The 31st staging of the Hastings Half Marathon this year took place on a cold and blustery March Sunday. This did not prevent a good turnout of almost 3,000 runners who ranged from International and elite standard to dedicated club and enthusiastic fun runners. This race has been voted as one of the best in the country, is always well supported and saw a good turnout of eight Seaford Striders.
The race followed a loop around the historical town of Hastings from
the start on the seafront, with runners initially following the route
that William the Conqueror took towards the village of Battle. This
included a lung busting 5 mile climb up Queensway before turning eastwards along the Ridge, where there was little respite for the lungs because of the undulations. Following on from this was a fast 2.5 mile descent to Rock-A-Nore and the same distance, into the inevitable head wind, back along the seafront to the finish.
Kenyan flyer Sammy Nyokaye was first across the line in an impressive time of 1:05:26 and the first female in 35th place was another Kenyan, Mercyline Ondieki in a time of 1:21:35.
However, as far as the Striders were concerned and once again in top form, Simon Fletcher was first home in 22nd place overall in a superb time of 1:19:18 – over 7 minutes faster than last year. Gareth Hutchinson, fresh from his PB at the Seville Marathon was close behind in 1:21:50 placing both runners comfortably in the top 40.
Paul Heywood’s excellent 1:27:15 saw him heading home Dave Dunstall 1:28:13; Phil Robinson 1:33:39 and Kevin Ives 1:34:01. Great efforts too saw the only female Strider Beth Ruddock achieve a PB in a time of 1:44:10 and head home Richard Honeyman 1.52.26. Tom Roper’s determined 2.27.28 completed the list of participating Striders.