Haywards Heath and Burgess Hill athletes keep busy – outdoors and in

In the Inter-Counties event Arun Khursheed and Jonathan Beckett competed for Sussex in the under-15 and under-17 events respectively.

Arun finished in 33rd place out of a field of 111 runners, finishing in 13 minutes and 11 seconds. a minute behind the winner, and one place behind training partner Finlay Blythe.

The Sussex team finished fourth out of 11.

Jonathan finished his race in 49th place out 99 runners in a time of 15.47 and was the fifth Sussex finisher.

In the Masters which combined ages from 40 upwards in five-year age bandings, on a new course, the men’s event comprised two laps taking in the long climb up Shotover Hill, which is a climb akin to Lancing Hill in the Sussex Cross Country League.

It was great to see Haywards Heath Harriers getting a Vet Men’s 60 age group team to the event and much more of a surprise when they took a silver medal on countback as they had the same number of points as the winning team, Barnet & District AC.

They were led home by Paul Cousins in fifth place and backed up by Tim Hicks in 14th and Carl Bicknell in 32nd place.

Mid Sussex athletes running in the Masters event for Brighton and Hove Athletic Club were Craig Halsey (Bolnore Village), Louis Taub (Burgess Hill) and Matt Bristow (Hassocks).

Brighton and Hove AC won gold in the Vets 40 team race with Craig Halsey taking the bronze medal in the individual men’s 40 race.

Full results – Inter-counties: Under-15 boys: Arun Khursheed 13.11; Under-17 men: Jonathan Beckett 15:47; Masters MV60-69: 2nd team, 51 points; MV60-64: 5th Paul Cousins 40:15; 13th Tim Hicks 44:38; 28th Carl Bicknell 53:57.

In the Sussex Sportshall League, junior Harriers competed at Worthing Leisure Centre in the Sussex Sportshall League. In a very competitive event against other Sussex clubs, the Harriers youngsters had their work cut out.

Get the latest sport at sussexworld.co.uk/sport

BURGESS HILL RUNNERS

Burgess Hill Runners took part in a range of races around the turn of the year.

Kicking things off in true Christmas style were John Palmer and Annette Maynard, who took part in the Santas on the Seafront race in Worthing.

Using the Worthing parkrun course, Santas on the Seafront is a friendly 5k that raises money for MNDA (Motor Neurone Disease Association) West Sussex South.

It is held in memory of 54-year-old Stuart Acaster, organised by his wife Sue and Run Academy Worthing.

No official times were recorded but Annette took the first female spot.Staying on the south coast, Jamie Goodhead sped round the Portsmouth Coastal Waterside Marathon in 3:28:24.And finaly to blow away some Christmas cobwebs, a group of BHRs braved the Darklink 10k, a headtorch run up the Downslink from Shoreham to Bramber and back.

First for BHR was Catherine Kempton in 58:30. She was followed by Claire Giles (1:04:14), Nicola Saunders (1:09:08), Clare Payne (1:15:42) and Helen Pratt (1:22:50).