Highlights of the first day of the Sussex Indoor Championships, held at the David Weir Centre at Sutton, were five Championship bests including two by Seb Wallace of Horsham. Two were by high jumpers, one each in the hurdles and long jump, and finally a pole vault clearance in the last event of the day.
First to enter the record books, actually to equal an existing mark which has survived for 10 years and to better his lifetime best, was Harry Reinecker-Found (Brighton & Hove) jumping 2.00m in the Under 17 High Jump. Earlier, also in the High Jump, this time for Under 20 men, Harry Baker (Horsham Blue Star) set a new personal best by 1cm, improving the Championship record by a huge 11cm to 2.06m.
The Pole Vault record also came in the under 20 age group, where Jack Harris recorded a lifetime best of 4.30m to equal the Championship record set last year by Crawley’s George Turner. Finally, the record which has stood for 12 years in the Under 15 boys 60m Hurdles at 9.31 was shattered with, for him, a mediocre performance of 9.22 by Seb Wallace who earlier in the day had bettered the ten year old long jump mark by a huge 49cm with a last round leap of 6.02m.
There were plenty of other good performances on this first of two days of the Championships, held as usual jointly with Surrey. This year the fields include almost 50 more athletes than last year and certainly the largest number in the past 5 years.
Best supported of today's events was the under 15 Girl's 60m, requiring five heats and semi finals to get to the final, where Brighton's Ruby Anning successfully defended her title winning in 8.09secs. Tomorrow (Sunday) it is the turn of the older athletes on the 60m straight and field events include the shot, triple jump, and women’s high jump and pole vault contests. Action resumes at 09.30.
If you have any queries or want more information regarding this post, please Email Reg Hook.