Official results will be posted on Tuesday.
Fields for the Younger Age groups in the Sussex Cross-country relays were larger than ever on a glorious afternoon on the Downs at Goodwood on Saturday.
The senior events also held up well despite the clash with the “Barns Green Half-marathon” which had been moved forward several weeks.
The home club, Chichester, had made the early running in the senior women’s team with U20 runner Rosie Ellis and Veteran Jane Harrop keeping their nose well clear of Worthing’s India Spoor and Leah Harris over the first two laps.
On lap three however Emma Macready stormed past the home team’s Charlotte Reading to retain the title for Worthing by two minutes and she again recorded the day’s fastest lap time in 13:49s.
The Arena 80 Veterans teams were third to cross the finishing line to take the Master’s title while Lewes were not far behind to take the senior bronze team medals.
Many of the top senior men in the County chose to give the relays a miss and thus we were deprived of what could have been an epic battle between the two Brighton clubs for the men’s title.
In the event Brighton regained the title with what is thought to be the largest margin of victory.
Brighton & Hove team manager Howard Bristow made his debut in Veterans races in Sussex and actually was first home on the opening leg ahead of James Turner for the Brighton & Hove senior team.
Things were put right when Stephen Ferroni, another U20 runner, not only put the Brighton & Hove team into a winning lead but also set the day’s fastest lap time of 11.57s ahead Worthing, Crawley and Hasting.
Lap three and Andrew Donno stretched the Brighton & Hove lead ahead of the Crawley and the Brighton & Hove “B” team while over the final circuit Ashley Humphries moved even further clear to put virtually three minutes between them and Worthing team with the Brighton & Hove “B” team holding on to third place ahead of Crawley and Haywards Heath.
It was a good afternoon for the Hastings youngsters who won three titles.
In the U13 Boys race they finished ahead of the Brighton & Hove and Crawley teams with Luke Ellard (Worthing) setting the day’s fastest lap and in the U13 girls race they finished behind a non-Sussex team from Portsmouth but took the Sussex title ahead of Phoenix and Brighton & Hove with Alice Wright (Crawley) clocking the fastest lap in 10.33s.
The home club, Chichester, took the U15 Boys title with Ben Collins running a blistering final lap to set the fastest lap time of 8:46s.
Portsmouth was second in the race but Brighton & Hove were second in the County championship ahead of Crawley.
Hastings’ third victory came in the U15 girls race with Portsmouth again second across the line and Phoenix taking the second County spot ahead of Brighton & Hove.
The fastest lap time was set by Poppy Mercer (Bodyworks) in 9:59s.