Weather is nohandicap this time as the sunshines brightly

The race starts at Ditchling Beacon and follows an out and back route of just over 5 miles along the South Downs Way to the Black Cap trig point.

Runners set off in reverse order in relation to their expected finishing time, the aim being to have all the competitors finishing together.

The handicapping is always contentious and the source of much pre-race banter but organisers Keith Delderfield and James Sorbie did a superb job, avoiding all the offered bribes and brickbats to ensure that all but a handful of the 48 runners finished within two and a half minutes of their predicted time.

Deserved winner was Elona Smith in an excellent 44mins 25secs. That was 2.35 ahead of her predicted time but put her only one second ahead of Emma Fernandez.

Further back in the field, there was an epic race going on between the club’s faster runners, which helped inspire Paul Sargent to break the club record for the event which had stood since 2000. He set set a new standard of 30.53.

Looking more to the future, the club were also represented at the Wivelsfield Village Day on Saturday. They were there to promote their Junior Academy and some youngsters had great fun trying out hurdles.

Details about the Academy, which is aimed at children in school years 4 to 8, can be found on the club’s website: www.bhrunners.co.uk These include autumn term times.

Despite the very hot conditions of late that has made running extremely tough, club members still managed to find some racing at the weekend.

These included Neil Dawson who took part in the Uckfield and District Lions Club 10k around Buxted Park, where he finished in a very respectable 54.40, and Jan Lavis who completed the hilly Surrey Badger Half Marathon based around Denbies Vineyard and the Mole Valley near Dorking in 2.09.50.