Puxty leads the way to claim long-distance title

Kent 3,000m/10,000m Championships

The Kent long distance track championships attracted good fields to Central Park, Dartford. The under-17 3,000m title went to James Puxty (Tonbridge) in 9min38.35sec, who was joined on the podium by Tom Manning (Dartford Harriers, 9.44.41) and Daniel Blades (Tonbridge, 9.46.65). The top six was completed by James Rolls (Dartford, 9.53.47), Quinn Austin (M&M, 9.54.40) and Jack Payton (M&M, 9.55.35). Anna Weston (Invicta East Kent, 10.38.70) took the junior women’s title from Lucy Thompson (Tonbridge, 10.54.14) and Joanne Clowes (Blackheath, 11.50.54). The senior women’s 3,000m gold went to Isabel Bradley (Kent AC, 10.30.81) from Stephanie Hearn (M&M, 10.59.19) and Amber Reed (Blackheath, 10.59.34). Amy Clements (Kent AC, 35.41.30) claimed gold in the senior women’s 10,000m and age-group titles went to W40 Lynne Champion (Istead & Ifield, 43.50.27) and W50 Sharon Hawkins (Paddock Wood, 44.11.23). The men’s 10,000m was a battle for supremacy between Medway and Maidstone club-mates Twelde Menges (32.42.62) and Tom Collins (32:58.50), with former champion Peter Tucker (Blackheath, 33.03.43) in for the bronze. Age-group champions included under20 Simon Habton (M&M, 34.40.79), M40 Andrew Green (Dartford Harriers, 35.55.07), M50 Christian Poulton (Cambridge Harriers, 36.31.79) and M60 John Wilkins (Invicta, 49.34.95). (10.26.7) in the M35 3,000m were the track highlights and Steve Hesketh (13.23.7) was third in the M60 3,000m, as well as picking up good points in the M50 400m (76.6), pole vault (1.50) and hammer (17.57). Nigel Rumsey only just made the start of the M35 400m (58.1), finishing fourth, with Alex Beech (61.0) third B-string in support. Ronchetti, Wilkins, Rumsey and Beech made a useful 4x400m quartet to finish third (4.09.1). Ronchetti (9.00) was third in the M35 triple jump; Beech (15.03) was sixth in the M35 hammer; Rob Sibley (9.03) fifth in the M50 triple jump and Clive Thompson (33.58) second in the M60 hammer to complete the team effort. The final event is at Medway Park on Friday, July 15.