Photo – Steve Simmons, Matilda Secker and Lewis Church in Sweden
Over the last week, Tonbridge Athletic Club athletes produced a string of indoor track and field performances, which made it one of the most historic in terms of records.
It started on Wednesday when Ted Higgins, finished 4th in the Ayo Falola Dream Mile at Lee Valley, recording 4.01.81 and being the first non-sponsored runner in the race. This was by far his best performance over the distance. James West followed on Friday evening, in Boston, USA, competing over 5000 metres, where he finished 8th with a time of 13.18.82, in a race won by Grant Fisher of the USA, who set a World Indoor Record. West’s time was the fastest run by a UK athlete this year, the 9th fastest ever indoors and a Tonbridge AC indoor record.
On Saturday, Kieran Eland won the National 400 metres event, in the Keely Klassic meeting, at Birmingham in 47.42, which was not only a Tonbridge AC indoor record, but faster than his own outdoor record. At the same meeting, Jack Higgins was in the 800 metres, where he finished strongly to place 3rd in 1.46.69. This improved his own club indoor record by more than a second, is the 4th fastest in the UK this year and 22nd fastest on the UK all-time list. Meanwhile, in Gothenburg, Sweden, Higgins’ training partner, Jordan Chambers, won the 800 metres event at the Bannister Classic Meeting, with a new indoor personal best of 1.51.66.
On Sunday, Asha Root set a new Tonbridge indoor women’s 400 metres record of 55.40 when winning her semi-final, at the British Universities and Colleges Championships, in Sheffield. She then improved her time to 55.35, when finishing 3rd in the final later in the day. Also, at the British Universities Championships, Ben Gardiner won the men’s 800 metres in 1.50.03, holding off the fast-closing David Race by just 0.02 seconds.
Competing across the weekend, near Stockholm, in Sweden, three Tonbridge multi-eventers represented England. Lewis Church was in fine form winning a closely contested men’s Heptathlon by just 23 points and adding to his own Tonbridge club record with a total of 5831 points. This puts him 2nd on the UK rankings for the year and 9th on the all-time list. He had three individual event personal bests within the heptathlon, including a 60m hurdles of 8.15 and 1000 metres in 2.39.29. He also threw the Shot Put 15.64m which is a Tonbridge indoor record and longer than Mark Davies’ outdoor record, set in 1990.
Steve Simmons made his debut in an England vest and finished 7th overall with 5389 points in the heptathlon. Matilda Secker was 6th in the under 20 women’s pentathlon, with a personal best score of 3495 points, which included individual event bests of 1.76 metres in the High Jump and 8.93 for 60m hurdles.
Apart from all the indoor action, the highlights on the roads at the weekend were at the Battersea 10km race, on Saturday morning. Verity Hopkins finished 3rd in the women’s race in 33.36 and Cole Gibbens was 11th in the men’s race in 29.45, his first ever performance over the distance in under 30 minutes.
This coming weekend Tonbridge athletes will be competing in the National Cross-Country Championships, at Parliament Hill Fields, Hampstead and at the British Indoor Championships, at Birmingham.