An American doctor robbed Stephen Ferroni from becoming the youngest ever winner of the senior race at the opening Sussex Cross-country League on the Downs at Goodwood on Saturday.
Conditions on the Downs were firm and fast for the five hundred plus athletes who were competing but a biting north east that swept across the course made conditions for the Officials particularly unpleasant to say the least.
The talented Chris Smith from Haywards Heath was determined to run the finish out of his rivals and set off at a blistering pace which quickly saw him build up a thirty metre lead.
Brighton & Hove’s Ferroni and the unfamiliar Chris Zablocki running for Chichester, a 2:18:00 marathoner, just about managed to keep the fleeing Smith in sight but as they approached the end of the first lap of the two-lap race they could see the gap closing.
Over the second circuit first Zablocki and then Ferroni pegged back the Haywards Heath runner and it was Dr Zablocki, who is in Chichester for a year, who pulled clear to win in 24:00 with Ferroni, who is not eighteen until next week, clocking 24:08 in second place.
A tired Smith hung on to third place in 24:39 with a rapidly closing veteran Howard Bristow (Brighton & Hove) clocking 24:55 in fourth place.
The early pattern in the senior women’s race was similar to the men’s event but there was no way that County champion Emma Macready was to fade in the closing stages and she finished well clear in 17:10.
Liz Coomber (Haywards Heath) fought off strong challenge from Worthing’s Leah Harris for second place clocking 17:55 to 17:57 with Martha Coyle (Brighton & Hove), who was eighteen early in the month, making a welcome return to competition after illness ruined the end of the last cross-country and all the track season took fourth place in 18:05.
Ollie Johnson (Brighton Phoenix) ran a well judge U17 race to pull away from early leaders Joe Body (Hastings) and Eastbourne’s Dan Stidder to win in 15:45 with Body clocking 15:50 and Stidder 15:51.
In the U15 age groups local runners Ben Collins and Olivia Wiseman proved victorious with Collins romping away with the Boy’s title clocking 14:11 to Joe Smith (Crawley) 14:32 and Will Broom (Chichester) 14:43 while Wiseman recorded 14:552 to win the Girl’s race ahead of Ellen Crombie and Harmony Cooper from Hastings in 15:03 and 15:31.
Isaac Elam (Hastings) won the U13 Boy’s race in 10:58 ahead of Will Carey (Lewes) 11:03 and Calum Stone (East Grinstead) 11:10 while a trio of Phoenix athletes filled the first three places in the U13 Girl’s with Milly Dickson clocking 11:53, Eloise Nichols 11:55 and former Crawley athlete Amber Wright on 11:56.
In the inaugural U11 race Ashton McCleod (Crawley) proved an impressive winner in 11:47 from Brighton & Hove's Will Matthews who clocked 6.58 and his club mate Rudy Jones who was timed at 7.13.