Kentish Express Ashford & District
Seven indoor golds captured
Ashford AC
Ashford AC athletes produced a string of impressive performances at senior, under-20 and junior level in the two-day Kent Indoor Championships at Lee Valley.
They won seven gold medals and eight silver and bronze, with Matthew Elliott setting a club record for the fourth time this season in the under-17 60m.
A total of 14 individual personal best performances and 20 season’s bests made it an excellent weekend for the club.
In the seniors, Australian multieventer, Matt Harris, cleared a season’s best of 4.10m to win bronze in the pole vault. Team-mate Luke Williams just missed out on fourth place (3.40m).
High jumpers won five medals. Debbie Martin (1.65m) and Katie Hamilton (1.45m) won gold and silver, the latter’s a season’s best.
Matt Smiley also claimed gold, with another season’s best, clearing 1.80m.
Veteran Iain Presnell earned two season’s bests, 27.87sec in the 200m and 8.36m in the shot.
Briony Walsh won bronze in the 800m – with a season’s best of 2.32.08 – while Lewis Smith posted season’s bests in the 800m (2.11.64) and 400m (3.20).
Triple jumpers Ashley Buckham and Matt Coward took gold and bronze.
Buckham won with 13.25m, while Coward posted a season’s best of 10.96m. Buckham also claimed silver in the long jump (season’s best of 6.21m and a personal best of 7.82) in the 60m.
Coward clocked a season’s best of 25.15 in the 200m and a personal best of 7.64 in the 60m.
Elliott’s latest record-breaking performance saw him win gold in the under-17 men’s 60m final in a PB 7.11.
Jacqueline Benson achieved a season’s best time to capture a silver in the 1,000m walk. Multi-eventer Jade Curtis claimed bronze in the high jump with a season’s best clearance of 1.50, and was also fifth in the long jump, with another best of 4.85m.
Adam Wood won bronze in the 1,500m final, also posting a PB of 4.26.26.
Marshall Smith continued his impressive form, taking gold in the under-20 800m in a PB 2.01.11 and followed up with another to win silver in the 1,500m (4.13.07).
Multi-eventer, Tyler Adams won two silvers – in the high jump (1.80m) and (3.40m) pole vault – and bronze in the shot (11.59m), an indoor PB.
Hammer specialist Hannah Owen, captured silver in the shot, sending it a season’s best 8.81m.
Connor Owen won bronze in the 400m in a season’s best time of 54.06.
Sarris Teale won three under-15 medals – gold in the long jump and triple jump and silver in the 60m hurdles. Her time in the hurdles (9.74) was a PB and she set another (8.34) in the 60m.
Spike Purdie and James Coward both ran season’s best times in the 200m heats, (26.99 and 26.59) respectively.
Ella Saxby raced to a 60m PB of 8.38 to reach the final. Kalliyah Lacey ran 9.97 in the 60m hurdles, clocking the same time in the final.