Photo – Coach Iain Presnell with Tom Daly, Asha Root, Dylan Purton and Lewis Jessup
Tonbridge Athletic Club had three gold medallists at the South of England Championships, held at Bedford, over the weekend.
On Saturday, Harry Owen added 20 centimetres to his personal best to clear 4.61 metres in the Pole Vault and win the under 20 men’s championship. This also broke the Tonbridge AC age group record.
Then on Sunday, day two of the championships, the club had a twenty-minute spell that covered four finals, with a medal won in each of these. Asha Root upset the form book by winning the Senior Women’s 400 metres title in 53.76, just 0.02 seconds away from her club record. She won from Jess Astill, of Stevenage, who had defeated Root twice previously this season.
The third gold medal came from Lewis Jessup in the under 20 men’s 800 metres, where he cruised through his qualifying heat on Saturday before front running to a win in Sunday’s final. Jessup has been improving all season, after a five-year hiatus from the sport and lowered his personal best to 1.53.15 at these championships.
Tom Daly ran 48.64 to finish 2nd in the under 20 men’s 400 metres final, again after qualifying well from Saturday’s heats.
The senior men’s 400 metres is one of the most competitive events currently at Tonbridge AC and three from the same training group qualified for the final at the championships. These three are the top three fastest ever, over the distance from the club and finished in that order in the final. Dylan Purton was 2nd in 47.51, Henry Marshall 4th in 47.82 and Kieran Eland 7th in 48.80.
Two athletes from Tonbridge AC competed in European races last week, as part of the World Athletics Continental tour schedule. On Monday, Ted Higgins ran impressively over 1500 metres in Prague, to win in 3.37.66, whilst on Wednesday James West ran 13.42.85 and finished 12th over 5000 metres in Finland. This was West’s first race after returning from being injured at the end of last Summer.