The most outstanding was probably Amber Anning (Brighton & Hove) who in her first ever triple jump competition won the U15 girls' title with a fine championship best performance leap of 11.25m. This jump takes Anning to the number one spot in the UK and 6th on the all time list in that age group. It is also the second best jump by any Sussex woman this year with only Worthing’s Emma Perkins leaping further with 11.39m. Tamsin Campbell (Crawley) bettered her previous best when sailing over a wonderful 3.45m to win the U17 pole vault while also in the U17 age group Sophie Mansfield (Phoenix) romped away with the 800m title finishing two seconds clear in 2:13.88s. Crawley’s Surrey athlete Joe Massimo also struck gold in the U15 boys 200m by three seconds in 23.07s. There were numerous silver medallists with Finley Bigg (Phoenix) and Lucy Milnthorpe (Horsham) in the U17 age group taking second places in the 400m in 50.37s. and clearing 1.55m in the high jump but she did have to share second place with two other athletes.
In the U15 age group Hugo Hawes cleared 1.70m in the high jump while club mates Lillie Franks did likewise in the Girl’s event with 1.66m and George Crocker took silver in the 800m in 2:05.21s. Also in the U15 group Almi Nerurkar and Marina Reid-Martin (Phoenix) finished second in the 1,500m in 4:46.1s and a personal best of 5.43m in the long jump respectively. Surrey athletes Munroe Ritchie (Crawley) threw 59.55 for second place in U17 hammer throw and Connor Dearden (Horsham) cleared 3.10m in the U17 pole vault. There were also two silvers in the U13 age group for Crawley athletes with Lauren Lethbridge clearing 4.42m in the long jump and Adam Lindo 4.27m in the Boys long jump. There were also bronze medals for George Turner (Brighton & Hove) who cleared 3.80m in the U17 pole vault and Vicki Pellett (East Grinstead) threw 42.02m in the U15 hammer throw. The senior 5,000m track walk was held in conjunction and there was another gold medal for Sussex as Ian Richards (Steyning), who is now over 60, triumphing in 24:43.69s.
Three Sussex athletes returned proudly from the South of England U15/17 track and field championships at Crystal Palace at the weekend having won Gold medals.