. Ilya Korchev was close behind in 5th and Kaleb Berhane completed the team in 20th giving them a team position of fourth.

In the senior ladies' race, which combines U17, U20, senior and all masters categories, Eleanor Strevens was the leading Eastbourne runner finishing sixth overall and first U20.

The Masters team were delighted to win their team competiton thanks to strong runs from Jenny Brown (2nd V45), Heather Jenner (5th V35) and Katie Arnold (10th V35).

Luke Thomsett, Benjamin Brown and James Stephen had strong runs in the U20, senior men and masters combined race, with Luke placing 15th senior and Ben and James finishing ninth and 10th U20s.

The club was pleased to have complete senior and masters teams, the seniors finishing second in Division 2, the masters 10th.Other Eastbourne Rovers placings: U11 girls: Poppy Charlwood 18th. U13 girls: Chyna Wai 18th; Alicia Stone 27th; Grace Luford-Brown 32nd; Georgia Lennard 34th. U13 boys: Charlie Davey 37th; Xavier Bray 38th. Ladies: Flick Webster 20th V45. Men: Matt Southam 34th Senior; Stuart Pelling 35th Senior; Richard Davis 11th V40; Juriy Korchev 35th V40; Phil Wood 9th V50.

The next league race will be at Stanmer Park, Brighton, on December 2. The following week a record-breaking 13 U13, U15 and U17 Rovers' athletes will represent Sussex at the South of England Inter-Counties.

JENNY BROWN

HAILSHAM HARRIERS

The Crowborough 10K, now in its 36th year, formed the 12th and final race within the Sussex Grand Prix series - a series of Sussex club races held throughout February to November whereby teams and individuals compete against each other to win a range of awards.

The challenging two-lap course, organised by Crowborough Runners and events team, Nice Work, takes runners from Beacon Academy Primary, around the pretty surrounding lanes of Crowborough with an opportunity to get the feet wet through Palesgate Ford, before returning and finishing back at the Academy.

Some 312 runners took part in the 10K which saw another big turnout from local club, Hailsham Harriers. Twenty-six Harriers took part with many running course personal bests.

Adam Davies flew across the finish, first Harrier home in 40:40, followed by Men's Captain: Carl Barton in 41:35, Rob Chrystie 42:05, Graham Woolley 43:09, Graham Purdye 45:24, Ladies Captain: Helen O'Sullivan 45:44, Mark Bassett 45:59, Audrey Haddon 46:16, Gary Smith 47:51, Chris Little 48:59, Andrew Moore 49:13, Simon Haddon 49:19, Katy Reed 49:30, Sam Neame 53:53, Steph Bassett 54:58, Lee Williams 56:44, Victoria Little 57:43, Michelle Hollands 58:17, Katie Manley 59:32, Frances Delves 59:45, Louise William 1:03:25, Claire Hope 1:03:47, Julie Lewis-Clements 1:05:37, Darren Gillett 1:07:04, Roberto Proietti 1:15:55 and Maria Stanford 1:16:33

Katy Reed, Audrey Haddon and Helen O'Sullivan won the award for first Ladies Team whilst Graham Purdye, Audrey Haddon and Helen O'Sullivan were awarded first in their respective age categories.

Running alongside the 10K saw 57 runners take part in a 5K event with Hailsham Harrier, Tina Macenhill, crossing the line, second place female in a strong 23:57. Tina then went on to support and run with her fellow team mate, Maria Stanford taking part in the 10K - a true showing of the Harriers team spirit.

Hailsham Harriers now wait to hear whether they are the 2023 Sussex Grand Prix winners in the Overall Team and Open Team awards, once race results have been verified.

Hailsham Harriers would like to thank Crowborough Runners for putting on another fantastic, well organised event.

If you would like to learn more about joining Hailsham Harriers, a friendly running club for juniors and seniors, open to all abilities, please visit their website or social media pages for more information.

HELEN O’SULLIVAN

HY RUNNERS

HY Runners competed in three seperate locations over a successful weekend for the club.

