Gold for Joshua Webster, Archie Franklin & Byron Roberts – U13 Boys Race.
Eastbourne Rovers exploded out of the blocks at the 21st Annual Goodwood Cross Country Relays on Saturday 30th September.
First to race were the U13 boys A team who clinched the gold team medals. Joshua Webster, Archie Franklin and Byron Roberts have been training consistently together for 2 years and have gradually improved over that time. They fought extremely hard for the win and thoroughly deserved it, carrying on the recent Eastbourne success in that age group (with those boys now U15). Joshua Webster stayed close to the very strong Brighton athlete on the first leg. Archie Franklin did amazingly well on leg 2 managing to close the gap slightly. Byron Roberts ran a perfectly paced 3rd leg, gradually catching the leader, overtaking with 400m to go, almost losing the lead again at 200m to go and then fighting back to win by a couple of seconds.
The unbeatable trio of Freda Pearce, Raya Petrova and Daisy Connor were leagues ahead in the under 15 girl’s race. Freda Pearce set the pace running the fastest individual lap on leg one. She handed over to Raya Petrova who held her own, then passing to Daisy Connor who cruised to victory and team gold by a huge 1 min 35sec margin from closest rivals Crawley A/C.
The Under 15 boys team set off to a great start with Fin Lumber – Fry holding on to 4th as he passed over to Thomas Petherick. The gap was then reduced on leg 2 as Thomas ran a storming leg moving the team up into medal contention & handing over to Jonah Messer. He ran a hearty race and was overtaken by the strong Brighton & Hove 3rd leg runner, but they still claimed the 2nd spot and silver medals. This result was particularly impressive as 2 of the team are just the 1st year in their age category.
Special mentions go to Under 15 George Armstrong – Smith with a fast 1st leg in the mixed team of 8:45 and Teddy Jones in 9:17. Isabelle Chappell ran strongly (despite not having an under 17 team) with her individual time of 14:50. Fintan Pearce also had a storming run in the under 17 race with the 3rd fastest lap in 12:09 and James Stephen ran 2 legs in the under 20 team, showing consistency and strength in 12:19 & 12:46. All 6 athletes from the B & C under 13 boys teams were running for the club in cross country for the first time, very well done to Adam Myers 9:20, Xavi Bray 10:39 Aiden Pringle 10:27 (8th Team) & Logan Boddy 11:45, Jackson Walker 11:15, Jacob Edleston 10:20 (13th team)
Next for the Eastbourne Rovers squad is the 1st of the Sussex League Cross Country events held at Goodwood on Saturday 14th October. They are hoping that their fine performances at the relays have set them up well for another set of fine results. Following on from this, many of the athletes are travelling to Wormwood Scrubs on 21st October for the SEAA XC Relays.
Results
U13 Boys A Joshua Webster – 8:58, Archie Franklin 9:13, Byron Roberts 8:48 (Gold Team). Adam Myers 9:20, Xavi Bray 10:39 Aiden Pringle 10:27 (8th Team). Logan Boddy 11:45, Jackson Walker 11:15, Jacob Edleston 10:20 (13th team)
U13 Girls A Chyna Wai 10:16, Georgia Lennard 12:00, Maeve Jennings 10:41 (5th Team)
U15 Girls A Freda Pearce 8:57, Raya Petrova 9:33, Daisy Connor 9:05 – (Gold Team). B Team – Evie Lennard 9:47, Chae Wai 10:33, Lexie Mclean 10:10 (5th Team)
U15 Boys A Fin Lumber – Fry 8:26, Thomas Petherick 8:29, Jonah Messer 8:52 (Silver Team).
Mixed U15 Team George Armstrong – Smith 8:45, Teddy Jones 9:17, Grace Allitt 11:51
U17 Boys Ilya Korchev 12:49, Kaleb Berhane (13:12), Fintan Pearce 12:09 (5th Team)
U17 Isabelle Chappell -14:50
U20 James Stephen – 12:19, Benjamin Brown 13:04, James Stephen 12:46
V45 women 4km – Sue Fry (15.43), Liz Lumber (16.51), Anna Chaplain – (17.08) – Silver team