An unhappy weekend for the Sussex Schools Combined eventers at Exeter meant that the Sussex athletes did not produce their normally fine results in the final of the English Schools Combined Events Championships at Exeter.
There was however a fine bronze medal in the Intermediate (U17) 5km walking championship which was held in conjunction.
Here Oliver Hopkins from Chailey continued to show improved form and again achieved a personal best to finish in third place in 27:28.65s.
There was also a good result in the Junior boys (U15) pentathlon when Alex Clayton (Brighton College) competing in only his second ever pentathlon added more than one hundred points to his previous best score.
Clocking 11.8s for the hurdles, putting the shot 12.85m, long jumping 5.48m, high jumping 1.49m and then clocking 2:17.65m for the 800m Clayton totalled 2688 points to finish tenth.
With a little bit of technique training and maybe some indoor competition Clayton could well emerge as a fine prospect when he moves up to the U17 age group next season.
In this same event the talented youngster Adam Lindo (Downlands) had to withdraw from the final two disciplines through injury so did not complete the event.
There were high hopes that Matt Smith (BHASVIC), who had finished second in the Area Championships, would get a high placing in the Senior (U19) Decathlon but three no throws in the Discus, probably his strongest event, ruined any chance of a respectable placing for him.
At the time he was lying tenth in the competition and expecting to move up several places. Although he completed the pole vault and javelin throw with 3.30m and 38.48m he had had the stuffing knocked out of him and he did not complete the final event, the 1500m finishing 14th overall with 4,514 points, a thousand down on his total back in June.
Hove Prom 10k
Neil Boniface from Horsham Joggers kept up his fine form of late with a convincing victory in the Arena 80’s 9th annual “Hove Prom” 10k road race on Sunday.
Following his recent victory in the Sussex 3,000m track championship, a few weeks back, Boniface who took control on the Prom right from the start on Sunday morning proved a convincing winner in 31:41. He finished well clear of Brighton & Hove’s Max Dumbrell who clocked 32:14 who, in turn, got the better of club mate Kevin Rojas who was timed at 32:27 in third place.
Arena veteran Caroline Hoyte was the first woman to complete the course placing 17th in 36:47s.
Chloe Sharp (Dartford) was the second woman home in 37:49s with another Arena athlete Emily Proto third in 39:35s.
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