Blustery weather conditions impacted on the results of Sussex clubs competing across the South of England, both aiding and thwarting young athletes personal best hopes.
With a depleted team Worthing & District Harriers travelled to Bournemouth for the third of the season’s YDL Lower Age Group u13/u15 matches. Bournemouth made the most of home advantage and effortlessly cruised to a victory over closest rival Walton - 639.5 points to 483. They retain their position at the top of the West 2 league table. WDH brought up the rear with 330 points. Their star performer was u15 Freya Brennand who threw the Hammer out to a personal best of 45.27m.
For the West 1 fixture, Chichester and Horsham ventured to Poole. The host club Team Dorset dominated with a winning margin 199 points ahead of Winchester AC - with 604 to 405. Horsham battled with Guildford and Godalming for third place, with the Surrey team just prevailing with 383.5 to HBS’s 374. Chichester were sixth with 256 and are now in danger of relegation as they lie at the bottom of the table.
A highlight of this match was Horsham u15's Seb Wallace 11.4s clocking in the 80m Hurdles.
Hastings and East Grinstead travelled to Essex where home advantage again helped the hosts. Woodford Green with Essex Ladies won comfortably with 602.5 points to Orion Harriers 534. There was a close fought battle between East Grinstead and the composite team of Paddock Wood/Folkestone RC for third place with the latter on 489.5 beating EGR by just 5.5 points. Hastings were sixth with 275.5 points ahead of last placers Medway Park Phoenix.
In the Premier 2 division Crawley were away at Portsmouth where the familiar pattern of home wins continued. Crawley were second with 488.5 to the winners 509, but they had to fight all the way for this position as Croydon Harriers and Herne Hill Harriers finished only 6.5 points behind them, tying on 482. Despite placing second Crawley have a 30 point overall lead at the top of the table, with all to play for in their final fixture next month. If they remain top two, Crawley will be promoted to Premier 1.
Dillan Tierney pole vaulted to a new PB of 3.30m and Daniel Tewogbade sliced half a second off his 200m time with a speedy run of 23.4s.
Brighton & Hove AC and Lewes AC travelled to Gillingham for their East 1 match and Brighton ended the day securing their position at the top of the division after a hat trick of wins. Their victory was not as dominant as in previous matches with 575 to Basildon’s 535 however, just like last year if they win the July fixture they win the league and will go into a paper match against Central 1 and West 1 to see if they can secure promotion to Premier 2. Lewes came in sixth and are now in the bottom two, as they are fifth overall. However, if they can beat fourth-placed Bexley in the final match they may avoid relegation to East 2.
Brighton’s Ruby Anning ran a swift 25.64s 200m with a helpful 2.1 wind and her clubmate Katie Ridley achieved two personal bests with 11.77s over the 75m Hurdles and 5.12m in the Long Jump. There was also an impressive javelin performance from under 13 Dulcie Yelling who launched her spear out to 33.05m to win the ‘A’ string and move to number two in the UK u13 rankings.
by Melanie Anning
If you have any queries or want more information regarding this post, please Email Melanie Anning