In the Brighton 10k, HY’s Ross Skelton competed for Sussex in the Inter Counties Championship.

He finished third in a field of over 2,000 runners and was only seconds behind the first two home, in a time of 31:06.

Joe Moore also competed for HY and finished in an impressive 43:40.

These were great runs from both in a race that had an extremely powerful headwind.

At the Marden half marathon, eight HY runners took part with some cracking PB efforts.

First home was Aaron Bourner in 35th with a superb PB of 1:32:32. First woman home for HY was Ivy Buckland, in 40th, with a PB of 1:33:53.

She was the second female finisher.

Next was Nicky Stiles in 58th with a huge PB of 1:38:39. Emily Sims came 64th in 1:39:47 (PB), also finishing as third female. Sonnii Pine, 106th, completed in 1:48:3 (PB), Susanah Gates 115th in 1:50:00 (PB) , followed by Stewart Ide in 1:53:22 and Lisa Buchanan in 2:06:31.

Four runners competed for HY in the Verona marathon and half marathon in in Italy.

In the half marathon, with over 2,700 finishers, David Ervine secured seventh spot with a staggering 1:10:28 and David Brogan finished in a strong 1:37:06 in 773rd.

And in the marathon, with almost 1,700 entries, Carl Adams finished 100th in an amazing 2:45:37 and Jamie Webb finished in an incredible 03:10:55 in 425th.

JIMMY SLADDEN

HASTINGS RUNNERS

Kevin Blowers of Hastings Runners has ended the prestigious 2023 Sussex Grand Prix series placed first in his V5 age category.

His time of 46min 3sec at the Crowborough 10k last weekend guaranteed him the V5 title and placed him 26th overall for the male series.

For Blowers, aged 60, top slot was well deserved after scoring high points in eight races held all over East and West Sussex, beginning with the Hastings Half Marathon in March.

The Sussex Grand Prix runs parallel to the Hastings Runners Club Championship (with some common events), and has seen almost 1,000 runners from 20 running clubs competing in events staged from Rye to Hove, taking in events in Lewes, Haywards Heath, Brighton and Bewl Water among others.

For Hastings Runners, the Crowborough 10k also saw a fine run of 63:08 from Sarah Marzaioli in the V8 bracket – who ended the Grand Prix as HR’s top-placed female ranked 40th of the 402 scorers.

There were creditable GP season finishes, too, for Susan Mann in the V6 category, placed 49th, and Erica Wilson (V9) in 51st.

Although not present at Crowborough, Paul Lambert (in the Senior category) finished as HR’s highest placed male runner, 17th of 562. Andy Knight was 33rd overall and his fellow V4 Michael Norris ranked 43rd.

With the final club points tally from Crowborough yet to be confirmed and added, HR are ranked seventh overall.

Meanwhile in the Brighton 10k, Heidi Rossetter ran a PB time of 53:40 and not far ahead of her Col Turner who clocked 52:16.

Others running in green and black last weekend were Adam Holland (completing the Crowborough 5k event in 34:30) and Andy Bashford who ran the Larnaca 10k in Cyprus in 64:45.

Hastings Runners welcomes new members of all abilities aged 12 and over for fun, training and competitive running.

Visit https://hastingsrunners.co.uk

Further afield, the Crowborough 10K, now in its 36th year, formed the 12th and final race within the Sussex Grand Prix series - a series of Sussex club races held throughout February to November whereby teams and individuals compete against each other to win a range of awards.

The challenging two-lap course, organised by Crowborough Runners and events team Nice Work, takes runners from Beacon Academy Primary, around the pretty surrounding lanes of Crowborough with an opportunity to get the feet wet through Palesgate Ford, before returning and finishing back at the Academy.

Some 312 runners took part in the 10k which saw another big turnout from Hailsham Harriers. Twenty-six Harriers took part with many running course personal bests.

Running alongside the 10k, 57 runners take part in a 5h event with Hailsham Harrier Tina Macenhill, crossing the line as second place female in a strong 23:57.

NEIL JEFFRIES