Hastings and Eastbourne athletes out in force at Goodwood

Isabella Buchanan, 11, one of the youngest in the U13 category, came 2nd (11:29).

Other results: Megan Hopkins-Parry (10th) 12:59, Florence Tewkesbury (14th) 13:18, Kitty Morgan (16th) 13:19, Daisy Welch (27th) 13:42, Olivia Collins (30th) 13:47, Antalia Cole (33rd) 13:47, Ava Morrissy (38th) 14:11, Ellen Gates (46th) 14:49 and Layla Harmer (51st) 17:30.

They made a formidable girls’ team as a result of incredible dedication, hard work and friendship and are destined to be a future leading ladies’ team.

Zion Okojie (25th) 12:42 and Aiden Larkin (28th) 12:46 had strong runs in the boys’ U13 race. Phoenix Brampton (60th) 18:28 also made his cross country debut following in the footsteps of dad Tom.

Amelia Skelton (8:19) had a fantastic race in the U11 girls’ race, placing third, with Tera Buckland in 5th (8:30). There were solid runs from Alyssa Cornford (9:57) and Elsie Harmer (10:40).

For the boys’ U11s, Benji Pocock placed third (7:48) in his first Sussex race with strong runs from Noah Mayhew (17th) 8:20 and Ben Sims (18th) 8:22. Fallyn Shields (41st) 22:23, Sophia Collins (35th) 18:33 and Jessica Harmer showed great promise in the U15 girls’ race.

In the ladies’ 5k race Ivy Buckland (43rd) knocked three minutes off last year’s time in 21:50, Emma Welch (48th) 22:11, Carly Hopkins (53rd) 22:30, Sonnii Pine (90th) 27:07, Sharon Mayhew (91st) 27:13, Sarah-Jane Pocock (99th) 28:47.

It was a year since Jenna Harmer ran 5k for the first time and, at Goodwood to support her daughters, she knocked a whopping seven minutes off her previous best time placing 93rd in 27:37.

In the men's 8k race Ross Skelton returned to cross country after 10 years and won by 55 seconds in 25:03.

David Ervine was second in the U20 race in 27:18 with Callum Puxty 4th in 28:01. Reece Lincoln (42nd) finished next in 30:01, Terry Puxty (72nd) 32:33, John Badrock (77th) 33:22, Tom Brampton (85th) 34:14, Michael Sanders (86th) 34:22, Daniel Russell (102th) 36:31 and Matthew Harmer (110th) in 37:08.

It was a full compliment of PBs for the HY team at Great South Run in Portmouth. Twins William Carey and Oliver Carey 59:12 were first home in 57:27 and 59:12 followed by Ben McCallion in 59:43, Benji Symes 1:02:29, Leo Cacciatore 1:03:21, John Badrock 1:07:30, Ivy Buckland 1:13:32, Becky Mabon 1:17:53, Matthew Isden 1:23:03, Leanne Badrock, 1:25:01 Deb Read 1:26:33, Stewart Ide 1:27:36 and John Waterhouse 1:27:47. Club statistician John Bridger was third in the male vet 75 age category with a PB time of 1:25:29.

In the East Sussex Cross Country League at Lewes, Layla Harmer, Elsie Harmer, Ellen Gates, Ben Sims, Stephen Gates, Danny Blackman, Emily Sims, Donna Foster, Hayley Foster, Jenna Harmer and Laura Dearsley all ran.

HASTINGS AC

Hastings AC members have been involved in the usual variety of races – and not all of them have been close to home.

Gareth Purves, Dylan Jannetta and Luke Youngs all ran in the Amsterdam half marathon with Gareth saying: “What an event.”

Elsewhere, Ethan Hodges ran a ‘4 x 4 x 48’ challenge raising money for his chosen charity OCD Action.

This meant four miles every four hours for 48 hours.

It was an impressive feat that saw him raise just under £1,000.

Ethan said: “I can't stress enough how thankful I am to everyone that donated, shared or supported me.

"The fundraiser has reached over £800 which is way more than I thought possible.

"I'm so grateful to be part of such a supportive club that had helped me and my fundraiser, now I'm going to sleep and eat and try and find my legs again as it definitely wasn't all smiles and rainbows!"

A few from Hastings AC made it to Goodwood in West Sussex for the first Sussex League Cross Country League fixture of the seaso.

Cobey Buckley was fifth in the U11s in his first cross country race. He went on to run in another cross country meeting the next day and came second.

Rae Le Fay was second in her first race at 15 in the U17 category, with 147 in total running alongside U20 and senior women. Kaitlyn O’Reily also ran well at U17 level. Evelyn Moynihan was 17th, one of the youngest in the field. Sean Parker Harding ran well with the senior men.

EASTBOURNE ROVERS

The first fixture of the Sussex Cross Country League took place at Goodwood drew a strong Eastbourne Rovers contingent.

Many of the runners were familiar with the undulating and technical course near Chichester as they had competed in the Sussex cross country relays at the same spot just two weeks earlier.

The team results for Eastbourne Rovers were very encouraging with the under-13 boys’ A team finishing first, their veteran women first, the under-15 girls second, their under-17 girls second, Rovers’ under-13 girls sixth and the under-13 boys’ B team coming in seventh.

There were also some superb runs on an individual basis.

Fin Lumber-Fry won comfortably in the under-13 race.

The strength in depth in the squad was clear as his teammate Ben Wright placed fourth, Jonah Messer fifth, Joshua Webster 15th, Byron Roberts 30th and Archie Franklin 31st.

Raya Petrova held her ground impressively in the competitive under-15 girls’ race to position fourth, closely followed by Freda Pearce in seventh and Katy Brown in 34th.

Evie Lennard continued to impress with a very strong fourth in the under-13 girls’ race.

Lexie Mclean, returning to form, positioned 24th with Milla Winslet 39th and Pearl Winslet 41st.

Ellie Mclean stormed through the field to clinch fifth place in the under-17 race, with Eleanor Strevens seventh and Isabelle Chappelle with a superb run in eighth.

Under-11s talent is growing in the Rovers ranks with Charlie Davey having another super race to finish 12th, Grace Luford-Brown 15th and new Eastbourne Rover Georgia Lennard in an impressive 17th.

In the veteran ladies’ race, Liz Lumber clinched the top spot in the V55 category, with Sue Fry third in the V45s and Jenny Brown fourth.

Other worthy mentions go to under-17s Ben Brown, in 13th, and Fintan Pearce, 15th, under-15 Ilya Korchev 10th and Thomas Petherick 34th, under-20 James Jewell fourth and James Stephen eighth.

The Eastbourne Rovers teams are looking forward to the second Sussex League fixture, which takes place at Ardingly in Mid Sussex on Saturday, November 12.

Coaches Jenny Brown and Chris Voice say the cross-country training throughout the winter months has prepared the squad well for the busy season ahead.

Many of the Eastbourne Rovers juniors have been selected for Sussex endurance squad training which begins this month at Camber Sands.

Meanwhile Eastbourne Rovers juniors dominated at the Eastbourne schools cross country meeting held at Hampden Park.

Pre-race trials were held at schools and based upon their performances; young athletes were selected to represent their schools.

The conditions were favourable for cross country running when compared to previous years as it was relatively dry and firm underfoot.

The runners had to work into a keen headwind during the long, gentle incline. We’ll have a full report on the schools event next week.