A tremendous weekend at the British Championships and Olympic Trials at Birmingham saw three wonderful titles for Sussex athletes.
To add to Rob Mullett’s steeplechase crown from Saturday Seb Rodger from Eastbourne ran the race of his life in difficult conditions to win the 400 metre hurdles crown with an inspired sub fifty second run of 49.45s but unfortunately just outside the standard that would take him to Rio.
This was a fighting run battling as much with the wind as the opposition but he has till July 11th to get that standard.
This run came just a few minutes after Brighton & Hove’s Bethany Close set another Sussex 400 metres hurdles record to take third place in 57.70s which carved another second off her own record. A remarkable performance in difficult conditions. Just a couple of months back she was refused a place in the 400m hurdles at the BUCS championships because she was not listed on the British Ranking List. She had to settle for a run out in the short hurdles where she grabbed a silver medal. In the last few weeks Close has now carved nearly three seconds off the record that had stood for more than forty years.
Come the 1500 metres later in the afternoon Charlie Grice (Brighton Phoenix) and Lee Emanuel from Hastings who both have fast finishes were not that concerned about the sedentary early pace.
It meant it was mad rush for the medals over the final 200 metres and it was Grice who proved the hungriest as he retained his title in 3:43.41s having survived a skirmish on the final bend that saw Tom Lancashire, one of the favourites, crash to the ground.
Although it was well outside the Olympic standard Grice had got that from last season and he is almost certain to be included in the first tranche of selections.
Emanuel was squeezed into fifth place in 3:45.90s.
In the women’s 3,000m steeplechase Nicole Taylor from Crowborough placed seventh in 10:34.49s.
In her heat of the 200 metres Kimberly Baptiste (Crawley) just missed a place in the final as she finished second in a personal best time of 24.23s while Matt Hewitt (Brighton & Hove) clocked 14.95s when placing seventh in his heat of the 110m hurdles.,
On top of the Sussex successes Jade Lally from Broadbridge Heath, who throws for Surrey retained her discus crown with 59.15m and is likely to find her way on the way to Rio.
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