Temperatures soared for the Sussex Schools Track & Field Championships held at the K2, Crawley on Saturday 11th June.
Athletes previously had to qualify to represent their district by competing for their schools at a local level. Teams competing included South Downs, West Sussex South, Crawley, Hastings & Rother, Mid Sussex, Brighton Hove & Portslade, Ouse Valley and West Sussex West.
Many Eastbourne Rovers athletes participated, and the scorching heat didn’t deter the impressive performances rolling in across all track and field disciplines. Eastbourne coaches Sue Keen, Jenny Brown, Dan Sheppard, Chris Voice, Liz Brandon, Pete Standen and Mike Thompson were all impressed with the achievements from their athletes at such a high level, especially when many have another year in their age categories.
Superb under 15 results included Josie Usher who is putting the high jump bar higher at every outing. She cleared a new personal best of 1m50cms to claim the gold medal.
Under 17 Caitlyn Spencer continued her impressive form this season running a superb bend in the 200m and held on for the gold in 26.7secs. In the same race Aoife Cherrill had an excellent run surging into the bronze medal position on the line with a personal best of 27.6secs.
Nathan Burge showed his explosive speed yet again in the 100m, the race went to a photo finish, and he was awarded the gold in a personal best of 12.1secs. Oscar Mizen was running blind in the outside lane of his 300m. He paced it to perfection crossing the line in a personal best time of 38.33 taking the gold. Ethan Howcroft won his 200m heat comfortably in a personal best of 25.3 and narrowly missed out on a podium place with a strong 4th place finish. In the girls 200m Ella Helm Yr8 came 6th with 28.8s. Mike Thompson’s athlete Grace Culshaw did amazingly well in what was just her 2nd competitive race placing 5th in the junior girls 100m in 14.09secs.
Daisy Connor had a storming 800m junior girls race in the blistering heat. She held her own after the pushing and shoving at the start and soon headed to the front of the pack. Her pace could not be matched as she took the gold convincingly in a personal best of 2mins19secs.
Ben Wright had a super run placing 4th in the junior boys 1500m race. He showed guts and determination heading to the front and stretching the field early on claiming his personal best of 4mins 39secs.
Freda Pearce took a well-deserved bronze in the junior girls 1500m in 5mins01secs. Evie Lennard was in the same race and placed well in 5th in 5mins 9sec. Ilya Korchev is having an incredible track season so far and took the bronze in a very competitive intermediate boys 1500m in 4mins08secs.
Adam Churchyard showed that stepping up an age group and throwing a heavier discus is no barrier. He added a few centimetres to his personal best to measure 29.87m taking the gold medal.
Eleanor Strevens had 2 tough races where she held her pace to take the gold the senior girls 800m (2mins 13secs) which gave her a qualifying time for English Schools. She then clinched the silver medal in the 1500m steeplechase (5mins 13secs).
In the senior boys age group, James Jewell ran a well-paced 800m to take the gold in 2:01.04 secs and James Stephen took bronze in the 3000m in 9mins 35.8secs, with Ben Brown close behind in 4th in 9 mins 39.8secs.
Sophie Hutchison also ran well in the senior girls 400m placing 4th as did Zoe Wright in the Intermediate girls 200m.
Other Rovers results: Under 15s: Katy Brown 7th in the junior girls javelin with 19.14m, Fin Lumber – Fry 7th in the 1500m in 4mins41secs, Jonah Messer 8thin the 800m in 2mins 22secs, Fisher Winslet 12th in the javelin with 17.46m, Milla and Pearl Winslet 5th and 6th in the 75m hurdles (14.9secs and 15.6secs). Under 17s: Fintan Pearce was 7th the 800m in 2 mins 12secs.
Those placing in the top two in the U15 and U17 age groups go forward to represent Sussex in the South East Inter counties event in Basingstoke on Saturday, while next up for many of the athletes is the under 15 Sussex Track and Field Meeting to be held at Withdean on Friday 16th June.
Ben Wright – 4th 1500m JB
Ilya Korchev – Bronze – 1500m IB
Daisy Connor – Gold – 800m JG
Oscar Mizen – Gold – 300m JB