Sutcliffe Park indoor

It was the last opportunity for Eastbourne Rovers sprinters to sharpen up before the Sussex Indoor championships in March.

A small contingent travelled to Sutcliffe Park to line up in the 60m races. These are seeded so athletes run against others of a similar standard to produce some close races.

Shania Martlew cruised across the line in her first race to produce a personal best of 8.12 secs. This moved her up a category but despite a surge for the line in the second race she could not improve on previous time and had to settle for 8.17.

There was drama at the start of the male races. Nathan Burge at only 13 lined up against athletes in the older U17 age group. There was a clear false start from the athlete next to Nathan but no one was recalled – so it was a battle from the gun with Nathan coming 3rd in a personal best of 7.55. In his second race he could not quite match this with a 7.6.

Senior Bryn Smith found himself in the fastest race of the day . A faulty gun delayed the athletes getting away first time but once out of the blocks Bryn kept in the mix with a 7.06. He would have liked to dip under 7 seconds as in a previous race but after another faulty start in the second race this was not meant to be on this occasion.

Now race prepared the sprinters are ready to tackle the championships in March.