Photo – James Kingston leading the men’s race in Nottingham
James Kingston, from Tonbridge Athletic Club, won the men’s race at the UK Inter Counties Cross Country Championships, on Saturday, at Wollaton Park, Nottingham. Kingston, who had finished 7th, 4th and 2nd the previous three years, was representing the Kent team. He became the first Tonbridge AC runner ever to win the UK title.
The course consisted of two small laps and two long laps, totalling just short of 10 kilometres. Kingston was generally the one pushing the pace at the front of a field which contained three hundred starters. His biggest challenge came from Richard Slade and Jacob Cann, who had represented Great Britain at the European Championships, in December. The three of them had built a gap over the rest of the field, after the initial two laps and then Slade was dropped midway through the third circuit.
Kingston knew he had to maintain the pressure on Cann and at the top of the steep hill, at the start of the final lap, he gained a few metres. This proved to be decisive, and he pulled further away to win in 29.15, with a gap of 17 seconds to Cann in second place. Alex Howard had one of his best races to finish 8th, whilst Calum Laing (128th) and Tom Lockhart (135th) also scoring for Kent. Tonbridge had another thirteen runners competing, across the age groups, with Harrison Fraser being the highest finisher, with 29th in the under 20 men’s race. Ollie White competed in the Para athlete race, held in conjunction with the inter county races and finished 5th.
On Sunday, Cole Gibbens retained his winner’s title at the Paddock Wood Half Marathon, where he recorded 64.43 to win by more than two minutes. Dan Bradley was the next Tonbridge runner home in 25th in 70.29. A few club age group records were broken, including Helen Gaunt with an over 45 best of 78.26, when she finished 3rd overall in the women’s race. Ben Shearer set an over 45 men’s record of 70.52 and Adrian Whitwam an over 50 age record of 75.06.
Following his recent 1500 metres performances of winning the UK Indoor Championships and recording 3.35.60, Jack Higgins’ selection for the upcoming World Championships was confirmed by the Great Britain selectors. Higgins will compete at the championships in Torun, Poland later in March.