Moore achieves rare athletics feat

Cambridge University student and Chichester Runners member Rebecca Moore has achieved one of the very rare feats in British athletics.
Rebecca Moore, of Cambridge Uni and Chi RunnersRebecca Moore, of Cambridge Uni and Chi Runners
Rebecca Moore, of Cambridge Uni and Chi Runners

She lined up in a multi-terrain race in Little Abington, Cambridgeshire, among more than 400 other athletes and proceeded to leave them all standing to win the entire event, women and men included.

Her nearest challengers were a couple of good-quality local male athletes but Moore’s winning time of 34.51 gave her a clear margin of more than 20 seconds at the finish.

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As for the women’s race she was more than five minutes clear of one of the local favourites.

There has been only a handful of occasions when this has been achieved on the UK before notably by international marathon runner Sarah Rowell in winning the Seven Sisters Marathon in the 1980s and Paula Radcliffe, who herself was ranked No1 UK marathon runner in the year she set the world record of 2hr 15min.

Cross-country preview

All eyes will be on Goodwood today (Saturday Oct 15) when the cream of the county’s middle-distance runners will be showing their early-season form in the first fixture in the Sussex Cross Country League, sponsored by local triathlete shop Tri iT Sports.

With many juniors having moved up an age group since last season there are likely to be different team winners in the various age groups.

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Chichester’s under-17 men should be strong challengers for honours after their recent cross-country relay championship win over the same course, while many other age groups look stronger than in recent years.

As for the seniors, Chichester’s women will pull out all the stops to retain the division-one title they won for the first time last year.

They will be spearheaded by athletes in three different age groups with under-20 Karina Bennett joined by under-17 Grace Wills and veteran Jane Harrop.

The senior men, meanwhile, will look to bounce back to division one of the men’s league at the first attempt after their disappointing season last year. With a top trio of James Baker, Peter Concannon and Conrad Meagher all on good form they should be too good for the rest of the division.

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The action starts at the Goodwood Country Park at midday with an invitation under-11 race for primary-school pupils in Years 5 and 6 with the main league action starting at 12.30pm with the under-13 girls.

The course is a great one to see much of the action and spectators are welcome.

PHIL BAKER

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