Chichester athletes mark three decades of track and field league efforts

In May 1994 a squad of eight, six of whom were under 18, travelled to Sutcliffe Park in Eltham, south London for the club’s first match.

For the first ten years of the club, the focus was road running, cross country and multi-terrain with just a few venturing on to the track. But in 1994 a group of promising teenagers persuaded the club secretary to enter the club in the Southern League.

Having to compete in virtually an Olympic programme in one afternoon was a tall order but by gathering points in all four throws together with an unexpected win in the triple jump, and scoring well on the track, the squad accumulated enough points to finish second out of the eight clubs in the match – and a gradual rise up the divisions began.

Three decades on, last Saturday’s match had special significance for one of the 17-year-olds from 1994, James Baker, now a high-flying veteran runner, who competed in the 100m and 800m back in 1994, coming third in each.

All but two of the remaining Chichester squad at Crawley were not even born in May 1994, with the 12th just two months old.

The other remarkable aspect about Baker’s long career as a distance athlete is that his times are remarkably close now to those of 30 years ago.

He showed his stamina remains and he was in contention for another win over 5000m until the home straight on the final lap before a Horsham runner 20 years his junior broke clear to win by three seconds.

The other two veterans in action also performed with credit. Helen Dean, one of the top three UK runners in multiple distances on the road in her age group, made her first attempts at the 200m and 400m while Jim Garland again broke the 2min 20sec barrier for the 800m to cement his place in the UK top 20 in his over-55 age group.

Peter Anderson, Chichester’s parkrun team manager, did himself justice in the shot put.

As for the younger members of the team, Ethan Brown had an excellent day as an all-rounder with good shows in javelin and hurdles before setting a new personal best of 3.60m in the pole vault.

Senior distance runners Mikeey Kwoka and Wesley Adams set new PBs in the 800m and 5000m respectively while under-17 Sam Wyatt and Monty Hill competed well against their senior rivals.

For Chichester’s women’s team, there was a quartet of the promising under-17 section in action who had a host of runners-up spots to celebrate: Millie Isitt in the high jump and 800m, Ela Pemberton in the 400m and javelin and Anya Barrett in the 800m and 1500m.

As well as setting a fast 400m time, Carrie Anelay had her first experience in the 1500m steeplechase and finished as runner-up in under 5.55 – good enough to propel her into the UK top 50 at her first attempt.

Seniors Amy Brown and Natalie Haarer completed the squad with Brown shining in the triple jump while Haarer ran a well-judged 5000m to win in 19.19.