Athletics

TWELVE months back, while at the Lewes Tertiary College, Darryl Hards became the youngest ever winner of the Sussex 10km. road championships, which was held in conjunction with the Hastings Open event.

This year Darryl, now at university in the Midlands, returned to Hastings and again led the Sussex runners home in a race that was dominated by the Kenyans but did not retain his County title as that will be decided at Chichester in February.

Kenyans, led by Julius Kibet, filled the first four placings while Darryl Smith, who seems to have switched his allegiance from Crowborough to Sevenoaks, and Hards matched stride for stride for much of the race before the more experienced Smith drew clear to finish seventh in 32min. 28sec. to Darryl s 32min. 47sec.

Husseyin Ibrahim from Newhaven, who has been having an excellent season both over the country and on the road, had a good run to finish 12th in 34min.13sec. while Crowborough s Dave Lear finished in 15th place in 35min. 23sec. and Heathfield s Ian Horsfall-Turner filled 20th place in 35min. 49sec.

Dave was also the first veteran to cross the line and taking third place in the Over 40 age group was Hailsham s Peter Morley who was credited with 36min. 52sec.

Barry Blackwell from Hailsham, who filled 42nd place overall in 37min. 43sec, was the first Over 50 runner to complete the course and there was a second placing in 39min. 29sec. for Peter Standen from Hellingly in the Over 60 age group.

In the Women s race, Esther Kiplagat not only broke the course record in 32min. 25sec but also won a Nissan Micra, which had been offered by M.E. World Travel from Hastings, for becoming the first woman to break 33 minutes for the course. Jane Boulton finished in seventh place in 40min. 31sec - the second Sussex runner to finish.

Jane was also the first Over 45 woman to complete the course and led her Crowborough team to victory.

Gill Stevenson, 11th in 42min. 45sec, Tracey Watson 16th in 43min. 52sec. and Liz Davies 44th in 49min. 12sec. completed the winning Crowborough quartet.

Samantha Alvarez from Hailsham, who has been making a considerable impact on the Sussex scene this winter, had an excellent run to finish tenth in 42min. 23sec.

qLewes AC took seven members of their young sprint group to Horsham for the first of four indoor 50m competitions run by Horsham Blue Star AC.

Under the guidance of club coaches Mick Acott and Gary Williams the group have been steadily building during the winter months in readiness for the coming track and field season.

The indoor sprints are seen as a good way of measuring athlete s progress as well as giving them the opportunity to compete during the winter months.

In the Under 19 group Rob Sutcliffe recorded an excellent time of 6.9 seconds. Rob s main event is the triple jump for which he completed a hat-trick of wins during the summer competing in the Macdonald s League.

Matt Savill recorded a best time of 7.3 and Dave Pilbeam, in his first season with the club, recorded a best of 7.0.

In the Under 17 group Emma Greening recorded a best of 8.4 and Alix Satchell a best of 8.1.

In the Under 15 group there were excellent performances from Alex Flavel 7.2 and Elio Debae, another group member in his first season, with a best of 6.9.

The group is looking forward to the next competition to be held on January 24.