Decathlete Lewis Church, from Tonbridge Athletic Club, travelled to Grosseto, Italy at the weekend to compete in the Multistars Invitation Meeting, which provides top class competition for Europe’s combined events athletes.
For months, if not years, it has been a primary target by Church to achieve the Commonwealth Games Qualifying Standard, set by England Athletics, at 7750 points. Prior to the weekend Church’s best total and Tonbridge club record was 7545 points, although every year since his first ten-event competition in 2016, he has added to his best score.
The 25-year old has been competing for Tonbridge AC for 14 years and has dedicated much of his life to achieving his goals in athletics. Juggling part-time jobs, running his own coaching clubs for young athletes and improvising his training methods through the pandemic lockdown, have all been part of providing a structure around his dedication to athletics.
In Italy, Church started the Decathlon by running 100 metres in 11.50, which was very close to his best, before a Long Jump of 7.27 metres, his furthest ever mark by 23 centimetres, although wind-assisted. This put him in a very strong position to better his best-ever score. He underlined his consistency with a solid 14.36m in the Shot Put, before clearing 2.04m in the High Jump, just a centimetre below his best. He then completed the first day of competition with an outright personal best of 50.68 for 400 metres. His total points score at 4002 was 156 points up on where he was during his best Decathlon performance. However, he would need a pb of more than 205 points to hit the Commonwealth Games mark.
On Sunday, Church ran the 110 metres hurdles in 14.87, again very close to his best-ever time. A Discus throw of 41.02m was four metres below his pb, but a strong Pole Vault of 4.55m, which equalled his best, put him back on course, with two events remaining. He was now only 112 points ahead of his best score, at this stage. This was further eroded by a throw of 53.25m in the Javelin, which left him needing a 4.23.8 for 1500 metres, in the final event, more than four seconds quicker than his best, which had been set in a stand-alone race.
Church knew exactly what was required and in the 1500 metres had the help of a fellow competitor who took the pace on, that he was able to track. On the final lap he took the lead and with a strong finish recorded 4.20.44 to give him a final score of 7773 points, the best score by a GB athlete since 2019 and now 18th on the GB all-time rankings. This placed him 6th amongst the field of some of the top Decathletes in Europe. The achievement of the qualifying standard is only the first step towards representing England at the Commonwealth Games, since the overall athletics team is limited in size, so some selection decisions are likely.
There were some other excellent multi-event performances from Tonbridge athletes at the weekend, including Reef Page, Joe Stone, Oliver Brooke and Dante McNicholl filling the top four positions in the under 17 Octathlon, at the Somerset Schools open competition, which had 16 competitors. Samantha Stubbs finished 3rd in the Under 19 Senior Girls Heptathlon, whilst Matilda Secker was 4th in the under 17 Heptathlon, which included a superb 1.69m clearance in the High Jump.
Amongst other highlights from Tonbridge athletes at the weekend were a number of noticeable sprint marks over 100 metres. Josh Shaghaghi ran a wind-aided 10.70 at the British Universities meeting, whilst Harriet Medlen (u17) ran her fastest ever time of 12.35 at Dagenham, on Sunday. Also at Dagenham, Mark McAllister improved his Tonbridge over 50 men’s record to 12.30.
At the British Universities Championships Kirsty Ebbage finished 3rd in the Discus, breaking her own Tonbridge record with 43.77m. Charlotte Alexander finished 4th in the 5000 metres with a new best of 16.20.10, Kieran Reilly was 5th in the men’s 1500m in 3.47.81 and Asha Root set a new pb of 56.11, when finishing 6th in the women’s 400m final.
On Saturday, the Tonbridge under 13 and 15 team finished 2nd of the eight clubs in the Kent Young Athletes League, at Bexley. Full results are here – http://www.kcaa.org.uk/KYAL.htm
