Photo – Sam Newton
Sam Newton and Lucas Cameron, from Tonbridge Athletic Club, competed for the Great Britain team, at the World Under 20 Championships, in Eugene, USA, last week.
Newton was in the Decathlon, where he placed 20th, with a score of 7110 points, after a consistently solid ten events. His only personal best came in the Shot Put with a throw of 14.76 metres. Newton had suffered a bout of illness leading up to the championships, which meant that he was operating below his very best. An overall score near his very best might have produced a top ten placing.
Lucas Cameron stepped up from his recent performances at the European under 18 championships to gain selection for these championships in the mixed 4×400 metres relay. The team comprises two men and two women and after winning their heat on Thursday morning the team came back in the evening to finish 5th in the final.
At a very warm St Mary’s University, Twickenham, on Sunday evening, the British Milers Club held what was their highest quality ever meeting, featuring many national and international class athletes. Jack Higgins came very close to winning the men’s 1500 metres A-race when he finished 2nd in 3.36.44, just 0.03 seconds behind the winner Henry McLuckie. It was his fastest ever time outdoors, having only gone fractionally quicker when racing indoors in early March.
Jordan Chambers bounced back from an under-par performance at Watford on Wednesday evening by winning his 800 metres at Twickenham with a personal best of 1.49.22. There were also good runs by Alasdair Kinloch, who ran a season’s best of 3.50.91 over 1500 metres and Jamie Macdonald who ran a personal best of 8.12.46 for 3000 metres.
Earlier in the week, on Tuesday, Tonbridge AC hosted the latest of their monthly evening open meetings. There were some notable field event performances including Toby Gwinnell throwing the Discus a personal best of 40.79m, as an under 18. Ian Crawley was just short of his own club Javelin record, in the over 60 age group, with 37.36m, despite undergoing major knee surgery earlier this year. Arthur Munt (under 18) was very close to his best in the 200 metres with 22.34. Also, in the sprints Kieran Eland was fastest overall in both the 100 and 200 metres, with 11.06 and 21.81, the former being a personal best.