Kingston and Hopkins lead the way at Kent League

Photo – Harrison Fraser winning the under 17 men’s race

The second round of the Kent Cross Country League was hosted by Tonbridge Athletic Club, at The Schools at Somerhill, on Saturday, with around eight hundred competitors taking part, from across the age groups.

Unlike the first fixture, where individual wins had been hard to come by for Tonbridge, James Kingston and Verity Hopkins took the victories in the senior races. Harrison Fraser had his first ever win over cross country, in an exciting under 17 men’s race, whilst Josh Prendergast was the first of the under 20 men home. Also, first home in their veterans age group categories were Maria Heslop (women over 55), Graeme Saker (men over 60) and John Harley (men over 70).

The men’s race was run over 8 kilometres and at halfway there was a distinct gap between the top three and the remainder of the field. James Kingston and Ben Cole, from Tonbridge, were battling alongside the winner of the first league race, Tewelde Menges, from Medway and Maidstone. It was Kingston who then pushed the pace on to win in 25.54, fourteen seconds ahead of Menges, with Cole third.

Tonbridge then packed runners amongst the top finishers, with 5^th Ted Higgins, 6^th Jack Higgins, 7^th Michael Ellis, 9^thDan Bradley, 10^th Charlie Crick and 11^th Calum Laing, as around 300 started. Tonbridge won the 4 and 12 to score competitions, convincingly, with 17 clubs contesting the former.

The women’s race followed a similar pattern, with three breaking away in the first half, as torrential rain created the worst of the conditions. Hopkins pulled away to win in 32.03, twelve seconds clear of Blackheath’s Chloe Sharpe. Annabel Carter (9^th) and Maria Heslop (11^th) scored to give Tonbridge second place in the three to score contest, whilst the addition of Lizzie Owen (22^nd), Penny Pilbeam (24^th) and Ellen Pitcairn-Knowles (29^th), helped capture the six to score win.

Tonbridge took the team wins in the under 13 girls’, under 17 men’s and under 20 men’s races, were second in the under 15 boys’ and third in the under 13 boys’, under 13 girls’ and under 17 women’s competitions. Harrison Fraser and Toby Bawtree finished just two seconds apart, in 1^st and 2^nd in the under 17 men’s race, with Joseph Hunt in 5^th. Josh Prendergast (1^st), Jack Sharpe (4^th) and Angus Currie (6^th) scored for the under 20s, whilst Jess Poland was 6^thin the under 20 women’s race. Olivia Owen was first home for the under 17 women in 9^th.

Tonbridge had seven runners in the top twenty of the under 15 boys’ event, spearheaded by Peter Fitzmaurice (3^rd), James Petrie (4^th) and Henry Cleary returning to form in 6^th, whilst Aoife Foley (10^th) led the under 15 girls’ team home.

Both under 13 teams ran well, with the girls’ scorers being Purdey Hutchings (2^nd), Sienna Ellis (3^rd) and Hana Maeda (11^th). The boys’ squad had seventeen finishers, the first four having particularly good races by Jamie Rogers (4^th), Theo Ackerman (8^th), Jasper Burton (12^th) and Joel Graffin (13^th).

Tonbridge teams are due to compete this weekend in the National Cross Country Relay Championships, at Mansfield.