Yet another hectic weekend for Sussex athletes with the South East School’s Combined Events championships at Lee Valley, the Upper Age group third round matches of the Youth Development League and overshadowing all the British Championships at Birmingham incorporating the Olympic and European Trials.
There are several Sussex athletes hoping for seat on the plane taking the British team to Rio for the Olympic Games in August or the European Championships in July.
At the moment however just one, steeplechaser Rob Mullett has achieved the qualifying standard for Rio this year.
Mullett from Lewes is nearly eight second inside the 3,000m steeplechase standard with 8:22.42s, which is the only standard achieved by a British athlete this season but he needs to retain the title on Sunday to make sure of the selectors attention.
In the 1500 metres Lee Emanuel from Hastings and reigning champion Charlie Grice (Brighton Phoenix) will be in the mix for medals but neither Emanuel nor Grice have achieved the standard of 3:36.20s.
Emanuel clocked 3:36.29 indoors earlier in the year and he is currently the second fastest Brit behind arch rival Chris O’Hare while Grice also has to tuck the qualifying standard under his belt this season. As reigning champion Grice will be the man to watch though his 3:37.70s is only be the fourth fastest British time at the moment.
The problems with Championships is that the whole idea is to win and this is not always conducive to running fast times. However if he manages to retain his title Grice does have a qualifying time from last season that can be considered.
This does not apply so much to the 400m hurdles where Eastbourne’s Seb Rodger goes into the event as the fourth fastest athlete this year with 49.89s and needs to crack 49.40s to be considered.
Surrey athlete, Jade Lally, who lives at Broadbridge Heath and is coached by Andrew Neal from Horsham, is the only British thrower to hold the standard for the discus throw although her throw of 65.10m was done back in February in Australia. Lally is currently the reigning champion.
Several other leading Sussex seniors will be in action at the weekend hoping to take advantage of the top competition to achieve a personal best or even reach the final.
Combined Events:
The South East Schools Combined Events championships are also being held this weekend and Sussex will be taking their smallest contingent for many years to Lee Valley with just one team in any of the six age groups.
Abigail Packham (Imberhorne), Calysta Morris (Lewes Old Grammar) and Eli Middleton (Durrington) compete in the Junior (U15) Pentathlon and Adam Lindo (Downlands) and Alex Clayton (Brighton College) are in the Junior boys Pentathlon while Katinka Morris (Willingdon) is in the Intermediate (U17) Heptathlon and Matt Smith (BHASVIC) contests the Senior (U19) Decathlon.
Youth Development League:
This has not been a highly successful season for Sussex Clubs in the Upper Age group of the Youth Development League with Crawley the only team comfortable with their current League position.
They are currently in third place in Premium Two and should take full advantage of a home match on Sunday.
In South/West 1A Brighton & Hove and Team Sussex travel to Woking and they are currently placed sixth and seventh respectively in their League.
Horsham Blue Star are lying seventh in North/West 1 and will compete at Eltham while Chichester will be at Bournemouth in South/West 2 where they are currently fifth.
If you have any queries or want more information regarding this post, please Email Reg Hook.