Race Report: ESSCCL Round 4 @ Seaford Head

A somewhat windy day dawned on Sunday 11th January for the first round of the East Sussex Sunday Cross Country League in 2026. But with the wind came fairly ambient temperatures threatening to climb into the double digits.

Seaford Head was the venue, hosted by our ESSCCL team counterparts Seaford Striders.

A total of 17 hardy club members lined up to take on the daunting prospect of a 4.6 mile 800-odd feet elevation race over the cliffs, with some slippery and narrow climbs and rabbit hole filled steep descents, all washed over with a harsh southerly wind blowing at between 22 and 42mph.

(If you aren't interested in the wafflings about the course and the race, click here for the club results)

An initial lap of the starting field near the martello tower led the bunch out to a short eastbound section of esplanade and right on to the main climb of the day. A few hundred metres of gravel track started us off at around a gentle 12%. After a short respite of a flat(ter) stretch, came the 20% ramp of very broken and stepped surface where staying on your feet was made even more challenging by being elbow-to-elbow with all the other runners.

After that was around a mile of downhill, by which point the bunch had broken up significantly, and only the bravest were negotiating the rabbit-hole strewn descent as fast as they dare, before a short "lumpy" stretch of about half a mile led us to the turn point at the coastguard cottages.

From here, the path tilted upwards once more, with around half a mile of North-Westerly gravel starting at 8% and finishing at 4% before swinging left again, for another grassy descent of around half a mile back to the coastal cliff path, just in front of the aforementioned "lumpy bit", thankfully missing it out for this part of the return leg.

Starting almost dead on the 3 mile mark, and now heading back Westbound, there was another 200 metres or so of 12% climb to get over, with the small mercy that the wind was now at our backs. After this short and sharp climb, it flattened out to a more manageable 3-5% up to the 4 mile mark.

This is where things once again started to turn hairy, the very slippery yet steep and broken pathway making a speedy descent not for the faint hearted. The half a mile of up to 20% drop saw at least one runner (ahem) find himself flailing around in a bush at the bottom of the steepest section.

Once out of the grasp of the cliffs and back on the to esplanade, it was time to take a look over your shoulder for that last few hundred metres. Could you coast it in? or did you need to give it your best sprint finish?......

The PRC team at round 4 Seaford Head

The Results

With it being the fourth round, a lot of runners have now completed their minimum 4 races (remember your best 4 results are all that count overall) but the tables have shifted a little in some places due to some runners currently having fewer.

Regardless, it was a great day for the PRC. Most notably Thomas Solomon being not only first vet in any category, but third overall in a blistering 31:39.

Our sole junior, Eva Winton, smashed out the 3.5k version of the course in 19:27 netting her first place U17 female and second U17 place overall 🥇 Nice work Eva!

Tommy Knight came in an excellent 22nd (33:51) and Ollie Sprague not far behind in 46th (35:39). George Isaacs (163rd/43:50) and Alexander Wood (184th/45:13) rounded out the senior mens places for PRC, with both putting in an excellent show for their first ever cross country race. Well done!

In the senior women Sarah Isaacs (159th/43:23) and Nicole Page (247th/49:55) both kept the flag flying for the club, with Sarah also completing her first cross country race. Nice work Sarah!

In the veterans category Mark Millar (70/38:07) put in a great performance to take the second club vet place with Tobias Bunyan (123rd/41:19) coming in behind him and Steve Sprague (134th/42:23) soon after.

For the women vets Lisa Tindle (133rd/42:17) took first club female overall as well as vet, with Lynsey Millar (181st/44:57), Trixie Nisbet (218th/47:51), Samantha Barden (56:20) and Helen Furlong (308th/58:11) coming in after. Trixie was yet another PRC member to run her first XC!

Individual Standings

The overall tables are now a little jumbled up with some top place finishers being a "race short", so those at 4 races need to pay attention to their closest rivals and figure out who they need to shadow in the remaining races.

Tommy Knight leads the senior mens table right now with 14 points over his nearest rival. There are several runners close who are on only 3 races, so momentum needs to be retained and it is still all to play for! Ollie Sprague is also close by in 7th.

In the senior women only Nicole page has enough starts to be able to qualify for the overall, currently sitting in a 12th place which, with a couple of good results over her contemporaries, is certainly close enough to obtain a top ten by the end of the year.

On the veterans front Thomas Solomon, our only M45 runner, sits in a "false" tenth place, having only run 3 races and not 4 like those above him. On current form Thomas will hopefully cement his top spot in the competition over the next two races.

In the M50 Steve Sprague and Tobias Bunyan sit 11th and 12th with only ten points between them, having swapped places at every race this year. Alas, the runner ahead of them has only run three races and is a pretty consistent top 40 or 50 finisher, so breaking their way into the top ten may be a tough call ... but never say never.

Also Mark Millar sits a very respectable 16th in his category having run only two races, and will need to attend both remaining races to, on his current form, very possibly launch himself into a podium finish for the season.

On the women vets front Lisa Tindle finds herself just 24 points from a podium position in her category. With 4 races completed it's all to play for in the last 2 races to see if she can launch herself onto the podium steps.

Lynsey Millar also finds herself not too far outside of the top ten to push on the next two races, and certainly within reach of a top 5, perhaps even a podium?

Of the remaining vet women only Sam Barden, Jane Chant, Helen Furlong and Anne Carruthers can complete enough races to qualify for the overall rankings.

There is of course still the individual race rankings to fight for for those runners who cannot complete the 4 and, perhaps even more importantly, you can still contribute to the teams success in the team standings!

Team Standings

First of all an excellent result in the team results for this week with our combined "PPSST" (that is, Polegate Plodders, Peacehaven Run Club, Seafront Shufflers, Seaford Striders and Tri Tempo) team taking the top spot!

Some excellent results have seen the team now move up to second place in the team standings, on ten points. Eastbourne Rovers/Team Bodyworks are just ahead of us on 7 points, and just behind are Crowborough on 12 points and Lewes on 14.

Remember that all runners can contribute to the overall team success as even some of the non-scoring runners can "take points" from other teams by finishing in front of their runners.