Lucy Tallon (photo), from Tonbridge Athletic Club, had a double medal winning weekend at the South of England Indoor Championships, at Lee Valley. Competing over 60 metres on Saturday and returning for the 200 metres, on Sunday, she won under 17 silver and gold medals, respectively.
The 60 metres was run over three rounds, where Tallon recorded 7.83, 7.75 semi-final and a 7.74 final, finishing second to Renee Regis, from London. Her final time was just 0.05 seconds outside her recent personal best. She then returned on Sunday to capture the 200 metres gold medal, recording 24.97 seconds in the final, which was a Tonbridge indoor record for any age and an outright personal best for Tallon, either indoors or outdoors.
Also, in medal winning form was Elicia Lacey, who went into the championships with a 60 metres hurdles personal best of 9.41. In the heats, she lowered this time, which was a club under 15 age group record, to 9.29, before improving again to 9.18 in the final. This gave her the silver medal and a performance that was just 0.03 seconds away from the winner, Leah Wagstaff, from Cambridge. Lacey also made the semi-final stage of the 60 metres, improving her pb to 8.17.
Harriet Medlen just missed a medal podium position in the under 17 women’s 200 metres, where she finished 4th in 25.98, which was her first ever sub 26 clocking, indoors or out.
Amongst other personal best performances at the weekend, Joe Stone (under 17) improved his 60 metres time to 7.35 in his semi-final, but didn’t qualify for the final. Over the same distance, Evie Dixon (under 15) ran 8.30, improving by 0.44s and Harriet Medlen (under 17) ran under eight seconds for the first time with 7.97.
Over 200 metres on Sunday, Joe Stone won a bronze medal in the under 17 men’s event, recording 23.12, which improved his Tonbridge indoor record, that he had set earlier in the month. There were also pbs for Alexia Scotiniadis (under 17) of 27.27 and Evie Dixon (under 15) of 27.82, both reaching the semi-final stage of their event.
In the field, Matilda Secker finished 2nd in the under 17 women’s High Jump with 1.63 metres, which was a personal best by three centimetres.
There was a string of 5th places in other under 17 men’s events, with Joe Stone recording 6.26m in the Long Jump and Dante McNichol in the 400 metres with 55.81 and Shot Put with 11.67m.
There were plenty of Tonbridge AC young athletes, representing their schools, at the Sevenoaks Knole Runs on Friday and Saturday. On Friday, the Junior runs took place for school years 7 and 8 and the highest placings came from James Petrie (3rd in the boys’ race) and Neve Raymond (3rd in the girls’ race). Then, on Saturday, the senior races took place with Matthew Dubery finishing 3rd in the boys’ event and Lily Slack 5th in the girls’ race.
Knole race videos from Saturday here – https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQt1MC3OSkv8KevRwFaIIx6jVGcYLFPrZ