Hastings athletes shine at South of England cross country event

The South of England cross country is held annually and this year it was held at the beautiful rural setting of Beckenham Place Park.

Conditions were fantastic on a fresh but sunny day and the ground was ‘almost’ perfect for country spikes.

The standard was strong as elite cross country runners from across the south jostled for position, and star of the show for HY runners was David Ervine who set out for a top 50 finish and achieved it in 29:46 in the 8km race to secure 44th spot.

First up were the under-13s and HY had two girls and one boy in the category.

Megan Hopkins Parry and Daisy Welch both had excellent races in the girls’ 3k version of the course.

Megan (13:35) was first home for the red arrows of HY followed shortly behind by Daisy (15:13) and in the boys’ version Zion Okojie (13:10) ran very well.

In the senior men’s category HY boasted several entrants in the 15k version, much of which was on gravel, which meant feet were really suffering come the end of the race.

Ben McCallion was first runner home for HY in an amazing 56:51, followed shortly by Barry Buchanan in 58:03, while Jonathan Hatch 1:00:38 and Benji Symes 1:01:56 also had good runs.

Also running for HY were Jamie Webb 1:04:05, Dan Isted 1:05:59, Andy Edmonds 1:06:31, Sam Brown, 1:06:33, Tom Brampton 1:12:16 and John Badrock 1:13:29

It was a successful day for the runners in red and head coach Terry Skelton said: “Fantastic! What an amazing day it was. We come to events like this as we want our runners to experience the occasion and run with the very best from throughout the country. It wasn’t about placement or even time. It was about individual performances, and none of our runners disappointed.

“Megan, Daisy and Zion all showed true grit and determination and are progressing all the time, we are chuffed with their development.

“David achieved what he set out to do and will get stronger and stronger. His career can go onto serious levels and he could challenge on a national stage. Ben Mccallion flew round the course and so did the rest of our men. Baz and John were excellent and the others done a great job too.

“The whole day from setting up base camp in the HY tent to the journey up and back were part and parcel of the occasion and I’m chuffed our runners get to experience events like this.

“Next up is our home show at Bexhill downs in the last league match, then on to Parliament Hill for the nationals.”

On the same day HY went international with its Spanish branch as HY member and Spain resident Andy Key competed in the ‘Sevilla Medio Maraton’.

He finished in 1:38:52 and said afterwards: “Sub 1:35 is back in sight.

“It’s a privilege to be running in these sort of events, and if anyone would like some warm weather competitions in the winter then trust me, Seville is the place to come.”

HASTINGS AC

It seems most at Hastings AC are busy training for all sorts of exciting upcoming events.

But a handful of the club’s youth members took the opportunity to race at the South of England Cross Country Championship in Kent.

It was a first for all of them and was a way to gain experience being at bigger events and they loved every minute of it.

Rae Le Fay came in at 57th out of 187 in the U15 girls, Evelyn Moynihan was 110th, Nate Cahil 122th out of 189 in the U15 boys, Talia Cahil 122nd out of 125 in U17 girls.

The club said: “Well done to these up and coming youngsters.”