Mega weekend as Harriersand Runners go far and wide

Two Harriers travelled to the north-east as part of a huge field for the Great North Run.

Blustery conditions failed to deter Richard Sutor, who completed the half-marathon in 324th place out of nearly 41,000 finishers. His superb time of 1.23.45 was a massive personal best.

Carl Bicknell finished 1672nd in a very solid 1.33.57.

More locally on Sunday at the Hove Prom 10K Road Race the weather also played a prominent part.

Andy Biggs reported, “ This was the 16th race of this year’s Sussex Grand Prix 20-race schedule. Though conditions at the start seemed perfect, unfortunately these changed during the race.

“As this was a 2-lap race the athletes were faced with an ever increasing headwind from 2.5 to 5 and 7.5 to 10. This meant times were never going to be spectacular but the Tullett familystill produced PBs.”

Of the 15 Harriers competing, there was another great battle between Robert Watts and Phil Hardaway, who kept trading places before Watts just won the contest as they finished fourth and fifth.

First lady home was Ann Sinnett, who was delighted to win her age group, while special mention also goes to Peter Cobbett who showed great determination and encouraged by clubmates produced the famous ‘Biggles Sprint’ to the finish line.

Final results were Watts 36.18, Hardaway 36.27, 16th Graham Hart 38.44, 26th Barry Tullett 40.13pb, 31st Andy Biggs 40.39, 66th Mike Scholes 43.13 , 76th Sinett 44.48, 83rd Ben Adams 45.52, Richard Neale 48.56 , Michelle Pearce 50.50 , Debbie Day 53.03, Cobbett 53.22, Maureen Rea 57.24, Linda Tullett 59.55pb and Michelle Holdstock 64.30.

At the Crawley K2 10k, Jack Chivers took a fine fourth out of 192 runners in 42.14.

Four Harriers were at a windy Bristol in a field of 2,000 for the 25th anniversary of the Bristol Half Marathon.

Mark Davies was 337th in a decent time of 1.27:03 and Dave Roper cl0cked 1.41:44, which was good preparation for his forthcoming world major marathon in Berlin.

William Davies recorded 2.09:02 and was impressive for his over 65 age group, while Mims Davies clocked 2.35:26.

On Saturday, the local free 5K Clair Parkrun was won by Tom Mullen in a strong pb of 18.01. Josh Pewter was third in 19.29 and Tim Hicks also clocked a pb of 20.09.

It was also a mammoth weekend for Burgess Hill Runners, with some excellent results.

At Clair Park there were notable pbs from Cath Beckett (24.22) and Wendy Spicer (35.15) and then on Saturday afternoon a strong BHR contingent of 35 were at Henfield for the 4-mile Seven Stiles race, the latest in the West Sussex Fun Run league series.

Paul Sargent led the way in third place in an excellent 23.55, just pipping James Collins who was fourth in 24.15. Jason Collett was a fine 16th in the field of almost 300 in 26.24, followed by Simon Alexander 42nd in 28.20 and Andy Sayers 43rd in 28.28.

In the ladies race, Sharona Harrington was delighted to score her first league maximum, finishing 11th in 31.30, with Bryonny Monnery 17th in 32.36, Sally Symes 20th in 33.03 and Jean Leak 27th in 33.57.

A special mention to Sally Bliss (usually found behind a camera) who completed her first race in club colours in a very creditable 44.16 and to Ben Herbert who was an excellent third in the junior one mile race in 6min 43s.

Sunday was almost as busy for club members. Mark Craigs and Helen Pratt made the long trip north for the Great North Run. All his recent hard work paid off for Craigs as he clocked a half marathon pb of 1hr 48mins 10secs and Pratt was also pleased with her time of 2hrs 20m 6secs.

The field of 50,000 and wild weather was in stark contrast to the Farnham Pilgrim Marathon where Paul Sargent, Darren Chilcott and Jon Lavis enjoyed mostly perfect weather for long distance running. This is a wonderfully scenic off-road event over the North Downs around Farnham and Guildford and attracts around 300 trail running enthusiasts.

Sargent showed little sign of his previous day’s exertions by finishing a splendid third over the tough hilly course in a remarkable 3hrs 10mins. Chilcott (4.33) and Lavis (6. 04) were some way behind in this superbly organised event which they entered primarily as a training run for the upcoming Downslink Ultra.

More locally, Jason and Caz Wadey took part in the Crawley K2 10k race on Sunday with Caz knocking a stunning 6 minutes off her pb with a time of just under 1hr 10mins.

Last but by no means least, Fabienne Rangeard completed the hilly Firle 10k race on Sunday in a superb 1hr 3secs.