Saturday 11th November 2023

The Sussex Cross Country League is a series of four races, organised by the county 💙 💛 which takes place annually between October and February at different venues across Sussex.

Within the league there are age and gender graded distances of up to five miles and through recent years a non-scoring Under 11 race has also been introduced to give athletes aged 9+ more race opportunities 🏃🏼‍♀️ 

Temperatures felt more like June at the second cross country league fixture at Ardingly on Saturday 11th November as almost 600 runners turned out to enjoy the  sunny conditions, even though underfoot felt tough as a result of huge rainfall in the days/weeks before.

As always, the fixture kicked off with the Under 11s followed by U13 girls, 

U13 Boys, U15 Girls, U15 boys, U17 Men, U17/U20/Sen & Vet women before closing the day with the U20/Sen & Vet Men.

This is the third year Sussex 💙 💛 has held a league fixture at Ardingly and it proves to be a popular course with the organisation of the day led by Haywards Heath Harriers.

Taking part in the second race of the league saw five Harriers take part.  In the women’s race (U17, U20, Sen & Vet women) coach Annette 💚, Tinks 🧚🏻 and Lisa PH 🧡 took on the 5K undulating route in a strong field of 140 runners, whilst Bilts ⚽️ and Ads 🦈 raced the men’s (U20, Sen & Vet Men) 8K distance amongst a bigger field of 176 runners. 

Full results for the Ladies were: Tinks 🧚🏻, 51st in 23:27, Annette 💚 65th in 24:31 and Lisa PH 🧡 134th in 34:18.  For the men: Ads🦈 placed 89th in 34:07 and Bilts ⚽️ 120th in 36:12.

Huge thanks to fluffs 🐌, nemo 🐠, Alex 🌷 and Bette 🥰 for the support and a huge shout out to Ads 🦈 who took part in the Brighton & Hove Parkrun that morning 🤩.  Once finished they all headed to the local for a celebratory drink 🍷. Job done ✔️