Junior Race
The Eastbourne Rovers Juniors performed brilliantly in the 1st East Sussex Cross Country League event of the season at Black Cap, Lewes.
Some of the team represented the club the previous day at the Sussex Cross Country in Goodwood. This didn’t stop the young talented squad positioning well amongst the field of 60 children from various clubs that participated.
Evie Lennard & Fin Lumber – Fry continued to dominate by positioning 1st by healthy margins in the under 13’s race. Team mate Jonah Messer, making his debut to the league, was a strong 2nd. Charlie Davey placed a superb 5th in the Under 11 boys race with Fox Andrews, returning to the squad after injury, in an impressive 7th place. Dermot O Rourke showed his hard work in training is paying off by placing 3rd Under 17 boy.
Senior Race
Buoyed by the exciting wins in the junior races, no less than 41 Senior Eastbourne Rovers lined up for a 10:30 start. It was notable how many Rovers attended, when they only had 6 attending the final race of last season.
The senior course is a challenging but scenic 5 mile route on the downland above Lewes. It is considered a nice introduction into cross country as it doesn’t have the mud like some of the other routes in the 6-race series! The weather remained sunny and mild, there was barely any breeze which is a bonus for running when up on high ground. A sea of 433 colourful club vests set off on time.
For many Rovers, it was their first cross country since joining the club, some were graduates of the successful Couch to 5k programmes. All performed admirably and helped the team secure 2nd place out of 18 teams, behind Crowborough in 1st and ahead of Lewes AC in 3rd.
Alison Moore continued her good run of form with an outstanding win in the women’s race, completing the course in just 34:32. Teammate Sue Fry took second place in 35:27.
There were no podiums in the men’s race, first Rover home Stuart Pelling was 12th overall with a speedy time of 31:40. 