Photo – Iain Presnell
James West, from Tonbridge Athletic Club, finished seventh in the final of the 5000 metres, at the European Championships, on Saturday night. The championships took place in the Olympic Stadium, in Rome, with the race being won by the World Champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen in 13.20.11, with West four seconds back.
This was West’s first ever appearance at a major championship and he will be hoping to experience more in the future. At the end of June, he is due to line up for the same event at the British Championships, at Manchester.
Tonbridge Athletic Club recently confirmed Iain Presnell as the new Club President, following the passing of Alan Bennett earlier this year. Presnell has held many roles, both within the club, Kent Athletics and Schools athletics over the years and first joined Tonbridge AC in the 1970s.
Although currently living in Poland, Anton Bachorski has retained his Tonbridge AC membership and still aims to compete for teams occasionally. He continues to develop his sprinting and at the weekend produced an excellent double, by breaking the club 100m and 200m records, with times of 10.41 and 21.14 at a meeting in Szczecin. Both events were run on Sunday and he won the shorter sprint and finished second in the longer event.
Tonbridge athletes collected six medals at the South of England Championships, at Eton, over the weekend. Asha Root ran a personal best of 54.77 to finish 2nd in the senior women’s 400 metres, whilst Kirsty-Anne Ebbage was close to her best when placing 2nd in the Discus with 46.66m.
The remaining medals came in the under 20 age group events, where the standout performance came from Amelie Rabbidge, who set a new club record, when finishing 3rd in the 100 metres hurdles in 14.42. The performance places her just outside the UK’s top ten this year. Silver medals also came from Lucinda White (Pole Vault) and Matilda Secker (High Jump), whilst Jacob Hunt finished 3rd in the 5000 metres.
Tonbridge AC had ten athletes competing at the British Milers Club Grand Prix, at Watford, on Saturday night. The 800 metres men produced some quick times. Ben Gardiner ran a personal best of 1.48.46, Jack Higgins 1.48.64, Ben Murphy 1.49.24 and Charlie Crick 1.50.82. Simon Coppard was close to his best over 1500m with 3.44.87, whilst Ally Kinloch (3.46.26) and Max Selby (3.50.75) improved their bests. Charlotte Alexander took more than eleven seconds from her 5000m pb with 16.08.75.
Amongst the gold medal winners at the Kent Schools Championships, on Saturday, at Gillingham were six Tonbridge AC athletes in the Inter age group, for under 17s. The medals came from Araba Taylor (300m hurdles), Ella Thomas (High Jump), Mimi Marshall (walk), Toby Bawtree (800m) and Sam Newton (Discus). Seren Field also won the Year 7 girls’ Shot Put and Javelin.