A strong blustery wind at Crawley dampened the record breaking, and most track times, at the 84th Sussex Schools Track and Field championships on Saturday.
The strong south westerly, which eddied around the finish area played havoc with not only the sprints and straight hurdles but also the pole vault and high jump which are situated at that end of the track.
Despite the conditions five Championship Best Performances were broken, three in the field events and two on the track..
Hammer throwers are not that disturbed by wind and it was Ben Hawkes (Sion School) who started the meeting off in grand style in Intermediate (U17) Hammer event and he really is having fine season. Although a little below his personal best Hawkes launched all his throws in excess of the National Schools Standards finishing with 68.86m which is still some five metres further than any other English thrower this season.
This bettered the CBP set by Jamie Lasis five year back by eight metres.
Taking second place, and again well over the National Standard was Marcus Jones (Crawley) who is currently fifth in the Country and were it not for Hawkes would be lauded as one of the top English throwers with a fine effort of 58.97m as indeed he is.
In the Junior (U15) boys hammer throw Joe Beal, another Sion thrower improved his pb with a winning throw of 38.94m but Beal is again a National quality athlete currently ranking 12th in the Country.
The girls hammer throwing is also of a high standard in the county and Alice Steer (Hazelwick) added nearly a couple of metres to her best when winning the Inter event with 49.22m while Vicki Pellett (Sackville) took the senior title with the heavier implement throwing 43.90m.
Another event where Sussex is particularly strong at the moment is the junior girl’s javelin throw where Sussex currently has three throwers in the top six ranking in the country.
Anouska Fairhurst from Lewes, who is only in her first year in this age group, retained her status as the number one in Sussex with a fine throw of 37.84m despite the wind to set a new CBP and she is ranked number two in the Country. Elizabeth Korczak (Brighton College) threw 35.99m while Peanut Meekings (Burgess Hill) was just a touch away in third place with 35.39m and these two are ranked fifth and sixth in the Country.
Hurdlers hate winds, particularly head winds, but Abigail Packham (Imberhorne) showed her class by breaking, fellow Crawley athlete Katie Bristowe’s, year old junior 75m hurdles record with a remarkable 11.19s. This is not only the fastest in the Country this year but is a new Sussex County Record.
The fourth CBP came in the junior boy’s long jump where Adam Lindo (Downlands) removed a mark that was set nearly 40 years ago and he broke this into a head wind.
Lindo is a talented all-rounder who won three titles at the County Championships last month and could have won three or four titles but at this Schools meeting athletes are restricted to just one event. Lindo added 5cms to the previous CBP leaping 6.12m, which is a tremendous pb into the wind.
The final CBP came in the Inter girls 3000m where all the races were merged and Almi Nerurkar (Brighton & Hove High) was able to take advantage of the boys to drag her along to chop an amazing forty seconds off the 1996 CBP of Emma Satterley with 9:44.1s.
Another who had to deal with difficult wind conditions was junior girl’s high jumper Isabelle Humphries (Christ's Hospital). She added several centimetres to her previous best when topping the Schools Entry Standard with a fine leap of 1.59m.
Although most of the top senior (U19) chose to compete in the Southern Championships at the Crystal Palace Rhys Turner from Mid-Sussex completed an impressive sprint double, the senior age group athletes are allowed to compete in two events, taking the 100m in 11.06s and the 200m in 21.88s into the wind and both runs were English school standards.
It was good to see Brighton College’s Toby Harries back in action again, albeit only in the heats of the 200m. Racing for the first time for more than eighteen months Harries tested his fitness with a fine clocking of 21.75s when winning his heat in 21.75s but then decided not to race in the final.
Overall a pretty good and well supported championship.
If you have any queries or want more information regarding this post, please Email Reg Hook.