Results_

Josh  Guilmant 15th 01:08:55 pb
Dave Carter 25th 01:11:22
James Miles 61st  01:14:31 pb
Thomas Coates 138th 01:19:52
Garry Judd 237th 01:22:53
Erica Martin 287th  01:24:45
David Gifford 347th 01:26:13
Malcolm Kemp 2121th  01:43:02

A modest turnout by Phoenix standards but what grouping! With nearly 4000 runners all our athletes finished in a half hour slot. Daren Elliot 313rd 1:32:29, Rob Lyons 457th 1:37:45, John Doonan 531st 1:38:49, Jon Mitchell 588th 1:40:10, Terry Avey 596th 1:40:17, Ivan Lyons 710th 1:42:43, Hildi Mitchell 1791st 1:59:15, Debbie Evers 1966th 2:01:38   

There was Phoenix representation across the board in Sussex vests for the Inter-county championships. Star of the day was Charlie Grice who was 6th in the U15 boys. Sophie Coleman suffered cramp problems in the early part of her race and will be disappointed with her, otherwise impressive, 10th spot in the under 20 women’s race. She was hoping for a top 5 position to cement her claim for a GB place in the World Championships.

Other Phoenix placings: James Miles 256th SM, Finn MacNally 114th U17B, Robbie Fitzgibbon 46th and Billy White 64th U13B, Liz Durman 209th SW, Beth Kidger 103rd and Megan Kidger 263rd U15G.

Rat Matthews 62nd 1:32:30 John Doonan 109th 1:36:07, Terry Avey 164th 1:40:49, Ivan Lyons 168th 1:41:13, Carolyn Austen 731st 2:13:19

Bob Novis 33rd 1:46:29, Andy Field 34th 1:46:29

With some of our senior men absent it was always going to be a big ask to get into the medals at this final league race given their disastrous race 1 turnout. Amazingly with Dave carter  (6th), Matt Barrie (7th) and Dan Stepney (15th) leading the way we managed the bronze medal. The vets performed well as ever but finished (just) in fourth spot.

The senior women had another poor turnout and although Erica Martin excelled for fifth they languish 7th out of eight first division teams and are in danger of relegation to division 2 next season.

Elsewhere Charlie Grice completed a fantastic season with another win to become individual champion with his U15 team making 5th.  Under 17 boys came fourth overall with good seasons By Finn MacNally and Max Pickard. Under 15 girls were 4th and there was no under 17 team. Under 13 results were declared after three matches and the under 13 boys were top Phoenix team making silver.

Stand out performances by Dave Carter (4th in 1:13:07) and James Miles (8th in 1:15:57) gave the senior men second team spot with Tom Naylor (35th in 1:20:32) and Mike Murphy (43rd in 1:21:16) completing the A team line-up. Age category awards Andy Field (1st M60 1:28:46, Bob Novis (3rd M50-59 1:23:42). In the womens race Erica Martin ran a fine 1:25:37 for 8th place with Sharon Young (57th 1:36:28), Anita Jones (68th 1:37:39) and Carolyn Austin (968th 2:11:24) taking the ninth team spot out of 60 completing. 30 Phoenix athletes competed in total.

Sophie Coleman came 6th junior women. Charlie Grice 16th U15. Liz Durman 137th senior women. Pat Davoren 166th senior men. Malcolm Hughes 800th, Ian Moss 1101th.

Despite a great turn out and three runners in the top ten (Josh 2nd, Dave 9th and James 10th) the senior men are still stranded in fourth spot. It seems the poor scoring in the first race of the season will be just too much to claw back. The vets continue to show great form but have slipped a place to fourth but are certainly in a position to medal on the last race. There were only two finishers in the women’s race and they are now down to seventh. The goal will be to avoid a drop to division two at Lancing. Elsewhere the U13 boys have resolutely hung on to silver position by a slender margin but the girls have slipped a few places to 10th. They finish in those positions since this age group is being scored on three races only. The U15 girls just retain third spot and the U15 boys are up to fifth with another winning run by Charlie Grice. No under 17 girls team but the boys have moved up another place to fourth. Paul Thomas, AWAD (Athletes with a Disability) Phoenix member, running with the aid of poles, managed to do 6km (3 laps) which is further than he has ever run before. Congratulations to him.

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