Photo – Maria Heslop and Grazia Manzotti (Team Manager) at the Southern League
On Sunday Tonbridge Athletic Club took 36 athletes in the under 13 age group and 6 under 15s to Medway Park for the annual Kent Track Relay Championships.
In the under 15 boys’ 3 x 800m the club had two teams, with both running well and the A-team of Connor Prendergast, Toby Bawtree, and Felipe Fujimori winning the title in a very close race. In the under 13 girls’ 3 x 800m, Purdey Hutchings, Aoife Foley and Poppy Williams ran superbly to gain the silver medals. In the under 13 boys’ 3 x 800m the team of Kaito Paterson, Sebi Taylor and Ethan Sampson-Gray finished 4th in the final.
In the 4 x 100m relays the under 13 girls had two teams that qualified for the final, who then finished 5th and 6th, which were very good results, considering the majority of them are still in the same age group next year. In the under 13 boys’ 4 x 100m it was the B-team of Jacob MacGeachy, Rufus Read, Kobe Ouegnimaoua and Samuel Donald who produced a superb 2nd place in the final.
The final races of the day were the 4 x 200m events, with the under 13 girls’ finishing a valiant 5th place. The boys were superb with the A-team of Galaor Neirynck, Lucas Bowen, Harry Wrigley and Matthew Buttery gaining gold and setting a new club record of 1:50.00. The B-team (MacGeachy, Read, Ouegnimaoua and Donald) held off a strong Blackheath and Bromley team to gain the silver medals.
On Saturday, Tonbridge struggled to field a strong team at the Southern League fixture at Salisbury and finished 4th of the four clubs competing, although they retain top division status for next year. There were just three event wins recorded as Rob Henderson in the 100m in 11.7, Noah Friend the 400m in 51.4 and Charlotte Nicholls the Hammer Throw with 30.71m.
On the roads, there were a number of Tonbridge runners competing in the Larkfield 10k, on Sunday. Lucy Thompson finished 2nd in the women’s race, just outside her personal best, in 37.43, with Nichola Evans 3rd in 38.26 and Harriet Woolley 5th in 38.57. Julian Rendall (35.10) and Matt Dennis (35.18) were 7th and 8th in the men’s race.
