High fives for Tom
Parkrun
Tom Carpenter made it five wins in a row at the Maidstone parkrun on Saturday.
In-form Carpenter finished in 16min 58sec which also gave him the top age-graded score of 77.31%, pipping Dragons Running Club’s Tony Rea, who recorded 77.14% for his time of 24.34.
Second place went to Craig Barden (18.40
PB) and Ben Parmer (19.14) took third. Rachel Bonsor, third three weeks ago, won the women’s race in 23.17, ahead of Amanda Warne (23.35) and Andrea Kershaw (24.14 PB). There were 324 runners.
Joshua Pine won the Malling parkrun for the second week running, finishing in a PB of 18.26.
Runner-up William Watts (18.58) also produced a PB, while Steve Reed (19.49) repeated last week’s third place.
Beth Lednor (JW1114) won the women’s race in 21.34, beating big sister Rebecca (JW15-17) who finished in 22.11. The everconsistent Kerstin Sung (22.17) came third.
Stephen Baker (VM6064) took the age-graded prize, finishing 11th in 21.14 for a score of 75.51%. There were 262 finishers. Medway & Maidstone AC claimed the top two places in the senior men’s Kent Cross-Country League season opener.
Rob Meyer led the field of 289 finishers at Swanley in 31min01sec, finishing ahead of Tewelde Menges by 12 seconds. M&M had 23 runners competing in the men’s senior race. The club had 12 runners in the top 40 and 18 in the top 100, showing great strength in depth.
But despite taking the first two places, the club failed to win the four-to-score team category as their next two runners finished in 19th (Marley Godden, 33.30) and 22nd (Mark Wilkins, 33.52). Tonbridge took top honours with M&M in second place out of James Hall finished 14th in the all-around final at the World Gymnastics Championships in Germany. The Pegasus gymnast scored 13.633 on rings, 14.266 on vault, 14.200 on parallel bars, 12.800 on high bar, 14.200 on floor and 14.066 on pommel horse.
A delay to his high bar routine, when already in position, perhaps disrupted his flow and he had to count a fall.
But the 24-year-old, who also helped Great Britain finish fifth in the team final, was a happy man.
He said: “I’m so happy with my performance all week. “Three all-around competitions takes its toll but I’m proud of how I’ve competed.
“Yes, it’s frustrating having such a long wait on high bar but that’s gymnastics, and something to learn from. “Overall I’m really happy – a great championships.” Pegasus team-mate
Courtney Tulloch, the GB reserve, turned his hand to commentary after accepting an invitation from the BBC.