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Steyning and Stone do double at Lee Valley - - ROUND UP 22nd Feb 2010
(click image to enlarge)	Darrell Stone from Steyning regained his National 10-mile road walking championship at Pickett’s Lock with a fine walk in difficult conditions. Stone was in the leading group right from the start and moved clear before the five-mile mark but he had to battle hard over the second half of the race to fend off his rivals to regain the title he last won two years ago. Clocking 73:49 the Steyning walker finished twenty seconds clear of Ilford’s Scott Davis. Jimmy Ball and Trevor Jones both had good walks to finish seventh and eighth respectively in 84:04 and 84:18 and with three walkers in the first eight places the Steyning club completed a hat trick of team victories. Richard Emsley returned to competition finishing 14th in 94:58 while Ron Penfold placed 21st of the 44 finishers. In the Women’s race Steyning’s Anne Bellchambers finished eighth in 109:15. Bayley waits on selectors Phoenix Athletic club’s Tim Bayley will know later to day whether he has a place in the Great Britain team for the World Indoor championships at Doha, Qatar. Following his second place in a very slow time at the “Trials” the previous weekend Bayley was given a place in the Grand Prix event alongside “Trials” winner Colin McCourt but this time the pace was just a wee bit faster and the former Sussex champion took full advantage of the pace. Although being squeezed back in seventh place in a World class field Bayley was well inside the “Doha” standard clocking 3:40.16, two seconds ahead of McCourt, and will be waiting for a call today. Crawley’s Charlotte Best ran into ninth place in the women’s one-mile event in a personal best of 4:32.29 while club mate Dannielle Christmas clocked 2:05.92 for sixth place behind British record breaker Jenny Meadows in the 800 metres. Chichester’s Charlotte Browning has the 1,500 metre standard under her belt but three other British runners have run faster this season and only two can be entered per event. Powell first woman in Beacon Half Brighton & Hove’s Fiona Powell, who had run in the Sussex League event on Saturday led the women home in the Beacon Half-marathon road race on Sunday. In appalling conditions with rain, at time torrential, drenching the runners from start to finish. Powell finished 79th overall clocking 83:47 ten seconds clear of unattached Kate Mapham with Hailsham’s Samantha Alvarez, who had also run on Saturday clocking 85:41 for third place, 129th overall. In the mens event oft times winner James Baker from Chichester was squeezed into third place in 70:47 well adrift of Woodford Green’s David Wardle who won in 66:59. James Anderson (Hastings) filled fifth place in 72:59 one place ahead of Rob James (Lewes), who had won the senior race on Saturday, in 73:18 while Dave Carter (Phoenix) recorded 73:29 in seventh place. Eight Sussex League titles for Brighton & Hove The Brighton & Hove Club scooped four team titles and four individual crowns at the final Sussex Cross-country League match at Lancing on Saturday winning both senior mens’ and women’s team events plus the boys under 17 and 15 events. James McCarthy won the under 20 individual crown Jake Elliott the under 15,James Oliver the under 13 and David Benton the over 40 veterans title. Hastings went home with three titles, the under 13 girls team plus individual title for Ross Skelton in the under 17 events Grace Baker in the under 15 and Holly Wheeler in the senior women. Both Worthing and Crawley won two apiece, Worthing taking the under 17 women’s team and under 20 individual through Brittany Saville while Crawley took the Veteran men’s team title and Abigail Ashbee-Simmonds the under 17 individual title. Lewes took the under 15 girl’s and Chichester the under 13 boy’s team titles while Ben Warren (Hailsham) took the senior men’s title, Arena 80s, Julie Briggs the veteran’s O.35 crown and Rebecca Elphick (Bodyworks) the under 13 girls title. Full results are now available in the results pages.