Photo – Ben Murphy and Jordan Chambers 1-2 in men’s 1500 metres
Tonbridge Athletic Club had their second fixture in this season’s National Athletics League Championship Division, on Saturday, at Manchester, where they finished 4th of the eight clubs. The division has sixteen teams, competing across four matches, although the final fixture sees the top eight up against each other to decide promotion to the Premiership. On this occasion Liverpool, Sale and Chelmsford finished ahead of Tonbridge, with Basingstoke, Bournemouth, Wigan and Haringey behind them, which gives the club a very good chance of gaining a top eight position, with even a chance of promotion.
With eight national-class clubs competing, individual wins were very difficult to come by, with Tonbridge only scoring maximum points in two of the thirty-eight events. These came in the men’s 1500 metres, where Ben Murphy won in 3.54.71, whilst Jordan Chambers finished just behind in 3.55.50, to win the B-string. These two also combined with Ewan Wood and Charlie Crick to win the final event of the day, the 4 x 400 metres relay.
Murphy was only called upon to run the 1500 metres on the morning of the race, following an athlete withdrawal and had earlier won his first event, the 800 metres, in 1.54.92. Toby Emm finished second in the B-string, running strongly for a personal best of 1.55.26. Steve Strange defeated a good class 3000 metres field, with a fast finish, including a 59.2 seconds final lap, to win in 8.26.36, whilst Marshall Smith ran a personal best of 8.34.75 when 2nd in the B-string.
The only win from the field events came in the men’s Pole Vault, where Lewis Church cleared 4.31 metres. He was also given equal first place in the 110 metres hurdles, as both he and the Chelmsford athlete recorded 14.70. This equalled his personal best and his Tonbridge AC club record, set three years ago. Ben Richardson set a Tonbridge over-35 age record in the B-string race, with 15.77.
One of the highlights on the track, from the women’s events, was Emily Bowart recording a 400 metres personal best of 57.74 in a high-class race. In the field, Lucinda White cleared 3.41 metres in the Pole Vault for a 2nd place. Kirsty Ebbage contributed good points from the Hammer, with 42.81m, Discus 40.90m, Shot Put 9.76m and Javelin 26.32m. Similarly, Katie Goodge and Ella Ayden scored good points on the track, as both ran the 1500 metres and 3000 metres, whilst Goodge also contributed to the 4×400 metres relay.
On Sunday, the Tonbridge AC under 13 and 15 team produced a good performance to finish 2nd overall to Blackheath of the eight clubs in the top division. Amongst the highlights were under 15 wins for Samuel Newton (High Jump 1.65m), Elicia Lacey (75m hurdles 12.0) and the 3x800m relay team of Felipe Fujimori, George Bishop and James Petrie in 7.15.8. The girls’ 4x100m relay team of Elicia Lacey, Evie Dixon, Georgiana Sweeting and Eva Harper also won and set a new club age group record of 50.9.n The under 13s had wins from Harry Wrigley (600m, 1.40.3), Louis Ib (High Jump 1.38m), Jago Veale (Hammer Throw) and the 4 x 100m relay team in 56.0.
On Wednesday, Tonbridge athletes were in action at three venues. At Wimbledon, Ben Murphy ran a personal best of 3.46.46 when finishing 2nd in the men’s invitation 1500 metres race, whilst under 17 Josh Prendergast ran a pb of 4.02.34 in an earlier race. At Watford, Ben Reynolds went to the top of the UK over 55 men’s rankings, at 3000 metres, with 9.34.21 and at Bristol Ben Cole had an excellent win in a 5km road race in 14.33, whilst Lucy Thompson finished 3rd in the women’s race, recording a big personal best of 17.44.
Max Nicholls received confirmation that he has been selected for the Great Britain team to compete in the European Mountain racing championships, which take part in Spain, at the start of July.