Seniors get job finished – yet again
Cross-country: Senior men and women
Both Chichester senior teams were depleted at Bexhill.
In the event it was veterans Nadia Anderson and Wendy Whelan who flew the flag for the club in the women’s race in 33rd and 59th place respectively, with Whelan, in her 70s, having the distinction of being the oldest runner in the race.
Chichester’s men, on paper, had a real chance of team medals but they had three of their top runners available and were thankful to the commitment of three of their older veterans to ensure they had a scoring team of six.
Ned Potter was among the favourites for an individual medal and was prominent in the early stages but illness over Christmas had sapped some of his strength and the Loughborough-based athlete had to be content with fifth and automatic selection for the Sussex team in March.
James Baker decided to make a steady start on the five-lap course of 2,000m per lap but used all his experience to scythe his way through the field to finish a fine 14th, the first veteran to cross the line.
Ben Morton, another of the club’s university athletes, was close behind in 17th while new club chairman Jim Garland led the three veterans in 81st followed by Tim Brown in 103rd and Peter Anderson in 109th to maintain Chichester’s record of completing a men’s team in every year of their history since 1985.
In the same race on a shorter 8k course, under-20 Callum Lorimer showed fighting spirit by running virtually all his 8k course with one shoe, ensuring all 30 Chichester competitors crossed the finish line.