Rachel Ogden inspired Sussex women to their first ever title at the Inter Counties Championships at Bedford.

The Worthing and District Harrier stormed to victory in the 800m on Sunday in a new championship record of 2min.06.05sec to put Sussex on course for glory in the Essex Shield for medium size counties.

Ogden's triumph was Sussex's only event win over the two days but with silver medals also going to Emma Perkins and Claire Smithson it proved enough for the county to see off the challenge of runners-up West Wales.

Team manager Richard Carter said: "We've never won it before so it is a briliant achievement and shows that we have got some good athletes in Sussex.

"Rachel ran a great race and it gave us belief that we could go on to get the gold. Her performance was undoubtedly the highlight but everyone else chipped in as well."

Ogden showed she is returning to the kind of form which earned her a call up for a Great Britain B team two years ago before being struck down by a mysterious injury last summer.

The 25-year-old missed the whole of the track season with a rare foot injury which baffled experts for months before being finally diagnosed as cuboid syndrome.

A successful treatment regime allowed Ogden to run a few cross country races during winter and she has blown away any doubts over her fitness with a flying start to the track season.

She won the 800m at the Sussex Championships two weeks ago and followed it up last weekend by storming to second in the UK rankings at 1,500m with a time of 4min.16.21sec.

Now Ogden is hoping to continue her impressive form in a bid to make the England team for the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne next March.

To do that she will need to knock almost two seconds off her personal best of 2min.03.93sec which she set before her injury two years ago but is confident she can do it.

She said: "The qualifying time for the Commonwealth Games is 2min.2sec so that has got to be my target for this season. Although I am still quite a way off I think it is a realistic goal because I am getting stronger with every race.

"Obviously I was delighted to win on Sunday and breaking the record was a bonus but I had hoped to go a little bit quicker as I have been running well recently.

"It was difficult to do a good time though because nobody wanted to make the pace so I had to run almost the whole race from the front. What I need is a competitive race where somebody else drags me around.

"Things are shaping up nicely for me and hopefully by the time the Commonwealth Games trials come around I will be on top form. Even if I get the qualifying time I will have to run well at the trials because there are lots of girls who are good enough to make the team."

Worthing and District Harriers clubmate Perkins ensured Sussex led the standings in the Essex Shield at the end of the first day with a fine second place in the high jump.

The 19-year-old cleared 1.70m to claim the silver on countback behind Brighton-based teacher Julia Bennett, competing for Surrey, who equalled the British over-35 record of 1.85m.

Steyning AC's Sophie Hales and Worthing and District Harrier Phillipa Aukett kept Sussex in the lead with valuable contributions yesterday. Hales was sixth in the 3,000m walk while Aukett achieved a personal best of 4min.41.85sec in the 1,500m to take sixth place.

That left the stage set for Brighton and Hove City's international discus thrower Smithson to seal the title for Sussex in the final event of the day.

Smithson, who had already come fifth in the shot putt, did not disappoint as she claimed the silver medal behind British No. 1 Phillippa Roles with a season's best 54.19m in the discus to ensure Sussex finished on 45 points ahead of West Wales on 33.5.

It also gave Smithson the Commonwealth Games qualifying distance but was just short of the European Under-23 qualifying mark of 55.00m.