Sussex athletes probably had their most successful year in the Brighton Marathon winning a silver and a bronze medal in the men’s race and five athletes placing in the top twenty places.
In good racing conditions despite a north easterly head wind at the finish Peter Le Grice from Bristol won the race in 2:16:23 nearly two minutes clear of Crawley’s Paul Navesey and Ian Leitch (Brighton Phoenix) who both set personal bests and broke into the Sussex All time lists.
These two spent many miles in sight of each other but it was Navesey who had the edge taking five minutes off his previous best to take the silver medal in 2:18:17.
Leitch was not far adrift in 2:18:34 to not only take the bronze medal but was also the first master across the finishing line.
These times took them into fourth and fifth places respectively in the Sussex All-time list.
Chris Bird from Chichester placed 13th clocking 2:31:18 while Max Dumbrell (Phoenix) set a new Pb in 14th place in 2:31:50.
Finishing in 19th in another Pb of 2:39:08 was another Phoenix runner Alex Cruttenden.
I believe that Emily Proto (Arena 80) was the leading Sussex woman home.
Helen Davies (Ipswich) won her third successive title in 2:34:06 with Proto in 120th place in 2:58:52.
Prior to the Marathon there was also some good results in the 10k race with Ross Skelton (Phoenix) leading the Sussex challenge in 24th place in a Pb of 30:09.
Jack Leitch (Worthing) also recorded a Pb when clocking 30:17 for 32nd, Ryan Driscoll (Tonbridge) 36th in 30:44 and Ben Savill (Lewes) 37th in a Pb3:45.
Brighton & Hove’s James Turner clocked 31:05 in 43rd position and Gary Foster (Hastings) squeezed inside the Top fifty placing 48th in a Pb of 31:18.
Both Phoenix’s Beth Kidger and Hastings’ Lizzie Clarke set Pbs and cracked the first 100 finishers placing 89th and 97th respectively in 33:58 and 34:29th a pretty good day for Sussex.
If you have any queries or want more information regarding this post, please Email Reg Hook.