Tonbridge Athletic Club welcomed more than seven hundred distance runners and a similar number of spectators to the superb venue, at The Schools at Somerhill, on Saturday for the second Kent Cross Country League fixture. The stunning surroundings always offer testing courses, but the dry conditions made the going a bit quicker than they might otherwise have been.
The Tonbridge men’s team now have a very strong hold on the league, recording another convincing win. This week they placed ten runners in the top twelve, only split up by 2.19 marathoner, Ross Braden, of Blackheath, who finished 3rd and Marshall Smith, of Ashford, who placed 7th. Jamie Goodge pulled away in the second half of the eight-kilometres long race to win in 26.00. Nineteen seconds back, Matthew Taylor, at just seventeen years old, had an incredible run to hold off Braden. Steve Strange (4th), James Kingston (5th), Michael Ellis (6th), Dan Bradley (8th), Ben Cole (9th), Jamie Bryant (10th), Cameron Payas (11th and Matthew Dubery (12th) all ran strongly as 256 runners finished.
The Tonbridge women’s team won the six to score contest but, as at the previous fixture, Cambridge Harriers headed the three to score event. Verity Hopkins, who last month won the Brighton Marathon, placed 4th and was followed home by another strong Tonbridge showing. Harriet Woolley (5th), Chloe Bird (8th), Annabel Carter (9th), Alice Wood (10th) and Ellie Baxter (12th) all scored.
The Tonbridge under 17 men captured a second victory of the season, despite being hit by a number of illnesses and injuries in the preceding week. Jamie MacDonald in 4th and George Hopkins 5th were supported by a very good run from Thomas Claridge in 10th.
Sophie Slack (10th) was first of the under 17 women home, as was her sister Lily, who was 4th in the under 15s. Harrison Fraser moved up a few places from the previous fixture to finish 5th in the under 15 boys’ race.
Perhaps the most notable improvements came from the under 13s, where the boys placed 2nd and the girls 3rd, with sixteen runners starting in the former. Emily Tayton led the girls’ team home in 8th and James Petrie (4th) plus William Bachelor (5th) likewise in the boys’ event.
Taylor breaks Tonbridge 10k road record
On the roads, there were two excellent performances from Nicole Taylor and Alex Howard, who travelled north for the top-class Leeds Abbey Dash 10 kilometres road race. Both took well over a minute from their personal bests. Taylor ran 33.06 to finish 6th in the women’s race, representing an England squad. This improved Ashley Gibson’s four-year old club record by 24 seconds. Alex Howard finished 23rd overall in 29.39.
Tonbridge teams are due to be competing next at the National Cross Country Relay Championships, at Mansfield.