Photo – Ted Higgins racing at Twickenham on Wednesday
Although there were no league meetings for Tonbridge Athletic Club, last week, there were plenty of excellent individual performances. Two of the standout runs came from twin brothers Jack and Ted Higgins, on Wednesday evening at the British Milers Club Meeting, held at St Mary’s University, Twickenham. Rarely in this country are conditions so perfect for middle distance racing, being warm and still, which combined with top national level start lists made for some excellent races and times.
Jack Higgins came close to winning the men’s 800 metres A-race, but was overtaken a few metres from the finish by Reece Sharman-Newell, of Basingstoke. The two were separated by just 0.08 seconds, with Higgins recording 1.46.41and remaining in ninth spot on this year’s UK rankings.
Ted Higgins lined up later in the evening, finishing 4th in the 1500m A-race, where ten of the eleven competitors ran personal bests. Joe Wigfield of Wirral won in 3.36.47, with Higgins recording 3.37.36. Higgins’ time moved him ahead of his brother Jack on the Tonbridge all-time rankings, where he is now third behind James West and Olympian Andy Graffin. Ted Higgins is now number fourteen on the current UK 1500m rankings for the year.
Also at Twickenham, Jake Brislane ran a personal best over 3000m of 8.15.60, as did Isaac Arnott with 8.32.08, whilst Ethan Rocks was close to his 800m pb with 1.54.40.
James West raced over 5000m, at Turku, Finland, on Tuesday evening, recording 13.27.37, despite suffering stomach issues on the day. He will be hoping to run even quicker as the season develops.
Some of the club’s top sprinters were in action over the weekend. On Saturday, Henry Marshall ran personal bests over both 100 and 200 metres. He ran under eleven seconds for the first time with a legal wind reading, in his first 100m heat with 10.97, but then went even quicker later, although there was advantageous wind reading, with 10.83. However, he topped these performances with a 21.54 clocking over 200m, which was a big personal best time. At the same meeting, Steve Tester equalled his own Tonbridge AC over 40 men’s 200m record with 23.40.
Two other sprinters setting new levels of performance were Asha Root and George Blake, who competed in the Newham meeting, on Sunday. The first round of 100m races was run with a strong wind assistance, where Root ran 11.96, her first ever time under 12 seconds and Blake ran 10.91, his fastest ever mark. Both returned for round two, where they ran wind-legal pbs of 12.03 and 11.04, respectively. Root added to her performances with her first sub 25 second time for 200m, when she ran 24.77, although with a wind reading fractionally too strong for record purposes.
Harry Owen set a new Pole Vault personal best on Monday, at Bromley, when he jumped 4.11 metres, which added a remarkable 19 centimetres to his previous best. The mark moves him to well inside the UK’s top under 20 men at the event.
On the local road racing scene, Steve Strange won another 10km, to add to his recent successes, when he came home first in the Hawkhurst event, on Sunday. George Jacobs finished 2nd and Ollie White 4th.
Note – no SE Schools inter counties results available at time of writing