Alistair’s good as gold
Athletics
Alistair Shelley celebrated double gold for Maidstone district at the Kent Schools Cross-County Championships on Saturday.
Shelley was the winner of the Year 7 boys’ race at Dover in 10min51sec – a performance that helped Maidstone win the team prize, with Oliver Brownridge (fifth, 11.24), Kaz Gogol (14th, 11.50) and Finn Gentry (17th, 12.00) finishing in the top 20.
Callum Sheridan (31st, 12.23), Alfred Osbourne (37th, 12.29), Jack Morris (44th, 12.49), William Barber (49th, 12.55), Liam O’Neil (60th, 13.08), Fin Appleby (76th, 13.28) and Dominic Sage (89th, 13.54) also ran well.
Maidstone A were sixth, with Maidstone B 10th in the Year 7 girls’ race.
Amy Conner (24th, 11.21) led the way, with Jessica Bonner (41st, 11.45), Charlotte Muncaster (47th, 11.51) and Charlotte Highway (49th, 11.56) in the top 50.
They were joined by Emma Bennett (55th, 12.16), Lily Crossley (59th, 12.24), Amelia SimpsonMcGinty (61st, 12,27), Hannah Shibli (66th, 12.31), Lucy Tallon (76th, 12,50), Aoife Hyland (78th, 12.54), Josie Billingham (92nd, 13.40) and Maddie Brine (104th, 15.11).
The junior girls – Years 8 and 9 – finished second, with Isobel Shelley’s fourth place (12.27) earning automatic selection for the English Schools. Anna Palmer (eighth, 12.42), Rachel Anderson (15th, 13.04) and Martha Tatnell (20th, 13.12) also impressed, along with Annabel Young (23rd, 13.25), Fern Curran (34th, 13.55), Emma Ryan (41st, 14.05), Lauren Harker (42nd, 14.08), Elle Brown (54th, 14.41) and Millie Sands (68th, 15.00).
The junior boys finished 10th, led by Alex Adrian (32nd, 15.54).
George Cardwell (53rd, 16.58), Toby Sargent (61st, 17.09), Josh Fawell (68th, 17.24), Oliver Pope (74th, 17.31), Toby Hughes (82nd, 17.45), Oliver McCarthy (91st, 18.11) and Harvey Green (93rd, 18.16) completed the team.
Maidstone were second and eighth in the intermediate boys.
Ben Hughes was eighth (20.52), followed by Hamish Reilly (14th, 21.43), Joshua O’Brien (18th, 22.03), James Crombie (19th, 22.10), Mark Bloomfield (22nd, 22.28), Daniel McGlyn (24th, 22.46), Tom Gray (31st, 23.15), George Wallace (40th, 23.51), Evan Tinsley (45th, 24.09), Max Eldridge (47th, 24.14), Finlay Macdonald (49th, 24.35), George Dadd (60th, 25.37), Kian Murdin (66th, 26.10), Nasar Afatsar (71st, 26.42) and Lewis Jell (85th, 30.05).
Charlotte Young finished eighth (15.41) in the intermediate girls’ race, with Millie Morris (30th, 17.34) and Jenny Rogers (54th, 21.27).
Luke Reeves (24th, 27.00) and Carl Eldred (34th, 29.53) ran the senior boys. Tom Carpenter won the Maidstone parkrun as 299 runners defied cold and damp conditions. Carpenter led home Saturday’s field in 17min07sec, followed by Maxwell Phillips (17.48) and Kieran McAuliffe (18.45). Vera Hunter, second two weeks ago, won the ladies’ race in 21.19 with Lynne Champion and Denise Frediric, who set a personal best, deadheating for second place in 21.48. Age-graded leader was Sue James, repeating her effort from New Year’s Day, this time running 25.32 to finish 87th overall for a score of 83.09%. One-hundred-and-fifty-two runners braved the conditions at Malling to see Jon Kennedy, on his first visit to the course, win in 18.10. Zachary Ramsden ran a PB of 19.49 to finish second and also take the top age-graded position with 75.02%, while Peter Gillard-Moss, running a PB of 20.34, was third. Regular leader Tereza Francova returned last week to be first lady in 21.08. Lucy Tomlinson repeated the previous week’s second place in 24.16, with Tracey Dennis, a regular at Maidstone, taking third on her Malling debut in 24.38.
Last weekend saw Dragons Running Club members Royanna Franks and Viki Garrett run the Bromley Norman Park 10k in 1hr0min57sec and 1: 00.58 respectively.