Photo – James Kingston (on far left) with the winning GB under 23 team
James Kingston, from Tonbridge Athletic Club, ran for the Great Britain team, at the European Cross Country Championships, in Turkey, on Sunday, where he finished 16th in the under 23 men’s race.
Kingston’s build up to the trials in late November had been impacted by illness, but the selectors showed faith in him, after an excellent series of races in previous weeks. The European event was held at Antalya, Turkey, with the under 23 race being held over 6324 metres, consisting of four main laps.
Kingston was a member of the six-man GB team and for most of the race was the third scorer, as Will Barnicoat led the team home with an individual victory. Kingston had moved into the top ten after three of the four laps and was 11th with just two minutes of running remaining. However, he had given his all and slipped a few places over the final 400 metres to finally finish 16th and be the fourth man home for the GB team, who won the team gold medals.
In the UK, storm Darragh caused havoc with fixtures and caused the cancellation of the Southern Inter Counties Cross Country Championships, at Croydon and the English Schools Cup Final at Leeds.
The indoor track and field season gets busier in the new year, but there are still a few events and championships taking place before then. At Lee Valley, on Sunday, a few Tonbridge AC sprinters raced over 300 metres. In the final race of the day Kieran Eland ran 34.61 and overtook Henry Marshall close to the finish, to set a new club indoor record. Marshall ran a personal best of 34.74. Asha Root ran an outright personal best of 40.05 in the women’s 300 metres, which was a Tonbridge club record aswell.