First home was London Heathside runner Seyfu Jamaal, winner in 2024 but bettering his time on that occasion by almost a minute and half to finish in 1 hour 5 minutes 17 seconds. Runner-up, more than five minutes adrift, was Wegahta Zerom of Ashford. Best Hastings positions were achieved by David Ervine (HY Athletic Club), Rhys Boorman and Ben McCallion (Hastings Athletics Club) and Louis Dargan (Hastings Runners).

Female winner was Charlotte Clarke in 1:17:57. Grace Baker of Hastings AC came second, after winning in 2024 and finishing second last October, but she improved her time on both previous performances to record 1:20:40.

The Hastings Half Marathon will take place on Sunday, 22 March, and police have warned that there will be road closures across the town which will cause some disruption.

The road closures will be in place from the start of the race at 10am until 1pm along the course route: this includes the A259, Harley Shute Road, Crowhurst Road, Queensway, The Ridge and Old London Road.

The main race will start on the upper promenade level, approximately 200m west of Hastings Pier and will finish on Sea Road. There will be a Mini Run for those aged 7 to 16, which will take place at 10:45am, after the main race has started.

Last year’s race was cancelled after suspected explosive chemicals were found at a property along the route. Police were forced to declare a major incident, citing an “immediate risk of threat to life” and called in bomb squad officers from the Explosive Ordnance Disposal team. The police cordon remained in place throughout the weekend, causing significant traffic disruption, with motorists advised to avoid the area and use alternative routes.

The Hastings Half Marathon is one of the highlights of the local sporting calendar and attracts thousands of spectators who line the streets, cheering on the runners. The organisers of this year’s event will be hoping that the race passes off with minimal disruption.

In 1984, a year before the inaugural Hastings Half Marathon (HHM), I ran in a road race along a 10km stretch between junctions of the new M25 around Leatherhead. The route was the motorway just before it opened. I still feel a thrill now when driving along it, recalling the race event.

Fast forward 30 years to 2014. For many years in between I had been race director of the HHM. When it became clear that the Bexhill-Hastings Link road was going ahead, I made an approach to the contractors Hochtief Taylor Woodrow for permission to organise an equivalent race along it – raising money, as with the HHM, for the Bexhill and Hastings Lions Clubs charities.

Hochtief director Richard Wall-Morris was supportive, and the company agreed to contribute a substantial sum as main sponsor.

The 10km distance could be accommodated by going out 5km and coming back again. It was difficult to get an official UKA course measurement, and their measurer Rob Bright had to make two visits, with the road far from complete. It was a bonus, though, that NO road closures would be needed, and limited marshalling required.

Other logistics for the event were much as for the HHM. We used the sports hall at the Bexhill Leisure Centre as a base, and arranged parking in the training area nearby.

The biggest concern for everyone was going to be the date of the race, as it had to be just before the new road opened. This meant working closely with Hochtief as the time approached. We announced in September 2014 that the event would take place some time in 2015 – initially spring, but gradually put back to the autumn as horrendously wet weather delayed completion. Eventually, in July 2015, we managed to agree a date of 20 September 2015, sent out emails to all those who had previously registered an interest, and commenced publicity. We received over 1,000 entries within days!

The date clashed with Hastings Runners’ annual Rye to Hastings race. Being an original and current President of HR, this was embarrassing for me, but one member, Nick Webb, nevertheless entered both races, and RAN them both. (He did arrive a little late after his 14-mile run from Rye, but still took part in the Link Road 10K).

There was no doubt that the race caught the imagination of runners as a special one-off event. Perhaps, ten years on, some who now drive to or from Bexhill along its course have fond memories too. 

Emergency services cordoned off roads around the A259 Marina on Thursday evening after explosive chemicals were found in a property. Police declared a major incident with “immediate risk of threat to life” and called in bomb squad officers from the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team.

The emergency resulted in the evacuation of 80 local residents from their homes, many of them taking refuge at the nearby Royal Victoria Hotel, where Hastings BC established a rest centre. It also led to the cancellation of the Hastings Half Marathon as a precaution.

The police cordon was in place over the weekend and resulted in traffic chaos with motorists advised to avoid the area and to use alternative routes.

