Neil McClements and Verity Hopkins (photo) achieved a remarkable double victory for Tonbridge Athletic Club, at the Brighton Marathon, on Sunday morning. McClements only took the lead in the final 200 metres to be first home, from over 7,000 finishers, whilst Hopkins set a new club record in winning the women’s race.
McClements only joined Tonbridge about five months ago, prior to which he ran without a club, competing in the occasional race. In 2018 he finished third in the Tonbridge Half marathon, but recently improved on that time by nearly five minutes.
At Brighton, McClements won in 2 hours 33 minutes and 45 seconds, which was almost an hour quicker than his only previous attempt at the distance, a decade ago. However, the Brighton event was not without controversy, since the course distance was subsequently found to be 560 metres too long, adding two to three minutes to most times. Human error at a turn point on the course was found to be the cause.
McClements was in second place for much of the second half of the race, as Ollie Garrod, of Epsom and Ewell had led from just five kilometres into the race, building a lead of a few minutes. However, McClements closed dramatically in the final kilometre, overhauling the tiring Garrod in the final 200 metres of the race to take the victory.
Verity Hopkins joined Tonbridge AC last year and has tried racing over many different distances in that period. However, this was her first ever race beyond the half marathon distance. Hopkins finished 15th overall in the marathon in 2.52.12, which took more than four minutes from Maria Heslop’s club record, set in 2018. This, once again, despite the course measurement error adding to the distance.
Tonbridge win final league fixture
The Tonbridge men’s and women’s squad won their final Southern Athletics League fixture of the season, at Ashford, on Saturday. After an extremely close contest, the team finished just ahead of Ashford, with Thanet AC and Paddock Wood further back. Six wins came from the men and eight from the women.
Charlotte Nicholls won the Discus and Hammer, with throws of 25.09 and 31.30, respectively, whilst Angie Crush (Pole Vault), Jess Murphy (Javelin) and Lucinda White (Long Jump) added more field event wins. Sophie Hawkins made her debut for the club, winning the 400 metres in 59.8, whilst Ellie Baxter front ran to victory over 800m in 2.24.3. Ella Ayden despite still being in the under 17 age group, won the 5000 metres.
On the men’s side, the only field event win came from Alex Hookway in the Hammer. Sam Crick won the 400m and 800m, with times of 51.8 and 2.00.5, whilst Steve Strange won both the 1500m and 3000m. The final victory came from under 17, Charlie Ellison, making his debut over 3000m in 11.04.8.
On Wednesday evening, at the Watford Open Meeting, Pandora Banbury ran 2.19.60 for 800 metres, which improved her ten-year old personal best. Polly Pitcairn-Knowles won the Poldhu 10k Trail race in Cornwall, on Thursday evening and Kieran Reilly finished 11th in 30.56 at the Stirling 10km road race, in Scotland, on Sunday.