MORE than 200 athletes braved a cool and breezy day at the Brooks Cornwall Track and Field Championships, held at Par Stadium last weekend.

The field event athletes seemed to cope better with the conditions, setting four of the five new county records.

St Austell's Jay Hill led the way, competing in the colours of Enfield and Haringay. Jay launched his hammer 60.73m, improving his U20 county record set last year by 44cms.

In the same age group, Newquay and Par's Jordan Henwood added one centimetre to the pole vault record set by Richard Quixley 16 years ago.

Stuart Caudery (Cornwall AC), wasn't satisfied with one record in the Veterans age group, bagging a brace which included a 1.80m clearance in the high jump, improving by five centimetres on the record shared with John Perkins (Newquay and Par). An hour later the former decathlete soared over three metres in the pole vault, adding 60cms to a 24-year-old record set by legendary Les Williams. Les, a dual Welsh rugby union and league international who moved to Cornwall in the 1950s, set the previous record of 2.40m at the age of 64.

The Cornwall AC athlete completed a successful day with a third win in the high hurdles, negotiating the ten barriers in 17.7s.

Demolished

Amy Sweet (Newquay and Par) continued the fine form from last winter's cross country season, demolishing the U17 2000m steeplechase record by 37 seconds.

There were also four championship best performances set and two equalled, with the field events again dominating. Two young throwers made their mark, led by the day's youngest record breaker, Jack Trewhella (Mount's Bay Harriers), whose best throw in the U13 shot reached 9.65m, removing a 14-year-old record from the books. In the U15 hammer, Jake Banevicius threw 34.55m, improving on the championship best of Matt Halton, an England Schools international shot putter and no mean hammer thrower. An in form Jake proved to be unstoppable in his three throwing competitions, adding the shot (10.35m) and discus (35.26m) to his previous success. Not to be outdone, Jack was another of the day's triple winners, completing his golden hat-trick with further wins in the high jump (1.25) and javelin (29.83m).

England Junior international cross country runner Annabel Gummow (Penair School) cruised effortlessly around in the U17 3000 metres, knocking six seconds off the championship best, set by another Cornish international runner, Zoe Jelbert, in 1991.

Philippa Brett (Newquay and Par), one of the day's ten triple event winners, sliced a few tenths off the U20 400m hurdles, clocking 69.9 in the first race of the day and later added victories in the 200m (27.8) and shot (9.20m) to her gold medal winning tally.

In the U15 category Jordanna Morrish (Cornwall AC) equalled her own championship record in the high jump, clearing 1.65m and narrowly missed a second best performance in the 75m hurdles, which she won in 12.2, one tenth outside the championship record set in 1991. In the same age group, Charlotte Lowe (Newquay and Par) equalled the pole vault record, clearing 2.60m and later in the day completed a double success leaping 4.41m in the long jump.

The day's triple winners also included Cornwall AC all rounder, 12-year-old Chessie Waters, with wins in three of the more technical athletic disciplines, the U13 pole vault (2.00m), high jump (1.30m) and 70m hurdles (13.5s). In the equivalent boys' age group, Newquay and Par's Peter Tointon won the 100m (14.2s), 200m (29.2s) and 75m hurdles (13.9s).

Treble

At the other end of the age group, there was also a track treble for Cornwall AC's World Masters 400m hurdles bronze medallist, Neil Tunstall, who won that in 59.9s, plus the 200m (25.5s) and 400m (54.8s).

Two of Cornwall AC's brightest prospects, Kiani Pay and Liam Littlejohn continue to enjoy an excellent start to their summer season, both coming away with a hat-trick of titles.

Kiani, competing on this occasion for Truro School, enjoyed three clear cut wins in the U17 field events, long jumping 4.67m, leaping 9.98m in the triple jump and producing a best throw in the shot of 7.68m. Laim, now at the top of the U15 category, won a closely contested 200m, clocking 25.2s, just four tenths of a second ahead of Ned Warne (Truro School). Liam was a much clearer winner in his 400m, completing the one lap race in 55.7s and later in the day added the triple jump title to his collection, with a best jump of 10.90m.

James Murdoch (Truro School) completed the elite list of triple winners, sprinting home in the U17 Men's 100m (12.1s) before further victories in the long jump (5.67m) and triple jump (11.79m).