Photo – Harriet Medlen after winning the South of England under 17 women’s 200 metres.
The UK Cross Challenge series continued, on Saturday, with the latest event being held in Perth, Scotland. The series is promoted by British Athletics and comprises five fixtures across the Winter, culminating with the final races at the UK Inter Counties Championships in March.
James Kingston and Kieran Reilly, from Tonbridge Athletic Club, both had excellent races on Saturday to finish 3rdand 6th in the men’s race, with Kingston only beaten by two established British internationals. He had travelled to visit friends in Scotland, combining the race with the trip, whereas Reilly is currently living in Scotland, having recently graduated from Stirling University. These two runners aim to be part of the Tonbridge team challenging at the National Championships in February. Two other members of the Tonbridge men’s squad had fine runs, at Beckenham, in the Surrey Cross Country League fixture, as Alex Howard placed 3rd and Max Nicholls 6th.
Lucy Reid travelled to Valencia, Spain for the prestigious 10km road race on Sunday, as part of the selected England team and finished 18th in 32.54, in a race where the world record was missed by just five seconds. Verity Hopkins ran 34.24 and in the men’s race Corey De’Ath recorded 30.57.
The indoor season gathered pace at the weekend, with the South of England young athlete championships taking place at Lee Valley, London. Harriet Medlen won the under 17 women’s 200 metres in 25.46. Medlen set a personal best in the 60 metres final, where she placed 4th in 7.81, which is the fastest time by a Tonbridge athlete this year. Lucy Tallon ran 7.86 at Loughborough on Sunday and Asha Root 7.88, a few days earlier at Gateshead.
Joe Stone won two medals in the under 17 age group, with 2nd place in the 400 metres, setting a Tonbridge indoor age record of 50.95 in the final. He also produced a Long Jump of 6.34 metres to secure a bronze medal in that event.
On Saturday, there were plenty of Tonbridge AC young athletes competing for their schools at the Sevenoaks School Knole Runs. Ed Coutts (2nd), Jamie Macdonald (7th) and Tom Claridge (8th) finished high up in the boys’ race, whilst Jess Poland was 8th in the girls’ event.
On Saturday morning, Noémie Thomson ran a swift 17.12 at the Bromley 5km parkrun, continuing her return to her best form.
