Report by Tom Ulliot
Sunday 20th November saw the return of the ever popular Brighton 10k after an enforced absence of 3 years from the racing calendar.
Some outstanding times were recorded by many Sussex athlete in what proved to be far better racing conditions than originally feared. These fast times no doubt being bolstered by the additional stimulus of racing in a Sussex vest for many of our top athletes in an inter county match against 5 of our local neighbouring counties. The inter county match comprising Sussex, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Berkshire and Hampshire. All these counties fielding teams of 4 male and 4 female athletes.
The impact of the match being that no less than 8 of the overall top 10 finishers in both the men’s race and women’s race were representing their home county.
In terms of individual honours, the overall men’s winner was Will Bryan from Hampshire in a time of 30:32, closely followed by Gus Withers from Essex in a time of 30:40, a personal best by 19 seconds. Will only moving into the lead in the lates stages of the race. 3rd place went to Scott Cousins, also from Essex in a time of 31:00 with the first Sussex man Jack Gumm coming home in 4th place in 31:14, Jack’s performance all the more remarkable as it was his first ever 10k race!!
Other athletes representing Sussex in the inter county match were James Turner, 6th in 31:28, Kieran Barnes 31:55, Ben Short 32:51, Kieran’s time being a 19 second PB. For the unfortunately incomplete B team we had Craig Halsey 33:20 and Jon Barnes 33:33.
As for the inter county team match in the men’s race, it’s not surprising that with 2 in the top 3, Essex came out on top with a cumulative time for their top 3 scoring runners of 1 hour, 33 mins and 31 seconds, however things were very tight as 2ndplaced Hampshire were only 5 seconds adrift with 1 hour 33 mins and 36 seconds. Sussex were also close just a further 61 seconds back with 1 hour 34 mins and 37 seconds, so every second did indeed count!! Kent came home 4th in 1 hour 37 minutes and 1 second, Hertfordshire 5th in 1 hour 39 minutes and 39 seconds and Berkshire 6th in 1 hour 50 minutes and 3 seconds.
As for the women’s race, individual honours here went to Naomi Mitchel from Berkshire in 33:43, closely followed by Sussex’s very own Harriet Bloor in an excellent 34:00, just 4 seconds outside her personal best set earlier this year at the Brighton Marathon 10k. 3rd place went to Helen Hall from Hampshire in 34:38, Helen’s time being a huge personal best, improving by some 41 seconds on her 35:19 set 2-years ago at Goodwood. Also in the top 10 individuals were Ruby Whyte-Wilding and Emma Navesey, both from Sussex with times of 35:20 and 35:36 respectively, Ruby’s time being a big personal best by 36 seconds and Emma’s just missing her personal best by only 10 seconds.
Other athletes representing Sussex in the inter county match were Kate Natkiel 36:31, Bobby Searle 37:05, Amy Harris 37:07, Rachel Hillman 37:25 and Laila Hellyer 39:18. Kate’s result being a 26 second personal best on her 36:57 set at Swansea in September, all the more remarkable as this is her first year as a runner after making the switch from football.
In terms of the women’s inter county team match, with our 3 scoring athletes placing well inside the top 10, Sussex ladies were well clear of 2nd placed Hertfordshire by some 3 mins 41 seconds with 1 hour 45 minutes and 6 seconds. Hampshire were 3rd just 46 seconds behind Hertfordshire and Essex further back in 1 hour 52 minutes and 5 seconds. Kent were 5th and Berkshire 6th with Berkshires time of 1 hour 55 minutes and 2 seconds being only 5 seconds adrift of the Kent time.
It was very pleasing to see that the Sussex B team, there for development/recognition purposes but not able to score in the team match, would have finished 4th overall only 1 minute and 44 seconds behind 3rd placed Hampshire.
An unusual and innovative addition to the inter county match is the inclusion of a mixed team event, this simply being the aggregate times of the first 3 men and first 3 women from each county and here it was great to see further success for Sussex, as our mixed team came out well clear in 1st place with a cumulative time of 3 hours, 19 minutes and 43 seconds, some 3 and half minutes ahead of Hampshire and a further 2 and a half minutes ahead of Essex. Hertfordshire were 4th, Kent 5th and Berkshire 6th.
All in all, the addition of the inter county match within the over race at the Brighton 10k proved to be a great success with the athletes thoroughly enjoying themselves and some great racing to be seen. In total 13 men ran inside 32 minutes of which 11 were competing for their respective county with the picture being much the same for the women with 13 athletes inside 37 minutes, 11 of them representing their respective county.
Thanks to Gavin Stephens his help and support in enabling the inter county match to be incorporated into the main Brighton 10k event and also to Andy Knowles from The Endurance Project for sponsoring the purchase of the splendid trophies awarding to the winning teams in the 3 categories as well as presenting the awards on the day