Photo – Joe Stone (photo right) finished third in the Under 17 men’s Heptathlon at the England Indoor Championships
Joe Stone, from Tonbridge Athletic Club, produced a string of excellent performances, over the weekend to finish third in the under 17 men’s Indoor Heptathlon, at the England Championships.
Stone added 421 points to his previous personal best to total 4586, which is not far short of the existing club age record of 4729, held by Tadgh Healy. Sam Newton finished 18th in the same competition with 3616 points, as both help continue the recent multi eventer successes at Tonbridge AC.
Stone’s performance included five outright personal bests, within the seven events, which started with a 60 metres in 7.25 and a 12.65 metres Shot Put, on the first day. Day two included three pbs, coming in the 60 metres hurdles with 8.77, Pole Vault 3.10m and 2.47.81 over 1000 metres, which was the final event. The championships were held in Sheffield and alongside the multi-event competitions were some paralympic events, where Ollie White improved his 1500m best to 4.48.85 in the T20 category.
The other highlight of the weekend’s indoor athletics performances came from Lucy Tallon, who raced over 100 metres indoors at Lee Valley. Tallon recorded 12.12 in the first round, before coming back later to improve to 12.07. The time was quicker than she has run outdoors and was the fastest ever from a Tonbridge athlete in the under 20 women’s age group.
There were eighteen Tonbridge AC runners amongst the county teams, at the UK Inter Counties Cross Country Championships, at Prestwold Hall, near Loughborough, on Saturday. Conditions underfoot were probably the muddiest of the Winter and with ten races held, throughout the day, became progressively more challenging.
Once again, James Kingston was the highest placed of the Tonbridge runners, finishing 7th in the Senior Men’s race. This was still an excellent run, although a much tougher experience after the high of winning the English National title two weeks earlier. Alex Howard finished 15th, completing his best cross country season to date, as they both helped Kent to a 6th place team finish.
Kent’s only team medal came from the first race, where the under 20 men won their championship, with Matthew Dubery finishing 19th and being the fourth scorer home. Verity Hopkins had a good run in the Senior Women’s race, competing for Sussex and placing 24th.
On the roads, the biggest event in the county, at the weekend was the Paddock Wood Half Marathon, which had around 1700 participants. Michael Ellis was the first from Tonbridge AC home, in 8th, with a pb time of 69.37. Helen Gaunt ran 80.13 to finish as 3rd female overall.
The Chester 10km road race on Sunday, featured masters or veteran age group runners, representing the home nations and Tonbridge had two runners in the England teams, for the over 35 age group. Dan Bradley finished 11thoverall in 32.04, whilst Nichola Evans was 12th in the women’s race in 38.18.