Hundreds to turn out for Chichester's iconic 10k

The start line at the 2022 Chichester 10k - this year's renewal takes place on Sunday | Picture: Lyn Phillips

This Sunday sees one of the highlights of the Sussex road running calendar when the iconic Chichester 10k is held at Goodwood.

The 800 or so competitors will be hoping for better conditions than last year, when runners were battered by high wonds and heavy rain sweeping across the Goodwood airfield.

Despite of this there was a fine battle between Aldershot’s Josh Grace and Worthing runner Jack Woods, with both finishing under the 31-minute barrier.

It is likely that there will be a new winner this year with Matthew Leach from Bedford and County AC having returned from studying in America and looking to be the fastest on paper with a 10,000m track clocking last year of 28min 34sec in Palo Alto, California.

Chasing him hard will be the second and third finishers in last November’s fast Brighton 10k, Gus Withers of Leigh in Essex and Scott Cousins from Springfield, both capable of sub 30-minute times.

There will be another battle in the over-45 age group with perennial rivals Neil Boniface from Horsham and Chichester’s James Baker among the entries.

Neither of the top two in last year’s women’s race had entered as we went to press – namely Tess McCormick of Vale Royal and Emilt Ruane of Norwich.

But watch out for Aldershot pair Niamh Brown and Lauren Hall, both in the top half dozen in the South of England cross country championships at Beckenham.

The race starts at 9.30am on the Goodwood Motor Circuit.