Young Chichester athletes pull off famous league win at Kingston

Having finished third in their opening match at Winchester in May, they improved this to a runners-up spot in match two in Bournemouth in June.

They travelled to Kingston hoping their squad of 24 athletes would be able to at least close the gap on league leaders Bournemouth and New Forest combined.

It turned into a three-way tussle with Camberley and Dorking-based Holland Sports soon lagging behind the top three Bournemouth, Woking AC and Chichester.

With just the relays to go, Chichester were narrowly ahead but the strength of the other two clubs, especially in the sprints, meant that Chichester needed at least a third place from the final event, the boys 4x300m relay.

In the event, this was exactly what they managed – to give the club the narrowest of victory margins, a single point over previously unbeaten Bournemouth with Woking a further nine points behind after four hours of competition.

Match result:

1 Chichester 404 points

2 Bournemouth & New Forest 403

3 Woking AC 394

4 Holland Sports 161

5 Camberley & District 120

Under 15s

A major factor in the team’s improvement over the season has been the improvement of their under-15 squad and at Kingston it was the girls who really made their mark with nine athletes able to cover a broad range of events.

On the track it was a new combination of Eve Langford and Tilly Wyatt who scored good consistent points in both 100m and 200m while the middle distance quartet dominated the 800m and 1500m.

Ela Pemberton produced a fine finish to win the 800m in a good time of 2min 31.4sec with Millie Isitt giving the club a double first by winning the B string. Then Molly Smithers produced a battling display over 1500m with the lead changing hands before the Chichester athletes strode away to win in 5. 19.2, with Grace Haworth on this occasion ensuring maximum points by winning the B string.

Showing good versatility, Pemberton and Smithers joined forces in the 300ms with Pemberton also setting a personal best in the high jump while Isitt showed prowess in the long jump, as did Haworth in the javelin.

A crucial aspect of any team is to have strength in the field events and the combination of Jess Beach and Lucia McGurk took charge of the throws. They scored a double win in the shot put and nearly repeated the feat in the discus dropping a single point while McGurk supported Haworth well in the javelin.

Anna Stangroom had scored good points in the long jump and was on hand to ensure that both 4x100m and 4x300m relays could be well contested at the end of the match helping the rest of the team to gain third and second place respectively.

The under-15 boys’ team were below strength in numbers of this match but the five athletes on duty paid an important part.

Newcomer Theo Craske was speedy over 100 and 200m with Sam Cato backing up in the B string 200m as well as setting a new personal best over 300m with a time of 42.4 seconds.

Noah Collins did well over both 300 and 800m and Ben Ward showed he is becoming one of the club’s most versatile athletes with good performances in 1500m, hurdles and high jump.

The last member of the under-15 squad has only been in England for a few weeks and was making his first appearance for the club but the contribution of Ukranian Yehor Vysotskyi could not have been more crucial as he scored vital points in the 100m and long jump as well as anchoring the 4x300m relay quartet in the final event, holding off a fast finishing rival down the home straight to the loudest cheer of the day.

Under-13s

There were ten under-13s in action who produced a good all-round display. For the girls Tilly Goodband and Fern Langford formed a good partnership in the sprints with Goodband tackling the hurdles to good effect while Langford scored well in both high jump and long jump.

Kitty Goodband and Juliette Stangroom provided a good partnership over 800m with Rose Pemberton winning the 1200m and showing versatility by scoring good points in the javelin.

The boys’ events were highlighted by three outstanding performances. Ben Stewart reproduced his form of the previous match by winning both the 75m and 150m with quick times of 10.2 and 19.9 seconds respectively as well as having a narrow second place in the long jump.

Alfie Southgate produced a fine new personal best in the shot put with a winning throw of 8.82m which puts him just outside the top 50 in the UK rankings for his age group.

Harry Dunne backed up well to win the b string shot and was delighted to knock 10 seconds from his previous best to clock 2.31.9 over 800m with Harry Cruttenden in good support for the B string as well as winning the high jump and finishing runner-up in the hurdles.

Fifth member of the under-13 boys team deserves special mention – Max Gayle is still at primary school and has been competing mainly against boys in the year above. Gayle scored a clean sweep of his events by winning the B strings in 150 metres, hurdles and long jump as well as playing a vital part in the relay.