Anton Bachorski, competing in Szczecin, Poland, where he now spends most of his time, ran 6.88 for 60 metres indoors to set a new Tonbridge Athletic Club men’s record, at the weekend. It was a record that he had previously held equally with Jack Lennard, at 6.90.
Nearer to home, Ben Murphy (photo) opened his indoor season by winning the London Indoor Games 800 metres, at Lee Valley in 1.49.96, well inside his previous best indoors. The time puts Murphy very near the top of the early season UK rankings. Jordan Chambers won the men’s C race, also with an indoor pb of 1.53.74, whilst Jess Murphy ran 2.22.62 which was an outright best in the women’s 800 metres.
In the sprints, at Lee Valley, Kieran Eland ran one of the fastest indoor 400 metres ever by a Tonbridge athlete, recording 49.70. Similarly, Asha Root with 58.28 and Emily Bowart at 59.84 recorded times not far away from Katie White’s indoor club record of 57.43. Over the same distance, Anne-Sophie Bremans ran 58.72 for 400 metres in Belgium, at the Flemish under 18 championships.
Maddison Illsley had a good weekend, recording personal bests at 60m with 8.19 and 60m hurdles at 9.08, which might be the best-ever time from a Tonbridge athlete, as no record is currently listed.
Club over 50 age group indoor records were set by Steve Daly with 8.23, over 60 metres and Diane Wright, with 30.70 over 200 metres. Meanwhile, on Sunday at Sheffield, Ian Crawley and Richard Christian competed in the British Masters Indoor Pentathlon Championships, where they finished first and third in the over 55 men’s competition.
The weekend featured county schools’ cross country championships taking place all over England, with the Kent Championships held at The Hop Farm, Paddock Wood. Young athletes were competing for their districts, with more than sixty Tonbridge AC members in action. Oliver Head won the Junior Boys’ race for school years 8 and 9, whilst Matthew Taylor finished 2nd in the Senior Boys’ event. Lily Slack was 3rd in the Junior Girls’ event, Josh Prendergast 4th in the Inter Boys’ race (years 10 and 11) and both Sophie Preston and Matthew Dubery finished 5th in their respective Senior age group races.
On Saturday, Max Nicholls won what might be the only fell race in the South of England, when he came home first in the Boxhill race.
On Sunday, Helen Gaunt was the first woman home in the Canterbury 10 miles road race, whilst Dan Bradley finished 3rd overall. Gaunt ran 60.04 to set a new Tonbridge age record for the over 35 and 40 age groups, whilst Bradley’s time of 52.00 was also a personal best.
Videos from the Kent Schools Cross Country Championships and also Sunday’s 800 metres races at the London indoor Games are available here – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKfMITKiEmzvQ52pNmp6tHQ
