Photo – Alex Howard leading the South of Thames Championship early on
There were some more impressive runs from Tonbridge Athletic Club’s distance runners at the weekend. on both the road and country.
James Kingston was invited to race in the Friday Night Under The Lights 5 miles road race, at Battersea Park, amongst 250 other competitors. Whilst London was alive with office Christmas parties, these runners were lining up to push to their limits on the three-lap course. Amongst them was Jake Wightman the World Championships 1500m silver medallist from Tokyo in September and previous World champion at the distance. Also toeing the line was Jack Kavanagh, who just a month ago, set a 5k course record at Battersea Park of 13.34.
There had been rumours that some would attack the fastest ever 5 miles race in UK history of 22.35, but the opening couple of miles saw a group still in contention. However, around the halfway point, Kavanagh was the first to up the pace and was soon clear, alongside Kingston. It was then Kingston’s turn to take the lead and these two pushed each other until Kavanagh found the extra gear over the final 400 metres to win in 22.49, with Kingston finishing in 22.53. Both were well inside the previous course record and were also the fastest two times in the UK this year. Kingston’s time places him 14th fastest Brit ever at the distance. Wightman finished 3rd 31 seconds behind Kingston. Meanwhile, also having an outstanding race, in 12th was Ben Cole who ran 23.52.9, to record the 3rd fastest ever time by an over 40 age group athlete. Cole then had the determination to return on Saturday to help the Tonbridge team at Wimbledon.
The South of Thames Cross Country Championships took place at Wimbledon Common, in glorious sunshine, on Saturday, with the Tonbridge men hoping to retain the trophies they had won a year ago. The course consisted of three laps and was 12 kilometres long, but Alex Howard spearheaded the field just 400 metres in. He applied pressure early on and built a formidable advantage throughout to win in 40.12. Jamie Macdonald had a race long battle with Noah Armitage-Hookes of Kent AC and at one point on the last lap was behind him. However, he rallied towards the end to finish second in 40.40.
Ben Cole, after his epic race the night before, started steadily but came through to finish 9th, with Tom Claridge next in 10th. Harrison Fraser (13th) and George Marshall (16th) secured the six-to-score team win for Tonbridge, over sixteen other teams, with Belgrave second. The 12 to score team also involved Tom Lockhart (19th), Mark Pepper (24th), Calum Laing (31st), Jordan Chambers (37th), Sam Smialowski (38th) and Ollie White (47th), as 219 men finished.
Phoebe Barker won the silver individual women’s medal, when she finished 2nd to Molly Smith of Herne Hill Harriers.