Chichester athletes shine among nation’s best – Tone Zoners busy from Sussex to Las Vegas

Comparitavely few athletes from the south coast made the trip but Chichester’s five runners all performed with credit.

Star of the show was medic Beth Garland who made the journey from her current base in Edinburgh. Those who witnessed Garland’s dominant display when winning the Sussex championships in January will not have been surprised to see a Chichester vest prominent in the top 50 out of 800 in the early stages of the 8k course.

A group of 15 runners broke clear with Garland content to ease her way through. Going into the second lap of two she broke into the top 20 and crossed the line in 16th, beating her previous best of 35th and setting a new Chichester Runners club record for the highest finish in a women’s or men’s senior national since the club was formed in 1984.

Imogen Matthews had a great run in 187th while Jim Garland kept up the family tradition in 901st out of 1473 finishers in the men’s race, more than 30 years after taking part in his first nationals.

Two of the club’s juniors were inspired by the occasion. Sussex League gold medallist Molly Smithers was 62nd in the girls’ under-15 race while Harry Cruttenden finished 153rd in the under-13 boys’ event.

Cruttenden finished just a minute behind the top 30 with runners crossing the line at more than 120 per minute.

TONE ZONE

A busy weekend for Tone Zone runners involved 26 club members running in different races – in Brighton, Kingley Vale, Lulworth Cove... and Las Vegas!

At the Brighton Half, 15 flew the flag for the Bognor club. Ryan Meager was first home for the club in 1:29:23.

Nathan Bilham was next in 1:32:13 an eight-minute PB. Jess Thomson showed she’s ready for her next marathon in a few weeks with a strong finish in 1:35, just two minutes ahead of Duncan Stephenson-Gill in 1:37.

Daryl Fairbrother and Gary Griffiths snuck under 1:40, Anne Enes finished in 1:40 with Jon Comins four minutes back. Guy Hodgson and Richard Forward, on his 50th birthday, finished in 1:50 and 1:51, followed by Stuart Thomson in 1:53, Rodney Morley 2.05, Gary Smith 2.06), Tony Holcombe 2:11, Louise Maddison 2:14.

At Kingley Vale four runners took on a half marathon with over 1,800ft of climbing. Steph Hilton-Smith finished in 2:11:20 followed by Drew Kelly (2:12), Allen Porter (2:12) and John Williams (2:15). In the Lulworth Cove 12k, Jack Penfold finished in 1:05 to take third place.

Tone Zone’s Lisa Broad, Sarah Baker-Brown and Stephen Brown ran the Las Vegas 5k and half marathon – a day apart. In the 5k the trio finished in 32 minutes in very wet conditions. In the half marathon Sarah and Stephen finished in 2:22, Lisa in 2:41.

An earlier race, the Aintree Half Marathon, saw Jason Abell set a new PB of 1:18. Lisa Broad ended in 2.18, John Abell (age-group winner) in 2.30.