James West (photo) finally achieved the sort of 5000 metres time that he had been aiming at for a while, when he ran 13.22.98, on the indoor track, in Boston, USA, on Saturday. His time took nearly ten seconds from the Tonbridge AC club record, set by Mark Scrutton, at Crystal Palace, in 1982.
West had won the British outdoor title this Summer, but until now had not managed to run as fast as he believed he could. Based in Manchester and part of the New Balance sponsored group, he flew to the States to take advantage of current form and to help with his world ranking. The time puts him 7th on the UK rankings for this year and moves him into the top fifty on the all-time list. West will now hope to build on this performance, as he focuses on the indoor track season in the new year.
At home, the Kent Veterans Cross Country Championships took place on Saturday, at Central Park, Dartford, with Tonbridge AC having plenty of competitors contributing to some excellent team performances. The over 55 women won their team competition, with Maria Heslop taking the individual title, ahead of Tina Oldershaw, returning after a long injury lay off. Lucy Pitcairn-Knowles, in 5th , completed the team. There were silver medals for the over 35 and 45 women’s teams, plus the over 60 men, whilst the over 40 men’s team collected bronze medals. Graeme Saker won the over 60 men’s title, after a race long battle with Andy Howey, of Tunbridge Wells Harriers, whilst Alan Newman maintained his good Winter form by winning the over 70s race.
Tonbridge also had four competitors at the British Masters 5km road championships, on Sunday and all of them came away with at least one medal. Dan Bradley was 3rd in the over 35 men’s category in 15.33, whilst the women won the over 35 team title through Helen Gaunt (2nd in 17.30), Nichola Evans (9th in 18.20) and Harriet Woolley (10th in 18.27).
Phoebe Barker, in her final year at Cambridge University, won the women’s race in the Varsity cross country match against Oxford, held at Wimbledon Common, on Saturday.
Harry Kendall had his first competition for a few weeks, completing three events at an indoor meeting at Lee Valley, on Saturday. He ran a personal best for the 60 metres hurdles of 8.46 and recorded a 13.42 metres Shot Put, plus 4.20m in the Pole Vault.
Earlier in the week, James Kingston received confirmation that he had been selected for the Great Britain under 23 men’s cross-country team, that us due to compete in the European Championships, in Brussels, on Sunday.