Sussex athletes chalked up five titles in difficult conditions at the South of England championships at Lee Valley over the weekend with a series of fine performances.
On Saturday Louisa James from Hastings showed signs of a return to form in the senior hammer competition but just missed returning to 60 metre plus throwing with a winning effort of 59.73m while another senior victory came in the women’s 3000m steeplechase when Worthing’s Emma Macready clocked 10:29.33s, just three seconds away from her personal best.
In the under 20 age group George Turner (Crawley) soared over 4.30m to take the pole vault crown.
Sunday saw further success when Ollie Smith from Chichester, who has quietly been making steady progress over the past couple of season, receive his just rewards when he snatched the senior 400 metres title with a fine personal best of 47.78s and he is now on the verge of breaking into the Sussex All-time Top Ten.
Taking a leaf of club mate George Turner, Tamsin Campbell, led a Sussex domination of the U20 women’s pole vault winning the title with 3.50m. Natasha Purchas (Crawley), who had set a new championship best performance when winning the Sussex Schools U17 title on Saturday, cleared 3.30m for second place and Millie Hemsley (Lewes) took third place clearing 3.20m.
There were several more Sussex athletes winning medals over the two days.
Lillie Franks (Crawley) shared second place in the U20 high jump clearing 1.65m and Dan Stidder (Brighton Phoenix) took the bronze medal in the U20 1500m in 4:01.26s while Brighton & Hove hurdlers Gwilym Cooper and Cameron Fillery also collected bronzes, Cooper in the senior 400m hurdles, in 52.75s having clocked 51.70m in his heat, and Fillery in the U20 110m hurdles in 14.62s into a head wind.
Crawley’s Amy Barclay just missed a medal taking fourth place in the senior 100m hurdles while club mate Jonny Haines matched her placing with 48.90m in the U20 hammer throw.
In the senior 110m hurdles Brighton & Hove’s Matt Hewitt clocked 15.07 for sixth place and there was another sixth place in the U20 when Harry Baker (Horsham), who won the Sussex Schools U17 title on Saturday, matched that winning effort with 1.80m.