Hastings young athletes shine in Brighton… HR spring into action… Eastbourne trio are Manchester marvels

HY RUNNERS

The first Sussex Under-13 League track and field event of the season was held at Withdean Stadium – and HY Runners youngsters shone.

Off the back off her London mini marathon triumph, Isabella Buchanan set a new PB and broke international athlete Charlotte Purdue's stadium record, which has stood for 20 years, in an outstanding time of 3.01.2.

Aiden Larkin came first in the 150m race (21.9 secs) and third in the 600m (1:50.4), well deserved after dedicated training.

Other fine performances came from Sophie Smith (11.4) and Ellen Gates (12.7) in the girls’ 75m, Kitty Morgan (25.3) and Amelia Skelton (25.8) in the girls’ 150m, Antalia Cole second in the girls’ 600m (1:49) with Olivia Collins (2:08.6).

In the girls’ 1,000m Florence Tewkesbury recorded 3:26 with Ava Morrissey on 18 seconds and Alyssa Cornford 17sec in the 70m hurdles, and Antalia Cole 1.15m and Kitty Morgan 1.05 in the high jump.

In the long jump Isabella Buchanan was once again first in 3.68.

Ellen Gates was first in the shot put in 4.65m, Alyssa Cornford on 4.25m. In the discus Olivia Collins threw 6.62m with Ava Morrissey 12.37m, Amelia Skelton 6.36m in the javelin. In the girls’ 4x100m HY were second.

For the under-11s, in the 1,000m, Henry Sully timed 3.30.1, Benji Pocock 3.37.3, Noah Mayhew 3.53.6. Henry timed 11.9s in the 75m. In the long jump Francesca Tarrant leapt 3.45m with Tera Buckland 2.19m. In the girls 1000m Amelia Skelton timed 3:42.6, Tera 3.44.7, Francesca 3:55.3.

Meanwhile, the first Sussex County Athletics Association track and field match of 2023 took place for the under-15s at Brighton’s Withdean Stadium – and HY Runners were well represented there too.

Many of the HY athletes took part in multiple disciplines.

For the boys, Ollie Stanbridge-Jones took part in the 300m, shot put, discus, and 4x100m mixed relay.

Zion Okojie competed in the 1500m, long jump, and 4x100m mixed relay while Harvey Jones took on the 80m hurdles, long jump, javelin and 4x100m mixed relay.

The girls were represented in the 100m by Beth Wilson and Grace Tewkesbury.

In the 200m, it was again Beth Wilson and Lilly Peachman flying the flag for HY. Sophie Sims and Fallyn Shields competed in the 300m.

The sprints were concluded with the 4x100m relays with Beth Wilson, Sophie Sims, Megan Hopkins-Parry, Jessica Harmer, Daisy Welch, Fallyn Shields, Layla Harmer and Grace Tewkesbury all competing, with Sophia Collins taking part in the mixed relay.

Sophie Sims and Megan Hopkins-Parry completed the 75m hurdles with Megan also running in the 800m with Daisy Welch. Sophia Collins and Lilly Peachman concluded the track events with the 1500m.

In the field events, Sophie Sims, Jessica Harmer, and Lilly Peachman competed in the long jump.

Beth Wilson and Layla Harmer participated in the high jump, while Megan Hopkins-Parry and Fallyn Shields did the discus. Sophia Collins, Layla Harmer, and Grace Tewkesbury competed in the shot put, with Sophia also joining Jessica Harmer in the hammer throw.

Daisy Welch, Fallyn Shields, and Grace Tewkesbury took part in the javelin.

There were PBs aplenty as a number of HY Runners took part in Hastings rarkrun. Ross Skelton ran the fastest parkrun of the day in the UK in 14:49. Rachael Mulvey was second lady in 18:01.

Other fast finishers included Jake Coleman 19:36, Matthew Isden 19:43 (PB) Ivy Buckland 20:00, Joe Moore 20:13, Glenn Cooper 21:53, Deb Read 22:29 (PB), Rebecca Wilson 24:48 and Sharon Mayhew 24:55.

HASTINGS RUNNERS

There was close to a record turnout as 105 club members took part in Hastings Runners’ midweek Spring 5k.

Star junior Finlay Goodman won for the second consecutive year in a superb time of 15.41 – the first time that he has broken the 16 minute barrier - followed home by Will Withecombe 17.35 and Finlay Garlick 18.14. Zoe Fairclough won the ladies race, also for the second year in a row, setting a club race record with a 19.22 PB; excellent times too from Claire Thomas 20.47 and Amy Rodway 21.59. There was a battle royal for the men's vets award with Martin Noakes only passing runner up Steven Stanley in the final 200m; whilst Jo French took the ladies equivalent, finishing 22 seconds ahead of Debra Van Aalst.

Club chairman Nick Brown said: "The event was a great advert for our club with 19 new members taking part in their first club race, and as ever the volunteers - expertly co-ordinated by chief marshal Alan Croucher - did a superb job on the out and back seafront course from Grosvenor Gardens. It was also great to see two of our members, Andy Alabaster and Nicki Steed, coming back to form after major surgery."