The EOD team found large quantities of one material that indicated explosive elements in it and carried out a controlled burn in a skip on Saturday morning. They also uncovered around 500 canisters containing unknown chemicals, although these are not considered to be explosive. These will be tested and assessed by East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service and national specialists following the completion of the search.

A 28-year-old man has been detained under the Mental Health Act. The police investigation is ongoing but from evidence gathered so far, suggests there is no indication that the man arrested intended to cause harm either to himself or anybody else.

Initially, Sussex Police believed they had discovered a “meth lab” for producing methamphetamine, a highly addictive and illegal drug. However, they have since ruled out this theory. The police have also stated that, “at this time,” they do not believe the incident is related to terrorism.

Superintendent Michelle Palmer-Harris thanked those residents affected and the wider community in St Leonards for their patience and support. She said, “The declaration of a major incident allows emergency services and other partner agencies to work together effectively to keep the public safe.”

Local MP Helena Dollimore thanked the emergency services who “have worked through the night to keep our town safe” in what has been a “very troubling incident for our community.” She urged people to stay away from the affected area to allow the police to do their jobs as safely and efficiently as possible.

The vast majority of residents evacuated were allowed to return home on Saturday evening and the police cordon was shortened. A small number of properties remained within the cordon, however.

The cancellation of the Hastings Half Marathon on Saturday evening left 3,000 runners registered for the main event and 400 participants signed up for the junior race disappointed. Many of them had trained for the 13.1 miles for months and some had travelled to Hastings from across the country and from Europe.

The race organisers, Nice Work and the Hastings Lions Club explained that the difficult decision had been taken after consulting with the police. The President of Hastings Lions Club, Hayley Luck, said the organisers of the race “also recognise and understand that mental health difficulties present itself in many different ways and hope that the young man and his family receive the support that they need.”

It wasn’t just runners who were left disappointed. The financial impact of the cancellation of the race will have a major impact on local charities who rely on the race to boost their fundraising. Local businesses have also been affected. Goodmans, the Barbershop and Coffee Spot, based on the seafront in St Leonards says the half marathon is usually one of the busiest days of the year for trade.

Within minutes of the race cancellation, however, social media was abuzz with runners expressing their determination to complete the 13.1 miles and to follow the actual course as closely as possible. Others ran their own race to raise funds for charity. Amy Biddle was one of those who was not to be put off. She ran from Rye to Pett Level and back in support of Motorneurone Disease “to honour all the kindness that people have shown me in their sponsorship.” Rebecca Fairbairn, was another who ran from Heathfield to Polegate.

St Michael’s Hospice (Hastings and Rother) thanked “everyone who powered through alternative routes to raise funds for their chosen personal and charitable causes. We are very proud of the Hastings and Rother community for coming together.”

By Ben Cornwell

Having been cancelled for the past two years, Hastings Half Marathon is back on Sunday 20 March. Organised by the Hastings Lions Club, it’s a major fund-raising charity event with more than 5,000 runners taking part. But for athletes with competitive ambitions it’s also a popular race in the calendar due to its date falling a month before the London marathon. Many consider the difficulty of the course – its sloping sections and strong headwinds – to be good preparation for the double-length run across the capital.

For local runners, even those who have run internationally, there’s the added pressure of competing in their home town. 

CREDIT: Sussex Sports Photography

Over the last six to eight weeks, the Hastings Athletic Club (HAC) has been making sure that all their runners are sufficiently prepared, with level 3 endurance coach Dylan Janetta coaching specially constructed sessions. Many have spent the winter months running cross-country, and they have had to get re-accustomed to road running and longer distances by increasing the volume of their runs. 

But only some from the endurance group and a handful of the more mature athletes from the club are taking part as  senior middle-distance coach Peter Baker admits he does not advise any athletes in their late teens or early 20s to sign up. He feels that the course is too much to put their bodies through while they are still developing.

Having run the course several times himself, he says that the key to successfully finishing the course is even pacing. “The most important thing is not to go off too hard. If you do, you will pay for it later. It ‘s very easy to get sucked in with the atmosphere when the Chariots of Fire music comes on. But there is a very steep hill within 300-400 metres of the start, which is totally sapping, and so you will only make the rest of the course harder for yourself.”

Runners are unlikely to achieve personal bests or their fastest times compared to flatter routes. But there are other rewards. “One of the bonuses is the amazing support that people in Hastings give it,” he says. “I think it is up there amongst the top half marathons in the country.”

