Nearly forty walkers lined up for the “Alf Palmer” and “Pam Bryce” 5000m tracks at Broadbridge Heath on Saturday which was one of the largest groups of walkers at a Sussex race walking event for many years.
In a sport that has been increasingly confined to veterans in recent years there was a most welcome number of young athletes from across the Southern Counties and even a teenager heading the Sussex walkers in the main event.
The event saw Luke Legon, U20, (Cambridge Harriers) successfully defend the title he won last year and in almost perfect conditions he clocked 22:28.2s, nearly two minutes faster than his winning time last year. Fellow U20 performer Chris Snook from Aldershot took second place in 23.43.8s while senior Jonathan Hobbs from Ashford placed third in 24:09.1s.
The first Sussex walker was teenager Oliver Hopkins from Lewes who managed to beat former international Jimmy Ball (M50) from Steyning to finish sixth in 26:27.9s to 26:35.2s after a great battle while Richard Emsley (M60) (Saints and Sinners) placed ninth in 29:40.6s.
The women’s field was almost as large as the men’s 19 walkers to 20 and it was again won by an U20 athlete in the person at Emily Ghose from Tonbridge, who is actually a Sussex School’s walker, who clocked 27:42.1s with Liz Claridge from Steyning continuing her recent return to action to place seventh in 31:27.5s.
- - - - - - South of England Masters Cross Country championships
Andrew Haig (Brighton Phoenix) won the SoEAA M70 Cross-country title at Horspath, Oxford on Saturday, which were incorporated with the Inter-county championships. Brighton & Hove's Howard Bristow ran a fine race for secnd place in the M40 10K race witha time of 31.31.
Julie Briggs (Arena 80) finished fourth in the W40 race and third in the W45 and with Dani Tareleton sixth and Tara Shananan seventh took the Arena 80 team to victory in the W40 team race.
The was also a second team place for the Crawley M60 team with Wally Hill placing 15th, Tony Lintern 17th and Dave Beattie 26th.
In the overall event starting at M50s and above Brighton & Hove’s Paul Froud (M50) appears to be the leading Sussex runner placing 25th, two places ahead of Crawley’s Rob Creed (M55).
- - - - - - - Metaswitch Indoor Open
Lewes U13 pole vaulter Gemma Tutton left it rather late in the year to set a Sussex record and indeed new UK marks when she soared over 3.20m at Lea Valley on Sunday.
A clearance at 3.13m added 20cm to the previous Sussex best and indeed bettered the best UK mark but she then added a few more centimetres to finish the day with a clearance of 3.20m under her belt.
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