Lewes athletes notch South Downs victory

The South Downs Way 100 Mile relay brought success for Lewes AC.

A late change of date meant only 34 of the 55 teams made it to the start line, but fortunately both Lewes men’s and women’s team among them.

The event started at Beachy Head and followed the almost 100 miles South Downs Way trail all the way to Winchester, each member of a six-person team running three legs each.

Runners were lucky with the weather, with predicted thunderstorms holding off and the heat of the previous week having tailed off somewhat.

The women’s team looked dominant from the off, with Strava segments falling left and right along the way and they finished a good half an hour ahead of their nearest rivals, Brighton’s Arena 80, in a couple of minutes over 12 hours.

The men’s team were also running strongly, coming below their predicted ‘Chitty’ times on most legs (provided by Lewes stats man Andrew Chitty, using a complex formula based on previous 10k and half marathon times).

Jason Lee stormed to the fastest times of the day in his first two legs and a club record on leg three.

Unfortunately there were a couple of navigational errors - totally excusable as last minute team changes left little time for some to recce all legs. They didn’t quite make our sub-12 hour target but as ever had a great day out.

The day was all made possible by team drivers Colin Bennett and Dominic Osama-Allu with their uncanny ability to navigate a 17-seat minibus along narrow country lanes and get the next runner to the handover point on time.

Lewes AC ladies were Jenna French, Megan Taylor, Emma Navessey, Lizzie Keep, Lucy Richardson, Gina Wilkinson.

The competition they beat included teams from Arena 80, Brighton &Hove and Phoenix.

The men – Leo Spall, Mike Green, Jason Lee Michael Ussher, Rob Cooper and Jack Arscott - came fifth out of 14 competing teams in the ‘any combination’ category with a creditable overall time 12.30.07.