Photo – Ethan Rocks winning the under 20 men’s 800m at the Kent indoor Championships
James Kingston, from Tonbridge Athletic Club, has been named in the Great Britain team, which is due to take part at the World Cross Country Championships, in Belgrade, Serbia, over the Easter weekend. This will be Kingston’s first GB senior team representation, having competed for the under 23s at the European Championships in December.
The Kent Indoor Championships took place at Lee Valley Athletics Centre at the weekend, with plenty of Tonbridge Athletic Club members competing. A number came away with gold medals, plus some Tonbridge club records.
Asha Root completed a 200 metres and 400 metres double, when winning both the women’s events, with times of 25.16 and 56.08. Also, amongst the senior events were wins in the men’s Pole Vault for Lewis Church who cleared 4.50m and Henry Marshall who won the 400m in 49.86, which was an indoor personal best.
In the under 20 age group, Lucy Tallon completed the sprint double, when winning the 60m in 7.61 and the 200m in 24.43, the latter being a Tonbridge indoor record. Lily Slack showed she is getting back to her best form, with a front running win over 800m in 2.17.07. Amelie Rabbidge equalled the club record when winning the 60m hurdles in 8.92 and Matilda Secker also equalled the best-ever Tonbridge mark in the High Jump with 1.76m. Lucinda White won the Pole Vault with 3.40m, which was her best performance of the indoor season. Ethan Rocks was the only winner on the track in the men’s under 20 age group, as he finished strongly in the 800m in 2.01.29. In the field, Dante McNichol won the High Jump with 1.75m and Reef Page the Shot Put with 13.11m.
There were three gold medals from the under 17s, with Ella Thomas recording 1.68m in the High Jump, Araba Taylor setting a Long Jump personal best of 4.81m and Mimi Marshall making her debut in the 2000m walk.
There were some good performances at the Essex 20-mile road race, on Sunday, which incorporated an inter counties event. Verity Hopkins won the women’s race in 1.57.24, which broke Lucy Reid’s club record. Dan Bradley was 7thoverall and Michael Ellis 8th, as they ran 1.51.05 and 1.52.24. All three of these runners are aiming at competing in the London Marathon, in April.
A few younger members of the club competed at the English Schools Cross Country Championships, held at Pontefract, on Saturday. The highlights included Toby Bawtree finishing in 28th and Connor Prendergast 53rd in the Inter Boys’ race, helping Kent to the team title. Tom Claridge in 20th and Harrison Fraser 38th were the first two home for Kent in the senior boys’ race and helped Kent to bronze medals.
On Saturday, the Podium Festival of Road Racing took place in Leicester, with most competing over 5 kilometres. James West headed the Tonbridge contingent with 8th place in an international field, being the second Brit home. West ran 13.44. Tonbridge also had Alasdair Kinloch with 14.29, Simon Coppard 14.44, Cameron Chambers 14.47, Corey De’Ath 14.56 and Will Beeston 14.59. In the women’s races, three Tonbridge runners ran personal bests as Charlotte Alexander ran 16.28, Phoebe Barker 16.35 and Katie Goodge 18.05.
In an innovative event, where runners competed in a 1km time trial, starting a minute apart, Ben Murphy was just two seconds away from the fastest lap with 2.22, finishing 4th and Jordan Chambers ran 2.25 to be 7th quickest.