Many congrats to Susan Rae, who took 4 mins off her 1/2 marathon pb and won the FV60 – 64 age category in the prestigious London Landmarks Half Marathon on Sunday which attracted nearly 11,000 runners to the closed road event through the City of London and City of Westminster. Sue’s chip time was 1.47.21. Fellow club members Ben Brett, John Simcox and Keith Goodsell recorded chip times of 1:53:00, 2.01.04 and 2.07.27 respectively.

Meanwhile Matt Edmonds recorded his 20th different course victory at parkrun, winning the Squerryes Winery parkrun in Westerham, Kent in a time of 19.53. What was more remarkable was that he had set off from Johns Cross the previous evening, and trekked 66 kms throughout the night in order to reach the parkrun before the 9 am start on Saturday!

Closer to home, 41 Hastings Runners tackled the Hastings parkrun which attracted a field of nearly 300 runners – 80 more than on the previous week’s restart. They were led in by Will Withecombe who continued his fine vein of recent form with an excellent 5th place in a pb time of 17.40; other pbs were recorded by Fraser Hughes (20.03); Simon Linklater (20.11); Katy Matthews (22.41) and Manami Cheves (23.29).

Harry Hood notched up his 50th parkrun, whilst Jane Hughes (FV60) and Martin Noakes (MV55) posted the 3rd & 4th best age grading scores with 80.56% (24.26) & 80.10% (19.41) respectively. Club chairman Nick Brown took the highest age graded score (79.95%) at Seaford Beach parkrun with a time of 20.47.

A busy weekend for Hastings Runners, coinciding with the long awaited return of parkrun. No fewer than 28 club members took part in the Hastings parkrun, with Matt Edmonds notching up his 26th course success in a time of 17.07.

There were pbs for Charles Bowley (22.31), Ben Kirimli (23.23) and Emma Stubbs (25.32); whilst veterans Martin Noakes and Nick Brown recorded the 2nd and 3rd highest age graded scores with 79.76% and 77.89% respectively in times of 19.46 and 21.20.

We are very grateful to event director Arrianne Callow, who did a huge amount of work behind the scenes in the weeks leading up to the restart, as well as run directors Sue Rae and Jane Hughes, and all the other parkrun volunteers – many of them club members. Meanwhile over at Eastbourne parkrun, Nicki Steed was 4th lady finisher in a pb time of 21.53.

Earlier in the week club chairman Nick Brown had posted a time of 21.17 and was first MV60 in the Great City Race 5 kms, which attracted a field of nearly 3000 runners for the London Marathon organised event on closed roads in the City of London.

The club were very well represented in Sunday’s Romney Marsh 10 kms, with 20 tackling this latest club championship race in very humid conditions along the quiet country lanes starting from New Romney out of a field of nearly 200 runners.

Many congrats to Kieran, Vinnie, Simon, Kevin and Manami who all posted pbs.

Times were: Kieran Price 39.07; Paul Burchett 41.41; Vincent Reed 42.39; Simon Linklater 43.04; Kevin Blowers 43.11; Nick Brown 43.52; Neil Jeffries 44.17; Claire Thomas 46.34; Ben Sallows 46.54; Manami Cheves 49.26; Richard Cross 50.46; Simon Weatherley 51.56; Elly Swaine 58.59; Alison Anderson 59.24; Marie Crawford 59.51; Michelle Krombholz 60.38; Krista Barzee 60.57; Terry Kitson 63.41; Irene Kitson 67.15; Louise Cavill 67.30 (tbc).
Many thanks to Will Withecombe for the photos and support near the finish.

Another busy weekend as racing is slowly returning to normal, with no fewer than 29 Hastings Runners taking part in the gruelling Bewl 15 miler on Sunday which was the 3rd club championship race of the year.

The persistent rain made the challenging multi-terrain course even tougher than usual, with the muddy conditions on much of the route more akin to winter cross country.

Star veteran Darren Barzee was first HR to finish in an impressive time of 2hrs 2mins, just 90secs ahead of Ben Park in 2hrs 3mins, followed in by Kevin Blowers 2hrs 8mins; Mark Lutman 2hrs 11mins; Malcolm Smith 2hrs 16mins; Charles Bowley 2hrs 22mins; Ben Sallows 2hrs 22mins; Matt Smith 2hrs 30mins; Martin Hurry 2hrs 31mins; Nina Lambrou 2hrs 34mins; Sarah Bendle 2hrs 37mins; Chris Weeks 2hrs 38mins; Steward Woolford 2hrs 41mins; Anthony Gardner 2hrs 43mins; Adrian Barratt 2hrs 45mins; Simon Weatherley 2hrs 46mins; Elly Swaine 2hrs 50mins; Marie Appleton 3hrs 2 mins; Lily Share 3hrs 6mins; Shana Burchett 3hrs 15mins; Susan Wilkinson 3hrs 17mins; Sarah Sellens 3hrs 26mins; Helen Munday 3hrs 26mins; Terry Kitson 3hrs 26mins; Samantha Welfare 3hrs 34mins; Michelle Krombholz 3hrs 34mins; Louise Cavill 3hrs 34mins; Krista Barzee 3hrs 34 mins; Allison Tanner 4hrs 41mins.

Meanwhile 3 of the club’s leading ultra marathoners were stretching their legs over the demanding Salomon Serpent Trail 100 kms, which featured nearly 1800m of ascent in the South Downs National Park including the highest point at Blackdown. The trio of Pete Heasman, Darren Kilby and Jackie Mannering completed the event in 16hrs 40mins.

New club member Will Withecombe had got the weekend off to a flying start with a comfortable victory in the Oliver Curd Charity 10 kms run on Friday night, finishing a comfortable 8 mins clear of the runner up in a very decent time of 40.07 over the mainly off-road point to point course which ran from Crowhurst Park in Telham to the Combe Haven Holiday Park in Hastings. Also among the field of 51 runners were Ben Spicer in 65.37, Debra Van Aalst 65.58 (first FV60), Emma Wareham 81.25 and Sharon Goodsell 81.25.

Some excellent performances by Hastings Runners over the weekend, led by Matt Edmonds who turned in a remarkable endurance feat by completing the grueling Race to the King Ultra Marathon in 8 hrs 29 mins 12 secs, finishing a very impressive 14th out of 891 runners.

The 53.50-mile event started from Goodwood Racecourse and followed the undulating South Downs Way all the way to Winchester with the finish on the steps of Winchester Cathedral.

To give you some idea of how much climbing was involved, the 1586 meters of elevation is 250m higher than Ben Nevis!

Meanwhile dropping down in distance slightly, new member Charles Bowley clocked 50.07 in the Heathfield Midsummer 10 km, which features a stamina-sapping gradual climb in the final 2 km.

Well done also to  Nicki Steed (47.34) and Ben Kirimli (52.21) who took part in the Eastbourne 10 km, an out and back course along the seafront.