Sussex athletes brought home five titles and seven additional podium places from the South of England Indoor age group Championships at Lee Valley.
The highlight of the gold medal winning performances was Lewes AC’s under 15 pole vaulter Emilie Oakden, who soared to a 10 centimetres personal best of 3.21m, breaking the Championship record in the process. Her club mate Amelia Hatchard took silver with a 2.80m vault. Both girls are trained by Rick Pilling as are Natasha Clarke who took the top spot in the under 17 women’s event with a PB of 3 metres and Crawley’s James Pratt who won under 15 bronze with his 2.90m vault.
Horsham Blue Star’s Cleo Tomlinson Long jumped an indoor best of 5.36m for gold in her first year as an under 17. Hers was a closely fought competition as the silver medallist leapt the same distance but Tomlinson won on count back. Likewise Brighton and Hove’s Kelsey Sutherland improved her PB to 5.24m - the same distance as the bronze medallist, but was pushed into fourth also on count back.
Crawley’s Millie Noyce was just out of the medals in the shot put last year. She returned on Sunday to take the silver with a throw of 12.94m, behind Cambridge Harrier Nana Gyedu, with whom Noyce battled throughout 2018. Her clubmate Michelle Okorie also made a strong start to the season with a PB of 11.78m in the under 15 Shot Put. This earned her a silver medal, four places ahead of her younger sister Muna, who had also achieved her longest ever throw in the competition of 9.44m.
Eastbourne's Matt Grindrod ran a swift 2:01.87 to hold off Lewes's Aaron Duncan (2:03:46) for the bronze medal in the under 17 Men's 800m. Meanwhile Brighton Phoenix’s Millie Dickinson won her 800m heat in 2:21.85 to progress to the under 17 final where she was fifth.
On Saturday several Sussex athletes had just missed out on podium places but were able to console themselves with excellent performances during the rounds. Crawley AC’s under 15’s Jabar Busari (9.43 seconds) and Noa Maoundas (9.45s) were both fourth in the boys and girls 60m Hurdles finals respectively. In the under 17 Men’s Hurdles race Horsham’s Seb Wallace followed suit with a time of 8.63s after an 8.55s clocking to win his heat.
This year included the inaugural Under 13 Indoor Championships and three Crawley athletes rose to the occasion. Anna Fox won the 800m by the width of her vest in a time of 2:32.02. Ali Moghul made the most of the opportunity to shine, with a gold medal winning high jump of 1.34m followed by a shot put effort of 7.32m for bronze. Carys Leyshon took bronze in the Long Jump competition with a leap of 4.16m, just two centimetres off her PB.
It was a great couple of days indoors for Sussex and there is more to come with several of the county’s athletes defending titles at the under 20 and Senior South of England Championships at Lee Valley next weekend.
If you have any queries or want more information regarding this post, please Email Melanie Anning