Photo – James Kingston (left) after finishing second in Belgium
James Kingston, from Tonbridge Athletic Club, was selected for a four-man England cross country team that travelled to Belgium at the weekend. They were competing in the Cross Cup series, at Roeselare, where the men’s race was over 7,800 metres.
As with many cross-country-races on the continent, the course consisted of several laps, on this occasion being five. Kingston started sensibly, alongside his England team mates, just outside the top dozen, but soon took closer order. With a lap to go there was a clear gap between the three leaders with Kingston alongside two top class Belgians.
Kingston eventually finished second, in 23.22, five seconds behind the winner. Jacob Cann finished 4th for England and the reigning National Cross Country Champion, Richard Slade was 8th.
Also competing abroad, Verity Hopkins travelled to Valencia for the half marathon, considered one of the fastest courses in the world. She came away with a personal best of 71.43, which improved her previous mark by nine seconds. She paced the race perfectly at just inside 5.30 per mile, with the final few miles being her fastest. The time gave her 23rd place in the women’s race, which was won by Agnes Ngetich, of Kenya, who was 4th in this year’s World Championship 10,000m final in Tokyo.