Rampant Roe helps Sussex to decathlon title

Shaking off his disappointing show at the Sussex decathlon championships the previous weekend, Roe bounced back to his best form by recording a club record score of 5,459 points to help Sussex to the

inter-counties crown.

The Sussex team comprised Peter Henworth from Eastbourne, Roe and Horsham's Matt Baker, the latter two having stepped up from being the top two in last year's under-17 competition.

Roe started his two-day trial with a solid 100m in 12.0sec followed by a 6.24 long jump, his second best mark ever.

A shot putt of 8.88m was enough to keep the score ticking before a clearance of 1.87m in the high jump was followed by a 53.2sec clocking in the 400m to leave the Chichester athlete with a healthy personal best after day one.

The real test came on day two, including Roe's weaker events.

After a good 15.8 clocking in the hurdles came a slightly below-par discus of 23.53, but this was followed by a personal best of 3m in the pole vault, highly creditable after he didn't register a height at the Sussex championships.

A safe javelin throw of 38.15 was rounded off with a 4min 45sec 1,500m to bring Roe close to the 5,500-point barrier and give Sussex a winning margin of 900 points over second-placed Somerset.

Chichester also have a connection with Baker who finished just behind Roe. He competed for Chichester in the National Under-20 League this season.

With both involved next year, the team's prospects look bright.