A 24-strong team from Seaford Striders took part in the Worthing 10k on Sunday (June 3) amid sweltering temperatures.
They joined more than 2,000 people taking part in the fundraising event, now in its 28th year. The money raised will be shared between St Barnabas House, Chestnut Tree House children’s hospice, Care for Veterans and animal charity Wadars.
The fast and flat course starts and finishes in Marine Parade and, despite the heat, there was still the opportunity for achieving target times and personal bests (PBs).
First for the Striders and 19th overall was Timothy Dymott – his training plan paying off with a time of 36:16. He was followed by Joshua Rudd in 37:14. Dave Dunstall was fourth placed overall in the M50 category, finishing in 39:02.
Next came Jeff Young (40:05), and Joe Plant, who completed the race in 40:09 – seven minutes faster than his 2017 time. Ben Barnett followed in 44:09 and Phil Robinson in 44:23.
First for the ladies was Anneka Redley, shaving just over a minute off her 2017 time to complete her race in 47:58. Alex Hughes was very happy to break 50 minutes in 49:14. The ever-improving Jazz Shiret was second home for the ladies, achieving a PB time of 53:50. She was closely followed by Simon Nixon in 53:51.
Steph Woodward ran her race in 56:31 with Bianca Buss in 57:19 and Stacey Jones finishing in 58:08. Emma Cooper finished in 58:00 ahead of Michelle Varndell in 1:01:11, Debbie Plant in 1:02:05 and Michael Pickering in 1:03:06.
Ruth Mcconnochie finished in 1:10:28 with Hilary Humphreys and Lisa John crossing the finish line together in 01:11:51, closely followed by Rob Plant in 01:11:58 with Sandra Standen completing the race for the Striders in 01:12:34.
Striders also took part in the first ever Focus 10k – raising money for the Chailey Heritage Foundation, which took place at Borde Hill Garden near Haywards Heath. Two of the club’s current cohort of Couch to 5k participants decided to double their distance for the hot and hilly race – Sue and Chris Pellatt, finished in 1:16:32 and 1:16:31. Victoria Maleski completed the race in 1:21:21. Strider volunteers marshalling the race included Alice Lennie, Verity Skinner and Lance Maleski.