Mick Jones blasted the British athletics authorities after confirming his position as the country's No.1 hammer thrower at the Sussex Track and Field Championships on Saturday.

Jones retained his title with a season's best of 73.28m at Crawley Leisure Centre and overtook Bill Beauchamp at the top of the UK rankings in the process.

But despite recording three throws over 72m the reigning Commonwealth champion could not manage the 74.35m needed to secure his place in the British Olympic squad.

The 41-year-old from Crawley will now travel to Germany on Friday for another attempt at booking his place on the plane to Athens later this summer.

However, he is furious he has had to pay for the trip himself because the authorities say he is too old to receive lottery funding any more.

Jones said: "I need to compete in these big events against the top names because there are only 70 days left to qualify for the Olympics.

"If there had been someone breathing down my neck on Saturday I think I would have got the qualifying distance because I was feeling good.

"I will have that in Germany but I have had to find sponsorship just to get there because the authorities won't give me a penny anymore.

"To have your funding cut when you are the Commonwealth champion is hard to take but I am not going to let it ruin my Olympic dream.

"I may be 41 but I am still the best hammer thrower this country has got so it would be nice to receive some support."

Jones started with efforts of 72.84m and 72.50m before his winning throw which bettered his own British veterans record. It also put him second on the all-time world veterans list but was still short of his own championship record of 73.86m.

All three distances were further than the throw which won him Commonwealth gold in Manchester two years ago but he could not improve in his last three attempts.

Sean Baldock kick-started his bid to qualify for a second successive Olympics with victory in the 400m on Sunday after shaking off a niggling hamstring injury.

The Hastings-based athlete looked comfortable as he retained his title in 47.52secs, over a second slower than the championship record of 46.50secs he set last year.

Baldock said: "I was pretty pleased with my performance considering it is so early in the season and I have been struggling with injuries "Now I have got to build up my work load and get a few more races under my belt but I still think I am in good shape for Athens."

The championships also proved a good work out for another of Sussex's Olympic hopefuls as Joel Kidger showed his class in the 1,500m on Sunday.

The Crawley AC star easily won his much-hyped showdown with Tim Bayley but just missed out on breaking the championship record, which has stood since 1986, with a time of 1mins.47.30secs.

Kidger, who decided not to compete in the 800m on Saturday due to a sore shin, said: "It would have been nice to beat the championship record but it was my first race of the season so I have got to be happy.

"Hopefully the injuries are behind me now and I can build on this performance."

Sarah Tomlins has set her sights on winning her first international vest after breaking Wendy Hopkins' 19-year-old 400m championship record on Saturday.

The Horsham Blue Star athlete held off the challenge of defending champion Elaine Wells down the home straight to clock 55.62secs.

The 21 -year-old has been working hard with new coach John Bigg since returning from Bristol University and it seems to be paying off.

She said: "I have not competed in the championships for three years because I have been away at university so it was great to win and break the record as well.

"It was my first race outdoors this season and sets me up nicely for the AAA under-23 championships next month. If I keep improving, hopefully I can win a GB vest."

The weekend got even better for Tomlins on Sunday when she held off the challenge of Wells on the back straight to take gold in the 200m as well.

It was an emotional occassion for Debbie Woolgar as she claimed her 100th county title in her 25th consecutive appearance at the championships with victory in the shot putt.

The Worthing and District Harrier has won titles in shot, discus, javelin, triple jump, high jump, 100m hurdles and 400m hurdles over the years and proved her competitive fires are still burning bright by beating defending champion Claire Smithson with a throw of 13.37m.

It made up for last year when Woolgar failed to win a single gold for the first time since her debut in 1979 when she was defeated in the same event by Smithson.

She said: "It was good to get back to winning ways and to win 100 Sussex titles is something I'm proud of.

"I love competing in the county championships and I'll probably be back next year to start on my next hundred titles!"