Chichester athletes are Masters marvels in Sussex championships

Good underfoot conditions together with an undulating course over the South Downs made for a great day’s racing with local athletes to the fore against some fierce competition.

Men’s races

Nowhere was the high standard of competition more in evidence than in the over-40 men’s race where it was at an all-time high, with many of those in action having more than pulled their weight in the Sussex senior championships at Bexhill two weeks earlier.

At the head of proceedings on Saturday was Horsham’s Neil Boniface who had a top 10 placing at Bexhill in steering his Horsham Blue Star Harriers team to their first Sussex senior team win and is enjoying a purple patch of form.

The Horsham man gradually pulled away from the rest, chased by Brighton’s Craig Halsey and a pair of Chichester-based runners.

Halsey had scored for runners-up Brighton & Hove AC in the senior race in 16th position and chased Boniface all the way to gain the silver medal at Lancing.

In a battle for bronze, it was Inspire Runners’ Mike Houston who turned the tables on last year’s Masters winner, James Baker, but the quality of their race can be gauged by both beating Toby Meanwell into fifth, the Lewes man having also achieved a top 20 placing in the senior championships.

In the separate race for the older veterans’ age groups, held over the same 8k course, Chichester’s over-50 men narrowly missed out on a team medal.

But Steve Davy in 12th led home Jason Boswell in 16th and Richard Pullen 22nd for fifth team spot with 50 points.

In the club’s best turnout in any of the age groups the over-50 B team finished eighth thanks to Tim Brown in 28th, Simon Ludlam 35th and Peter Anderson 36th.

Tom Blaylock was the club’s sole runner in the over-60 age group in 27th place while John Miles repeated his feat of last year by coming home with individual bronze in the over-70 age group, where no fewer than seven athletes finished the tough 8k course.

Women’s races

There was a great individual bronze medal for Chichester’s Fay Cripps in the over-45 age group in the women’s race.

The combined over-55/65 women’s team knew it would be a tall order to repeat last year’s team medal with only Nadia Anderson available to compete this time round.

Anderson did not disappoint in fifth place and was well supported by Amanda Godfrey and supervet Wnedy Whelan but their 44 points were not quite enough to secure a team medal and they had to settle for fourth place.

Sussex Schools Cross Country Championships

While the Masters were preparing to compete in their own championships, there was a chance for Sussex school athletes to make their mark in the popular county school championships held over the Waterhall course just north of Brighton.

With no fewer than 700 runners competing in the six races, there were some fine battles with a number of local runners gaining selection for the Sussex schools teams in the Southern Inter-Counties race to be held at Ardingly Showground this coming Saturday.

The two junior races for school Years 8 and 9 are always the best supported and both girls and boys’ races had large fields of over 200 runners.

Chichester High School’s Molly Smithers continued her great season’s form with a fine sixth place with Year 8 pupil Elodie Hill from Bishop Luffa close behind in 12th.

Chloe Buckrell from Midhurst Rother was 29th and Isla Hill, just outside the top 50 in 52nd.

There was a trio of Bishop Luffa athletes finishing within a few seconds of each other in the junior boys’ race – with Stanley Wilkes just outside the top 10 while Zac Robst and Ben Stewart were also inside the top 20.

Further down the field there was a good showing from Chichester Free School pairing of Harry Cruttenden and Arthur Reynolds.

There was good packing from a Chichester Free School and Midhurst Rother quartet in the intermediate girls’ race with Laila Hellyer and twin sister from the Free School 12th and 19th respectively while Anya Barrett and Carrie Anelay from MRC were 16th and 24th.

Finally there was the best representation from local schools in the intermediate boys’ race with a dozen runners competing.

It was a St Philip Howard pairing of Toby Johnstone and Micah Williams who led the rest in finishing in 44th and 53rd respectively in a very high standard race.

They were followed by a Bishop Luffa quartet of Monty Hill 61st, Noah Collins 65th, Adam Mainwaring 78th and Sam Wyatt 79th.

Coming up

In two weeks’ time there will be the final Sussex Cross Country League fixture of the 2022-23 season with runners returning to Stanmer Park, Brighton instead of having to make the longer journey to Bexhill as in previous seasons.

There will be team and individual medals up for grabs in all age group with a large turnout likely.

Then in March, the Chichester Corporate Challenge returns.

The city centre race series will be held on the evenings of March 1, 15 and 29. Enter via www.chichester-runners.org.uk/corporate-challenge