Hastings athletes hold their own festival of speed at Goodwood

HY Runners duo Ben McCallion and Gary Foster capped a busy weekend of racing by the club’s members with sensational displays at the Goodwood Grand Prix.
William Carey at the Goodwood grand prixWilliam Carey at the Goodwood grand prix
William Carey at the Goodwood grand prix

There were 5k, 10k, 20k, half marathon and full marathon races held simultaneously with the marathon runners doing around ten laps of the course and staggered start times for each distance.

McCallion produced a dazzling run to finish third in the half marathon in a magnificent time of 1:13:36, taking four minutes off his personal best.

HY men’s club captain Foster won the 5k in 15:41.

HY's Jethro Joseph at GoodwoodHY's Jethro Joseph at Goodwood
HY's Jethro Joseph at Goodwood
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Also at Goodwood and producing fine times was William Carey in the half marathon, with 1:14:43 to take a huge 1.40 off his PB.

Jethro Joseph, also in the half marathon, crossed the line in 1:23:36.

Oliver Carey lined up in Goodwood’s 10k, producing another PB with an incredible 36:13.

Benji Symes, coming back from injury, completed the 10k in a PB of 40:35, while clubmate Stewart Ide completeed his 10k in a PB of 51:53.

The HY team at GoodwoodThe HY team at Goodwood
The HY team at Goodwood
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Completing the set at Goodwood for the Red Arrows was Alfie Johnstone, who a day before his 18th birthday came home in a 5K PB of 18:31.

Elewhere, 17-year-old Shannon Hopkins-Parry flew the flag for the girls by coming third in the under-20 category in the 800m at the Sussex County Championships in Crawley in 2:23.

Tina Wren made her HY Runners debut at the 21st Bewl Water 15-miler, put on by Nice Work, with a challenging multi-terrain route.

Wren produced a great run to complete the course in 2:28:16, a club best in the female vet-50 category.

HY Runners at the Oliver Curd Trust raceHY Runners at the Oliver Curd Trust race
HY Runners at the Oliver Curd Trust race
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Five HY Runners competed in the Oliver Curd Trust 10K at Ashburnham.

David Clarke was second in 48:52, while John Waterhouse ran well to win the male vet-50 category in 50:40.

Ivy Buckland was third female in 52:15, while Jim Ballard (57:22) and Stephen Cornford (57:49) also produced great runs.

The HY OCR team took on the Nuclear Races World Championship 12K.

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Barry Buchanan led the way in the male vet-35 category and was fifth overall in the demanding multi-terrain obstacle event in 1:24:42.

Chris Shipley was 10th male overall in 1:29:19 and Dean Constable finished third male vet-45 in 1:47:12.

Dan Isted finished in 2:00:13, while Sophie McGoldrick was second overall female and first female vet-40 in 2:23:28.

HY head coach Terry Skelton said: “It was a truly magnificent weekend for the club. Our runners are going from strength to strength.

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“Barry Buchanan did amazingly, as always, along with the rest of the OCR team at Nuclear.

“The team representing us at the Oliver Curd Trust 10K were great.

“The trust is close to our heart and one we have done fundraisers for in the past.

“Shannon is beginning to run well again and will go quicker, but the icing on the cake has to be Ben McCallion with an unreal time at Goodwood.

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“Ben knocked more than four minutes off his previous best and is now producing times we know he is capable of.

Gary Foster our men’s captain, deserves recognition – he is carrying a leg injury that will need sorting out and had to stop for a few moments with a mile to go... and still won his race.

“Well done to everyone that ran at the weekend – you have done the club proud yet again.

“We have the Mid-Kent five-miler this weekend with large numbers of our athletes attending and the Rye 10K tonight. The races are coming thick and fast now and it’s time to test ourselves.”

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