5000m championships a success for Hastings club

Following the success of the previous week, when junior athletes took part in 800m and mile events as part of the ‘kids train for free’ campaign, it was the turn of the adults to show off their ability on the track.

The club hosted two 5000m races on a very hot evening at the William Parker athletics track.

The first was for the ‘slower’ group and finishing times were very good.

Joe Moore quickly found his form and led the race from start to finish completing the challenge in 20:10.

John Badrock, in his debut outing for the club, finished in a tremendous 22:11.

Ben Campbell (22:39) dug in hard at the end to take third place and pipped Maria Mitchell, who became the first lady finisher in 22:41

Amanda Bahadur was second female in 23:49, Ivy Buckland third in 23:57.

The second race was the anticipated ‘quick race’ for elite and faster runners.

With almost all runners wearing club colours it was like a sea of red at the start line as athletes jostled for positions at the start.

The early leader Gary Foster set an electric start pace of 4min 30sec miles before stopping at two miles as a precaution with a tight hamstring.

Ben McCallion became the new race leader and won with a huge PB of 16:07 William Carey was second in 16:44, just beating Jethro Atherall who had to settle for third place with 16:47.

Rachel Mulvey was first lady finisher in an incredible 17:57.

Shannon Hopkins was second lady in 19:38, Jenna French third in 19:42.

Head coach Terry Skelton was thrilled with the event, saying: “All in all, over the two races we had 55 runners competing which is fantastic to see.

“So many of our runners are taking part in races now and to see how the times are improving is a credit to the hard work they are all putting in. You get out what you put in... it’s a simple formula and our runners are doing just that. The quick race was exactly that and the race winners were fantastic. Ben (McCallion) is getting the rewards for his consistent hard work, and Rachel Mulvey at 17:51, just months after giving birth, is amazing.”

Meanwhile at the Marshman Tri in Kent, Paul Mathews competed in his 4th triathlon in as many weeks and it clicked into place for him. With a swim of 1.5k, a bike ride of 37.1k and a run of 9.8k, Paul came sixth, finishing in 2hr 36min 14sec.

He said: said I’m chuffed to bits to have come sixth overall. On top of that I won my age group.

“The swim and the bike went really well and I felt comfortable throughout on both. I wasn’t particularly pleased with my run, but as Terry Skelton would say ‘I got it done’.”

MARSHMAN TRIATHLON

Hastings-based athlete Roy Beeley tackled the Marshman Standard Distance triathlon held in Lydd, Kent.

Temperatures were up into the 20s for the 1500m lake swim, 44km bike and 10.3km run, ideal for the first two disciplines, hot for the run.

Beeley completed the event in 3hr 23min 45sec, taking first place in the 74-plus age group.