Sean Molloy (photo number 165), from Tonbridge Athletic Club, ran inside the time needed to qualify for the British Championships 1500 metres, when competing at Wimbledon on Wednesday evening. He finished third in an invitation race, won by international Elliot Giles in 3.40.36. Molloy’s time of 3.44.90 was well inside the 3.47 standard needed to race at the championships, which this year double as trials for the Olympics. He now becomes the fifth Tonbridge athlete to run the standard for the men’s 1500 metres. In the same race at Wimbledon, Ben Murphy lowered his personal best to 3.47.42, whilst James Kingston also ran a pb in an earlier race, that evening.
Molloy was back in action on Sunday, as a member of the Tonbridge team that competed in the first National League meeting of the season, held at Tonbridge School. The squad were up against Basingstoke, Crawley and Bournemouth in a league which is an amalgamation of the old men’s and women’s leagues, last contested in 2019. Molloy front ran the 800 metres to win with a season’s best of 1.50.21. This was one of four A-string wins on the track from the men. Lewis Church won the 110 metres hurdles in 15.15, after a week of recovery from his National Decathlon Championship win. Steve Strange sprang to life on the last half-lap of the 3000 metres to snatch victory from team-mate James Kingston, as they recorded 8.30.11 and 8.30.40, respectively. Team Manager, Michael Ellis won the 3000 metres steeplechase in 9.39.66.
The two women’s victories came from field, events where Lucina White scaled 3.20 metres in the Pole Vault, just a centimetre shy of her personal best and Freya Ridge 1.65m in the High Jump, to equal her personal best.
On Saturday, the Tonbridge under 13 and 15 squad won their first UK Youth Development League match, at Crawley.
National Athletics League Results here –