Chichester and Bognor runners shine in Arundel 10k

James Baker, the club’s number one runner for more than a decade, was much too good for the rest of the field and had nearly three minutes to spare at the end of the challenging course to cross the line in 33min 45sec.

This continued a golden summer for the 34-year-old who has achieved success over shorter distances of 5k on the road and honed his speed over 1,500m and 3,000ms on the track.

Such consistent form augurs well for the forthcoming cross-country season, which has its usual opener at Goodwood on October 1 with the Sussex Relay Championships.

Behind Baker at Arundel was in-form Chris Jack in fourth place in 37.56 followed by James Pennicott who was ninth with 39.18 and Nick Casburn 13th with 40.28. With a team total of 28 points Chichester had a wide margin over the rest in the category, maintaining their recent record in the event.

The remainder of the Chichester squad did well in the field of nearly 500 competitors.

Other Chichester finishers: David Pike 52nd in 44.19; Mark Jennings 60th in 45.44; Colin Harley 66th in 45.28; Terry Healy 80th in 46.18; Mike Moorcroft 82nd in 46.36; Norman Marshall 117th in 48.25; Angus Farrelly 118th in 48.30; Anamda Godfrey 174th in 51.43; Keith Akerman 183rd in 52.23; Darren Knight 247th in 55.09; Sue Baker 272nd in 56.20; Lynn Harley 448th in 71.16.

Twenty Bognor-based Tone Zone runners took up the challenge of the 10k – and three finished in the top 12. Stephen McLoughlin came in second in an impressive 36.34, Simon Gill was fifth in 38.29 and 12th was Marius Vitkauskas in 40.19.

Other Tone Zone finishers: Keith Hardwell 45.50, Grahame Hurren 47.03, Phil Cooper 47.27, Ian Coulton 49.03, Ian Bayley 49.22, Chris Gallagher 50.20, Glenn Penfold 51.58. Gary Busby 53.27, Paul Westwood 53.29, Robert Little 53.31, Joan Woolley 56.05, Judith Bazeley 57.58, Sarah Spurr 59.19, Lesley Ward 59.23, Viv Baker 1.02, Peter Chittenden 1.03.

Ten Chichester Runners travelled to Crawley for the latest West Sussex Fun Run League fixture through the delightful setting of Tilgate Forest.

The 4.5-mile race attracted 234 runners and started and finished on the athletics track at the K2 Leisure Centre.

Chichester finishers: Angela Carpenter (22nd, 30.56 & second lady overall), Kevin Lockyear (66th, 34.02), Mark Hazlewood (72nd, 34.24), Tony Cooley (75th, 34.39), Jan Hill (84th, 35.12), Mark Beeson (89th, 35.30), Amanda Godfrey (114th, 37.22), Tracy Jayant (136th, 38.31), Lois Jerrey (164th, 40.37) and Jill Renson (177th, 42.27).

The next two races in the WSFRL calendar are at Fittleworth this Sunday and Henfield on Saturday, September 17.

The club had good representation in the challenging 13-mile Milland Valley Race that attracted 340 runners over trails, paths and quiet lanes on the West Sussex/Hampshire border.

Fay Cripps was the club’s first to finish (38th) and fourth lady overall in an excellent time of 1.39.51.

Other Chichester finishers: Ed Porter (55th, 1.44.38), David Pike (70th, 1.47.18), Mark Jennings (92nd, 1.50.45), Terry Healy (98th, 1.51.18), Katherine Bond (118th, 1.53.47), Michael Moorcroft (122nd, 1.54.05), Dave Harris (167th, 1.59.27), Roger Hobbs (175th, 2.00.38), Gary Tompsett (254th, 2.14.16), Sue Baker (273rd, 2.21.09), and Rob Sawers (276th, 2.22.12).

This weekend sees the end of a busy summer league season for Chichester with under-13s and under-15s in action with their Sussex finals. The under-15s are first to compete at the Withdean Stadium, Brighton, tomorrow evening while the under-13s do battle on Sunday at the K2 in Crawley. It will be the third under-15 final in a relatively-new league. The under-13s compete for the 12th time.