Photo – The Tonbridge team
Tonbridge Athletic Club’s men’s team missed winning the South of England 12 Stage Road Relay Championship by just four seconds, on Saturday. The race consisted of alternating legs of 8.7 kilometres and short legs of 5 kilometres, around the pathways of Milton Keynes.
Lewis Mills ran the opening, very competitive, long leg to come home in 8th with a 26.46 clocking, whilst Harrison Fraser then had a strong short lap in 15.04. This put Tonbridge in a group of four clubs, who were competing for third. However, on the long leg 3 Alex Howard ran 26.00 to move Tonbridge into second behind Hercules Wimbledon.
Toby Bawtree ran 15.41 to keep Tonbridge in second place, before James Crombie’s 27.52 saw them slip to fourth, as Hercules Wimbledon held a good lead. Jordan Chambers went on leg 6 and had one of his best longer races, clocking 15.16, which was the fastest time overall on the lap and moved the team into third, at the halfway mark.
Tonbridge had a very strong spell at this stage of the races, with James Kingston running the fastest long leg of the entire race in 24.50, moving the team into a clear lead. Calum Lang with 16.00 maintained this on leg 8, before Ted Higgins ran 25.25 to open an even bigger margin. Then came Jack Higgins, with 14.43, giving Tonbridge a lead of more than three minutes over Hercules Wimbledon, with Cambridge and Coleridge in third. However, the Cambridge team were the main threat, since they had left their two strongest runners for the final legs. Jack Higgins’ time was the second fastest overall short leg of the entire race.
Steve Strange ran 29.03, giving Cameron Chambers a lead of around 40 seconds over the Wimbledon and Cambridge anchor runners. Cambridge, through international Tom Keen, closed rapidly and were level with Chambers with a kilometre to run. As they entered the stadium and onto the track, with around 300 metres to go Chambers was valiantly trying to hold the lead, but Keen was able to sweep by and win in 4 hours 12 minutes and 18 seconds, just four seconds clear. Chambers had clocked 15.36.
The Tonbridge team placed 33rd, although only the A-team qualified for the National relay, that takes place at Sutton Coldfield.