Photo – Matilda Secker at the Welsh under 20 international
Tonbridge athletes won two medals at the National under 15 and 17 championships, at Birmingham over the weekend, whilst three more represented England international teams.
At Birmingham, competing in the Commonwealth Games stadium, Elsa Pawson won the under 15 gIrls’ Pole Vault with a clearance of 2.92 metres. This gave Pawson a ten centimetres gap on second-placed Lana Knight, from Scotland. The second medal came from Joseph Hunt, who finished 3rd in the under 17 men’s 1500 metres steeplechase in 4.35.89.
Two Tonbridge AC athletes represented England teams at the weekend. Matilda Secker finished 2nd in the women’s High Jump, at the Welsh Athletics under 20 International, clearing 1.66 metres. Secker is still in the under 17 age group, so was competing at an older age group. Another England representation was gained by Verity Hopkins, who ran 74.07 in her first international appearance, at the Antrim Half Marathon, in Northern Ireland, on Sunday.
James West had a busy week, firstly racing on the track at Watford, on Wednesday, over 1500 metres, where he beat a top-class field in the British Milers Club Gold Standard event. West ran 3.36.01, a time that moves him to eighth on the UK rankings for the year. Then two days later, he was competing in the Mid Cheshire 5km road race, on Friday evening, where he won a close race in 14.02. Harriet Woolley ran a 17.43 personal best, when representing an England over 35 women’s team, at the same event. Also, at Watford, some of the Tonbridge 800 metres men were in action with Ben Murphy running 1.49.81, Jordan Chambers ran precisely the same time and Charlie Crick 1.50.45.
Anne-Sophie Bremans broke the Tonbridge AC women’s 600 metres record, on Sunday, when she ran 1.33.92, at Oudenaarde in Belgium. The time bettered the previous mark, set by Katherine Reeves, in 1991 and was also an under 20 age group record. At Stirling, Scotland, on Friday evening Kieran Reilly ran 4.06.15, at the Monument Classic Mile meeting.
Above – Verity Hopkins at the Antrim Half Marathon