Photo – Charlotte Alexander
Tonbridge Athletic Club travelled to Sutton Coldfield for the annual National Road Relay Championships, at the weekend, which featured races across the age groups. The overall results were mixed in these hard-fought competitions, featuring the top clubs in England.
The Tonbridge senior teams battled to finish 13th from 75 teams in the women’s race and 14th from 69 teams in the men’s race. Charlotte Alexander led the women off and came home a close-up 5th with a 14.26 split on the 4.3k long, undulating course. Katie Goodge (16.03), Phoebe Barker (14.28) and Lucy Thompson (16.12) completed the team, with Alexander and Barker running the 8th and 10th fastest laps of the entire race.
The men’s team had three runners making their first appearance in the race. Will Beeston ran 17.55 on the 5.9km loop, coming home 28th. He was followed by Max Selby (18.13), Cameron Chambers (19.24) and then James Kingston, who with 16.53 ran the 4th fastest time of the race. The fastest overall was Olympic Marathon fourth-placer, Emile Cairess, at 16.38. Lewis Mills (18.38) and Ted Higgins (18.00) completed the team.
The under 17 men had the best showing from the young athlete races, which were all run over three legs of 3.9km each. The under 17 men placed 5th with Ollie Head (12.20), Toby Bawtree (11.47) and Will Bachelor (12.19). Bawtree’s run was particularly impressive, as he clocked the 9th fastest lap of the event. With the B and C teams placing 23rd and 25th from the 81 starters, the squad looks strong for the rest of the Winter season.
The under 15 boys placed 11th, although it was the selected B-team who achieved that through Charlie Warren (12.57), Ethan Brooks (13.03) and Christian du Toit (13.29).
Both the under 13 and 15 girls’ teams raced well to finish 16th of 57 starters and 13th of 67 starting teams, respectively. Arianne Launders (15.25), Aimee Watts (15.09) and Emily Butcher (16.29) represented the under 13s and Aoife Foley (14.23), Purdey Hutchings (14.56) and Isabel Gowing (14.50) all had good performances for the under 15s.
This coming weekend Tonbridge will be competing at the first Kent Cross Country League fixture of the season, at Footscray Meadows.