There was excellent running from all the Women’s teams on Saturday, where due to the strength and depth of our turnout we have dragged ourselves back into medal contention in most of the team categories from U17 through to Vet ladies.
A team – Division One
We had a great battle for the honour of first Brighton lady to cross the line. This was between two of our outstanding U17s – Martha Coyle and Esther Lutz-Davies – with Martha just creating a slight gap in the final sprint to come home ninth overall and third U17 in 19:56. Just one second behind was Esther in 10th place and fourth U17 with a time of 19:57. Our third and fourth counters in the A team were Camilla Bishop, 23rd and 10th vet in 21:21 with Laura Douse just behind in 24th place with a time of 21:24. The result of this is that we finished second A team on the day, but only just as we recorded the same points (66 each) as Worthing Harriers and only got ‘the nod’ on count-back. The exciting result of this however is that we are in A VERY CLOSE BATTLE OVERALL FOR SILVER AND BRONZE TEAM PLACE IN DIVISION ONE. After three matches we are in overall third place with 168 points but are only four points behind Worthing who lie second with 164 points, however, we in turn are only four points ahead of fourth placed Chichester with 172 points!! I cannot stress enough the importance now of fielding every one of our strongest runners for the final fixture on March the first, so expect me to be chasing you constantly!
Under 17s
Following on from Martha and Esther’s third and fourth places in the U17s section of the run, we had yet another very good, strong performance from Phoebe Connolly who came home 42nd overall but importantly was ninth U17 in 22:38. The really exciting news here though is that as a result of this our U17 ladies are now second overall in the league just one single point behind Chichester with 56 points v their 55 points, so as above, it’s really important we pull out all stops in the final fixture at Bexhill to try to squeeze ahead if we can!
Division Two B and C teams
Following on from the excellent runs of the ladies already mentioned, the good news continues throughout, with Jeanette Kenneally 28th, and 12th vet, in 21:54. Gail Nerurkar 29th and 13th vet in 21:55 (this just 2 days after being knocked off her bike!!), and Julia Downes 32nd and 14th vet in 22:08. Our next three ladies were Nicola Silsby 37th in 22:28, Camilla Moyle 40th and 19th vet in 22:33 and Phoebe Connolly 42nd and ninth U17 in 22:38. This means that we are in the impressive situation after three matches of sitting in first AND second place in Division 2, our B team looking secure with 268 points, some 129 better than third placed Arena 80 B, with the C team on 386 in second place but just 11 ahead of Arena 80 C, hence yet again I stress the need to get all we can out for the Bexhill fixture!
As always, it is imperative we field as many runners as we possibly can at these fixtures and the successes of Saturday were very much due to the other ladies not so far mentioned who backed us up so well. These ladies being Judith Carder 50th and 27th vet but first v55 in 23:12, Claire Rank 61st and 35th vet in 24:19, Suzanne Jarrett 68th and 41st vet in 24:46, Emma Pritty 72nd and 44th vet in 25:01 and Louise Lawrence 82nd and 51st vet in 25:53.
Vets League
Lastly, but by no means least, the great news continues through to our vet ladies where the previously mentioned Camilla Bishop, Jeanette Kenneally and Gail Nerurkar placed the vets A team third on the day and thus strengthened our grip on third place in the vets league where we now sit a tantalising 17 points behind second placed Hailsham and a more secure 42 points ahead of fourth placed Crawley.
I am sure we are also in strong contention for individual honours in many categories but this will take a little while to analyse the results so far, so watch this space for (my unofficial) details on the individuals.
VERY WELL DONE TO YOU ALL