Hastings athletes are flying as seasons change

At the English Athletics National championships in Bedford, Rae Le Fay was 2nd with a PB in the 1500m heats, tucked in behind Phoebe Gill (who holds the record for the fastest U17 of all time in the UK.

For Le Fay, making the finals and running a sub 4.40 PB were her goals. Gill kicked in in the final, leading an incredibly fast paced first lap that shattered the field all over the place with very few PBs achieved.

Despite this she managed a respectable 6th, and first for Sussex, in what she described as ‘the hardest paced race I've ever run’.

Le Fay has just returned from an athletics training camp in the Austrian Alps, one of only a small group of athletes invited. She said it was a huge privileged to attend and had made noticeable improvements to her confidence and running which came through at nationals.

Meanwhile Lucienne Simkiss- Day competed in the pentathlon at Tonbridge AC 75th Anniversary Open, coming 2nd in the hurdles heat, 2nd in the long jump, 1st in the 800m heat and 1st in a high jump with a new PB of 1.45 – ranking her 15th in the country. She would have to have been a Kent resident to get a medal but these were amazing results in her first U13 pentathlon.

In the U11B 75m race Cobey Buckley was 3rd and in 600m race two was 2nd, great work for his first event for the club.In the Rye Summer Classic Series 10k, in the first of three events there was 3rd place for James Mountford, 7th for James Crombie, 10th (1st M50) for Dave Turner, and 13th Adam Osman. In the series’ 5k Sean Parker-Harding was 2nd overall with 17.14 and Dave Turner close behind in 6th with 18.43. Dave Turner won his category over the three events.

The focus is now turning to road running and cross country season for adults and youths alike. For a free trail session check out www.hastingsathleticclub.co.uk

SPEEDY BEELEY

In his last triathlon of the season veteran triathlete Roy Beeley tackled the Sussex Sprint event, held at Ashburnham Place, Battle. A 750m lake swim, 20km bike race and 5km trail run was the format in ideal conditions which saw him take first in his age group in 1hr 49min 28sec.