Report from Jay Potton, Winter Team Manager..
On a surprisingly sunny and warm(ish) day our junior athletes shone in the Sussex Road Relays bringing home a wealth of medals. Due to Easter being late this year, it meant the end of the Winter Season and the start of the Summer Season overlapped. This saw second year athletes in each age group who had already gone up to the next age category for any early summer season track meetings back in their winter age groups for the day.
There was some great racing, with our athletes either setting the pace from the start or chasing down rivals to the finish line. They all did us proud. I always try to think of a word to sum up the day and for me, this time, it is PROUD. Seriously proud of all our young athletes. Not just for putting in some very impressive performances, but for those who were unsure if they would run, digging deep and doing it for the team and club. For those without a team still deciding to run. It was a real shame we had some juniors carrying injuries as I know they would all have put in great runs, but that is the nature of sport and it is important to look after your equipment (i.e. yourself) so you can continue to compete in future!
The U11 teams had already set the bar high with a Gold and two Silvers for their teams, but our U13 girls and boys were not daunted bringing home two Gold medals with dominant performances. Well done to Samuel G, Rory G and Barnaby M and also Flo M, Gracie H and Skye W. The girls were 1st out of 18 teams. Our boys B team also secured 6th place with Eli C, Jem M, and Zaky A all running very well. The C team consisted of Harry C, Sam K, and Daniel O who came 18th out of 25 full teams and all put in great performances.
In the U15s our teams brought home Bronze medals. Taylor T-W, Joaquin P-R, and George G fought hard for their third place against very strong opposition. Well done also to Tom K who had to run solo in the end due to injuries forcing his two team mates to withdraw. The girls A team of Layla B, Hannah M-T, and Ruby A battled to 2nd but in the end could not hold off HY and came home with 3rd place and a very well-earned Bronze. The girls B team secured 6th and were first of the B teams consisting of Kira D, Mia P, and Juliana C. There were 12 complete teams in the U15G and 13 complete teams in the U15B.
Sadly, our U17W team did not get to start due to late injuries for Lara C and Julieana W that would have meant Eva W running solo. On paper they were looking good to medal.
However, our U17M once again shone with dominant performances bringing home the Gold with a solid run by an unwell Arun K and superb runs from the Matthews brothers Tom and Freddie seeing them a full 39 seconds clear of the 2nd place team. Our B team came 8th with an excellent performance by Alex R running with Raphael K and Sam O. We were unable to field a full C Team as we were a runner short but well done to Michael D and a special shout out to newcomer (to BHAC) Henry B who actually ran the fastest out of any U17M on the day.
That meant for the juniors we came home with 4 Golds, 2 Silvers and 2 Bronze medals. Not a bad day at the office and our seniors and vets kept up the trend!
In the senior and veteran races we also had strong team results. With the senior men taking gold, the V40 men taking gold (Richard, Ziad and Zared), the V60 medal bronze (Mark, Keith and Sean) and the V50 women gold (Kirsty, Paula and Geraldine).
Photos:
All photos are free to download and use as you wish.
Final/confirmed results will be published on the Sussex AA website soon but are available to view here https://justiming.co.uk/liveresults/roadrunning/g-live.html?f=sussexrr25.clax.