Sunday 23rd November 2025

After plenty of rain ☔️ leading up to and during the morning of the race, temperatures remained mild for the cross country conditions at Snape Wood, Wadhurst, the second fixture of six in the 25/26 East Sussex Sunday Cross Country League.

The course: two laps of hills, roots, ankle-sucking mud, and sneaky gravel stretches that somehow hurt more than the climbs… classic East Sussex cross country brutality at its finest. Close to 400 runners (Juniors and Seniors) embraced the challenging conditions.

Junior races opened the programme at 0950 with the usual age-group events, before the senior field surged off from the entrance to Snape Wood at 10:30.

Team Hailsham 🖤❤️put on a show of brave, strong performances to score vital team points in a competitive league.

Twenty-one Harriers took part with Chris Doherty 🚀 first Harrier home in 34:25 placing 6th overall, followed by Linford Crusty 🍪 36:12 (19th,  Los Jellybaby 👶🏼 37:12 (32nd) and Bartz 🍻 39:15 (51st).

Alice 🐈 39:28 (56th) and Claire Keith 🍒 39:30 (57th) gave us two of the top three female scorers 🙌 with KT Reed 🏃🏻‍♀️ 41:44 (87th) placing in the top 10 females ✨

Matt Courtnell 🚑 42:08 (93rd) enjoying his first taste of a cross country season was followed by Woolley 🧶 43:18 (104th), Audrey 💊 44:10 (119th) also her first XC season, Jenny 🇨🇾 45:38 (135th), Robin 🏄🏼‍♀️ 45:53 (141st), Tinks 🧚🏻 47:15 (159th), Graham Pundye 😂 48:57 (178th), Fluffy 🐸 49:55 (191st), Neil ⭐️ 52:48 (217th), Abi Morris 🌷 55:24 (244th), Ros Daintree 🌺 58:05 (269th), Felicity 🇫🇷 1:00:44 (286th), Louisa 👩🏼‍💻 1:00:45 (288th), Jayne 🦸🏻 1:01:38 (295th), Kevin 💪🏼 1:03:08 (305th) and Penfold 🐭 1:42:27 (342nd).

Our Harriers squad turned out strongly and tackled the muddy, hilly woodland course with determination, securing a solid place in the team rankings (currently 5th) as we continue to build good momentum.

Snape Wood once again lived up to its reputation as ‘proper cross country’. With an abundance of friendly marshals from Wadhurst Runners who kept things safe around the course, together with the combination of a big field and late-autumn sunshine ☀️, it made for a great morning in the woods.