Worthing Harriers had an excellent showing at the Sussex County Championships, finishing the weekend with a haul of 11 gold, 16 silver and 12 bronze medals. The weekend saw some fantastic performances in the form of numerous personal bests as well as several qualifying performances for the English Schools’ Championships and a new club record.
Under 15 sprinters Ella Chalmers and Jimmy Seacombe continued their good form this season with personal best runs in their events. Chalmers wiped 0.7 seconds from her PB when running an English Schools’ Championships qualifying time of 12.8 for second place in the 100m. Chalmers backed this up with a bronze medal in the 200m in a time of 28.0, having earlier run 27.6 in her heat whilst battling into a strong headwind. Despite running a personal best time Seacombe had to settle for fourth place in the 200m but overcame this to win a silver medal in the 100m the following day in a time of 12.2.
The under 17 age group saw a Harrier’s 1-2 in the men’s long jump with Aidan Coree taking victory ahead of Tristan Martin. Both athletes leapt to new personal bests and Coree’s wining jump of 6.22m saw him close in on the Worthing Harriers club record. In the women’s long jump Imogen Marshall bettered her PB with a jump of 4.92m for a hard fought bronze medal as well as winning silver in the shot putt. In the hammer throw Woody Cox threw a PB of 51.90m for a well deserved second place and English Schools’ Qualifier, this despite being one of the youngest in the age group. Emily and Lianne Baker threw personal bests of 27.12m and 26.54m respectively to secure second and third place in the hammer throw, whilst Lianne also took a bronze in the discus with a throw of 25.42m. On the track Charlie Baldwin ran a confident race in the 400m to become Sussex Champion with a time of 52.1, this being in spite of fatigue from running two rounds of the 800m the previous day. In the 400m hurdles Sam Charlwood set a new personal best of 63.4 to finish in third place.
Under 20s Ed Pillai and Rob Duke both defended their 2011 titles with victories in the javelin and shot putt respectively. Pillai added one metre to his javelin personal best with a throw of 51.97m whilst Rob Duke had a successful weekend with victory in the shot putt in a personal best of 13.69m, eclipsing the 32 year old Worthing club record of 13.51m in the process. Duke also earned second place in the hammer and third place in the discus. In the under 20 women’s hammer Eloise Marshall threw 39.31m to finish a well deserved second behind the 2011 World and Commonwealth Youth hammer throw champion. Lauren Bourne ran superbly to set two personal bests in winning the 400m in 61.1 and earning silver in the 800m in 2:21.1.
The senior men’s age group saw Worthing dominate the throws, winning six of the twelve medals on offer. Simon and Matt Evans achieved 1-2s in the hammer throw and shot putt with Simon coming out on top in both events. The hammer saw Simon throw 50.14m to Matt’s 49.14m while in the shot Simon threw 10.85m to Matt’s 9.69m. In the discus throw Richard Buckingham and Mark Gibbs finished with silver and bronze in throws of 36.28m and 24.32m. Decathlete Craig Baker was victorious in the javelin with a throw of 57.39m and also finished second in the long jump with 6.56m and third in the pole vault with 3.70m. Noel Butler performed well to win bronze medals in the high jump and long jump as well as achieve a personal best in the 200m against a highly competitive field. Also in the high jump Dean Storry made his season’s debut to finish second with a jump of 1.95m. The senior women’s hammer throw saw a clean sweep of the medals for Worthing Harriers, with Jo Davison earning victory over club mates Laura Duke and Odette Dicke. Caroline Garratt performed well in the javelin to finish second with a throw of 36.63m whilst Alison Duke took victory in the pole vault with a clearance of 2.40m.
With the main under 13 county championships take place in July, three Harriers competed in the under 13 girls’ minithon in which they compete in a run, a jump and a throw. Olivia Leadbeatter, Maddison Smith and Sophie Wise performed confidently despite being very new to the sport and gained invaluable competition experience.