Runners will be setting off from the Sea Road at 10:30am (10:45am for the younger contestants in the mini-run).

1985…and 1066

Former chairman and now a trustee of HAC Lionel Parr was involved in the first staging of the event run back in 1985 and helped record by hand the timings of every athlete running that day. Club stalwart Reg Wild was also involved, sponsoring and creating the mini-run, a shorter race of 2km along the seafront for under 17s. The first two half marathons in 1985 and 1986 were won by HAC club legend Derek Stevens with his 1986 result making all the headlines when he finished in a time of 1.06.6 whilst wearing the race number 1066. It’s true!

The cure, it says, is “free, easy to take, has an immediate effect and you don’t need a GP to get some. Its name? Exercise”.

On another section of the NHS website headed “Stress Busters” readers are further advised to “connect with people”; to “take some time for socialising”; and to set themselves “goals and challenges….such as learning a new sport”.

It’s ironic, then, that, in the name of protection from a virus that seems to be striking most harmfully at people who are already in poor physical shape, the health benefits of playing sport have been so comprehensively cut off – for who knows how long.

Direct Physical Contact

Sports involving direct physical contact have been obvious casualties of directives designed to lower, if not eradicate, viral transmissions.

Suspension of not only the Premier League but most other professional football announced on 13th March seemed in some ways the trigger for wider social disengagement.  After PM Boris Johnson’s speech of the following Monday warning against, if not quite outlawing, “unnecessary social contact”, shutdown of the sport has extended to all grassroots levels – training as well as matches.

Hastings & Bexhill rugby club had their Kent Vase match against Kings College Hospital on the 14th blanked out because of the more pressing concerns of their medic visitors – but, then on the following Monday, the national RFU suspended all rugby activity at both professional and community level, including club training. Regional hockey authorities issued similar edicts.

The start of the 2020 cricket season has been postponed indefinitely, with “all forms” of recreational cricket suspended by the English Cricket Board, including “training, pre-season friendlies and any associated cricket activity”. 

Martial arts that necessarily involve close contact between contestants are another class of sport with no alternative to suspension. The Fighters Loft kickboxing gym, featured in HIP in January, is closing, though intending to offer “virtual classes via Facebook live”. West Hill Boxing Club, which managed to stay open all through the Second World War, has temporarily closed its gym, albeit with a fighting message to its members – “This doesn’t mean you can sit at home and play computer games, we expect you to keep your fitness levels up. Plenty of mirror work circuits and running. We will probably hold some outdoor sessions at some time too to keep up your fitness levels.”

Empty courts at Amherst LTC
PICTURE: Dave Young

Tennis at a distance

Tennis, a game in which, in singles at least, players are socially distanced at opposite sides of the net, might have hoped to be spared. Both clubs in town, Amherst and The Green, last week advised their members that while all external matches, tournament and formal club sessions were suspended, and social gatherings barred, their respective courts would stay open and clubhouse facilities kept usable for toilet and hygiene purposes. After Mr Johnson’s further edicts of last Friday telling pubs, restaurants and gyms to close, the Lawn Tennis Association directed affiliated clubs to shut off all “social spaces” including changing and toilet facilities. Players were advised not to change ends between games. Coaching was not banned outright if players were kept sufficiently apart, but fresh cans of balls were to be opened for each session with a recommendation that only coaches, and not their pupils, should touch the balls. (How the latter were supposed to serve was not indicated).

Amherst coaching team, 6-0 Tennis, which up to that point had continued with regular sessions for both adults and juniors, promptly announced an end to them. Then came the total lockdown imposed on Monday evening: club tennis courts were now branded as “community spaces” and barred. 

Hastings Half Marathon

All local athletics organisation has also ceased. Hastings Athletic Club has suspended all training as well as competition  “until at least the end of April”; Hastings Runners have issued a suspension notice likewise. The weekly Hastings parkrun on St Leonards seafront is off, with a plea not to arrange group gatherings at any parkrun venues whilst suspension continues.

