Photo – Lucas Cameron, Grazia Manzotti, Jack Higgins at the Kent Athletics Awards dinner
James Kingston, from Tonbridge Athletic Club, came very close to winning the men’s race at the UK Cross Challenge event, at Llandaff Fields, Cardiff, on Sunday. The event is one of three in the series, which also includes the GB European Trials at the end of the month and the UK Inter Counties Championships, in March.
The course in Cardiff covered three laps of relatively flat and fast terrain and was around 9,500 metres long, whilst the line-up featured some of the best distance runners in the UK. It was at the after a lap that Kingston hit the front and was able to gradually whittle down the lead group. At the halfway stage there were three clear, with Kingston forcing the pace, just ahead of Matt Ramsden who placed 6th in the European under 23 championships a year ago and Kadar Omar, who recently won the Great South 10 miles in 47.26.
Kingston bravely kept pushing at the front, knowing his strength was his best chance of winning. He managed to shake off the pursuing Omar about a kilometre from the finish, but Ramsden hung on and was able to sprint to the finish and win by just two seconds in 27.26, with Omar 3rd in 27.39. Jamie Macdonald also had an outstanding run to finish 14th, whilst Tom Claridge showed that he is returning to his best in 41st. Amelia Beeston, who is one of the most improved Tonbridge AC runners over the last year, placed 36th in the women’s race, whilst Harrison Fraser was 17th in the under 20 men’s event.
On Friday evening, the Kent Athletics Association held their President’s Annual Awards Dinner, where three members of Tonbridge Athletic Club were presented with awards. Jack Higgins, who races mainly over 800m and 1500m, was named as male athlete of the year. Lucas Cameron, who represented Great Britain over 400m, won the junior male athlete of the year award and Grazia Manzotti won the female veteran’s award for her race walking performances.
Above – James Kingston (left) was 2nd at the Cardiff Cross Challenge