Photo – The TAC women’s team at the Kent Cross Country League
Tonbridge Athletic Club had a good start to the Kent Cross Country League season, when round one of four races took place at Footscray Meadows, near Sidcup, on Saturday. Both the men’s and women’s teams won, whilst there was also some success in the younger age groups. In total there were ten races, held in generally glorious, sunny conditions, with good numbers and quality of runners in action.
The Tonbridge men’s team was headed by Ted Higgins, who won the 8 kilometres long race by 30 seconds in 25.32, only pulling away from Alex Richards of Bexley in the last quarter of the race. Lewis Mills finished 3rd, whilst Calum Laing had one of his best races to date in 4th and Jordan Chambers was 7th from 250 starters. Tonbridge won convincingly as twenty clubs completed a scoring team.
The women’s team win was a closer affair, with Tonbridge having three runners in the over 40 age category being the first scorers home. Elle Baker was always to the fore, eventually finishing 3rd, with Lizzie Owen (5th) and Nichola Evans (10th) both pacing it well and finishing strongly. Tonbridge won by seven points from Medway and Maidstone.
Tonbridge had a strong presence in several of the young athlete races. The under 14 boys won their team contest from the 13 clubs, finishing just one point ahead of Blackheath. Matthew Ayres finished 5th, with Toby Noel-Johnson (7th) and James Carter (9th) also scoring. The club had 15 of the 80 finishers.
Both the under 16 and 18 boys’ squads were very well represented, the former having 18 finishers. Both were 2nd in their team competitions, with the under 16s only losing by 2 points to Blackheath. The under 16 scorers were Jack Levett (2nd), Sam Shearer (6th) and Ted Vallins (10th), although Zac Pluckrose (11th) and Len Archard (12th) also both ran extremely well. In the under 18s the scorers were Ethan Brooks (2nd), Tom Weston-Simons (7th) and Oscar Cowling (22nd).
The under 18 women finished 2nd, once again behind Blackheath, but all had very encouraging performances. Purdey Hutchings led at one stage, after a steady start and eventually finished 3rd, with Isabel Gowing 7th and Aoife Foley 11th. The under 14 girls were also 2nd in their team competition through Lydia McClements (4h), Leonie Pit (10th) and Maia Soomal (15th). Aimee Watts led the under 16 girls home in 5th as the team placed 3rd. Eva Pluckrose (9th) and Emily Butcher (13th) also scored.
The youngest age group is now the under 12s, since the age groups have recently been adjusted in the UK. The boys had a team which was 3rd through Freddie Chapman (3rd), Reuben Miles (6th) and Gabriel Salsi (35th), whilst Ellora Soomal was the only starter for the Tonbridge girls and finished 25th.
This coming Saturday Tonbridge will be hosting the second event of the Kent Cross Country League series at The Schools at Somerhill.
Above – start of the men’s race at the Kent Cross Country League, at Footscray