Matt Barclay was the star junior with four gold medals and two records at the Sussex Championships in Crawley.

The host club's versatile ace broke a ten-year championship record to win the under-17s long jump by 30cm with 6.78m, which also bettered the senior winner's leap. It followed his impressive wind-assisted leap of 6.95m for Crawley's senior team in the British League.

His second record came when he retained his 200m title in 22.40sec to take one-fifth-of-a second off the time set by Tony Drinkwater (Bognor) in 1977.

He completed his golden hat-trick in the 100m, defeating Martin Blencoe in 11.33sec.

Blencoe, had national success last year, but Barclay cruised home after establishing a good lead at 80m.

Barclay secured his fourth gold medal as a member of the Crawley 4 x 100m relay team.

He said: "It has been a good championships for me. Things are going quite well at the moment and I'm hoping to do well at the South of England Championships this month.

"I have decided to concentrate on the long jump at the All England Schools' Championships in July, although I have also qualified for the 200m."

Eastbourne sprinter Amala Onoura was just outside the record when she won the under-17s' 100m in an over-the-limit wind.

But she broke the 200m record, shaving the 1977 record mark by two one-hundredths-of-a-second in her heat with 25.28sec. In the final, she slowed to 25.6sec.

Emma Perkins (Worthing) collected a trio of titles. She won the high jump with 1.73m, higher than either the under-20 or senior competitors. It added three centimetres to the championship record of Kerry Roberts (Brighton and Hove) set 18 years ago.

Emma, in her first year at the age group, took the long jump with a personal best 5.28sec and the 80m hurdles in 12.18sec.

She said: "I'm hoping to get into the medals against at the Southern Championships in a couple of weeks."

Another triple winner at under-17s was Candace Schofield, who has recently transferred from Worthing to Horsham.

Her efforts of 36.23m in the javelin, 11.16m in the shot putt and 33.28m in the discus all bettered the English Schools standards.

Lucy Ramsay (Brighton and Hove) was a record breaker in the under-15s' long jump.

She broke clubmate Charlotte Lewis's 12-year-old mark with 5.28m with her first leap and added another two centimetres to win.

Lucy pipped Leanne George (Phoenix) to take the 200m title in 26.47sec. She was third in the 100m.

THE RECORD BREAKERS
BOYS: Under 17 200m: Matt Barclay (Crawley) 22.40sec. Long jump: Matt Barclay (Crawley) 6.95m. Shot putt: Simon Cooke (Chichester) 14.40m. Under-15 400m:Tom Stanley (Crawley) 53.66m. Long jump: James Taylor (Horsham) 6.14m. Hammer: Nick Harding (Crawley) 41.27m. Under-13 2,000m walk: Derry Brown (Steyning) 10min. 25.96sec.

GIRLS: Under-17 200m: Amala Onoura (Belgrave) 25.28sec. High jump: Emma Perkins (Worthing) 1.73m. Hammer: Frances O'Gorman (Hastings) 29.44m. Under-15: 100m: Carley Wenham (Crawley) 12.52sec. Long jump: Lucy Ramsay (Brighton and Hove) 5.30m.

Report by Reg Hook
reg.hook1@internet.com