The Brighton 10k took on the Arena blue vest train once more.

It was a huge turnout once again from the blue vests of Arena as 55 areneez took to the seafront of Brighton to take on a cold and breezy Brighton 10k.
There was plenty to cheer about along the way and there is nothing better to fill you with club pride than when you see your peers working hard with each other and pushing each other on in pursuit of a fast time and to do your best for the club.
Now we know this was the last of the HCC road races and Arena have already been crowned team champions long before this race but we still like to give a good account of ourselves as a club and many running for individuals placings.
Of those chasing individual places then it’s the ladies which feature heavily in the results so it was still all to play, I mean run for.
Now four of the ladies were also representing Sussex and how proud we are as they came away with the team silver. What a team it was as well with Caroline Hoyte, who still runs as though she’s 20, as 1st F45 and 9th lady in 36.40, Emily Proto finding some really good form of late in 37.00 and 11th lady, Tara Shanahan still in such good form and 3rd F45 and 15th lady in 37.27 and Julie Briggs who always brings it when it’s needed who was 18th lady in 37.44. Four of our ladies in the top 20 and that’s why they got team Silver. Brilliant running ladies and no doubt all pushing and working with each other along the way. Dream team yep I think so too!!
Our men gave an excellent account of themselves up against a very strong men’s field. First man home for Arena was a man who is returning back to his pre-baby form again and who ran his fastest 10k race 7 years his time being 34.20, it is of course Timmy Gedin. Sporting some very cool Dunlop white trainers as well, obviously he’s learnt to keep all things clean since the birth of child.
Second man home for our Arena men was the new boy on the block, Blake Brown. Blake looks very strong in our training sessions and so it was out on the course as he came home in 36.10. Third man for Arena was Michael Barker and Like Timmy Gedin is starting to show some former form as he makes a solid comeback and good to see the guys back.
Elsewhere we should also a massive well done to Michael Miller who seems to be making a bit of a habit of picking up medals these days as he took home the bronze in the M60 category in a time of 44.03.
A huge shout out must go to our blind runner Keith Turner who was running free under the watchful eye of Jim Roberts. It really was a brilliant time of 44.36 and I don’t know how Jim does it but there must be a real understanding between these two plus a lot of trust in Jim. Kudos to you both and thank you Jim on a job well done.
I know there were many who picked up PB’s as well so a very successful day out for Arena all round. Congratulations to all who ran and not just for this race but throughout the year as we concentrated on the HCC series. Your hard work has paid off and you can look back and say I was a part of that winning Arena team with a smile on your face.
The end of the year is nigh and there has been a lot of work put in over the year. Moving forward, we now enter the cross-country season and I know many of our athletes love this getting down and dirty kind of races but it’s probably more about the team bonding that goes hand in hand with these races that’s more to the point.
The next big Arena turnout will be the end of the very successful parkrun series challenge which was new to our racing calendar this year. Put it down in your diaries now as we will be expecting a record turnout for Arena at this one. It’s the Hove Park parkrun on Saturday 15th December which is the same day as our Arena Christmas party so it’s gonna be just one big party all the way. Just for the record, our biggest turnout for an Arena event stands at 76.
Once again well done to you all on another very successful year for this little club of ours.
Be respectful, Be supportive, Be the best you can
and you guys have done this in abundance this year.
BREAKING NEWS
We have just heard that Maisie Trafford has been confirmed as the 2018 Sussex Road Race Challenge champion. Congratulations to Maisie on her success and it’s come from a lot of hard work put in in-between the races and no doubt a few very hard training sessions with Caroline Hoyte.