Two golds, two silvers and a bronze were the rewards for Sussex athletes at the England Athletics Age Group Indoor Championships at Sheffield at the weekend.
Amber Anning (Brighton & Hove) went into the nationals as a favourite over 300m, as the only under 17 woman to have run sub 40 seconds indoors this year and with an outdoor U17 title won last August when she was still an under 15. In her heat she ran 39.97 seconds to become the fastest qualifier for the evening final. Seeded in the outside lane six Anning was running blind, but after a contained start she moved up a gear with 100m to go, to win effortlessly in a time of 39.37, almost a second ahead of the second placed athlete Natasha Harrison from Stockport. The youngster returned to the England Institute of Sport the following day keen for a podium place in the Triple Jump. There she renewed her rivalry with Adelaide Omitowoju from Cambridge, the UK U17 rankings leader, who had had beaten Anning for gold at the Southerns in January. It was the same result with Omitowoju jumping a fine personal best of 11.86m for the title and Anning taking silver with 11.55m.
The second gold of the weekend went to Commonwealth Youth Games medallist, Toby Harries (Brighton Phoenix) who took the U20 Mens 200m title in a highly competitive final. The 60m champion, Southampton's Oliver Bromby, was out of the blocks quickest and Harries, with a sluggish start, was playing catch up. However with 50 metres to go he powered past Bromby to claim the title in 21.26 to 21.36. Meanwhile Toby's clubmate Spencer Thomas, in the same age group, ran a sound race to collect a silver medal in the 800m in 1:52.28. Finley Bigg (Phoenix) was fourth in the same race in a time of 1:55.48. The Under 15 Girls 800m was a straight final with only five athletes competing and Phoenix's Maia Hardman ran tactically to move into second place on the final lap and secure a silver medal in a personal best time of 2:18.94.
Meanwhile in the U17 men's pole vault Lewes athlete Bill Saunders shared bronze, clearing 3.65m. Brighton's Katie Garland's leap of 5.78m in the U20 Long Jump preceded a hamstring injury in the fifth round which saw her wheelchaired out of the arena. However her season's best secured Garland fourth place.
Crawley's Natasha Purchas cleared 3.35m in the U17W pole vault for fifth place and in a high calibre U20 pole vault competition George Turner (Crawley) vaulted 4.60m - a new best for equal sixth place. Crawley's Lauren Lethbridge leaped to a PB of 5.21m in the Long Jump for sixth place and her teammate Katie Bristowe made it to the semi finals of the U15 girls 60mH after running a personal best of 9.48s in her heat. Another Crawley athlete Beth Crocker soared to a season's best of 1.60m in the U20 Womens High Jump. In her first season as a U20W Chichester sprinter Sophie-Ann Haigh ran a personal best of 7.89secs in her 60m heat to qualify for the semi finals. Brighton's Moyo Oloko just missed out on a semi final place in the U17 Womens 60m but had the consolation of running 8.09 a new PB.
You can watch the medallists races on the following links:
Amber Anning U17W 300m final: http://www.runjumpthrow.com/videos/16522
Toby Harries U20M 200m final: http://www.runjumpthrow.com/videos/16674
Spencer Thomas U20 800m final: http://www.runjumpthrow.com/videos/16689
Maia Hardman U15 800m final: http://www.runjumpthrow.com/videos/16566
By Melanie Anning