Photo – Rae Le Fay
Rae Le Fay, who is currently based at the University of San Francisco, broke two Tonbridge Athletic Club records at the weekend. The first came in the 3000 metres steeplechase, on Friday evening at Stanford, where she ran 10.22.66, improving Noémie Thomson’s mark by five seconds.
Le Fay then travelled to Fresno for an 800 metres race on Saturday, where she won in 2.08.05. This time she improved the record set in 1987 by Kelly Holmes, when she was a member of Tonbridge AC. Holmes went on to join the army, before returning to the sport a few years later as a member of Ealing and Middlesex, before winning her two Olympic gold medals in 2004.
An even older Tonbridge record came under threat at the weekend, when Asha Root ran 54.21 for 400 metres in her semi-final at the British Universities and Colleges Championships, at Cardiff. The club record stands at 54.1 set by Avril Bowring in 1970, whilst second on the list has been Sue Pettett with 54.44 from 1973. Both Bowring and Pettett represented England at the Commonwealth Games, whilst Root is now sandwiched between the two of them on the club’s all-time ranking list. Root went on to finish 3rd in the final, on Monday, in 54.62.
There were two league meetings taking place at the weekend. The Tonbridge men and women both won their Division One matches at the Southern Counties Veteran’s League, at Eltham, on Friday evening. On the men’s side there were wins by Steve Tester (m40, 400 metres) and Luke Williams (m35, Pole Vault). The women notched up a significant number of wins from Nichola Evans (w40, 3000m), Selina Hawker (w35, Pole Vault), Angie Crush (w50, Pole Vault), Charlotte Nicholls (w35, Discus), Lisa Knight (w50, 400m), Nina Ridge (w50, Discus) and Diane Bradley (w60, Shot Put and Discus).
On Sunday, the Tonbridge under 14 and 16 squad finished 4th of the six clubs in the first match of the Southern Premier Division, in the UK Youth Development League. It was a good first match of the season, where Tonbridge will hope to maintain their Premier Division status. A-string wins came from Seren Field and Max Hepburn Evans in the under 16 Discus competitions, plus Maya Ping in the same age group at 800 metres. The only under 14 win came from the boys’ 4×100 metres relay team of Teddy Adkin, Freddie Keem, David Konotey and Fife Alex Alade.
Apart from Asha Root’s success at the British Universities Championships Jamie Macdonald with 14.17.83 and Jake Brislane with 14.19.62 improved their 5000 metres personal bests significantly, on Monday.
Richard Preston became the first Tonbridge AC runner in the over 55 age category to break three hours in the marathon, when he ran 2.58.46 in Vancouver, Canada.