Eastbourne Rovers sprinters were out in force at the Sussex Indoor Championships held at the David Weir Athletic Centre.
The track races were all over 60m plus field events of long jump and shot put.
The U15s got the weekend off to a great start when Daniel Suarez Biberle coasted into 1st place in his heat to then clinch gold in the final in a fast time of 7.67. It was then the turn of U15 girls. Kristi Prifti gradually pulled away into 1st place in her heat followed by Eastbourne’s Amelie Paviour in 5th. Kristi took the 2nd gold medal of the day clocking 8.3 secs. In the U15 long jump Max Smith gained valuable experience ready for the summer season with a leap of 4m13. Club mate Sonny Crisp won the Shot and was pleased with his personal best of 10m76. Three gold medals in the first day was a splendid result.
In the U17 60m events it was Nathan Burge and Shay Dixon on the start line. Nathan won his heat and Shay came second in his so they both lined up in the final. Nathan improved his time from 7.31 in the heat to 7.27 in the final for a brilliant new personal best and the gold medal. Shay also found more speed in the final improving his time from 7.65 to 7.53 for 5th place. Shay had a busy weekend also leaping a massive 5m49 in the long jump for a new personal best. Luck was not on his side as he held the bronze medal position throughout the competition until the last jump when he was edged out by centimetres ! In the U17 girls race Lily Clements was up against some tough opposition and after a very fast start had to settle for 5th place and so just missed getting into the next round.
Despite the starting blocks slipping at the start Honest Chinengundu pulled back to grab the bronze in the U20 60m, followed by Edwin Thomas making his debut in this event in 4th place. Caitlyn Spencer had a long wait for her race to start but it was worth the wait as she sailed into the gold medal position with an excellent time of 7.95secs.
The last event for Sussex was also worth waiting for as Senior Bryn Smith went into his blocks. His heat saw him dip under the magic 7 secs for this distance with 6.95. Then with the gold medal in sight he found the extra speed to improve to 6.93 to take first place and equal the Championship Best Performance. Bryn has held the 60m title for 3 years so well deserves to now equal this record which has stood for many years.