Mid Sussex athletes find success in Brighton, Surrey and beyond

Paul Newsome was the first member to finish in an impressive 1.21.08 (95th place), followed by Stewart Conway (1.23.10, 28th in M40) and Mike Jaffe (1.28.26, 17th in M50).

Other men participating were Louis Eastwood and David Ricketts with respectable times of 1.53.22 and 1.54.09.

Joan Murphy was the first woman club member to finish in 1.42.45 (45th in F40), followed by Kate Bradford (1.56.02) and Esther Clutton (2.01.35).

Dame Kelly Holmes joins Brighton event.

Other women participating were Clarissa Walton (2.10.39, 17th in F60), Samantha Whitehead (2.22.58) and Helen Graham (2.42.58), who had only got out of Covid isolation on Saturday, so really enjoyed being outside, despite the wind.

Back in January, Helen Graham (of Mid Sussex Triathlon Club) completed three marathons in three days.

She did it to raise awareness of a local charity called Off The Fence.

This charity helps to restore the lives and hopes of the homeless, women in difficulty and vulnerable children in Brighton & Hove.

10,000 take to streets in Brighton.

Helen was one of the doctors at Clair Hall for the Covid vaccination programme and featured in the Middy when chancellor Rishi Sunak visited.

HAYWARDS HEATH HARRIERS

Gatton Park opened its doors for the Run Reigate inaugural 10k trails run.

Run Reigate half marathon started in 2014 and five years later opened their second run with Run Gatwick half marathon. Adding to their portfolio is the new trails run.

The route is just below the north downs at Reigate Hill, nestled between Redhill and Merstham in Surrey. It’s a 5k loop of the grounds landscaped by Capability Brown between 1762 and 1766 incorporating the lake. There is a Japanese garden and in order to complete the course athletes were required to complete two loops of the course.

With a lot of rain overnight and high wind warnings the run went ahead.

First off were CaniCross runners, with their dogs on leads around their waists, with sweeping runs down to the lake and running across a ford, before going uphill on the other side, circling the Royal Alexandra and Albert School and going back out onto the trails.

Parts of the course were extremely muddy with 200-plus athletes running the 5km course twice.

In the line-up was some great efforts from Haywards Heath Harriers Oliver Farr (52min 29sec), who is getting close to completing his personal challenge of 100 marathons, and Michael Parish (1:02:06), who was born in Redhill.

Meanwhile the final of the Sussex Cross Country League races was held at Bexhill.

In the under-15 boys’ race, the young Haywards Heath Harriers team lost third place over the whole season by just one point to Crawley Athletic Club. The team of Jonathan Beckett, Finlay Blythe and Arun Khursheed were consistent all season backed up by Jacob Roderick in the last race.

The senior women did very well and kept three teams going throughout the whole season.

The senior men were not so successful but kept their A team in the top division with their B team being relegated to Division 3.

The men’s team strength has always been because of their consistency to get runners out but this season it was lost because of a poor turnout in the final league race.

Final HHH Team Results after four league races: U13 Boys: 9th; U15 Boys: 4th; Senior women: 10th ‘A’; 15th ‘B’; 21st ‘C’. Senior men were 5th equal with Crawley AC. Women Vet team: 5th; Men Vet team: 4th.

Final individual results after four league races: V35 women: 3rd Julie Kamel; V65 women; 2nd Marion Hemsworth. M50: 3rd Paul Cousins; M60 3rd Tim Hicks.

Individual results from the last race: U11 Girls: 13th Annabel Axford 8:57: 15th Annabel Parkin 9:12; 19th Lucy Roderick 9:28; 38th Coco Rhodes 14:41. U11 Boys: 11th Rafael Selby 8:17. U13 Boys: 20th Noah Blythe 13:52. U15 Boys: 9th Jonathan Beckett 14:46; 10th Finlay Blythe 14:54; 11th Arun Khursheed 14:56; 29th Jacob Roderick 16:21. U17 Men: 15th Sam Fernley 20:21. Senior Women/Vet Women: 26th Julie Kamel 24:43; 31st Lindsey Blain 24:56; 49th Hanne Boggon 26:49; 57th Jacqueline Barnes 28:12; 59th Katherine Buckeridge 28:33; 65th Ellen Mapperley 29:40; 67th Caroline Mackey-Khursheed 29:48; 68th Shelagh Robinson 30:14; 75th Carys Hind 33:18. Senior Men/Vet Men: 30th Ian Kenton 31:16; 36th Andy Hind 32:02; 55th Paul Cousins 35:13; 65th Tim Hicks 36:09; 66th Barry Tullett 36:11.

In the Brighton Half Marathon, Haywards Heath Harriers had 16 runners finishing.

First home for the club was Jamie Topping in 1.19.41.

Harriers’ results: 69th Jamie Topping 1:19.41; 100th Jamie Gibson 1:21.33; 120th Marcus Kimmins 1:22.25; 161st Darren Bird 1:24.30; 189th Ewan Kemsley 1:25.27 (pb); 191st Sean Duff 1:26.00 (pb); 382nd Steve Dallman 1:30.45; 411th Barry Tullett 1:31.44; 747th Simeon Wishlade 1:37.49; 1230th Sam Atkin 1:44.38 (pb); 2481st Oliver Schofield 1:53.32; 2873rd Olivia Treharne (pb) 1:57.21; 3979th Liz Earley 2:09.21; 3980th Sarah King 2:09.20; 3993rd Hanne Boggon 2:03.48 (pb); Amy Lovejoy 2:05.56 (pb).

Sam Ridley and Daniel Moll-Morgan ran in the Wokingham Half Marathon. Daniel finished in 327th position in a time of one hour twenty four minutes exactly and Sam finished in a super time (just outside her personal best) with one hour thirty four minutes and fifty five seconds and finished in sixth place in her age group.

The race was a qualifier race for the British Masters Championships with the first three in age group to qualify.