Review of the year part one

JANUARY

* Hastings United begin the new year with a 4-1 defeat away to Margate after conceding twice in the first seven minutes.

* Athletics prospect Grace Baker represents a Great Britain under-20 team against the USA and a European Select squad at the Bupa Great International Cross-Country Challenge in Edinburgh.

* Adrian Gray secures his Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) tour card courtesy of a fine performance at the Qualifying School in Barnsley.

* Snooker star Mark Davis beats world number one Mark Selby to win Championship League group four at Crondon Park Golf Club in Essex.

FEBRUARY

* Frances Candy is part of the Great Britain over-55 women’s team which wins silver medals at the 2012 Seniors World Team Championships in San Diego.

* Outdoor sport in the area is hit by the winter’s only real cold snap as successive weekends of football and rugby succumb to snow and ice.

MARCH

* Hastings Seagull swimmer Hannah Keen agonisingly misses out on a place in the final of the women’s 50m freestyle at the British Swimming Championships.

* Hastings & Bexhill Rugby Club wins a county knockout competition for the first time since 2004 by seeing off Holbrook 31-17 to clinch the Sussex Shield.

* Benard Chemugo becomes the 13th Kenyan winner in 15 stagings of the Hastings Half Marathon in a time of 1:06:17. Jane Muia made it a double for the east Africa nation by clinching the women’s title. Hastings AC talent Daniel Anderson came sixth, his best ever position.

* Bexhill United score two late goals to stun higher grade neighbours Sidley United 4-3 in a dramatic Hastings & District FA Senior Cup final despite playing most of the match with 10 men.

* Grace Baker helped England Schools to their first ever girls’ victory at the World Schools’ Cross-Country Championships in Malta.

APRIL

* Ore Athletic become the first football team from Hastings to win the Sussex Junior Cup for 89 years by edging out Wittering United 1-0 after extra-time in the final at Lancing.

* Hastings United preserve their Ryman Football League Premier Division status with a game to spare following a superb 3-1 win away to Lowestoft Town.

* An unwell Mark Davis loses 10-2 to eventual runner-up Ali Carter in round one of the Betfred.com World Snooker Championship.

* South Saxons miss out on promotion from South Hockey League Sussex Area - Division One after losing 3-1 to Ashford II in a play-off. A week later Saxons lose 2-1 to Penguin in the Sussex Plate final.

* Gus Poyet and Mauricio Taricco don their boots on a wet night at The Polegrove as Bexhill United mark the official opening of their new floodlights with a friendly against a Brighton & Hove Albion Ex-Pros & Guests XI.

* Rye United clinch the Sussex RUR Charity Cup for the first time since 1968 after two Sam Adams penalties see off Selsey 2-0 in the final. Rye miss out on a first ever Sussex County League title, though, by losing to Three Bridges in a winner-takes-all last day decider.

MAY

* The Sussex Cricket League and East Sussex Cricket League season gets off to a soggy start with most matches over the opening two weekends washed out by rain.

* The world of speedway is rocked by the tragic death of St Leonards rider Lee Richardson as a result of an horrific crash at a meeting in Poland.

* Hastings Priory batsman Matt Machan scores his maiden century for Sussex with an unbeaten 126 off 100 balls in a CB40 match against Unicorns.

* Paolo Natali sets a new course record of 25:14 in the Keith Chandler Memorial Five Mile Road Race organised by Hastings Runners.

* Hastings born and raised footballer Gareth Barry is ruled out of England’s squad for Euro 2012 because of a groin injury.

JUNE

* The Hastings & East Sussex Sunday Football League is suspended for a season due to a lack of teams.

* Simon Rudkins, of Hastings United, wins the Ryman Football League’s Groundsman of the Year award for the second season running.

* Hastings Priory go 12 points clear at the top of the Sussex Cricket League on the back of six consecutive victories.

* Jack Waller, a 22-year-old from Catsfield, is selected to represent Great Britain’s water polo squad at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.