Hastings and Eastbourne athletes are marvellous in the mud at the Sussex cross country championships

The championships are key as the top four in each race are selected for the inter-counties in Loughborough in March.

Cross country has a long tradition in Sussex dating back to the 1880s and HY Runners were proud to host this latest event.

Conditions were typically muddy, but for most of the day the rain held off.

The day kicked off with the one-mile under-11 boys’ race. HY’s Henry Sully and Benji Pocock placed fourth and fifth in 8:18 and 8:20.

Noah Mayhew placed 14th in 8:46 with Benjamin Sims 24th in 9:18 and Michael Mansell 27th in 9:37.

In the U11 girls’ race. Amelia Skelton was thrilled to gain her first win in 8:50. This was testament to her hard work and dedication following recovery from a broken leg last season.

Amelia was closely followed by Tera Buckland, finishing third in 8:52. Francesca Tarrant placed ninth in 9:45 with Jessica Wilson 16th in 10:03 and Alyssa Cornford 19th in 10:36.

Isabella Buchanan continued her reign in the 3k under-13 girls’ race bringing home a gold medal and placing first in 12:36 - 36 seconds clear of her closest rival.

Antalia Cole placed fourth in 14:05 with Megan Hopkins-Parry seventh in 14:16 and Kitty Morgan tenth in 14:29. Florence Tewkesbury was 13th in 14:44, Beth Wilson 29th in 16:06, Daisy Welch was 31st in 16:22, Olivia Collins 32nd in 16:36, Ava Morrisy 33rd in 16:40, Ellen Gates 40th in 17:54, Sophie Sims 42nd in 19:19.

Isabella, Antalia and Megan won the prestigious Sussex gold medals for first girls’ U13 team.

In the U13 boys’ race Zion Okojie had a strong race to finish tenth in 13:30 with Aiden Larkin 37th in 15:14 after losing a spike.

In the 2.5-mile U15 girls’ race Sophia Collins suffered a fall at the start, but she worked her way forward to finish the race 22nd in 19:16. Later it emerged Sophia needed seven stitches proving just how strong and resilient she is.

Liam Checkfield placed 33rd in a time of 21:36 in the U15 boys’ race.

The senior men had the longest race of the day with 10k to run. David Ervine was first HY Runner home placing 28th in 39:59 followed by Reece Lincoln 30th in 40:10.

William Carey placed 34th in 40:41, Barry Buchanan 46th in 41:50, Oliver Carey 53rd in 42:49, Carl Adams 66th in 44:53, Dan Isted 74th in 46:19, Sam Brown 78th in 47:31, Tom Brampton 80th in 47:56, John Badrock 85th in 49:13 and Joe Moore, making his cross country debut, placed 96th in 53:16.

In the senior women's race which was five miles long. Sophie McGoldrick was first HY Runner home, 18th in 39:16, Emma Welch was 22nd in 42:13, Rebecca Mabon 25th in 45:02 and Deborah Read 32nd in 48:56. The ladies team placed fifth.

Head coach and vice-president of Sussex Athletics Terry Skelton, who led organisation of the event, praised everyone that ran, marshalled and helped out.

HASTINGS AC

Despite the club being hit by illness over the Christmas period, it was a great result for the Hastings AC men's team at the Sussex County Cross Country Championships at Bexhill on Saturday.

They placed fourth, a great achievement above the big clubs like Lewes and Crawley, who by sheer weight of numbers tend to dominate the results tables.

Rhys Boorman, Jeremy Henwood, James Crombie, Michael Maxwell, Sean Parker-Harding, Jack Madden, Luke Youngs, Tim Archer, Chris Brandt, Jack Mabon made up the team.

Boorman made a hearty attempt to make the top ten, leading the race for a while. He said: “It didn't work this time even though the fitness was there, I just need to work on tactics. I'm looking forward to the next race.”

Jack Madden is the last person you want to see next to you in the last 100m and he pulled off an impressive sprint finish, quite the feat after fighting through an 8k quagmire.

Jeremy Henwood and Micheal Maxwell made their cross country county championship debuts and were second and fourth within the team.

In the youth races U13 Rosie Fergeson impressed again as a newcomer, making it look easy as she came through as the first HAC athlete in the U13 team, followed by Olivia Henham who was looking stronger and more confident than any race so far this season.

Talia Davis finished the race despite losing a shoe in the mud.

The team spirit and friendship between the U13 girls team shows exactly what being part of a club like HAC can encourage.

Evelyn Moynihan (U17) goes from strength to strength and came in 10th, running strongly.

Rae Le Fay took a risk of running despite being ill and out of training for four weeks. She still came in within the top eight Sussex qualifying field.

HAC results: U11B: 11th Cobey Buckley 8.32; U11G: 18th Bella Taylor 10.28; U13G: 18th Rosie Ferguson 15.23; 25th Olivia Henham 15.47; 35th Connie Davis 16.53; 36th Amy Hunneman 16.58. Team: Seventh; U13B: 13th Henry Cooke 14.00; 48th Dewi Edwards 19.04; U15G: 31st Talia Davis 20.12; U17W: Seventh Rae Le Fay 23.59; 17th Kaitlin O’Reilly 29.37; U17M: Tenth Evelyn Moynihan 20.29; 23rd Toby Booth 24.09. Senior Men: 12th Rhys Boorman 36.46; 18th Jeremy Henwood 39.02; 23rd James Crombie 39.39; 33rd Michael Maxwell 40.37; 40th Sean Parker-Harding 41.17; 45th Jack Madden 41.48; 62nd Luke Youngs 43.56; 76th Tim Archer 46.50; 82nd Chris Brandt 48.12; 86th Jack Mabon 49.31. Team: Fourth.

EASTBOURNE ROVERS

Eastbourne Rovers athletes produced many superb performances, with talented U15 Freda Pearce storming to victory to become county champion and earn well-deserved gold.

Teammate Daisy Connor had a strong finish to clinch the silver medal. Together with Katherine Brown, they achieved third place as a team.

Chae West had a strong finish as the 4th U15 Eastbourne athlete.

Evie Lennard’s cross country season goes from strength to strength. She earned a well-deserved bronze medal.

Lexie Mclean was 23rd with Alicia Stone improving to place 41st.

Ilya Korchev timed his return to top form perfectly, placing a comfortable fourth in the U15 boys’ race.

It was encouraging to see the return to the cross-country stage of Oscar Mizen, who placed 20th after a long spell out with injury last season.

U11 Fox Andrews showed his mature pacing with an impressive ninth place. Charlie Davey banked yet another super run in 13th with new recruit Jake Cooper in 30th.

Grace Luford-Brown and Georgia Lennard battled through the mud placing tenth and 17th in the U11 girls’ race.

Rovers’ U13 boys George Armstrong-Smith (8th), Byron Roberts (24th) and Fin Lumber-Fry (7th) claimed a very well-deserved bronze team medal.

Armstrong-Smith and Roberts’ performances were outstanding to clinch their first county medal. Eastbourne’s Archie Franklin also placed well in a credible 32nd.

In the U17 girls, Eleanor Strevens was 4th,, Ellie Mclean 5th; for the U17 boys Ben Brown was 16th, Fintan Pearce 17th and Dermot O Rourke 22nd.

Patrick Marsden had an impressive Eastbourne debut in the senior men’s race placing 20th in the strong field, with teammates Richard Jones (35th), Richard Davis (67th) and Phil Wood (81st) and Stephen Marsden 100th.

Jenny Brown was first senior lady from Eastbourne to finish, in 12th, with Sue Fry (16th) and Liz Lumber (20th)​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​.