Very poor conditions of mist wind and drenching drizzle heralded the first of this seasons Sussex League cross country match of the season at Goodwood last weekend. The conditions for the younger athletes running first were so poor the organisers had a car leading the runners around the course with headlights and hazard warnings on. Grace Baker bravely made light of the conditions front running from the gun and destroying the rest of the field, winning the under 15 girls event in 15.22, some 27 seconds ahead of the Lewes AC athlete in second place. Along with Lauren Ellis 17th (18.54), Chloe Reed 21st (20.06) and Kerlena Stone 23rd (22.25) the performance was good enough to put them in team bronze medal place in the four match series.
The under 17 mens squad finished in second place in the team standings in spite of the absence of Max Thomas. Ross Skelton took on the highly rated Phoenix AC runner Charlie Grice in a tough battle eventually missing out by just 7 seconds to come home in second place. The ever improving Kris Everett had the race of his life to finish in third place 27 seconds behind Skelton in third place. In spite of having juts tow runners they finished in second team spot behind Brighton AC a gap they can surely close with Thomas due back for the next fixture at Plimpton College.
The under 13 team were also on form with Ryan Hodd taking fourth place in 11.24 with Luke Cooper not far behind in seventh in 11.34 they were joined by Oliver Harding in 31st place in 13.30, results good enough to secure them second tem position and with a couple of athletes missing on the day again first place spot is on the cards. The girls squad did not disappoint finishing in first team slot thanks to Katie Garland running superbly to clinch third place in 11.55, Louise Nash 6th in 12.18 and Sophie Markwick 15th (13.07). The b team of Zoe Botting 21st (13.50), Bryony Pegge 30th (14.34) and Beccy Haggar 38th (15.39) also impressed with a10th team place. Monty Wilson led home the under 15 boys in 6th place in 15.45 and was joined by Ben Anson in 24th (18.19) and Ryan Higgs 25th (18.42).
In the senior events Stacy Clusker (18.38) had a strong run in the senior womens race finishing as second placed under 17 runner and 4th overall with Holly Wheeler not far behind in 6th place in 18.50. In the senior mens Jamie Larkin (28.23) led the team home in 31st , Sam Grain (29.05) 41st and Keith Bossum 47th (29.42).
Katie Garland, Louise Nash, Grace Baker, Stacey Clusker, Ryan Hodd, Luke Cooper, Ross Skelton and Kris Everett on the basis on the days performance have all been selected to represent Sussex in the South of England Inter-Counties match at Parliament Hill on the 21st November.
On the same day and also enjoying the weather were some of the clubs senior athletes competing in the 26.2mile Beachy Head Marathon. Andy Lamb was the first club runner home finishing in 11th place in 3hours 27 min. The rest of the field were Bill Darby 4.05, Paul McCleary 4.13, Andrea Smith 4.24, Claire Burnham 4.45, John Gatley 4.51, Tony Corby 4.58, Kayleigh Clusker 5.03, Dean Skelton 5.03, Francis Burnham 5.05 & Hannah Hayler 5.05.
