Young Chichester athletes enjoy sportshall success

Despite having only three athletes available in the under-15 boys’ group, Chichester scored virtually maximum points from every event they contested, highlighted by a hat-trick of wins from Reuben Shewan with a speedy two lap win followed by a 2.60m standing long jump and a new club record of 7.82m standing triple jump.

Max Gayle and Ivo Edgar nearly notched up a 1-2 in the four-lap while Gayle’s speed bounce of 77 was much too good for the other clubs, as was Edgar’s B string long jump.

For the girls Kitty and Tilly Goodband combined well on both the stahding long jump and vertical jump while Hazel Peters picked up useful points in both track and field, while Isla Pearson showed great speed with a narrow runners-up spot in the four-lap as well as winning the B string speed bounce.

There was a strong showing from the under-13 squad of 14 athletes with a double win from Levi Pearce and Noah Smart in the six-lap matched by a good winning standing triple jump from Isaac Pagewith a 6.68m best effort.

Sprinters Osian Landstrom and Reuben Hughes gave a good account of them selves in the two-lap race while Seb Berger and Finlay Hill scored useful points in a very competitive four-lap event.

The whole squad came away with a number of second places in the field events and capped off a fine afternoon with a couple of runners-up spots in the paarlauf and 4x2 lap relay, thanks to a series of slick changeovers and gaining double points in the process.

The seven under-13 girls on duty also made an important contribution to the overall team total highlighted by a double A and B string win by Sofia Snelling and Maya Stair in the speed bounce.

On the track Snelling was joined by Matilda Hammond in the two-lap spsrint whwile Mila Dobson and Olivia Pearson tackled the four-lap leaving Stair to team up with Rebekah Jolly in the longer six-lap. Again it was the willingness of the track runners , aided by Sophie Platt in the vertical jump to notch up crucial points in the three jumps.

A string wins were hard to come by in the under-11 girls’ events but a succession of 2nd, 3rd and 4th places kept the Chichester scoreboard ticking nicely.

Poppy Tilling and Xanthe Austen notched up a couple of 4th places in the two-lap while Leah Stopps repeated the result in the A string four-lap leaving B string runner, Imogen Younghusband to win the B string in virtually the same time.

Connie James, Sylvie Pring and Ella Ford were joined by Stopps, Austen and Tilling in the jumps and speed bounce and the squad finished the day off with a creditable 3rd place in the relay and a fine runners-up spot in the paarlauf.

While the under-11 boys had the minimum of just four athletes on duty, they produced some very promising results for the future.

Oscar Squires and Fraser Boden were both competitive in the two-lap sprint while Ethan Cowell had a fine race for an A string win in the four-lap, ably backed up by Eddie Richards.

As with the other age groups, the quartet scored extra points in standing long jump, vertical jump and speed bounce and saved their best till last with resounding wins in both the 6 lap paarlauf and 4x1 lap relay to cap an excellent afternoon for the club.

Match result: 1 Crawley 659; 2 Brighton & Hove 654; 3 Chichester 543; 4 Worthing 346; 5 Horsham 280; 6 Haywards Heath 85; 7 Brighton Phoenix 82; 8 Lewes 35.

The second fixture in the season takes place on Sunday 8th December again at the Worthing Leisure Centre where Chichester will be not only aiming to cement their 3rd team place but edge closer to the Sussex “Big 2” of Crawley and Brighton in the process.