On Wednesday Isabella Buchanan travelled up to Lee Valley competing in her first indoor track meet at the Ayo Falola Invitational. This is an invite only event against some of the very best who came from far and wide to compete over a 1 mile distance, 8 laps of the indoor track.Sitting no higher than 2nd or 3rd position for the majority of the race and staying as relaxed as you can at that speed and effort level it all came down to the bell lap where she moved up alongside the leader, with 100m remaining and going into the final bend at 50m out, she kicked, and kicked hard going on the outside to dip at the line to claim victory in 4.55.64. An outstanding performance from Isabella on her indoor debut.
The Headcorn half marathon took place on Saturday 16th, seeing over 10 club members take to the course. Once out of Headcorn village, the runners progress through Smarden Bell, Egerton Forstal and then Southernden before sprinting back into Headcorn. This is a fast and mostly flat course with some mild undulations, attracting 369 runners this year. Stuart Piper smashed the course in 1:22.34 coming in 8th position and 3rd in his age category, David Mayes was hot on his heels with 1:25.48 coming in 19th position.Nicky Stiles was up next with a PB of 1:29.48 coming in 39th, Dan Isted followed closely behind with 1:31.58 in 48th place. Benji Symes finished in 58th place with a time of 1:35.54 and Benjamin Jones smashed his PB by 10 minutes with a time of 1:35.59 coming in 60th place. Scott Richford is a runner known for his strong abilities, he shone through with a time of 1:37.03 in 68th place. Sonnii Pine gained a new PB with an excellent time of 1:41.02 coming in as the 6th female runner and 89th place in the field. Chris Castleman flew across the line in 138th place with a time of 1:47.36. Lisa Buchanan was aiming for a sub 2 hour half marathon, her consistent marathon training certainly paid off, with a huge PB in 1:51.16 the 26th female back and 165th place, Jason Johnstone was our final HY Athlete also marathon training completing the course in a very strong 2:07.20 securing 268th place.
Whitbread Hollow was the setting for the East Sussex Sunday Cross Country League, a chilly and windy setting for the League's 4th Match. Ellen Gates was HY's sole junior competitor, completing a route of just over 3km in 16.26 achieving 1st place in the U15 age category. In the main race Steve Gates cemented his dominance achieving his third 1st place finish out of the 4 league races so far, with this result he will finish the season on maximum points. Steve's strong performance saw him finish over 1 minute ahead of the field, a fantastic performance completing the 8km route in just 29:05. Joining Steve from HY AC were Matt Harmer 114th in 40:53 and Jacqualine Patton finishing in 263rd with a time of 56.45. Well done to all on this challenging course!
Sunday also saw Hammer Thrower Kitti Melani Szabo-Papp (U17's) compete in the Basingstoke winter throws open meeting. Kitti achieved a new personal best of 42.25m, taking the win for the ladies and the 3kg category, a PB of over 2 meters! Definitely one to watch in the future.