Chichester under-16s and under-14s finish track and field campaign with a flourish

After all 18 members of the squad had played their part over five hours of competition, Chichester had a mere four-point gap over Crawley with just the two 4x300m relays to finish off the day’s action.

For the boys, Chichester were able to field the same quartet who performed so heroically in the National Relay championships in August.

With Reuben Shewan handing over in the lead after the opening leg, Joe Stewart and Max Gayle kept the momentum going to give anchor leg Ivo Edgar a crucial five-metre advantage going into the final leg.

Both Brighton and Eastbourne closed the gap along the back straight but Edgar had left enough reserves to bring Chichester home in 2min 35sec to win by a clear three secconds and crucially relegate rivals Crawley into 4th.

The girls needed to keep Crawley within range to ensure the club’s second place in the match. Maya Stair and Rebekah Jolly, who had already run the 1500m, ere in a quartet made up by throwers Anna Wyatt and Megan Gonzalez to make sure Chichester scored the vital points needed.

The result was a fifth place with Crawley in second so the vital points were secured with Chichester defeating arch rivals Crawley by exactly four points, a fine example of team spirit making the difference.

The nine-strong boys’ squad had 17 second or third places out of the 22 events contested. Reuben Shewan led the way with runners-up places in both hurdles and long jump with thrower Frank James supporting well in the B string hurdles as well as scoring well in hammer and javelin.

Freddie Gay was another to turn his hand to track and field events in 1500m and hammer. With Ivo Edgar spearheading the sprints and running a speedy 300m behind Brighton’s top runner, it was a fine all-round showing from the club’s middle disrance runners who filled in gaps in the team to make sure that the points continued flowing.

Max Gayle and Albie Dormer made a good combination over 800m while Joe Stewart, Alexander Hazleden and Jacques Dormer tackled the 1500m.

The three individual A string winners all came in the girls’ event with Isla Pearson scoing a fine double in the 200 and 300m. Winning the 300m by over a second in 42.8 seconds, things were much closer in the 200m with Pearson’s time of 26.06 good enough to get the better of arch rivals Ella Clark from Cawley and Brighton’s Seren Rowe.

The other A string winner was Mila Dobson with an impressive hurdles win coupled with a good long jump.

The throws pairing of Anna Wyatt and Megan Gonzalez scored well in shot put and hammer in which nationally ranked Wyatt had to settle for 3rd place against the UK No1 from Worthing and top-five thrower from Crawley, making the event one of the most fiercly contested in the UK.

Grace Young and Olivia Young formed a good high jump pairing as well as scoring useful points in 100m and long jump while the middle distance trio of Hannah Hand, Maya Stair and Rebekah Jolly all paid a vital part in the overall team performance.

Match score (top 5): 1 Brighton & Hove 569; 2 Chichester 445; 3 Crawley 441; 4 Eastbourne 234; 5 Horsham 167.

…

With the under-14 age group having replaced under-13s, Chichester Runners’ squad kept up their fine tradition of never having finished outside the top five in Sussex when they took part in this year’s county track and field final at the K2 Stadium in Crawley.

After a close competition involving 24 events for both boys and girls, Chichester’s squad of 25 athletes finished in a fine third place behind Brighton & Hove and Crawley – over 50 points in front of fourth-placed Horsham.

For the boys, there was a good sprinting quartet of Harry Buchanan and Ethan Cowell in the 100m while Gil Copland and Daniel Sherwell tackled the 200m.

Cowell partnered Alfie Luxford in the 800m where the standard was of the highest quality with the Brighton winner crossing the line in a very quick 2.06.

The 1500m pairing of Maddox Matthews and Harrison Sopp had a battle on theor hands while multi eventer Isaac Page combined with Jack Ford in the high jump for the club’s top scoring event of the day, as well as being ruuner-up in the shot put with a throw of over 10m.

Buchanan and Nate Jolly picked up useful points in the long jump while Finlay Hill led the discus and javelin, well backed up by Luxford and Copeland respectively.

For the girls, the pairing of Emmy Pemberton and Heather Hand scored the best points tally in the 1500m. In the 800m Poppy Alden and Connie Jones battled hard for Chichester with Alden going on to be Chichester’s first pole vaulter at this age group for the girls and clearing a height of 2.50m.

Sophie Gray and Sienna Borgatti did well in the 100m while Gracie Huxtable and Xanthe Austin ran well over 200m. With Matilda Hammond in action in the hurdles and high jump, the squad was completed by a quartet who picked up very valuable points in three throwing events.

Florence Abery and Olivia Pearson combined well in the discus while Abery was joined by Faith Sorrell in the shot. Making sure that every event was contested, Ella Ford joined Pearson in the javelin.

It just remained for the relay teams to show their mettle at the end of the match. With both boys and girls fielding competitive A and B teams, all four quartets finished in the top five out of the 12 clubs to cap a fine day for the whole Chichester squad.

Match score (top 5): 1 Brighton & Hove 509; 2 Crawley 441; 3 Chichester 357; 4 Horsham 305; 5 Eastbourne 221.