From Cornwall to Kent - Hastings athletes are at their personal best

Heart & Sole runners’ busy week included a challenging distance in Cornwall, a first-time competitor at Out of the Blue and a PB at the Rye Summer Classic Series.

A few of the Heart & Sole team took on Man vs Coast, 24 miles of Cornish coastline which started near St Michael’s Mount and finished at Land’s End.

The route had an elevation gain of 3,000ft and involved several submersions.

Darren Collins and Kevin Wilkes clocked up a moving time of 6hr 38min.

Lee Cote and Kelly and Rob Trebell finished shortly after.

Heart and Sole went to Out of the Blue with members in the kids’ race, and the 5k and 10k events around the Ashburnham Place estate.

Noah Collins, Olivia and Bella Cote shone in the kids’ race, while Melanie Dearing (37:08), Melissa Stone (41:25) and Tina Pelini (35:55) competed for the first time in the 5k alongside Kevin Wilkes (28:23), Joanne Cote (34:07), Pheobe Cote (34:08), Kate Lewis (35:54) and Becky Alexander (37:08).

Darren Collins finished 13th in the 10k in 49.00, with Jo Lambourne clocking 53:06, Andrew Parkinson 54:02 and Dan Hall 55:32.

Gavin Bailey clocked a PB of 39:55 to finish eighth in the Rye Summer Series 10K.

HY RUNNERS

HY Runners’ elite trio of Ross Skelton, Carl Adams and Rachel Mulvey produced fantastic displays at different events.

Skelton, competing for the first time since pacing for the Olympic Trials after an injury lay-off, took on the challenge of the 10,000m in the English Championships at Walthamstow.

Skelton completed the race in 30:48.6 and said: “It was good to be out there racing again. I wasn’t overly impressed with my time or position but it’s the first time I’ve had track spikes on for a while and I’m just finding my feet again.”

Competing in the category D race, Adams ran superbly to finish second in the male vet 45 class in a PB of 36:19.9.

Adams said: “It was a great experience running with the elites at my very first track event. I didn’t know what to expect and an athlete is never 100 per cent happy but the time is quicker than I have ever previously run.”

Mulvey led the way for HY ladies at the Mid-Kent 5-miler in Staplehurst.

She completed the course in 29:02 to finish as ladies’ winner and eighth overall – six months after giving birth to her first child.

Mulvey said: “It was a nice quick course and I had my strategy based around 5min 55sec miles. After completing the first mile in 5:47, I knew I was on target and my legs felt strong so I just pushed on.”

Adams pushed on from his excellent 10,000m effort to romp home with another outstanding PB of 28:12 to win his age category (MV45) and come fifth.

HY Runners were in action at Ashburnham Place in the Out of the Blue Races.

Eight HY runners took to the multi-terrain course to support the charity.

Jon Hatch led the way for the team in the 10k event, coming third overall in 42:01, while Lisa Buckland (54:22) and Stephen Cornford (61:29) both finished well.

In the 5k event there were fine displays from Chris Castleman (23:50), Amanda Bahadur (24:56), Stewart Ide (26:34) and Jim Ballard (27:52), while Dylan Mattews, in the U17 category, came home in 25:43.

In the Rye Summer Classic Series, there was a 10k challenge for adults and a 1k version for the under-16s.

Jethro Atheral produced a tremendous PB of 36:07 to come third overall and second in age.

Terry Puxty (40:44), Joe Moore (43:45), Mark Tewksbury (53:07) and Annabel Vega (56:09) all did well.

Some of HY kids were running at Rye in the 1k.

Zion Okojie is showing great potential as an under-13 runner and is now beating some of the quicker adults in track training. Zion produced a magnificent 1k time of 3:47, swiftly followed by Meghan Hopkins-Parry.

For the under-11s, Florence Tewksbury ran well to finish in 4:10, while under-nine Tera Buckland did well with 4:27. Maddison Boorman ran 4:33 in the under-15 category.

Several runners produced notable performances at the Mid-Kent five-miler in Staplehurst.

HY times at Mid-Kent: John Ralph 3rd MV45 (30:31); David Ervine 1st U20 male (30:44); Alfie Johnstone 2nd U20 male (30:51); Benji Symes (30:53); Jamie Webb 2nd MV40 (31:36); Shannon Hopkins-Parry 3rd female overall (31:37); Danny Blackman (32:43); Ollie Lockwood (32:47); Joe Moore (33:40); Chris Castleman (35:43); Adam Morrisey 1st U17 male (35:55); John Badrock (35:55); Paul Gallop (37:17); David Clarke (38:04); Mathew Isden (38:36); Becky Mabon 3rd FV40 (38:39); Ivy Buckland (38:48); Deborah Read (40:31); Susan Mould (43:44); Stephen Cornford (44:27); Jim Ballard (44:57); Lisa Buchanan (45:39); Craig Selby (48:27).

HASTINGS RUNNERS

There were excellent performances from club members in 10k races at Bedgebury, Ashburnham Place and Rye.

Star junior Finlay Goodman won the Out of the Blue 5K and Will Withecombe was a close second, while Finlay’s dad Mark came second in the 10k. Nicola Steed ran in all three races on consecutive evenings.

Five members took part in the Bedgebury Pinetum Summer 10K Series.

Steed was second lady in 47.20, followed by Lewis Wadham (48.32), Sophie West (51.20), Paul Wadham (58.03) and Sharon (59.59, first FV50).

In the Out of the Blue races at Ashburnham, Finlay Goodman eclipsed a 198-strong field in the 5k, winning in 18.49 with clubmate Withecombe second in 19.13.

Next home was Andy Knight in 29.54, followed by Shana Burchett (31.28), Frank Frost (33.36), Catherine Southgate (37.39), Vicky Sims (65.07) and Christine Rackstraw (65.22).

The 10k saw Mark Goodman finish second in 41.33, with Paul Burchett sixth in 46.04. Steed clocked 51.06, Susan Rae 52.44 (first FV60) and James Graham 57.32.

The rolling start from Rye Harbour SC meant that runners in the Rye Summer Classic Series 10K were virtually doing a solo time trial for much of the course.

Kieran Price came seventh in a PB of 39.37, while Darren Barzee clocked 42.20, Nicola Steed 47.18, Michael Norris 47.44, Simon Weatherley 53.24, Stephen Slater 55.57, Sarah Marzaioli 61.01 and Andrew Clubb 70.55.

Kieran (MV45), Darren (MV50) and Sarah (FV70) all won age category awards.