The Hastings Half Marathon, due to be run this coming Sunday, was cancelled indefinitely. There will be no race this year; 2020 entrants are being offered free entry for next year’s race instead. Race director Eric Hardwick of the Hastings Lions Club issued a statement suggesting that those who were raising monies for needy causes and charities should “still try to run a ‘virtual’ distance at some time to obtain your precious sponsorship for those in need.” He admits, however, that the Lions will not be able to donate to local needy causes nearly £70,000 that was raised and spent last year.

“The Health of all People is what is Important at this difficult time”, Mr Hardwick concluded, “and we would encourage everyone to follow Government guidelines to protect themselves and others from this dreadful virus”.

Arguably, the health of most people would in fact be enhanced by the retention of socially distanced sport. But not even golf now survives: see below. 

The Trust supports over 800 local people each year who are affected by cancer and other life-threatening illnesses by providing free psychological and therapeutic support. 

Team Sara Lee 2019

Katie Jones, Fundraising Manager for the Trust says: “What we are trying to do is raise £6,500 to support an additional fifty local people affected by cancer and other life-threatening illnesses this year. The more runners and donations we have, the more likely we are to achieve this goal!” 

The Trust will also have a walking team taking part, so if you’re not quite the energetic athlete and would rather enjoy a chat and a sing throughout the course, then this is a great way to support the Trust.

If you choose to support The Sara Lee Trust by taking part in the Hastings Half Marathon on Sunday 29th March, you will receive fundraising support from start to finish and a Sara Lee Trust running vest. There will also be a team fundraising page on Just Giving, which you will be able to share with your friends – this means you don’t have to worry about an individual target.

If you would like to support the Trust, they would be delighted to hear from you! 

• Book your place at hastings-half.co.uk and contact the Trust Fundraising Team at fundraising@saraleetrust.org

Katie Jones, Fundraising Manager for the Trust said, “We know that locally, there are many people affected by cancer and other life threatening illnesses who struggle on without any or very limited support. What we are trying to do is raise £6,500 to support an additional fifty local people affected by cancer and other life threatening illnesses this year. The more runners and donations we have – the more likely we are to achieve this goal!  

This year, the Trust will also have a walking team taking part, so if you’re not quite the energetic athlete and would rather enjoy a chat and a sing throughout the course, then this is a great way to support the Trust.”

If you choose to support the Trust by taking part in the Hastings Half Marathon on Sunday 24 March 2019, you will receive fundraising support from start to finish and a Sara Lee Trust running vest. There will also be a team fundraising page on JustGiving, which you will be able to share with your friends – this means you don’t have to worry about an individual target.

• If you would like to support the Trust, they would be delighted to hear from you. Please book your place at www.hastings-half.co.uk 

• The Sara Lee Trust is also recruiting for its annual Therapy Month.
Go to the Trust’s website www.saraleetrust.org

The sports clubs and societies of Hastings and St Leonards are legion. From American footballers and archers through to yachting sailors and yoga groups the experience of gathering together for physical contest or self-improvement becomes a central experience of their respective members’ lives. The club venue or sporting arena beckons them each week in season as regularly and prescriptively as church bells summoning the devout.

But the biggest adult sports club in town – Hastings Runners, boasting 429 members at last count (95% resident within the borough, I am told), most of them active and turning out at least once a week – has no home premises at all. Or rather the whole town is home, its streets and pavements all equally accessible to the pounding of running shoes any day or night of the week.

That’s not to say the club doesn’t lay out a regular weekly routine. Monday evenings serious competitors borrow the Hastings Athletic Club track at William Parker to run measured distances on the even rubber surface. Tuesdays and Wednesdays offer a wider range: members meet at Horntye, divide into groupings of up to 15 according to gradings of pace and, led by training coaches, run for around an hour through the streets. Saturday afternoons there’s a two hour run on similar grading lines, starting from Grosvenor Gardens on the sea-front. Sundays there are a variety of options, including away trips to local village courses where hard tarmac can be exchanged for muddy footpaths and bridleways. And if any or all of these club-led meets are not enough, members can and do organise their own mini-runs on social media – there’s a members group on Facebook – at times and over distances to suit themselves.

There are also formal competitive runs, as this coming Sunday 19 February when at least 90 will race along the sea-front from Eastbourne Pier to Hastings Pier, a distance of 16.4 miles. This event, commemorating a deceased member Brenda Boyle, is for club runners only. However the club also enters the general round of local open events: coming up in March are the Eastbourne Half Marathon on the 5^th, an East Sussex cross-country league race at Pett on the 12^th, and the Hastings Half Marathon on the 19^th. Expect the distinctive club vests, black with two green bars across and white lettering, to be well to the fore in all these, while a mass of 160 members will be entering the Hastings event.

