Eastbourne Rovers AC Under 15 team pulled out their most outstanding performance to date in winning the third match of the Sussex Athletics League at Withdean Stadium, Brighton last Friday. Having finished 3rd in the first match and an excellent 2nd in the second match, the ever-improving team battled against strong winds and torrential rain to achieve this incredible result. Their resilience and determination paid off as they won by 60 points with 356, ahead of Brighton (296) and Crawley (259). Many in the team have been competing together since U13 level and they were overjoyed to win a league match for the first time.
The win was due to a mixture of a large number of first three placings (in 36 out of the 52 A and B string events) and athletes being willing to compete in their non-specialist events in order to gain points. A big factor this season has been an increasing number of middle distance athletes willing to learn new throwing events and special mention should go to three athletes taking up the tricky technical event of Hammer, helped by coach Liz Brandon: Teddy Jones, Katy Brown and Hannah Jones.
Oscar Mizen provided the first win of the evening, continuing his dominance in the 300m (38.5s). Daisy Connor won two very hard fought races (A 300m 44.0s, A 800m 2 min 23.8s) and Freda Pearce was delighted to outsprint her Crawley rival to win the 1500m (4 mins 58.7s). The High Jump was badly affected by the rain and wind but Josie Usher persevered to win (1.30m). Martha Simmons and Jemima Scott threw extremely well to win both the A and B Shot (8.00m and 7.71m respectively), and the boys’ 4x100m relay team continued their winning streak (50.0s).
Some of the outstanding top three placings were achieved by Nathan Burge, 2nd in both the A 100m (11.6s) and 200m (24.7s); Stanley Atkins in his first race in this league (2nd in the B 300m in 44.0s); Tom Petherick, 2nd in the A 1500m, nearly beating his PB despite the conditions (4:46.6); and Teddy Jones, 2nd in the Hammer competing for the first time in that event (18.12m);
High scoring top three placing were also gained by Ethan Howcroft, Fisher Winslet, Ben Wright , Grace Culshaw, Raya Petrova, Evie Lennard, Pearl Winslet, Katy Brown, Hannah Jones and the girls’ 4 x 100m relay team. Milla Winslet, Chae Wai, Grace Allit and Fin Lumber-Fry completed the team and contributed to the overall success.
Team manager Jenny Brown commented, ‘This is an exceptional team performance, with every single athlete putting in 100%. Parents have been super supportive too which makes a huge difference and the coaching team at ERAC are extremely proud.’
The final league match takes place on Friday 1st September and the team will be looking to see if they can repeat this winning performance.
