Wednesday 14th August 2024

Since 1994, to celebrate Hailsham Harriers turning 10 years old, we have staged a running relay event in the grounds of Herstmonceux castle 🏰 during the month of August.

It has always been a fun event with the aim to bring local running and sports clubs together for an evening of fun & team camaraderie.  And let’s be honest, who doesn’t love a relay?😂

This year the castle 🏰 undergoes repairs and with much sadness our annual Harriers event could not be held in this stunning location.  But not wishing to cancel our historic relay race as we celebrate our 4️⃣0️⃣ th anniversary year, the committee put their heads together to find an alternative venue.

We approached local farmers John and Peter Appleton, owners of Bates Green Farm and Arlington Bluebell Walk and Garden, near Abbots wood 🪵 who were more than delighted to accommodate our event and offered up a spectacular trail route in an equally beautiful location and so the birth of our Hailsham Harriers Bates Green Relays were born.

On the evening of Wednesday 14th August sixty-eight teams from local running, gym and sports clubs were invited to attend and race in teams of four to compete in five categories; Senior Women, Senior Men, Veteran Women, Veteran Men and Mixed.  The picturesque course around Bates Green Farm and The Bluebell Walk saw 272 runners race the 1.2-mile, trail based, lollipop shaped route.

To honour our ruby anniversary, two of the sixty-eight teams were made up from our Junior running section; one team of girls 👧🏼 and a team of boys 🧒🏻 along with, for the very first time, chip-timed racing batons organised by running events company Sports Systems, which delivered in-the-moment results 🤩

As a club we fielded seven teams (2 Junior) and our results were as follows;

The Bates Masters: Linford Crusty 🍪 , Ads 🦈, Woolley 🧶, and DG 💂🏻 (30:04)

Pulled Together; Belly 🛎️, Alissa 👑, Tinks 🧚‍♀️ and Chris Shoult 🚀 (33:20)

The Front Punners: Chris Little 🔥, Tom Price 🎨, Graham Pundye 😂 and Oli P 🔑 (33:30)

Not Fast Just Furious; Victoria Little 👮🏻, Maria Smith 💆🏼‍♀️, Tash Hawkes 🍹 and Claire Keith 🍒 (36:30)

Junior Harrier Jets; Ryan Pocknell 🖤, John Gikes ♥️, Finley Greck 🖤and Jacob Coppins♥️ (37:43)

Young Guns and Old Roses; Mumma Roo 🐶, Holly Bamford 🖤, Tina Macenhill ⚽️ and Amie Coppins ♥️ (40:46)

Hailsham Ladies Team: Nemo 🐟, Katie Manley🌼 , Louisa Geer 🌺 and Claire Hope 🌷 (43:56)

Club Chairman, Andy Ruffell said ‘This was a beautiful evening, in a stunning location on our doorstep.  The camaraderie amongst all was a joy to behold – exactly the reason why we began staging this race many years ago.  Our thanks go to everyone who attended, ran and marshalled, with special thanks to Liam at Sports Systems and local farmers John and Peter Appleton.

Prizes were awarded to Bexhill Runners and Triathletes 💜 – first place Senior Ladies, Run Wednesdays 💖 – first place Veteran Ladies, Eastbourne Rovers 💙 – first mixed team, Hastings Runners 💚– first place Senior Men, and Seaford Striders 🖤 – first place Veteran Men.