A sparkling run from Daniel Stidder from Heathfield was the highlight of the Sussex performances at the South East Schools Inter-counties match at Brands Hatch on Saturday.
Over a flat and fast course Stidder, the County Schools champion, was always at the head of the senior (U19) boy’s field and drew clear towards the finish for a convincing victory against some strong Home Counties competition.
Most of the top four runners from the Sussex Schools Championships who had gained automatic selection for the All England Schools championships next month chose to give this weekend’s race a miss which ruled out any team success which is always tough against the surrounding counties.
Surrey, Kent, Hampshire and Essex usually fight out this fixture particularly as most counties expect all their athletes to run.
There were however good runs by other athletes hoping to fill the extra four places for the England Schools team. Brodie Keates (Felpham) and, Luke Campbell (Bishop Luffa) finished 34th and 39th respectively and Thomas Bentley (Worth) placed 44th while George Crocker (Hazelwick), who missed the championships finished 50th.
The Intermediate (U17) boys saw a fine run from Sussex School’s champion William Broom (Bishop Luffa) who finished sixth and he was well supported by Ethan Fincham (Angmering) in a cracking eighth place, Leo Stallard (Bishop Luffa) 25th, Leo Brewer (Brighton College) 28th and Noah Candy (St.Richards) 33rd.
The Junior (U15) boys also produced some good runs with Callum Stone (Sackville) finishing 14th, Ethan Ward (Felpham) 17th and Tom Roberts (Downlands) 23rd.
A disappointing turn out from the senior girls saw only the Edmunds twins from Claremont facing the starter and Josephine finished 51st and Nicole 52nd.
In the Inter-girls race Olivia Wiseman (Bishop Luffa), who missed the County Schools event had a great run to lead the Sussex contingent home in a splendid tenth place with Naomi Fontyen (Blatchington Mill) in 30th place, Darja Knotkova-Hanley (Oathall) placing 41st and Alice Cox-Rusbridge (Bishop Luffa) 43rd while in the Junior girls Katy Coles (Handcross Park), another who missed the County event led the team home in 15th place, one place ahead of Isabella Hayes (Farlington) while Lois Dooley (Shoreham) also gained a Top Twenty place finishing 19th.
Alice Wright (Hurstpierpoint) finished 28th and Amelia Wright (Farlington) 29th while Harriet Bloor (Hailsham) placed 30th.
FULL RESULTS ON Power of 10
BUCS
This year’s BUCS Cross-country Championships at Sheffield attracted few Sussex athletes but the Women’s event saw Brighton & Hove’s Emma Dixon, who was runner up in the Sussex Championship last month, turning in a good performance to finish 16th for the University of London.
In the same event Worthing’s Katie Moore finished 69th.
In the Men’s Long course event Lewis Lloyd (University of Sussex) had a fine run to fill 13th place with Brighton & Hove’s Iain Crowe-Wright, who the previous weekend was running for England in Bratislava over 1500 metres underline his versatility by placing 37th while in the Short Course race Worthing’s Jack Leach had an excellent run to finish in tenth spot while Dan Eeles (Brighton Phoenix) placed 69th.
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