Veteran John Killick clinched the Sussex 10,000m Track Walking Championship after only three years in the sport.

Killick, 54, is not the oldest winner of the title, but his progress has been remarkable.

He clocked 58min.30sec, then revealed: "I'm still having trouble developing the correct style and it was certainly a pleasant surprise to win the county title."

Two guest walkers from Surrey, former Olympian Sean Lightman and Peter Hannell, were the first across the line at Broadbridge Heath.

Steyning's Gareth Brown had earlier seen his defence of the title come to grief after forging a winning position.

Brown was cruising to victory until his second place in the National 50km Road Championships a couple of weeks ago caught up with him.

He began to lose his style and just after half distance walked off the track.

"I was not feeling at all comfortable," Brown revealed.

"The early laps were okay and I was fairly comfortable but I began to tie up after ten laps and there was really no sense in struggling to the finish. It would not do me any good in the long term."

Steyning are renowned for their talented young walkers but Brown is one of those proving they can also produce high class performers in the senior bracket.

Phoenix's Geoff Hill clocked 25min.13sec to comfortably win the Hove Promenade five-miler, more than 100 yards clear of Blackheath's Darrell Smith.

At one time he looked set to crack the course record but, without any pressure, eased over the closing stages.

Arena 80's Lynn Williams dominated the women's race from the start and won by a similar margin, smashing her own course record with a time of 29min 11sec, well clear of Hailsham's Sam Baines who clocked 29min 38sec.

The field was boosted when many runners re-directed from the cancelled Great South run in Southsea.

Duncan Malins, from Haywards Heath, completed his track season with a nippy 110m hurdles performance for the Great Britain under-23 team against Spain in Getafe, near Madrid.

Malins was unable to contain leading Spaniard Ferdy Belmar but clocked a highly respectable 14.46secs in second place.