Hastings athletes are kings of castle at Herstmonceux – and young guns shine on track

They crushed the opposition to finish 76 seconds clear of runners-up Eastbourne Rovers.

Their time of 30.14 was nearly two minutes faster than last year, at an average pace of 5.02 per mile.

The club fielded five out of the 59 teams taking part in this long-standing popular event, organised by Hailsham Harriers, with teams of four tackling a challenging 1.5-mile mixed terrain loop within the castle grounds.

Finlay Goodman ran a blistering first leg with the quickest time of the night in 7.12 to open up a 25-second lead on their nearest rivals, despite being nearly knocked over by a stray deer halfway round.

The lead was up to 60 seconds following a fine second leg by Matthew Draper in 7.26, which was further extended by Jack Madden, who posted 7.48 on the third leg (a great effort having run a 4.23 PB for 1500m at Tonbridge the previous evening).

That left Will Withecombe to bring home the baton on the final leg - he also clocked 7.48 despite being held up by lapped runners on the long, uphill woodland drag.

The senior men's B team (aka Adam & The Ants) finished well up the field in a time of 35.25, averaging 5.54 per mile pace.

Adam Weller, who was in last year's winning men's team, got the Ants off to a flyer with an opening leg of 8.25.

This was backed up by very consistent runs from Martin Noakes (9.03), Andrew Shipilov (8.57) and Darren Barzee (9.00).

The ladies’ vets team (Claire's Cool Cats) also put up a great performance, posting a time of 39.19, which was 18 seconds quicker than the senior ladies team recorded when coming 2nd last year.

Claire Thomas got the team off to a great start with a 9.23 opening leg, followed by Amy Rodway (10.00), Laurine Waille (10.23), with Fleur Record- Smith on the anchor leg producing a storming finish to clock 9.33.

Both Laurine and Fleur were competing in their first relays. Average pace was 6.33 per mile.

The Senior Men's C team (Jamie's Jesters) were indebted to a fine anchor leg by Dave Turner (8.51), who overhauled a 55-second deficit to reel in the HR men's vets team and almost catch the ladies vets.

Their time was 39.30, which was an average pace of 6.35 per mile. Times were Romey Jondorf 10.48, Steve Stanley 9.38 and Jamie Kennedy 10.13.

The men's vets team (Andy's Amigos) started the final leg almost level with the ladies’ vets, but eventually finished 20 seconds adrift in 39.40, averaging 6.37 mile pace.

Times were Andy Knight 9.42, Stephen Ingram 9.55, Martin Turner 10.08 and Neil Jeffries 9.55.

Due to some issues with the results regarding the ladies teams, final positions have yet to be published.

NICK BROWN

HY RUNNERS

Four of HY Runners’ Under-13 athletes travelled to Lee Valley in London to compete in the South of England Championships.

Isabella Buchanan, Florence Tewkesbury and Aiden Larkin were all competing in the 800m semi final – with the top two going through to the final.

Sophie Smith completed the fabulous four and competed in the 100m and 200m.

Buchanan continued her fine form running the fastest time out of the three semi-finals to secure her place in the final, clocking 2:21:39.

Larkin battled the windy conditions finishing just outside of the qualifying spots in third place in a time of 2:28:08 while Tewkesbury finished in a solid fifth place in 2:42:29.

Meanwhile Smith secured second place in her 200m semi-final, clocking 28:94, qualifying for the final which was raced later on the same day where she placed seventh.

The next day saw the final of both the 800m and 100m for the HY stars.

Buchanan’s class once again shone through as she secured the title of South of England 800m champion by running yet another PB of 2:17 in a brilliant race.

Smith, who has only been running for eight months, showed everyone that she’s one to watch as she finished her 100m final in sixth place in a time of 14:60.

Head coach Terry Skelton was understandably proud of all the performances put in by the U13s over the weekend, acknowledging that the future looked extremely bright for the club.

DEB READ