More than 400 young athletes braved challenging conditions at the Sussex AA Under-14 Track & Field Championships and Under-12 Quadrathlon on Saturday.
As persistent rain and strong winds swept across the K2, Crawley, the youngsters produced some impressive performances and showed huge resilience.
The annual championship provides the county’s youngest rising stars the opportunity to shine with medals, personal bests and championship titles.
The under 12 Quadrathlon is made up of 4 events – 75m, 600m, howler and standing long lump – with athletes scoring points across all 4.
66 boys pre -entered and 57 girls and very few dropped out on the day. 
Brighton & Hove AC took most of the top spots with five of the six medal positions.
It was 1st, 2nd and 3rd for the club in the girls’ contest – Nelly Greenaway winning gold on 438 points closely followed by Victoria Ridley on 433 and Eleanor Poate on 411.
Michel Simitsis won the boy’s gold on 479 points followed by teammate Elias Yusuf in 2nd on 442. Hastings AC’s Dailian Junior Mottley was 3rd with 438 points.
One of the most exciting events of the day was the under 14 boys’ 100m where both David Peter-Nzeama (Crawley) and Herbie Bellfield (Lewes) looked strong in the heats.
David was victorious in the final clocking 12.08 to Herbie’s 12.33. He then went on to win the 200m (25.99) later on in the day.
Hastings’ Ivy Craig also did the sprint double – 13.26 in the 100m and 28.26 200m.
The current number 4 in the UK, Felix Steer (Phoenix), looked in fine shape to win the 800m in a time of 2.09.19 (outside his PB of 2.08.17).
Over on the field there were some excellent pole vault performances with Milly Pile (Lewes) equalling her PB of 2.90 to win, Lara Gray (Lewes) jumping 2.80 for 2nd in front of Brighton & Hove’s Naomi Newman in 3rd (2.70) . Milly is currently ranked number 1 in the UK with Naomi and Lara joint 2nd.
Javelin thrower Monty Rowland (Brighton & Hove) went into the event ranked number 1 in the UK. He threw 51.81 – a tad off his 52.06 PB – but still way ahead of the competition.
This is the first year this competition has included hammer as previously the event was run under the old England Athletics’ age groups.
In light of this, Worthing’s Llayda Ruso threw a very impressive 38.39 putting her 5th in the UK.
The event marked the 3rd Sussex AA Championship held in 4 weeks. All 3 could not have been staged without the dedication and time given by the county’s amazing officials and volunteers. A huge thank you to all of these.