Former winners in big race running

Ben Fish, the champion in 2010, and 2005 top dog Fred Mogaka have signed up for the 28th staging of the Hastings Lions Club-organised event on Sunday March 25.

Having finished sixth in 2009, Fish, pictured, became only the second non-Kenyan winner in 13 years some 12 months later when he dominated a field minus any competitors from the east Africa nation in a time of 1:07:08.

The 29-year-old Blackburn Harrier is planning on the Hastings Half Marathon being his main ‘sharpener’ for the Rotterdam Marathon in Holland the following month.

Mogaka, meanwhile, triumphed on his only Hastings appearance to date in 1.04.10 - the second fastest time in the last seven stagings of the event and bettered only by 2007 champion Philemon Baaru (1.03.22).

The 33-year-old, whose best time for a half marathon is 1:01:14 (which he set in Paris eight years ago), requires a visa from his government to take part, something which is not that straightforward.

See Friday’s Hastings Observer for the full article.