Cross Country

This page has four sections events link for events, directions and details of scoring for the the cross country team and individual events and a guide to off road shoes.

EVENTS

Results are posted to the Cross Country website results page: Results - East Sussex Sunday Cross Country League (eastsussexcrosscountry.co.uk)  

2023/24 season.  

Click here for East Sussex Sunday Cross Country League website 

All events are about 5 miles long. All standards of runners are welcome. It is a lot of fun and you certainly
do not need to be a speed king to join in.

Please remember if you have registered in advance for all races you keep the same number for each race
remember to keep it at the end race and bring it with you to the next race.

Club vest or T shirt should be worn for these events. (see details below for more info)

LOCATIONS AND DIRECTIONS 
Note there are 6 races each year selected from the locations below: not all courses are used in all years.

Ashdown Forest: King Standing Car park. Go through Maresfield heading toward Nutley. After Marsfield before the roundabout take the right hand turn B2026 for Duddleswell. The King Standing Car park is just after a cross roads on this road on the right.
Car parking is at County Hall car park, St Anne's Crescent, Lewes, BN7 1UE.  It is a 10 minute walk from County Hall to the start which is at The Gallps, Lewes BN7 1LR (striclty no vehicle access to the start other than official cars).  Nearest toilets are public conveniences next to the Black Horse pub BN7 1RS next to traffic lights between Western Road and St Anne's Crescent.new course details to follows

Heathfield Park: Cade Stree, Old Heathfield, TN21 8RJ. The entrance to Heathfield Park is on the small road just off the B2096 Battle Road.  It is approximately 1.4 miles from Heathfield Town Centre.  There is NO PARKING within Heathfield Park.  Parking is on the small road immediately outside Heathfield Park, near the community college, on School Hill and Halley Road.

Pett Village Hall, Pett Road, Pett TN35 4HE: A259 to East of Hastings take, Pett road to right, Village Hall is next door to "The two Sawyers" Pub. Click for map

Newplace Park: Pump Lane, Framfield, Nr Uckfield, East Sussex, TN22 5RH Map

Snape Wood, Wadhurst: Free Parking and registration at Uplands Community School, TN5 6AZ (grid ref. 641317). Start is bottom of Washwell Lane: directions from car park - turn left by the White hart Pub and start is at the entrance to the first field on the right. Allow 10 minutes to the start.

Warren Hill:From Eastbourne – Take theA259 out of Eastbourne; up the hill, pass the golf course on the right and the road levels out. Take the first turning on the left onto B2103continue until you see the car park on the right side of the road. From Seaford//EastDean - Follow the A259 down into East Dean and up the hill the other side.  At the top of the hill turn right onto the B2130: continue until you see the car park on the right.

Whitbread Hollow: West end of Eastbourne Seafront.  There is a path to the left, heading in the direction of the sea, by the cafe, after St Bedes School at the end of the seafront which take you to the start.

DETAILS OF EVENTS AND SCORING

Senior races are all about 5 miles and start at 10.30 am. You can enter all 6 races in advance for £10 (paid up members only) or enter on the day £5 per race (if you have not yet registered with the club there is an additional charge of £2). Advance entry must be made before the first race (usually about a week before) If entering on the day you must join the queue by 10.00 so aim to arrive by 9:45 to allow time to register.  If entered in advance a list is provided to tick your name (used to check all runners included on results on finishing) which will be with one of the runners from our club: please let them know you are running.   

All events include a junior races (Age 8 to 16) at U15/U17 9.50 am U11/U13 9:55am but all runner to be at the start by 9:45am.  U11/U13 1 to 1.25 miles lap, U15/U17 2 to 2.5 miles, there is no charge for juniors if they are registered with the club or £2 if not.

Uckfield Runners compete in the East Sussex Sunday Cross Country league as a combined team with Heathfield Road Runners.  20 runners are required for a full team, 12 men (incl 3 over 40, 3 over 50 and 2 over 60) and 8 ladies, (incl 2 over 40, 2 over 40, 2 over 60), however a runner can be scored in a lower age group. You can have as many members running as you want and since cross country is a lot of fun we as a club like to see as many of our members as possible running these events.  Please wear your club vest ot T shirt (you can wear as much clothing as you like underneath.

There are individual prizes (top 3) by age category based on your best 4 races in 5 year bands Senior V35 to V70 and for each of the junior categories (U11, U13, U15, U17 girl and boy). 

If you are a member of Uckfield runners and have not tried cross country, why not come along and give it a try, if you are not a member but fancy getting a bit muddy, our contact details are given below.

GRAHAM'S GUIDE TO OFF ROAD SHOES
For the early season you may be fine with road shoes but also depends on the course (Black cap, Whitbread Hollow and Warren Hill are chalk downland courses which free draining) but with the later season woodland and farm courses off road shoes will be of real benefit to give better traction.  This advise also applies to the Uckfield parkrun which is very muddy in the winter. 

If you are buying off road shoes useful to know what to look for. 

There are three types of off road shoe (the first 2 often collectively called trail shoes)

1. Intermediates Trail shoes/Road Trails: like a road shoe with a more aggressive sole. Trail shoes covers a whole range of shoes:
   - those with a more road like sole are good for gravelly tracks, grass, chalk downland paths, light mud, runs which are mix of road and off road (40% road 60% off road type run) but not good for heavy mud. Typically the tread will be 3 to 4mm deep
   
   
2. Trail shoes/Cross country trainers/fell shoes: These have a studded/lugged sole, less cushioning, will give traction in heavy mud. Can do limited running on roads (10% road 90% off road) but wears down the studs which typically will be 8mm deep. 
   
   
3. Cross country spike: Specialist shoe for racing. Good for heavy mud, mud does not stick to sole. One area they really excel in is if the ground is frozen, but not suitable for road (other than to cross a farm road). You can fit different length spike (usually 6mm, 9mm or 12mm) depending on the conditions.

With trail shoes it is the type of sole that counts: it used to be that shoes with a studded sole would be called a cross country trainer or fell shoes and trail shoes had more road like sole but Cross country trainer and trail shoe tend to be used interchangeable so the same shoe may be referred to as both a trail shoe and a cross country trainer.

The picture above shows three different types of trail shoe:

1. Blue shoes Solamon Trailsters 2 an intermediate shoes: good for summer trails and the odd bit of light mud but also fine on the road

2. Inov8 Roclite 275 these are also an intermediate shoe but a bit more aggressive than the trailsters: so they can cope with a bit more mud but not heavy mud

3. Invo8 Mudclaws.  Mud bring it on.  Ankle deep no issue.  You wear these you look for the mud: Satisfaction in total traction.  But of course not great on road. 

The difference is the tread

Trailster 2 with a penny only just on the rim: 3mm depth of tread	This is the Mudclaw a third of the way across the penny 8mm but also more widely spaced	The Roclite between the Trailster 2 and Mudclaw

If you are going to go for one off road shoe and you want to do cross country (and you should want to do cross country it is a lot of fun) I would recommend a cross country/fell shoe with a studded sole. You can use this for racing and training and it will be good if you want to run in Buxted Park (including the Uckfield parkrun) or Ashdown Forest in the winter: personally I think it is great to still be able to get off road in the winter at the weekends. You will no longer fear mud, mud will be your friend. 

Intermediate trail shoes are good but where you can run in an intermediate trail shoe you can run in a road shoe, the trail shoe just gives you a little more confidence if there is some light mud or gravel. If you go into most sports shops and ask for a trail shoe you will be offered an intermediate trail shoe: you will slip slide around a muddy cross country or the Uckfield parkrun. 

Cross country trainer/Fell shoes are specialist so whilst you may find a pair in shop like Sport Direct you may need to go to a specialist running shop or buy online, even a specialist running shop may still try to offer you an intermediate trail shoe. If you are making a special trip you may want to phone first and say you are looking for a cross country shoe with a studded type sole such as an Inov8 Mudclaw, Walsh PB or Salomon Speedcross what do you have. 

It can be difficult to find suitable shoes in bargain shops like Sports Direct: although you may find some Karrimer Sabre for about £40-£45: sold as a trail shoe but has a studded type sole (there is also the Karrimer Rapid Trail but that has a more road like sole so not what you want for mud).
If you are happy to order online SportsShoes.com sometimes have some bargains and if you are a member of Uckfield runners you can get a 10% discount and free postage. Inov 8 do soemtiems have some bargain on their own website: and if you like Invo8 it is worth signing up for the regular  emails as they do offer some genuine deals (such as 50% off).  Of course buying online you cannot try before you buy: and sizing can be a pain my size ranges from 7 to 8.

As a specialist shoe there are a limited number of brands including Walsh (PB), Inov8 (Mudclaw or Xtalon), Adidas (Terex skychaser), Salomon (Speedcross): you can pay well over £100 but you may be able to pick up a pair for £60 to £90: the Walsh PB tends to be one of the cheaper ones.

If you are looking for a bargain also check out More Mile Cheviot, they are competively priced at £20 to £30: online from Start Fitness (which is in Sheffield), I have had a few pairs, great grip, quite light, I find them very comfortable (but they are quite narrow which suits me fine but not so good if you have a wide foot): however when I last looked they only had ladies in size 3 and 3.5 (Fro £12) so they may no longer be making them.  Also they are not the longest lasting shoe: expect about 250 to 300 miles out of them.  There is the Cheviot Pace but I only got 200 miles out of a pait of those You may pick up a Karrimer Sabre for £40 to £45 (you may find them in Sport Direct).    

Cross country spikes (these are different to track spikes) are bit cheaper (You should be able to get a pair for £30 to £45) and easier to find, and if you ask for spikes they won't try to sell you an intermediate trail shoes: but they are really limited to racing unless you drive to say Ashdown Forest, and not suitable for all courses (Heathfield Park and Snape have some gravel paths).  

The shoes pictured are just examples so you can see the different type of sole, don't buy an Inov8 just because that is the one pictured, what counts is what shoe is comfortable for you. Note that cushioning is less of a consideration for a cross country shoe as you are going to be using it on predominantly soft ground.