The membership fee is a remarkably low £10 per year, though members have to pay individually for use of the William Parker track, for race entries and for any necessary transport. But with no premises to maintain, no equipment to purchase, and coaches and organisers providing their services free, what need of greater funds?

Well, England Athletics, the governing body of the sport, levies individual affiliation fees of £14 per year. That buys you some small discounts on race entry fees. Affiliation is also a requirement for entry into a club team. Some open races are team events as well as individual contests, and you can’t score points for your team unless you are affiliated. EA are keen to persuade clubs to affiliate their members en masse. It’s not just that it will maximise their income from this source. It also enables them to boast to Sport England, the dispenser of largesse from central government and lottery proceeds, that they are raising participation levels in athletics across the nation and should therefore qualify for a larger share for their sport, though some may feel that their tilting of funds towards an Olympian medal-winning elite has little relevance for grassroots (or tarmac) competition.

The response of Hastings Runners is currently split. There are those who feel that every member should be required to affiliate so as to promote unity within the club and move forward in solidarity with the governing body. A combined annual membership fee of £24 would still be a very modest outlay in comparison to the cost of frequently renewed running shoes (specialised for hard surfaces), not to mention the latest digital apps for time and distance measurement.

However many members are quite happy to turn out for training runs or enter closed club races only. What benefit is there to them in affiliating, and what’s wrong with a two-tier system, allowing serious competitors to compete, while leaving those who are there just for the joy and fitness benefits of social running to carry on as before?

The issue was debated, vigorously but with good temper, at an EGM of the club last week. It will be renewed at a forthcoming AGM.

Tim Jury, the urbane but also passionate chairman, seems happy to go with the majority. He himself discovered distance running only because his wife Ann asked him some years ago if he would join her in preparing to run the London Marathon. Her involvement fell away after that, but his increased, to the point where he now runs regular marathons for a farm charity Farm Africa – 30 planned for this year alone, to mark a 30th year of fund-raising support. “It’s a big part of my life”, he says. “I feel there’s something missing if I haven’t done a long run for a month or so”.

The Pier to Pier race on Sunday starts at 9 am. The leaders should reach the finish line just past Hastings Pier in a little under two hours. They may not all look like they enjoy it – but they go on doing it.

The original marathon, as many will know, was not a race between competitive runners but the transmission of news from a battlefield. In 490 BC the Athenians and their Greek allies won an unlikely victory against the invading Persians, and a messenger Pheidippides was dispatched to the city of Athens around 26 miles away. According to legend he ran non-stop, burst into the assembly shouting “nenikekamen – we won!” and dropped dead. Not something you can really do in halves.

But no matter. Half marathons have become increasingly popular over recent years – the extremity of the 13 mile distance being mitigated by the idea that it’s only half the full distance, and that therefore it is reasonable to think you may survive it. It has become the sporting event for breaking free from your limits, for showing support for a special cause – but no need to die for it, or even get to the finish feeling half-dead, if you’re sensibly prepared.

Terry Skelton, road running manager of Hastings Athletic Club, identifies four elements that help. First he is very adamant on the advantages of joining a running club. “It will allow you to meet new people and new friends, this will help you to adapt to the training process easier”, he says.

On the other hand you also need to prepare not just physically but mentally too for the loneliness of the long distance runner. “Unlike football where you can depend on team-mates, running a marathon is solely dependent on yourself. You will be facing a lot of challenges while you are running, and I regard 40% of running as a state of mind.”

Terry’s third tip is to avoid dressing to impress. In order to run with least strain you need to dress comfortably – best in clothing and shoes you’ve already worn during training.

Lastly, the most important thing to have in mind while running the race is control of pace. It is a common mistake to think you are not going fast enough. “The key to running a marathon is to keep an even pace, this will help with your speed throughout, and eventually you will find yourself running quicker towards the end”.

You didn’t manage it this time? Next year’s training starts on Monday. And Hastings Athletic Club, which organises road runs several days a week, winter or summer, rain or shine, will welcome all-comers.