Close to a record turnout as no fewer than 105 club members took part in the midweek Spring 5kms, with star junior Finlay Goodman winning for the second consecutive year in a superb time of 15.41 (the first time that he has broken the 16 minute barrier!), followed home by Will Withecombe 17.35 and Finlay Garlick 18.14.

Zoe Fairclough won the ladies race, also for the second year in a row, setting a club race record with a 19.22 PB; excellent times too from Claire Thomas 20.47 and Amy Rodway 21.59. There was a battle royal for the men’s vets award with Martin Noakes only passing runner up Steven Stanley in the final 200m; whilst Jo French took the ladies equivalent, finishing 22 seconds ahead of Debra Van Aalst. 

Club chairman Nick Brown said: “The event was a great advert for our club with 19 new members taking part in their first club race, and as ever the volunteers – expertly co-ordinated by chief marshal Alan Croucher – did a superb job on the out and back seafront course from Grosvenor Gardens. It was also great to see two of our members, Andy Alabaster and Nicki Steed, coming back to form after major surgery.”The new members were Helen Cassell, Gilda Da Silva, Kevin Davis, Charlotte Ede-Morley, Rachel Gower, Peter Harding, Scott Hilton, Tracy Jarrett, Kate Lewis, Ben Muggridge, Theresa Mummery, Kayla Quinnell, Paul Rackstraw, Amy Rodway, Fatima Serhir, Sarah Stewart, David Townsend, Conal Tracey and Dave Wood. 

Full results were: Finlay Goodman 15:41pb; Will Withecombe 17:35; Finlay Garlick 18:14; Ashley Vora 18:48; Andrew Shipilov 18:54; Stuart Johnstone 19:00pb;  Zoe Fairclough 19:22pb; Sam Evans 19:26; Martin Snape 19:36; Paul Burchett 19:44; Lewis Betts 19:51; Patrick Bermingham 19:53; Martin Noakes 19:54; Steven Stanley 20:01; Simon Linklater 20:06; Nathan Jondorf 20:27; Simon Newstead:20:29; Andy Knight 20:36; Joe Moore 20:37; Graeme Grass 20:41 21 Claire Thomas 20:47; Stephen Ingram 20:53pb; John Simcox 20:57 24 Michael Norris 21:12; Steven Hoath 21:15; Mark Storey 21:24; Romey Jondorf 21:36; Kevin Davis 21:40; Matthew Miller 21:50; Jamie Kennedy 21:52; David Townsend 21:53; Ben Muggridge 21:54; Amy Rodway 21:59; Tamsin West 22:01; Charles Bowley 22:18; Col Turner 22:23; Ben Sallows 22:25; Adrian Barratt 22:27; David Fairclough 22:40; Conal Tracey 22:41; Robert Weeks 23:03pb; Nicki Steed 23:17; Andy Alabaster 23:25; Craig Weeks 23:40; David Harding 23:42; Peter Noakes 23:50; Lucie Smitalova 23:58; Bill Edmondson 24:08; Paul Rackstraw 24:28; Sean Dwyer 24:32 ; Keith Goodsell 24:34; Jessica Hayward 24:35; Nick Webb 24:36; Fatima Serhir 24:42; Jessica Cull 24:46; Richard Cross 24:55; Sarah Stewart 24:57pb; Jo French 25:41; Charlotte Ede-Morley 25:44; Berenice Consavela 25:53; Dave Wood 25:58; Nigel Thornely 25:59; Debra Van Aalst 26:03; James Graham 26:20; Susan Wilkinson 26:31; Kate Lewis 26:32; Sue Quincey 26:33 ; Annette Fry 26:35; Kelly Derosa 26:38; Klare Beecroft 27:15; Simon Woroniecki 27:18; Chris White 27:31pb 73 Jackie Scott 00:27:31; Helen Cassell 27:54; Victoria Harding 28:00; Allison Tanner 28:22; Shana Burchett 28:46; Danny Ratnarajah 28:50; Theresa Mummery 28:51; Tracy Jarrett 29:00; Yockie Richardson 29:02; Tracy Ratnarajah 29:02; Amy Ashby 29:04; Sophie Ashby 29:04; Kayla Quinnell 29:20; Sue Palmer 29:23; Louise Cavill; 29:26; Marie Appleton 30:03; Scott Hilton 30:05; Christine Sanderson 30:11; Gilda Da Silva 30:47; Peter Harding 31:11; Alan Croucher 31:34; Lorraine Ashby 32:07; Irene Kitson 32:11; Rachel Gower 32:12; Davinia Hill 33:17; Susan Mann 34:07; Joanne Fellows 35:08; Catherine Southgate 35:15; Eric Hardwick 36:00; Terry Kitson 37:44; Erica Wilson 39:23; Henry Worthington 42:38; Christine Rackstraw 44:05.  

