Team small in number, but big on achievement
A squad of just 11 athletes represented Chichester in the second under-15 Sussex League match of the season at the K2 in Crawley but did the club proud to finish third out of the six clubs with only Crawley and Horsham ahead.
Clashing as it did with many of the local school sports days, credit must go to nearly half the team who had competed for their schools earlier in the day.
On the track, new member Josh Miller impressed in both sprints with two second places in 12.8 and 26.3sec for the 100m and 200m.
Following his exploits on the track Miller teamed up with Hugo Martell to form a winning partnership in the shot, with both Chichester athletes more than a match for the rest of the field with 10.43m and 10.31m respectively.
Martell continued his fine season in winning the discus by more than four metres with 26.93m and coming a close second in the hammer.
Noah Campbell ran well in the B string 100m and was second in the high jump, while younger brother Micah had a varied evening with 300m, hurdles and long jump.
Gabe White made a fine return to competition after recovering from a cycle injury and contented himself with
the high jump and long jump in his first competitive match for several weeks.
For the girls, Chichester as usual had a strong throwing contingent with Cassie Bailey, Chloe Noble and Lulu Millen making a good trio on the discus while Millen threw well in the javelin with a second place in the A string at 22m with Tatum Anwyl achieving the same result in the B string.
Between them, they also made a strong showing in the hammer while on the track Bailey looked sharp in the 100m while Tamsin Anelay ran well over 300 and 1500m, with Maddie Byers using her fitness over 800m as well as scoring good points in the shot.
Sussex Under-13 championships at Withdean
This year’s Sussex under-13 championships were held at the Withdean Stadium, Brighton, with one of the strongest group of athletes ever seen in the county in this age group.
Five Chichester athletes were taking part with the standout performance coming from 800m runner Josh Dunne, who knocked a whole five seconds from his previous best with a time of 2.20 for the two laps.
Already having had a successful season in the National Youth Development League over 800m and the Sussex League over 600m, Dunne used his experience to run a controlled race and was too string for his rivals at the finish with more than two seconds to spare.
Also in the middle distance races were twins Laila and Lillie Hellyer. Laila finished a most creditable sixth in the 1500m in 5.23.07 while Lillie was seventh in heat one of a very competitive 800m in 2.42.
Over the same distance, Alice Waterworth was sixth in heat two in 2.51.8 as well as notching up a good long jump mark of 3.56m.
The fifth Chichester athlete involved was Grace Bishop, who teamed up with Waterworth in hurdles and was ninth in the high jump.