Hastings cross-country athletes savour their day at Parliament Hill Fields

Two Hastings AC coaches represented Great Britain in Portugal at the European indoor championships last week.

Steve Baldock, the club’s sprint coach, just missed out on the final of the M50 800m by one thousandth of a second in a photo finish to someone who went on to win bronze (2.09.68).

Wayne Martin, the field coach, finished sixth in M60 pole vault out of 17.

Athletes fare well in Brighton and beyond.

Meanwhile ten athletes from Hastings Athletic Club enjoyed a fantastic day out at the iconic Parliament Hill national cross country championship at the weekend.

Two female athletes came in well within the first 100, and one bang on 100th, which is known to be an achievement in itself considering the huge numbers that participate.

Once again the club enjoyed a show of quality rather than quantity, with some solid performances.

Dame Kelly joins Brighton half runners.

Eileen Beach gave another impressive performance in the senior women’s race, finishing 41st out of 1010.

Rae Le Fay was 85th out of nearly 400 entered in U15 girls, putting her in the top 25 per cent.

An athlete that’s known to love hills, she was reported to say it was the most enjoyable course of this cross country season.

Evelyn Moynihan wasn’t far off top 100 in the U15 boys, placing 118 out of 550 boys that entered, still putting him also near the top 25 per cent.

James Crombie was 100th in the junior men.

Sean Parker Harding was 687th coming in the top 32 per cent and Nickolaj Kennett 972, 46 per cent out a staggering 2,087 finishers who all thundered past like a runaway train which was quite a spectacle.

Jenna Levett had a great day in the senior women’s race with a respectable 335th place, in the top 33 per cent of the 1,010 runners and Amy Rodway 434th, in the top 40 per cent.

Both girls commented on the terrific team spirit and great atmosphere at the event.

Kaitlyn O’Reilly also had a solid run in the U17 women’s race, finishing 221st in the first race of the day.

Dylan Jannetta had a great day out at the Brighton half marathon enjoying the sunshine but not the 16mph headwind, coming in with a respectable 1.23:51.

If you’d like to know more about the club check out www.hastingsathleticclub.co.uk

CHLOE LE FAY

HY RUNNERS

HY Runners were out in force for the showpiece finale of the cross country season at Parliament Hill.

Renowned within the athletics community to be the spiritual home of cross country, Parliament Hill did not dissapoint as it hosted the national finals.

With a steep incline hill start of about 400m and three laps of a course laden with deep mud, Parliament Hill is something for the real enthusiasts, and all that took part were glowing in their praise for this outstanding event.

Of the 12 HY runners that took part, 11 completed the course.

This consisted of five junior runners, two senior ladies and four senior males.

Completing their runs, in order of appearance were: Meghan Hopkins Parry and Sophia Collins (both U13 girls) Zion Okojie (U13 boys), Callum Puxty (U17 boys), Reece Lincoln (U20 men), Fiona Norman Brown and Deborah Read (both senior women) Dan Isted, Jamie Webb, Tom Brampton and John Badrock (all senior men).

Badrock was delighted with his decision to race, saying: “I’ve been running with HY for nearly a year.

“It’s been a fantastic year, but today was the best day so far, competing in the national cross country finals against the best runners in the country.

“It was brutal, muddy, hilly and strangely enjoyable. I’m so glad to have done this race at my age and ran very well.

“The next one for me is the Hastings Half Marathon, where I’m targeting getting under 1hr 50 mins.”

HY runners head coach Terry Skelton praised those who took part at Parliament Hill.

“This race is by far my favourite cross county event, and for those who couldn’t make it, they really didn’t know what they were missing out on,” he said.

“We still went with strength and 12 runners is a very good turnout, and they all performed well.

“It was an opportunity to race against the country’s finest.

“Our hearts go out to Sam Brown who lost both shoes in the mud within the first half a mile, and with 3,800 runners all treading the same path he didn’t stand a chance of finding them and had to pull out. He was by no means the only person it happened to. Parliament Hill takes no prisoners.”

BENJI SYMES