After a lot of work being completed behind the scenes by Kent officials, the county athletics championships went ahead at the weekend and proved to be a great success. Tonbridge athletes delivered 42 medals in total, with 14 being gold. Very wet and windy conditions challenged everyone on Saturday, whilst on Sunday the sun came out and the temperatures rose.
In the Senior age group, Kieran Eland captured the 400 metres title in 50.08, whilst Alex Hookway claimed his fourth county Shot Put title, before winning a silver in the Discus and bronze in the Pole Vault, the latter with 3.50 metres. Jordan Chambers, having his first track race in Tonbridge colours, finished 2nd in the 1500 metres with a personal best of 4.05.07, before returning on Sunday to finish 5th over 800 metres in 1.59.79.
The under 20 age group proved to be the most successful for the club, as they picked up 14 medals, including 6 wins. Samantha Stubbs ran 15.35 to win in her first outing at 100m hurdles, in her new age group, whilst also capturing a bronze in the Shot Put, with 9.81m. Kirsty-Anne Ebbage won the Hammer with 38.32m and was 2nd in the Discus with 34.94m. Freya Ridge won the High Jump with 1.60m and placed 3rd in the Javelin. On the track, Anton Bachorski ran 11.41 to win the 100m, which was run into extreme winds, whilst Tonbridge won the 800m and 1500m through Adam Singleterry in 2.04.25 and James Kingston (photo) in 4.11.70, respectively. Zac Beasty set a new High Jump pb of 1.85m to take the silver medal, whilst over 400m Emily Bowart with 58.54 and Issy Fassnidge with 59.29 both set pbs when finishing 2nd and 3rd.
The only gold medal winner from the under 17 age group came from Lucinda White, who cleared 2.60m in the Pole Vault, although she added to this with a bronze from the Javelin, throwing 35.69m. Lily Stewart won two silver medals, recording 42.58 and 2.23.84 for 300m and 800m, the former being a personal best. Georgia Baker set a new personal best of 5.17m in the Long Jump to finish 2nd and won a silver medal in the 80m hurdles, setting a pb in the heat of 12.44. Saskia Lean won the silver in the High Jump with 1.50m. In the sprints, Lucy Tallon finished 2nd in the 100m in 12.74 and 3rd in the 200m in 26.80, both being run into strong headwinds. On the men’s side, in the under 17s, Felix McArdle-Hodge threw 44.71 to finish 2nd in the Javelin.
Joe Stone proved to be the most successful Tonbridge athlete at the championships, as he won the under 15 boys Long Jump and Triple Jump, with 5.60m and 12.69m, the latter being a personal best by more than half a metre and leading the UK age group rankings. He also added two silver medals to his tally, as he somehow ran a pb of 24.70 into the wind at 200m and recorded 13.11 in the 80m hurdles. Also, in the under 15 boys age group, Sam Newton added 5cm to his High Jump pb to record 1.50m and take home the gold medal. He has now added 15cm to his best from last year. Tom Walker also set a personal best of 2.45m to win the Pole Vault. Tom Daly finished 2nd over 300m, setting a pb of 42.82.
Lily Slack was the sole gold medal winner in the under 15 girls’ age group as she won the 1500m in 4.50.98, whilst Ellie Cannon won a silver medal in the Discus with 24.19m.
Elsewhere, the highlight on the distance running side, were personal bests being recorded in the Battersea under the Lights 5km road race, on Friday evening. In a top-quality event Corey De’Ath finished 7th in 14.16.1, Alex Howard 8thin 14.21.9 and Ryan Driscoll 15th in 14.36.1. Verity Hopkins finished 13th in the women’s event in 17.25.4.