It was a great day for the Brighton & Hove cross-country runners in the South of Thames 7.5 mile Championship event at Lloyd Park, Croydon on Saturday.
The men’s team just failed to retain their team title losing by just 5 points to Kent A.C who scored 98 points while the B&H Women came second, with 100 points to Tonbridge's 42. Were it not for an injury to team manager Howard Bristow the men would certainly have retained their title.
Tomer Tarragano continued his fine form of recent weeks and led the team home in a splendid sixth place out of 350 finishers who tackled the tough and muddy course following recent rains. Tarragano was also the first U20 runner to finish. Jamie Knapp followed close behind in ninth place while Kevin Moore finished 11th. James Turner placed 19th, Kevin Rojas 25th and Craig Halsey completed the scoring six in 33rd place.
There were few other Sussex runners on show though Horsham Blue Star’s Maxell Dumbrell had a good run in 14th place
A fine run from Lucy Rogers saw her take seventh place in the women’s race that was run in conjunction with the men’s event she was 117th overall. Jade Elphick and Lydia Growns were not far away in 12th and 13th places.
Freya Leman placed 16th and was the first W40 to complete the course while in 24th place was Lois Dooley, the first U20 finisher and Paula Blackledge (W45) closed in the team in 28th place.
Although the Brighton women won the team title a few years back the event was not well supported as it had to be changed from December to the following March and some of the top clubs did not compete, so this was their best team effort ever.
The Women’s race was won by Sussex champion Nicole Taylor who runs for Tonbridge.