Sunday May 17th

On Sunday May 17th, Hailsham town centre came alive with runners of all ages for the Hailsham Community Running festival now in it’s third year. For us as a club this is always a fantastic, family-friendly day on the calendar, reminds us of years gone by and is a chance to share our love for running with friends and the local community where we live and train.

With four distances on offer; the mile,  a 3K, 5K and 10K, we were proud to see many of our junior Harriers running and representing our club 🙌

First Harrier home in the 3K saw John Gilkes 🌟 storm home in 14:22, followed closely by Poppy Croucher ⭐ in a fabulous time of 15:45, Daisy Bowles 🌟 with dad Ben, in an impressive time of 16:22, Oscar Croucher 🌟 flew over the line in 16:58, Bethany Buick ⭐️ nailed a strong performance in 17:48, whilst Captain Bartz 20:59 ran with daughter Grace 🌟 to finish all smiles 😊 in 21:00.

As a club we are extremely proud of all our junior runners who exemplify our Harriers spirit and values. They ran superbly in the races and are a true credit to our club.

Amongst all the remarkable performances we particularly would like to praise the determination, courage and strength of Daisy Bowles 🌼 who ran to raise money for Ronald MacDonald house after experiencing an injury last year; to see her back running again with her fellow team mates is already the highlight of our club year.

In the 5K event Men’s Vice Captain Andrew Moore 🏃🏽 , flew over the finish line, first Harrier home in 23:21, placing first in age 🏆, followed by Junior Harrier Ryan Pocknell 🙌 in a mighty 28:35.  Nemo’s 🐠 dad Shawn 🐟 delivered a strong run to finish in 29:16, followed by our amazing C25K superstars Lindie Jooste 🌷 33:03 and Chrissi Savage 🌹 33:03.   Junior Harrier, Emelia Woodley 🌟 sped over the finish line in 36:26 followed by her fellow junior team mate Amie Coppins ⭐️ in 36:35, Emelia’s Mum; Anne Jenkins 🇩🇪 in 43:27, and our awesome Lord Norman Harris 👑 in 43:39

In the final event of the day, the 10K, Ads 🦈 crossed the line, first Harrier home nailing a superb 7th place in a time of 40:11 with Claire Keith 🍒 taking the overall win for the ladies in 42:04 whilst setting a new 10K personal best 🏆. Claire was followed by Ollie 👨🏻‍🍳 42:12, Bilts 🚒 42:50, Popey 🙏🏻 43:20, Dan Harris ⭐️ 46:54, Jo McGowan 🌺 47:50, Claire Shilling 🌸 48:02, Nemo 🐠 56:18, Emma PH 💕 56:30, Andrea Gilkes 🇭🇺 58:16, Katie Manley 🌻 59:59, Jo Davis 🏁 1:04:26, Nicola Sexton 💓 1:11:15 and Darren 🚘  who gave up his time to volunteer and help others by tail running in 1:24:00.

For Dan ⭐ and Emma 💕the morning represented their debut races for us 🖤❤️and we were delighted to see Nicola Sexton 💓racing again, after returning from injury.

Many senior Harriers also ran with their children in the one-mile and 3K events, making it a sensational family affair for team black and red for another year, despite not all our club being able to attend as sadly the event once again clashed with the Sussex Grand Prix race at Rye.

Well done everyone, what a wonderful morning in the Sham 🖤❤️

(Sorry if I’ve missed anyone – the results were a little tricky to find everyone 😢)