Lewes AC girls chalk up club first – Brian’s the master for Eastbourne Rovers

LEWES AC

Lewes AC just keep on running – away and at home.

In Shropshire, the Telford 10k race saw Lewes AC runners Harriet Bloor eighth woman home in a sensational 33:17, and Ruby White-Wylding as 38th woman in 35:27.

Telford may seem a long way, but Harriet is at Loughborough University and Ruby at Birmingham University.

The Telford course was ‘statistically proven the fastest 10k course in UK’ and Harriet’s time ranked her the fastest under-20 runner in the country over 10k.

Meanwhile, Lewes AC runners were in action at the South of England Cross Country championships at Beckenham Place in the London suburbs.

They competed as members of Lewes AC against other clubs from all over the south, rather than in county teams selected by Sussex Athletics.

Lewes U15 girls became South of England team champions thanks to Grace Tuesday (16th), Ava James (18th), Esme Stephenson (30th), India Sommerville (34th), Eva Winton (65th), Amelie Bedford (69th) and Nesta Pring (152nd).

Lewes AC performance coach Dave Leach said: “In these bigger events solid packing near the front of the race makes a massive difference to the team score.

"So it was with great delight from the team and supporters that the girls were crowned South of England team champions. This was the first time the club has won a regional team event in Cross Country.”

The previous year they had been runners up.

It is not just youngsters in action of late. A week earlier, and closer to home, the Sussex Masters Cross Country Championships took place at Coombe Farm outside Lancing.

In the M50 – men of 50 and older - category, Chris Gilbert took individual gold, completing the 4.5-mile course in 29:15. Jonathan Burrell and Dominic Osman-Alu built on this to earn silver team medals for the three.

Rachel Hillman took the individual women’s O35 gold, running the same course as the men in 31.09 minutes, followed by Jenna Louise French who took the individual silver.

It then just took Laura Douse’s performance as third Lewes AC woman to secure the team gold.

Helen Sida, Helen Bowman and Karin Divall took team silver in the women 55 category. Sida also gained bronze.

EASTBOURNE ROVERS

Eastbourne Rovers ace Brian Slaughter took pride of place on the podium at the annual combined events indoor Scottish Open at the internationally acclaimed Arena in Glasgow.

Slaughter was entered in the Masters heptathlon – comprising seven events over two days.

In his sights was another British record in his new age group.

With the weather having been so cold lately he had been limited on speed work for the event, but with his main focus on the World Masters Indoor Championships in Torun, Poland, at the end of May, this was another steeping stone towards that goal.

The first day started very much as targeted and predicted, with a solid 60m performance. Next up was the shot putt, another solid event, which he duly won with 10.36m.

The pole vault can be a great leveller but Slaughter, relying on borrowed poles, cleared his height first time all the way up to his exit point.

The final event of day one was the long jump, and with his opening jump he was happy with the distance despite taking off just before the measuring board point.

This set up Slaughter for the second of three jumps with adjustments made as necessary. He delivered his best jump of the day, exceeding his own prediction.

He finished day one with a 400-point lead over his nearest rival with 2,628 points – and knew a great display in the opening event of day two, the 60m hurdles, could bring him the British record mark after five events.

The warm area on day two was very busy and this can present its own issues, especially for events like hurdles, so some adjustments were made in preparation.

Always the competitor, the race itself was spot on for what Slaughter needed as he ran four hundredths of a second quicker than he needed but in doing so surpassed the current age group record.

Now it was a question of building on the targets with the high jump as he cleared 6cm higher than current form suggested, with a very useful 679 points for the effort.

The final event brought 674 points with a solid 1,000m run to amass 4,728 points in total for overall victory and the British record.

Now Slaughter starts the build-up to the world championships.

A small contingent of Eastbourne Rovers athletes travelled to the Lee Valley indoor arena to compete in the London Games.

Zoe Wright ran a fantastic 200m for a clear win in her U17 race in a personal best time of 28.1 sec.

In the U15 age group Nathan Burge had a busy afternoon starting with two 60m races.

In his fastest race he sprinted across the line in fifth place, just off his best with 7.9 secs.

