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Lewes ac runners rise to the challenge of competing in four weekend events
It was an extremely busy and energetic weekend for Lewes AC runners as they competed in four events over both days. Never ones to be defeated by a challenge 99 club members turned out to take part in the events with some fantastic performances.
54 members across all age groups competed on Saturday 17th October in the first of the Brooks Sussex Cross County League at Goodwood Downs. Leading the way and building on their successes in recent races the Lewes AC women’s team secured first team place in the highly competitive women’s race. In 7th position and leading the team to victory was Emma Rollings followed by Megan Taylor in 10th place; Joscelin Lowden just behind in 11th place and Maria Barrow in 19th position. Other team members brought the B team home in 4th position and the C team in 16th place.
The men’s team of 19 runners also had great results in the first division. With teams of six runners the Lewes A team finished in second position only beaten by Brighton and Hove AC. The team led by Calum Upton in 9th position consisted of Josh Burgess (12th); Chris Gilbert (18th and 2nd man over 40) Matt Bradford (21st); Ben Matthews (24th) and Ben Pepler (29th).In the same top division the B team finished 6th brought home by James Martin (32nd); Andrew Masters (38th); Jonathon Burrell (46th); Toby Baker (47th); Tom Stone (48th) and Sam Jackson (50th)
The veteran men’s team with 23 points came second to Brighton and Hove AC with 11 points. The Lewes team were Chris Gilbert (2nd) Andrew Masters (8th) and Jonathon Burrell (13th)
The under13 boys race also produced some great performances with Will Carey just missing out winning the race in the last 10metres. Will’s run in second place together with Sam Hardy in 10th and Sam Horn in 17th place brought the team home in 4th place just a few points away from first position.
There were also some outstanding performance in under 15 boys race with Ben Martin finishing in 4th position followed by Leo Brewer in 7th Ben Walters in 20th place and Jay Atkins in 21st. These finishing positions brought the team home in 3rd position
On Sunday 18th October a further 28 club members travelled to Warren Hill in Eastbourne to compete in the first of the East Sussex Sunday Cross Country League events. Seeking to defend last years league win the Lewes club was up against some stiff opposition from the other 13 clubs who were out to get revenge. It was not to be however as Lewes AC managed to win the event with a total 704 points against the 763 gained by Hailsham Harriers, 1086 by Hastings AC and 1330 by Heathfield Road Runners the closest rivals.
The outstanding performances included Matt Bradford in 3rd position over all: Alan Velecky 10th and the first man over 40; Jonathon Burrell 14th and first man over 50 and Andrew Chitty 60th and first man over 60, Maria Burrow finished in 54th place and was 2nd senior woman with Lara Barazzuol in 68th place and second senior women.
If these races were not enough 11 Lewes AC runners competed in the Steepdown Challenge at Lancing on Sunday part of the West Sussex Fun Run League. Colin Bennett was first finisher for the club in 10th position Martin Komen 2nd finisher in 11th place with Sally Norris the first women finisher for the club in 24th position overall.
The race with the least Lewes AC runners competing was the Brighton 10 mile race run with 1700 runners on the Sunday. Just behind the leading African runners and the first Sussex runners to finish were two Lewes AC runners Ben Savill and David Bradford. Ben finished in 6th position overall in a time of 54mins 13secs and David 7th in a time of 54mins 31secs.