A north-west wind chilled the air but it was the driest Bexhill course for years and Brighton & Hove AC athletes made the most of the conditions with some stunning performances at the Sussex cross country Championships.
U13
Silver, bronze and fourth place in the Under 13 girls race secured the first team gold of 2019 for Dulcie Yelling, Rosie Gasson and Macy Brooking behind an ever dominant Eleanor Strevens (EBR). It was a great team effort and as all three athletes will still be u13 next year the future is looking very bright in this age group. The girls were backed up brilliantly by the ‘B’ team of Mollie Barrett, Xanthe Cox and Madeleine Badruzaman who were all in the top 13 and with an overall score of 30 were just one point behind the silver and bronze team medallists.
The U13 boys’ is a particularly strong age group this year and this race was the closest of the day with three seconds separating the medallists. It was won by Crawley’s Miles Waterworth, who until recently was a B&H athlete. However, Alex Riley battled throughout and was well rewarded with a bronze medal. With Jude Clayton in 9th and Adam Mehew in 16th the boys also secured third place overall.
U15
Poppy Palmer-Mallins has been on form all season and with a fine individual bronze medal led the ‘A’ team to victory with Eadie Yelling in fourth and an inspired run from Bertie Brooking for 7th. Showing our depth we had the ‘B’ team on the podium as well with 8th, 9th and 13th places for Ruby Wilson, Ella Matthews and Becky Losh respectively.
Archie Rowles held off Crawley’s Thomas Kimber to come third and with Henry Yelling in 9th and Will Matthews in 15th the boys were team bronze medallists.
U17
Only 17 athletes contested this race and six of them were from Brighton and Hove. Lois Dooley ran confidently for silver and led Pia Lewis in 7th and Gracie Barnard in 13th to team gold. Meanwhile Amber Wright, Alex Nann and Astrid Blackledge in 15th, 16th and 17th were the bronze medallists.
Our highest placing in the U17 Men’s race was Patrick Connolly in 13th one place ahead of Tom Roberts and with Henry Taylor in 17th the team was fourth.
Junior (U20)
In the Junior Men’s race Tomer Tarragano moved clear of Joseph Brody (Hastings) for a very large victory margin of 23:31 to 24:15. Tomer’s dominating performance led the team of Joe Clayson (4th) and Sam Wilkinson (13th) to successfully defend their 2018 title.
The Junior Women ran a combined race with the Senior Women. Our only U20 athlete running was Amy Gamblin who was 7th in her age group.
Seniors
For the Senior Women Martha Coyle was first in in 14th place, backed up by Phoebe Connolly in 27th, Paula Blackledge in 31st and Freya Mary in 34th for fifth place overall.
With a fifth place finish Kevin Moore led the Senior men’s team of Howard Bristow (8th), James Turner (14th), William Cork (15th), Will Gray and Phil Stevenson (28th and 29th) to a bronze team medal.
Well done to all the athletes who competed for the club and their coaches and thanks to Hastings AC and all the volunteers and helpers who made it possible.
FULL RESULTS Available here: