The event – established by the current club president Eric Hardwick MBE as a fundraiser for The Hastings Lions Club in 1985 – is uniquely connected to the club. Members leaflet households along the route, place the barriers on the start-finish line, and make up the largest club entry in the field of 3,000. So, after three months of training, and sponsorship promises, they weren’t about to let all the preparation go to waste. Within minutes of the cancellation, four groups announced alternative runs and on Sunday runners in green-and-black hit the road in true “the show must go on” style.
The largest was organised by coach Lindsey Jones whose Facebook invitation drew around 40 runners, mostly in the club’s green and black colours, to the startline before setting off at 10.30am (the projected start time) on a 13.1 mile route that followed the actual course as closely as possible– but substituting the pavements of Ironlatch Avenue and Battle Road for the unclosed and therefore busy Queensway. As it was not a race, quicker runners looped back to rejoin those at the back so all finished at roughly the same time. Non-runners turned out as cheerleaders, baggage minders, and to hand out water from strategically parked cars.
HR deputy chairman Nick Webb was among the runners, having worked tirelessly to keep members informed of developments during the day before. He was unsurprised by the turn-out, saying: “You just can’t stop the green-and-black family doing their thing!”
Jones saluted the runners, too: “Thanks to all who joined me in this unofficial Hastings Half! This was just some of us what a great community we have, a very special day still for so many!”
Two hours earlier, another HR coach, Paul Lambert, led the first “Hastings Half Replacement Run” on the 13.1mile circuit of Bewl Water where in early morning mist 19 runners took to the trails. For them birdsong, woodpeckers and the bleating of new-born lambs replaced the roars of cheering crowds around Hastings streets. The anti-clockwise route, was tougher, too, with fallen trees and swampy mud – with occasional detours due to lack of marshall’s directions and ongoing construction work behind the dam.
As the last of Lambert’s completed their circuit, his fellow coach Steve Uzzell, as well as Sarah Heasman, were guiding other HR groups around alternative half-marathon distances.
The Hastings Half Marathon will be back in 2026, bigger and better than ever. Why not join in?
Hastings Runners welcomes new members of all abilities aged 12 and over for fun, training and competitive running. Visit https://hastingsrunners.co.uk