Brighton Phoenix did the double at the Sussex Road Relay championships at a mainly sunny Christs’ Hospital on Saturday when they retained their senior men’s title but also won the senior women’s title for what is believed to be the first time.
Conditions were excellent, we luckily avoided the forecast April showers, and competition was some of the best we have seen in recent years.
The Phoenix victories came at the end of what had been great afternoon’s sport with their run-a-way victory in the senior men’s event. From the time Max Pickard led Brighton & Hove’s Howard Bristow on the opening leg till Billy White cantered across the finishing line streets clear of their nearest rivals Lewes. Despite the 2min. 7sec margin of victory it was the narrowest margin since 2011. In third place was the Phoenix "B" team.
In the middle Charlie Grice, back home for a while from warm weather training, just missed the lap record by one second on the third leg when he put any hopes of a challenge out of the question.
In the senior women’s race after Chichester had led the field on the first of the three laps and Worthing after the second leg Welsh Cross-country champion Beth Kidger came storming through on the final leg to take the title in 34:31 to Worthing’s 35:12 and Chichester’s 36:31.
In both the U15 races victory for the championships was only confirmed on the final leg when Joe Smith took Crawley to victory in 16:55 ahead of Chichester 17:05 and Brighton & Hove 17:34.
Smith ran the day’s fastest leg in 5:15 ahead of George Pool (Hastings) 5:27 and Liam Dunne (Chichester) 5:33.
In the girl’s event Niamh Halloren did the business on the final lap to give Brighton & Hove victory in 19:16 ahead of Phoenix 19:32 and the Brighton & Hove “B” team in 20:07.
Maia Hardman (Phoenix) ran the fastest leg in 6:01 with Olivia Wiseman (Chichester) 6:18 and Halloren 6:22.
The first event of the day, the U13 girls also produced a last lap surge as Bethany Cook (Bodyworks) brought her team through to win in 19:21 ahead of Brighton & Hove 19:47 and the Brighton & Hove “B” team in 18:58.
Cook as was to be expected was the day’s fastest in 5:58, to Issy Hayes (Horsham) 6:19 and Rebecca Losh (Brighton & Hove) 6:27.
Lewes led from pillar to post in the U13 boys race clocking 18:19 to Worthing’s 18:30 and the Worthing “B” team 19:04.
Aaron Duncan’s first lap of 6:00 was the fastest lap with Worthing’s Ethan Ward clocking 6:01 and Jack Gardner (Lewes) 6:02.
Arena 80 won both the W40 in 41:48 and W50 46:59 races and Brighton & Hove the M60 race in 47:56.
See the full results here: Sussex Road Relays Championships
If you have any queries or want more information regarding this post, please Email Reg Hook.