Photo – Kieran Eland (centre) after winning the Southern 400m championship
Kieran Eland and James Kingston, from Tonbridge Athletic Club, won South of England Championships, at the weekend, in the men’s 400 metres and 1500 metres, respectively. The championships were held, for the first time, at Walton on Thames, in sunny and warm conditions.
Eland qualified for Sunday’s final by finishing 2nd in his heat in 49.54, but then surpassed even his own expectations in the final. He ran 48.05 to win by just 0.03 seconds, ahead of Tope Adeye, of Enfield and Haringey and in the process improved his personal best from 48.73.
James Kingston, who won the South of England Cross Country Championship, over 15 kilometres, back in January, raced in the 1500 metres at Walton, where his closest rival was a training partner, Jordan Chambers. After a slow first lap, Kingston took the lead after 800 metres, with Chambers moving into second, with 200 metres to go. It was Kingston’s strength which prevailed over Chambers’ speed, with the former winning in 3.55.58. Also, at the championships, Calum Laing placed 4th in the 3000m steeplechase, Kirsty-Anne Ebbage 5th in the Discus and Lucy Tallon was 6th in the under 20 women’s 100 metres.
Anton Bachorski, competing in an invitation 100 metres, at Chorzów, Poland came very close to his recent personal best, when he finished 4th in 10.52. Later in the meeting he represented Poland for the first time, in the under 23 men’s 4×100 metres relay team.
The weekend had begun on Friday evening, when Tonbridge AC hosted the Southern Counties Veterans League fixture. There were wins for both the men’s and women’s squads, who top their respective Kent divisions, after the completion of three matches, from six. Amongst the highlight performances were wins and club records from Mark McAllister (over 50 men’s 100m in 12.2) and Charlotte Nicholls (over 35 women’s Javelin, 23.62m), whilst McAllister also joined Steve Daly, Steve Tester and Ben Richardson in setting a Tonbridge over 35 men’s 4x100m relay record of 47.4.
The club’s under 13 and 15 squad also reached the halfway stage of the UK Youth Development League Premier Division matches, when they finished 4th of the six teams at Poole, on Saturday. The result leaves Tonbridge in 2ndplace overall, with a chance of making the UK final later in the season. There were five A-string wins, with two coming from Elsa Pawson in the under 15 girls’ 75m hurdles in 12.6 and the Pole Vault, with a personal best of 2.90m. Amelia Harris threw a pb of 22.82m to win the Hammer in the same age group, whilst under 13 wins came from Victor Watling, with a 1.45m High Jump pb and Ayanfeoluwa Afolabi in the girls’ Shot Put with 7.21m.
Other highlights from the last week included Harriet Woolley winning the Harvel 5 miles multi-terrain race, Steve Strange finishing 2nd at the Worthing 10k road race in 31.38 and Verity Hopkins running 4.30.31 for 1500m at Wimbledon.
Above – Jordan Chambers and James Kingston in the Southern 1500m final