Eastbourne Rovers joined with Lewes, East Grinstead and Worthing to form ‘Team Sussex’ for the Youth Development League held in Lewes. They put their stamp on the start of the season by smashing the opposition to win with 601 points to Guildford and Godalming in second with 452 points.
Adam Churchyard started the day with a fantastic personal best in the discus, gradually improving during the rounds to finish with 36m99. He followed this with a 3rd spot in the shot putt with 9m34.
Also strong on the field was Josie Usher who leapt to 1m50 just shy of her best to take 1st place . she then went on to win her 100m in 13.9secs and 3rd in the 200m in 28.8 secs.
Katy Brown competed for the first time in this league hurling the javelin 20m91 for a personal best and 2nd place in the ‘B’ string.
On the track Ilya Korchev continues to dominate the 1500m leading from the front to clock 4m14.40. close behind was Ben Brown to win the ‘B’ string in 4m31.3. Freda Pearce ran in the U17 1500m for another clear win in 4m59.2secs.
In the 800m races Eleanor Strevens set a high standard with her win in the U20 girls with 2m10.8. In the U17 age group Raya Petrova won the ‘B’ string in 2m23.1. Fintan Pearce was pleased with his 2nd place in 2m07.7.
In the short sprints athletes had to work hard for the top places. Honest Chigengudu got a slow start and although he closed the gap he had to settle fo 4th place in 12.5 secs. Training partner Ethan Howcroft fought for 2nd in the ‘B’ string despite clocking 12.4secs. They both came 2nd in their 200m races with 24.5 and 25 secs respectively.
Oscar Mizen surged round the first bend of the 400m and soon left the others to record a new personal best of 54.1 sec. Sophie Hutchison was close to her personal best with 66.7 for second place in theU20 ‘B’ string 400m race.
Caitlyn Spencer again had close finishes in her U20 sprints but was pulled through to some good early season times of 100 (13.3) and 200(27.2) for her second spots. Zoe Wright came second in the ‘B’ string with 28.2secs. Aife Cherrill back from injury came 3rd in the U17 with 30.2 secs. Jemima Scott ran in the non- scoring U17 race clocking 32.5 in 2nd place. She then hurled the shot over 6m to gain more valuable points.
As usual the climax of the day were the relays. The girls 4x100m team of Raya, Aoife, Jemima and Josie clinched 4th place in 57.1. However the boys race was very close. Adam led off to Oscar down the back straight with Team Sussex in second place just before the last change, when Ethan gave a quick change to Honest who fought for the line all the way finishing in 1st with a brilliant time of 47.1.
