It was the women who were the stars of the Sussex team at the Counties Athletics Union Championships at Bedford over the weekend with County 200 metre champion Kimbely Baptiste producing the only gold medal performance.
In windy conditions Baptiste took advantage of the help it gave her to duck inside 24.0 seconds to win her heat while in the final she again had the support of a strong breeze to run faster than she had ever done.
After a great battle with Edinburgh’s Beth Dobbin Baptiste finished less that one metre clear in 23.60s for a splendid 200m victory and just outside the Sussex record.
There was to be a Sussex record in the long jump where, despite losing her title, Elise Lovell became the first Sussex woman to jump further than six metres.
Lovell, who had just missed a place in the final of the 100 metre hurdles when finishing third in her heat in 14.05s, leapt 6.02m to break Leanne Buxton’s nine year old record of 5.96m, a record Lovell had equalled a couple of weeks back. This effort earnt the Sussex girl a bronze medal while fellow Sussex jumper Beth Garland, who is still in the U20 age group, leapt 5.52m to place 14th.
Livvy Connor, another U20 athlete, made certain Sussex came home with a complete set of medals by clearing 3.80m to take silver in the pole vault while Louisa James just missed a medal in the hammer throw placing fourth with 58.03m.
Fourth was the highest placing by a Sussex man and this again by an U20 performer, Finley Bigg, the reigning English Schools 800 metre champion. Bigg eased into the final by placing third in this heat in 1:52.70 and in a slowish run final he was less than a second behind Liverpool’s Max Wharton after a mad dash for the line in 1:52.80s.
There was a fifth place in the shot putt for Samuel Heaward with 14.20m and sixth place for Holly Turner in the 400m in 58.24s after clocking 56.58s for third place in her heat.
Joe Fuggle (U20) ran a cracking heat of the 400m hurdles in 53.13s to reach the final but he mistimed the final and came home in eighth place in 60.46s and yet another U 20 athlete, George Turner; Holly’s younger brother, was a little below his best in the wind clearing 4.15m for tenth place in the Pole Vault while at the other end of the age scale Sarah Hewitt who is now a W40 performer threw the discus 36.41m for 12th place in the discus throw.
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