The new members were Helen Cassell, Gilda Da Silva, Kevin Davis, Charlotte Ede-Morley, Rachel Gower, Peter Harding, Scott Hilton, Tracy Jarrett, Kate Lewis, Ben Muggridge, Theresa Mummery, Kayla Quinnell, Paul Rackstraw, Amy Rodway, Fatima Serhir, Sarah Stewart, David Townsend, Conal Tracey and Dave Wood.

Full results were: Finlay Goodman 15:41pb; Will Withecombe 17:35; Finlay Garlick 18:14; Ashley Vora 18:48; Andrew Shipilov 18:54; Stuart Johnstone 19:00pb; Zoe Fairclough 19:22pb; Sam Evans 19:26; Martin Snape 19:36; Paul Burchett 19:44; Lewis Betts 19:51; Patrick Bermingham 19:53; Martin Noakes 19:54; Steven Stanley 20:01; Simon Linklater 20:06; Nathan Jondorf 20:27; Simon Newstead:20:29; Andy Knight 20:36; Joe Moore 20:37; Graeme Grass 20:41 21 Claire Thomas 20:47; Stephen Ingram 20:53pb; John Simcox 20:57 24 Michael Norris 21:12; Steven Hoath 21:15; Mark Storey 21:24; Romey Jondorf 21:36; Kevin Davis 21:40; Matthew Miller 21:50; Jamie Kennedy 21:52; David Townsend 21:53; Ben Muggridge 21:54; Amy Rodway 21:59; Tamsin West 22:01; Charles Bowley 22:18; Col Turner 22:23; Ben Sallows 22:25; Adrian Barratt 22:27; David Fairclough 22:40; Conal Tracey 22:41; Robert Weeks 23:03pb; Nicki Steed 23:17; Andy Alabaster 23:25; Craig Weeks 23:40; David Harding 23:42; Peter Noakes 23:50; Lucie Smitalova 23:58; Bill Edmondson 24:08; Paul Rackstraw 24:28; Sean Dwyer 24:32 ; Keith Goodsell 24:34; Jessica Hayward 24:35; Nick Webb 24:36; Fatima Serhir 24:42; Jessica Cull 24:46; Richard Cross 24:55; Sarah Stewart 24:57pb; Jo French 25:41; Charlotte Ede-Morley 25:44; Berenice Consavela 25:53; Dave Wood 25:58; Nigel Thornely 25:59; Debra Van Aalst 26:03; James Graham 26:20; Susan Wilkinson 26:31; Kate Lewis 26:32; Sue Quincey 26:33 ; Annette Fry 26:35; Kelly Derosa 26:38; Klare Beecroft 27:15; Simon Woroniecki 27:18; Chris White 27:31pb 73 Jackie Scott 00:27:31; Helen Cassell 27:54; Victoria Harding 28:00; Allison Tanner 28:22; Shana Burchett 28:46; Danny Ratnarajah 28:50; Theresa Mummery 28:51; Tracy Jarrett 29:00; Yockie Richardson 29:02; Tracy Ratnarajah 29:02; Amy Ashby 29:04; Sophie Ashby 29:04; Kayla Quinnell 29:20; Sue Palmer 29:23; Louise Cavill; 29:26; Marie Appleton 30:03; Scott Hilton 30:05; Christine Sanderson 30:11; Gilda Da Silva 30:47; Peter Harding 31:11; Alan Croucher 31:34; Lorraine Ashby 32:07; Irene Kitson 32:11; Rachel Gower 32:12; Davinia Hill 33:17; Susan Mann 34:07; Joanne Fellows 35:08; Catherine Southgate 35:15; Eric Hardwick 36:00; Terry Kitson 37:44; Erica Wilson 39:23; Henry Worthington 42:38; Christine Rackstraw 44:05.

Chris White and Jessica Hayward were also presented with their Improvers’ awards for the Hastings half marathon after both knocked nearly 20 minutes off their times from last year 's race.

EASTBOURNE ROVERS

Months of training came to an end for Eastbourne Rovers’ Luke Tomsett, Richard Davis and returning member Matt Southam at the Adidas Manchester Marathon.

Coach Pete Standen had laid down a gruelling block over the winter months, with some of the track sessions topping out at 21k once the warm-ups and cool downs were included.

The training was all about building a good aerobic base and working at specific intensities.

The training doesn’t often get a mention, as people only see the tip of the iceberg on race day. The athletes arrived at the start line in good shape, but with a marathon anything can happen. However, the Rovers athletes had a great day.A cool calm day was welcomed by the 28,000-strong field, though there was a refreshing rain shower in the later stages.

Manchester is known for being flat, but there was a testing section near Altrincham, though not insurmountable. The athletes had to maintain their focus, as this was well after halfway.

The crowd were friendly and loud, particularly around the final corner as the finish line came into view.Luke Tomsett crossed the line in 2:50:15, a new personal best by over four minutes, which moves him to fourth on the club’s all-time marathon rankings.

Richard Davis crossed the line in 2:58:42, a new PB by 28 minutes, putting him ninth on the club’s all-time rankings. Matt Southam crossed the line 3:37:46, nine minutes quicker than he ran at Brighton.