Hastings athletes praised for Sussex Masters cross-country efforts

The cross country season is well and truly in full swing – and HY Runners are loving it.

Always a highlight of the racing schedule, winter is about trails, mud and woodland as runners show their gritt and determination, and with much of the past two years of cross country being cancelled, this year’s has been eagerly anticipated by enthusiastic runners.

One of the highlights of cross country season is the Sussex Masters championships, which were held last Saturday at Coombe Farm, Lancing.

The course is two laps of a2.25 mile route on sweeping downland, complete with approximately 400ft of elevation.

It also has a cattle grid but this can be bypassed by gates on either side to add to the challenge.

HY Runners’ very own cross country queen Jenna French certainly rose to the challenge and excelled in her run to claim the bronze medal position, third lady overall, with a fabulous overall time of 32:23 to continue a succesful cross country season so far for her.

Her bronze is added to her silver medal as part of the team prize at the Sussex championships in Bexhill a couple of weeks earlier.

In the men’s race Jamie Webb turned on the gas to produce a scintillating run to be the first HY Runner home with a sensational time of 30:56, marginally outside the medals but a fantastic individual run and his best run of the season so far.

Carl Adams followed close behind for HY in 31:35, while Terry Puxty, also of HY, produced a strong run to come home in 32:08

HY head coach Terry Skelton said: “What a fabulous day it was and put on so well by Sussex Athletics.

“The course at Lancing is a tough, undulating course and is definitely one for the purists. Our runners did tremendously well and Jenna and Jamie in particular flew.

“Jenna has had a medal-laden year so far, despite her having had Covid at Christmas time.

“Jamie ran better than he has all season and showed us all what we already know.

“He has set the standard for himself now and we want him to stay above that standard in every race.

“Carl will have better days, but cross country will help him with his road races for sure and Terry Puxty is always consistent.

“Roll on the next event at Beckenham on Saturday for the South of England championships.

“We’ve got a good sized squad going to that.”

HASTINGS AC

Jack Madden (above) continued his recent series of personal bests with a fantastic time of 16.48 at the Hove Park Run , finishing 3rd out of 497.