He was then warmed up ready for his 200m, in which he ran a fast first bend and hung on to achieve a new personal best of 25.58sec.

Cailtlyn Spencer (U17) tackled the tight indoor bends well, crossing the line in fifth with 28sec.

Toby Shepherd (U17) lined up for the sprints and despite feeling under the weather managed to get very close to his past performances in the 60m and 200m with 7.8sec and 25sec respectively.

There were impressive performances from Eastbourne Rovers’ young athletes in the South of England Cross Country Championships at Beckenham Place Park, Beckenham.

The event attracts athletes from far and wide and the standard is exceptionally high – but this did not deter the young Rovers from putting in some excellent performances.

Fin Lumber-Fry was the highest placed from Eastbourne, positioning sixth in the 3k under-13s’ race. Sussex champion Freda Pearce ran a gutsy race, picking her way through the field to clinch tenth.

Sussex schools champion Daisy Connor claimed 21st in the under-15s race while Ilya Korchev had a storming run over the 4k distance placing 13th.

Sussex schools champion Eleanor Strevens continued her fine form in the under-17 girls’ race placing 29th with teammate Ellie Mclean a credible 40th.

Coach Chris Voice said: “The Eastbourne athletes performed well among tough competition. This event prepares them well for some of the high-level events coming up such as the UK inter-counties in Loughborough and the national schools’ event in Nottingham, where many of them have been selected to represent Sussex.”

Additional results: U13 girls – Lexie Mclean 95th, U13 boys Jonah Messer 40th, George Gilbert-Smith 61st, Josh Webster 102nd, U17 women - Isabelle Chappell 95th, U17 men – Benjamin Brown 92, Fintan Pearce 102nd, Kaleb Berhane 150th, U20 men – James Stephen 70th.

RUN WEDNESDAYS

Run Wednesdays hosted the fifth East Sussex Sunday Cross Country League race at Whitbread Hollow last Sunday.

Following their inaugural hosting of the event last year, the route had been adapted to create a tough new course for competitors in the Cross County League, which sees 17 teams competing in six events over the winter.

The five-mile course sees competitors running around Whitbread Hollow before heading up the steep climb towards Beachy Head before returning to the start.

Runners for the club have been training for the league throughout the winter months, including trail runs in all conditions and tough hill sets.

Run Wednesdays coach and lead, Danny Garbett, said: “Months of preparation for the club paid off with a hard, hilly route that tested most of the 300 plus runners.

"Starting and finishing within Whitbread Hollow, the race went up towards Beachy Head allowing runners to enjoy some of the best local views back into a downhill finish.

"The whole club came together today to make this a successful event for Eastbourne and Run Wednesdays – I had so many positive comments from other club runners.

"A special thanks must go to Colin Burbage for his time and commitment over the past few months for ensuring the event is a success.”

Top runners for the club in the league included Phil Wood as first Run Wednesdays runner home, Adam Mansbridge, James Griffiths, Richard Vercoe, Mary Austin-Olsen and Tina MacEnhill.

Club coach Garbett also noted impressive runs from female Run Wednesdays participants Rebecca Bevan and Kate Harbottle-Joyce.

Kevin Moulding, Run Wednesdays Cross Country captain, said: “I’ve just got to say it was an honour being the captain out there on the course.

“The club was outstanding including the marshals, volunteers, supporters and of course the runners.

"The weather was perfect – in stark contrast to last year – and many runners shared it was the hardest and best course on the circuit.”

Meanwhile three Run Wednesdays athletes took part in the Arc of Attrition point-to-point event in Cornwall.

The extreme coastal races of 50 miles and 100 miles take place along the Cornish coast path, finishing in the town of Porthtowan. Landmarks along the way include the towns of Coverack and Zennor Head as well as Minnack Theatre.

Club runner Rusty Rusk took on the challenge of the 100-mile distance with Richard Gardiner and Steve Offord taking on the 50-miler.

Steve said: “This was a beautiful race. The terrain was spectacular but unforgiving. The views were beautiful but the challenges of the path often meant you were focusing on the obstacles ahead rather than looking around you.”

If you have ever thought about getting into running and enjoying the local views, check out the Run Wednesdays Facebook page.