Nigel Gates ran a British Vet 55 mile record at Withdean tonight (31st August) with a time of 4.48.0 (to be ratified). On a still, summer evening, fourteen Sussex based athletes raced the mile, with Richard Airey winning the race in a time of 4.26.7 from a fast finishing Andrew Donno (4.30.6) and Matt Bristow who had made much of the early pace (4.31.4).

There were some good battles between club mates, with James McCarthy (U17 / 4.33.1) just getting the better of Josh Painter (4.33.5). Chris Thompson ran 4.37.9 from Luke Lambourne (4.40.6) and Dan Titheridge (4.49.0) both back for the summer from University. Mark McLoughlin of Hayward Heath Harriers (V40) ran 4.54.0 from Chris Woolcott (U17 / 4.57.6) and John Lowden (V50 / 5.05.2).

Results:

Pace Makers:
Dave Boyce, Martin Airey

Lap1: 1.05.1
Lap2: 2.12.4
Lap3: 3.19.2

There were great results for Brighton & Hove at Clayton at the weekend in the Downland Ultra 30 miles and the Jack and Jill challenge races. It was first and second for Stuart Mills and Gary Woolgar in the Downlands 30 with Stuart winning in 3.47.46, with Gary close behind in 3.52.43. In the Jack and Jill race Katy Moore was an impressive winner in the womens race, also coming 3rd overall including the senior men. Elaine Everill took second in the womens race.

Results:

Jack and Jill Challenge
Download Ultra 30

[Match Results]

What a fantastic effort! We ended up in joint first place with Stevenage on 144 points in a match which was so close that we were in third place just fifteen minutes from the end! There were so many good performances it is hard to pick out the exceptional ones. Having said that, Grace G made my heart stop when she decide to charge for the line (from 3rd place and some way back) with 20m to go in the 1500, pipping the other two athletes to the line by a hair’s breadth.

Katy Moore ran a blistering race from the front in the 3k and was only overtaken at the end by a Horsham runner who was running in the other match. Laura H had a cold but still ran very well in the 400 and brought home an excellent 4x100 team in 50.4 (still short of that record though!). Philippa successfully juggled the high jump and 80m hurdles and gained maximum points from both events whilst Sarah continued her mammoth team effort and triple jumped off the 7m board, managing to land in the sand (just - photo to follow) and ran a pb in 100 hurdles. In addition, Sarah persuaded Hayley to have a go at her first hurdles race for some time ‘just for the team’ – whereupon Hayley beat Sarah convincingly!

Anne was not happy with her throws but still gained good points and Emma threw a pb in the hammer. Katie decided that the threat of a hard training session next week was enough of a potential punishment to encourage her to run a pb in the 200 and the u15 relay team performed exceedingly well under Roger’s tutelage. Every single point mattered so all in all, a very satisfying day!

As ever, thanks to those who helped, especially Richard, Carol and Howard for their assistance with scoring and timekeeping/track judging. Watch this space for further info about the final match… no league points available yet – go to www.swtfl.co.uk for full results when available.

Nigel Gates goes within half a second of a British Master v55 record over the 1500 at the open meeting at K2.

[results]

[Match Results and Latest League Positions]

A slightly weakened team travelled to our furthest match for the year at Luton and braved wind and rain showers to grab an important 2^nd place.

Man of the Match was Sam Parsons – coming back to top form winning a great 400m Hurdles in difficult conditions with 57.4 and then returning to the Javelin to take 1^st place overall with an impressive 43.19m.

Sam was backed up in the Javelin by Michael Steele-Martin who won the B-string and had to compete in all 4 throws on his return from injury due to being the only dedicated thrower in the team. We also had a maximum in the 1500m with a strong run from Matt Bristow with 4.07.3 and Rich Airey in 2^nd place (1^st B) with 4.11.0.

Paul McKeown and Dave Ingram took 18 points out of 20 in the 110m Hurdles and Pole Vault with Dave having a good attempt at a pb of 4.60 in the PV. Andrew Donno continued his unbeaten run in the 3000m Steeplechase running to victory in an absolute downpour with 9.59.4.

We now have it all to play for at Croydon on August 2^nd. We just have to go there and get a result and not have to worry about the other teams in the league. Looking at the table, we have Hercules Wimbledon just below us but with an inferior team points and 3 of the clubs around us are against each other at Mile End and so will take points off one another. Worthing are up against Luton and Aldershot at home who could mess things up for our Sussex coast neighbours!

Just need a big effort from ALL ATHLETES and supporters on the day to make a quick return to the top division.