There were eight titles and several silver and bronze medals for Sussex athletes at the South of England U15/17 track and field championships at the Crystal Palace over the weekend with Worthing’s Ben Hawkes completing a hat trick in the U17 throwing events.
Hawkes has had a remarkable season with many wins to his name in League and County competitions, as well as the English Schools, and he has been unbeaten in his number one event, the Hammer throw.
As the season rushes to its end he still remains, nationally, no less than eight metres clear of his nearest British rival with a throw of 71.97m and he was not far short of that effort at the Palace when he won his event with 71.25m. He was also at the top of his game in both the Shot putt and Discus throw where he set personal bests with 15.66m and 50.74m respectively.
Bailey Wright from Eastbourne, Rafe Brooks (Brighton & Hove) and Natasha Purchas (Crawley) also tasted victory in the U17 age group with Wright clocking 10.97s, Brooks leaping a personal best of 6.43m to win the long jump and Purchas clearing 3.50m in the pole vault.
In the U15 age group Kelsey Sutherland from Worthing, who is an all-rounder snatched the girl’s Triple jump title from club-mate and silver medallist Eloise Longhurst with 10.57 to 10.49m and she also just missed the medals in the high jump where she cleared 1.50m for fourth place while Brighton & Hove’s Lizzie Korczak, who is having an excellent second half to her season won the javelin title with 39.40m with Horsham’s Peanut Meekings throwing 35.52m for the bronze medal.
There were further silver medals for William Snashall (Crawley) when he cleared 3.40m in the pole vault and fellow U15 Crawley athlete Millie Noyce put the shot 11.65m and she also finished fifth in the discus throw with 28.48m.
Ruby Jerges from Horsham collected a bronze medal in the U15 long jump with 5.12m while there were a trio of U17 bronzes with Louisa Saunders (Brighton Phoenix) rdunning a PB of 57.77s in the 400m, Leo Stallard (Chichester) clocking a PB of 4:42.29s in the 1500m steeplechase and Harry Reinecker-Found (Brighton & Hove) clearing 1.90m in the high jump.
There were also a load of near misses making this a pretty successful weekend for Sussex.
Crawley’s Katie Bristowe and Jessica Lambert finished fourth in the U17 high and 400m hurdles in 12.26s and 44.68s respectively while in the same age group Moyo Daramolo (Eastbourne) set a PB of 51.12s for fourth in the 400m and Sam Illsley (Worthing) threw the hammer 54.22m.
In the U15 age group fellow Worthing athletes Luke Ellard and Tom Ridley both earnt fourth places with a PB of 2:06.59s in the 800m and 1.70m in the high jump and Poppy Oliver (Crawley) clocked 11.62s in the 75m hurdles just ahead of club mate Abigail Packham, the English Schools bronze medallist who mistimed her run and clocked 11.94s.
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