Top marks recorded by Tonbridge athletes
Following on from the superb team results, at the National Cross Country Championships recently, there were some outstanding individual performances from Tonbridge Athletic Club members last week.
The string of top class results started on Thursday evening, in Boston, USA, where James West raced over 1500 metres indoors, alongside a world class field. The race had been set up as an attempt to achieve the Olympic Games qualifying standard of 3.35. West finished fourth in 3.36.93, as Josh Thompson, the American indoor champion, won in 3.34.77. For West it was an indoor personal best, but also the seventh fastest time ever by a UK athlete. He then came back on Friday to set a new personal best at 800 metres of 1.48.67, to break his own Tonbridge AC indoor record, at that event.
Also, in the USA, on Saturday, George Duggan won the Mountain Pacific Conference Championships men’s mile in 3.59.61, to break the four minute mile standard for the first time. Duggan became the fourth Tonbridge runner to ever achieve the sub four mark.
On Sunday, there was half marathon road action in London, as the Vitality Big Half took place and was won by Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia, who holds world records on the track. Max Nicholls finished 25th with a new personal best of 66.18, whilst Lucy Reid was 6th in the women’s race, setting a new pb and also breaking her own club record with 72.49.
Also, on Sunday Elicia Lacey set a new personal best in the under 13 girls’ hurdles at Windsor, recording 9.53. This improved her Tonbridge club record from 9.70 and moved her to fourth on the UK all time list for the age group, whilst being second on this year’s rankings.