The indoor athletics season has commenced over the last week or so and already there have been some outstanding performances from Tonbridge Athletic Club members.
Lewis Church carried on from where he left off at the end of the Summer by winning the South of England Indoor Heptathlon title, with club mate Harry Kendall in second. Church won emphatically, scoring 5491 points to Kendall’s 5194. The total added 96 points to his personal best and club record. His marks included 7.44 for 60 metres, a new Long Jump personal best of 7.04 metres, a Shot Put of 14.30 metres and High Jump of 1.96m on Saturday. Then on Sunday, he came back to record 8.54 for 60 metres hurdles, 4.46m for the Pole Vault and 2.44.58 for 1000 metres. Kendall added 98 points to his previous best score and his performances included pbs in the 60 metres with 7.11 and 60m hurdles in 8.54.
Freya Ridge won the gold medal in her first under 20 women’s Pentathlon. She started with a win in the 60 hurdles in 9.69s and followed this with a solid 1.60m High Jump. Ridge won the Shot Put with a personal best 9.19M and then a 4.78m Long Jump. Ridge was leading by about 30 points going into the 800m, the final event, which equates to a two second advantage. She took the lead from the gun and then worked hard for the final 200m to win in a time of 2:32.87s and a gain a total score of 3141 points. Ridge, together with Church and Kendall, plans to compete in the England Athletics Combined Events Championships, in January, at Sheffield.
Another Tonbridge club record was set by Lucy Tallon (photo above) over 60 metres at Eltham, where she recorded 7.69, which was a huge improvement on her previous best of 8.11 set two years ago. Tallon ran 7.73 in her first race, before improving in her second run of the day. The previous Tonbridge record had been set by another under 17 age group athlete, Helen Rennardson, almost fifteen years ago, at 7.86. Also at Eltham, there were big personal bests over 60 metres of 7.26 for Ethan Tasker (under 20) and 7.38 for Joe Stone (under 17).
Goodge triumphs at South of Thames Championship
Jamie Goodge became only the second Tonbridge distance runner to ever win the historic South of Thames Cross Country Championship, when he won over 12 kilometres at Beckenham Palace Park, on Saturday. The event was first held in 1888 and the only other individual Tonbridge victor had been Ben Reynolds in 1990 and 1992.
Goodge was always with the lead pack, over the three-lap course, having three or four competitors for company for most of the distance. He made his move early on the final lap, creating a small gap from his pursuers, before being joined by Ross Braden, from Blackheath. Braden had closed what was at one stage a 50 metres gap on the leader, but Goodge pulled away again with a strong finish to win by 15 seconds.
Goodge was backed up by strong performances from Harry Paton in 11th and Luke Reeves 19th, but on this occasion, Tonbridge were lacking enough of their best runners to challenge in the six to score team competition, placing 5th.
Lucy Reid, having her third race in three weeks, after a long time away from competition, won the Friday Under The Lights Christmas 5 miles road race, on Friday evening. Reid set a new Tonbridge women’s record for the distance of 26.26, with Nicole Taylor securing a Tonbridge 1-2 just four seconds behind. Dan Bradley set a personal best of 24.39, when finishing 31st in the high-class men’s race.