A sparkling run from fourteen year old Eleanor Strevens highlighted the Sussex runners in the National Cross-country championships at Nottingham on Saturday.
Not many Sussex runners took the journey to compete but her trip was well worth-while and she very nearly returned with a medal.
Strevens (Eastbourne) has had an excellent season over the country winning both the County and the Sussex Schools titles and her fourth place in the U15 race at Nottingham saw her finish just 13 seconds adrift of the bronze medal.
Three other Sussex athletes took Top ten placings while another eight made the top one hundred in their age group, which in itself is a pretty good effort.
In the U20 women’s race Almi Nerurkar (Brighton Phoenix) finished an excellent eighth while in ninth place, in the U20 men’s race Brighton & Hove’s Tomer Tarragano had an impressive run.
In the same race Jacob Cann (Horsham) filled 23rd position five places ahead of Leo Brewer (Phoenix) while in the U13 Boys event Finlay Goodman (Hastings Runners) continued his excellent form by placing 11th.
In the Senior men’s race there was little to choose between Brighton & Hove runners William Cork, the Sussex League champion and Jamie Knapp who placed 66th and 67th respectively while club mate James Turner finished 138th, which was a pretty good effort.
In these events a top 100 placing, particularly in the senior races, is a seriously good performance and County women’s champion from Crowborough had a fine run in the in the senior women’s race placing 20th, Beth Garland from Chichester had an excellent run to finish in 35th place and Leah Harris (Worthing) also continued her good form to place 65th.
Grand Brighton Half-marathon.
The runners in the Beacon Half-marathon along the Brighton Seafront had to battle with high winds and driving rain in what was probably the most testing conditions in its Thirty year history.
Over seven thousand athletes survived the difficult conditions to complete the course with local runner, Brighton & Hove’s Kevin Moore eventually breaking clear of Crawley’s Neil Boniface in the closing stages of the race to win in a pretty good time, considering the conditions of 69:05. This was some fifty metres clear of Boniface (M40) who clocked 69:17.
Paul Martelletti, a frequent competitor in Brighton Road Races, took the bronze medal in 69:40, just one second ahead of Brighton Phoenix’s Simon Heath while Swansea’s Martin Rees in 69:45 took fifth place.
First woman to finish was Philippa Williams (Sheffield) in 77:55. With Heather Noone (Woodbridge) nearly two minutes adrift in 79:53 and Maisie Trafford (Arena 80) filled third place in 81:10.