Horsham Joggers keen to retain West Sussex league title

The first race of the season, the Hangover 5 on New Year’s Day, was hosted by the newly renamed Worthing Gazelles.

The race is five miles of hilly cross country on one huge hill, Cissbury Ring.

Steyning Athletic Club finished top with 118 points out of the 125 maximum possible. They were followed closely by Worthing Harriers with 117 and Horsham Joggers with 115.

Out of 17 clubs, 10 finished with 108 points or more, meaning the league is still wide open and many teams have a good chance of winning.

Points are allocated based on a mixture of participation and position points.

Teams can get a maximum of 25 participation points, with the top ten fastest runners (split by gender) in each team scoring position points based on the decile they finish in. For example a team with six women and four men all finishing in the top 10 per cent will score the maximum 100 points.

Out of a field of 434 runners, female winner was Lucie Bourne from Hove Hornets in 36min 24sec, while the male winner was Graham Russ finishing in 31:53.

The results left Steyning AC with a narrow advantage in the standings.

Clubs brought this competitive spirit to the Run Your Heart Out race in Crawley.

The race starts at the K2 sports centre with one lap of the 400m track before turning out onto the path down towards the lake in the park.

Runners run along the path round the lake before doubling back and turning up the hills into the forest – before winding their way back before a final lap of the running track.

With plenty of showers in the days before the race, runners were pleased to find race day dry. The forest trails remained muddy.

Full results are yet to be published, but as the team with the most runners attending (50-plus), Horsham Joggers will hope their efforts put them back in pole position.