Chris White and Jessica Hayward were also presented with their Improvers awards for the Hastings half marathon, after both knocked nearly 20 minutes off their times in last year’s race!

Over 130 Hastings Runners took part in the 39th staging of the town’s Half Marathon on Sunday. The constant rainfall and East Sussex Council’s reluctance to repair the worst potholes in the UK, couldn’t discourage us from taking to the streets and completing the 13.1 undulating miles in determined fashion.

The annual pre race photo lifted spirits but left us soaked before the race even began. The entrance to Race HQ was even muddier than Tim’s farm for the Pett XC a few weeks earlier. At the top of the field we were missing some of our strongest runners due to injury and other commitments, but as a club we represent more than just race times. Hastings Runners is about inclusivity across all abilities and age groups, something that was celebrated this weekend.

A special mention for Darren Barzee and Sylvia Huggett who have now completed 39 consecutive Hastings Half Marathons. Only 7 other runners can claim this amazing achievement. We had age category wins for Sally Grainger in the FV60 and Yockie Richardson in the FV75.

And what about Eric Hardwick? He received an MBE for his decades of commitment and hard work in organising the race. This year he passed on the baton to local race organiser Nice Work and ran the route himself, finishing 2nd in the MV80 category. We love you Eric.

In the junior race, Lewis Betts overcame some early obstacles to finish in 5th place in a fantastic time of 6 minutes and 56 seconds.

Back to the main event, new member Matt Draper was the first Hastings Runner across the line in a superb time of 1:17:49 to break into the Top 20. Adam Weller 1:21:57, Kieran Price 1:27:07 (PB), Bob Russell 1:27:12 and Paul Lambert 1:27:59 (PB), made up the Top 5 club finishers with some superb performances.

On the female side Zoe Fairclough produced a brilliant run to come home in 1:31:48. In 2nd place was Denise White in 1:45:46 and Jacqueline Mannering produced a PB of 1:47:09.

The club also filled all 4 of the pacer slots. Simon Linklater (I had to give myself a mention somewhere) 1:49:17, Sarah Bendle 1:58:18, Charles Bowley 2:10:05 and Jessica Cull 2:29:23, did a stellar job in providing support for fellow runners.

Let’s take a moment to show gratitude for all of the spectators that came out to support this amazing event, despite the inclement weather. I think as a club we should take some pride in this with the efforts we contribute to the race, notably our leaflet distributing, thank you to Mike Hall for organising that.

If anyone ran a half marathon PB then let me know and I will give you a mention. Full results to follow.

Thank you to Vinny Read for the photos.

While we await the official results, I’d just like to say well done to ALL Hastings Runners who joined in or supported others at the Ashdown Forest Cross Country yesterday. As the pictures below show – it was EPIC…

As the car drew closer and the rain beat down ever harder running at all was beginning to look like a daft idea. On arrival, problem A was a herd of cattle taking their time crossing the road.

Problem B was the fact that despite a storm of biblical proportions, every cross-country runner in East Sussex had thought a five-mile circuit of Ashdown Forest was a great idea. Despite car-sharing, all car-parks were virtually full over half-an-hour before the seniors race began.

Not at all keen on seeing how many nano-seconds it would take to get soaked to the skin, I nonetheless followed the advice of the impossibly-keen Martin Noakes and left the comfort of our car, lacing up my running shoes and discovering the answer to the nano-second question was “around 17”.

Wiser folks than Martin and I stood around forlornly wearing waterproofs but we decided to embrace being wet and cold, to ignore the wind, and do a warm-up run. Minutes later I was like an Emperor Penguin, gratefully sheltering amid a throng of eager runners, wondering what the chap with a megaphone could possibly be saying into the teeth of the howling gale.

When those in front began to move away from me it became clear… Suddenly we were 300 crazy people charging along a track through a stand of trees and yelling gleefully as it was no evident that the only option was to get as muddy as we were already wet.

Finally everything made sense. This was GREAT FUN!
Once out of the wood, we could see the main event…. Water, water everywhere – and puddles in which to sink. Muddy water flowed towards us if we ran uphill, across us in countless streams if we ran along a contour, or away from us into ever growing swamps ahead whenever we found ourselves running downhill.

And then it was over. Which meant the weather gods decided enough was enough and instead bathed this magnificent setting, several hundred drenched and mud-spattered runners – and that herd of cattle – in warm sunshine.

You couldn’t make it up, but you could come along next year. Or, better still, to the next event at Snape Wood, Wadhurst on November 28.