Eastbourne Rovers sprinters were out in full force for the Sussex Championships held in Crawley.
Senior Bryn Smith set a high standard taking double gold in the 100m and 200m. his dynamic starts saw him hold the lead and cross the finishing line with fantastic times of 10.91 and 21.5.
Oscar Mizen ran head to head with club mate Nathan Burge in the 400m. Oscar pulled through in the home straight to take the gold in a personal bast of 50.9 which is a qualifying standard for the English Schools competition. The following day he then tackled the 400m hurdles and took only 10 seconds longer to complete the lap with 10 barriers to gain a silver medal. Nathan was not going to be out done as he followed his silver in the 400m (51.2- also an English Schools qualifying standard ) with another silver in the 100m (11.3 PB ) and a bronze in the 200m with another personal best to finish his busy weekend in 22.9 against some competitors a year older.
U15 Kristi Prifti surged ahead to take gold in the 100m (13.3) and after running a strong bend hung on for the bronze in the 200m (27.4)
Caitlyn Spencer could not match her superb personal bests ran earlier in the month but she certainly put on a fight for her sprints – taking gold in the 200m in 25.76 The 100m was a battle to the line with Caitlyn getting the same time as the winner but had to settle for the silver medal.
U15 Jesse Ogonedum left his fellow competitors at the start line in the 100m as he soared down the home straight for a fantastic personal best of 11.7 and another gold for Eastbourne. In the same race Daniel Suarez Biberle was unlucky to just miss out on the medals with his 4th place in 12.2 secs.
Seniors Shania Martlew, Sophie Hutchinson and Flick Webster all lined up for the 400m. Shania is usually seen in the shorter sprints but she proved what a good allrounder she is by taking the gold. Sophie held onto the pace as long as she could and clinched the silver. Flick came 4th and showed she is in form ready for the Masters season. Aoife Cherrill achieved personal bests in her sprints with 13.7 (5th )and 27.5 in the 200m, while Lily Clements is finding her old form reaching the final in both her sprints with 100m(13.70) and 200m (28.1)
Honest Chinengundu ( U20) was lucky to have two straight finals so he was fresh to pull through to personal bests in both the 100m and 200m in 11.5 and 22.6secs and bronze
and silver medals. Senior Dylan Brudenell is finding his form again in the 400m coming second in his heat to see him into the final when he took bronze with 52.34secs.
Edwin Thomas, Aaron Goldsmith, Will Holloway, Amelie Paviour and Rosalie McMahon gained valuable experience at competing at this level for the first time.
Both days finished in fine form with the relays when Eastbourne’s slick changeovers made their teams standout above the rest.
First up was the U15 boys of Jesse, Aaron, Fletcher Howcroft and Daniel. They took the lead from the start finishing well ahead of the next team and were thrilled with their gold medals in 48.31.
The U20/Sen men also showed how they had practiced with a fast start from Edwin giving to Dylan down the back straight Honest on the bend to Bryn bringing the baton home. Clear winners in 43.23.
It was then the turn of the U15 girls to try and match this. Amelie, Blythe Bray, Ayana Reid and Kristi made no mistakes and keeping their concentration, so Kristi sailed down the home straight to take more gold medals. Twelve more golds for the Rovers from the relays !
The U20/Sen women kept their cool with Aoife, Shania and Sophie keeping in touch with the others so Caitlyn battled the last leg to clinch the silver medals.
Meanwhile on the field Josie Usher was in action in the U17 high jump. She showed great technique to clear 1m50 for her silver medal and that was after competing in the 100m and 200m! Senior Cara Webb came 6th in the long jump with a leap of 4m66- a good opener for the season.
Martha Simmons was hoping to reach over the 10m mark in the u17 girls shot put but her 9m 85 was still enough to secure the gold medal.
Sonny Crisp has moved up an age group but held is own coming second in the shot put with 10m79 and gained a new PB in the discus hurling 29m94.
Alicia McCutchan just missed out on the medals coming 4th in the hammer with a new personal best of 24m07.