If there is one thing we love at Hastings Runners it’s a weekend storm!! This week it was the turn of Storm Ellen with gusts up to 50 mph in exposed parts of the region.
But once again our members put on a brave face, donned their green and black vests and did the club proud.
On Saturday morning Finlay made the long trip up to Nottingham (not on his own I should add) to run in the National Cross Country Championship at Wollaton Park. If you’ve not seen the videos on the HR Facebook group then I suggest checking them out. To suggest conditions were tough and the standard was high would be the biggest understatements of the year.
Despite competing against boys a year older, Finlay finished an excellent 11th place in a race with several hundred runners. He made up 10 places on the 2nd lap.
On Sunday, in equally challenging muddy conditions, we had 8 runners competing in the 8K Gunpowder Run in Battle. The results were as follows.
Ben Sallows 43:41, Jo Nevett 45:38, Andy Knight 49:39, Emma Stubbs 58:58, Linda Beddis 64:20, Jess Tanner 72:06, Allison Tanner 72:06, Mary Le Pla 73:24.
The wind played a big role in the Brighton Half Marathon, but remarkably 3 of our 6 runners came home with PB’s. Manami Cheves finished the race in 1:48:58. Susan Rae was close behind in 1:52:04, good enough for 3rd in her age category. I just about managed to keep my feet on the ground and get round in a PB of 1:57:25.
Also braving the testing conditions in Brighton were Stuart Woolford 1:57:00, Matthew Beaver 1:59:07 and Sarah Holmes 2:12:22.
Dan Snellgrove ran in the Wokingham Half Marathon, producing a stunning PB of 1 hour and 25 minutes.
For some of our runners, 13.1 miles isn’t nearly enough as Jacqueline Mannering, Pete Heasman and Elly Swaine were back out conquering the world by completing the Lenham Cross Winter Marathon. Wind, mud, hills. They can’t get enough. Their efforts making them a worthy winner of the photo of the week.
Danny Firth ran an excellent time of 41:06 in the Lostock 6 miler. That was good enough for 76th place in a field of 453 runners.
There was more success in Spain for Helen & Nick Brown. Helen scooped first place in the FV50 category in the El Campelio 5k, whilst Nick stood proudly at the summit of the podium by finishing 1st in the MV60 category. Just ahead of his new nemesis Andy Key.
As always, if I’ve missed a race or not given you a mention, drop me an email at [email protected] and I’ll get you added.
Well done everyone. A fantastic effort this weekend in such challenge conditions (in the UK at least).
Simon Linklater – Communications Officer