M&M’s Berry ripe for victory
Parkrun
Jake Berry (under-17) ran the seventh-fastest time seen at Maidstone’s parkrun to lead his Medway & Maidstone junior team-mates to the top six places on Saturday, writes Alan Newman.
Berry recorded 15min58sec, as 315 runners completed the 5k course. Paul McAuliffe (Larkfield) improved the M60 course best to 19.19 but was pipped by Berry to the agegraded top score. Charlotte Bates completed her 11th women’s win from 27 starts in her home town event.
Tewelde Menges (under-20) was in top form with a personal best at Great Lines, finishing ahead of Runfit team members Simon Habtom (under-17) and age-graded leader Barry Royden (M45). Rachel Hartridge (W45) added to her list of first places, just 10 seconds slower than her best set the previous weekend.
Tom Carpenter (Maidstone Harriers) won at Malling where David Thornby (Maidstone Harriers) celebrated his recent elevation to M65 status with the age-graded top score and Melanie Evans (W55, Larkfield) led the women’s entries.
Tonbridge parkrun had the largest entry (423) and saw some fine running by local club juniors. Bede Pitcairn-Knowles and Lucy Thompson led the way, with Thompson’s 19.19 being the fastest women’s time of the local events.
Sittingbourne Striders’ Jennifer Coleman headed the women’s results at the Sittingbourne run but it was visitor Martin Kelk (M45, Invicta East Kent) who was first finisher and top on agegrading. SELECTED RESULTS: Maidstone: Men: 1 Jake Berry (U17 Medway & Maidstone) 15min58sec, 2 Max Read (U20 Medway & Maidstone) 17.55, 3 Hamish Reilly (U15 Medway & Maidstone) 18.23. Women: 1 Charlotte Bates 19.37, 2 Sarah Saputo (W35) 21.10, 3 Gill Holmes (W35 Sittingbourne Striders) 22.29. Age-Grade: Berry 84.55%. 315 ran. Great Lines: Men: 1 Tewelde Menges (U20 Runfit) 16.23, 2 Simon Habtom (U17 Runfit) 17.05, 3 Barry Royden (M45 Runfit) 17.16. Women: 1 Rachel Hartridge (W45) 20.41, 2 Yasmin Lee 21.47, 3 Abigail Jordan (U15 Medway & Maidstone) 22.01. AgeGrade: Royden 84.75%. 294 ran. Malling: Men: 1 Tom Carpenter (Maidstone Harriers) 16.43, 2 Mark Laing (M40 Medway Tri) 18.01, 3 Kevin Robins 18.16. Women: 1 Melanie Evans (W55 Larkfield) 24.18, 2 Carole Fisher (W45) 25.05, 3 Louise New (W40) 25.08. Age-Grade: David Thornby (M65 Maidstone Harriers, 21.17) 78.78%. 106 ran. Tonbridge: Men: 1 Bede Pitcairn-Knowles (U17 Tonbridge) 17.46, 2 Dominic Boulle (M45) 18.17, 3 Matthew Green (M45 Wadhurst Runners) 18.39. Women: 1 Lucy Thompson (U17 Tonbridge) 19.19, 2 Clara Tyler (U17 Tonbridge) 20.05, 3 Ali Farrall (W40 Wadhurst Runners) 20.43. Age-Grade: Tim Yates (M55, 19.03) 80.66%. 423 ran. Sittingbourne: Men: 1 Martin Kelk (M45 Invicta East Kent) 18.34, 2 Thomas Allen 18.56, 3 Jeremy Pridmore (M40 Dartford Harriers) 19.25. Women: 1 Jennifer Coleman (Sittingbourne Striders) 22.19, 2 Tanya Stelfox 22.28, 3 Karen Seymour (W50 Sittingbourne Striders) 22.50. Age-Grade: Kelk 78.82%. 140 ran. silver at 10k (59.09). Malcolm’s wife, Angela, gained W50 team bronze in the 10k (1:08.47) and was seventh W50 in the 20k walk (2:24.11).
The runners had three races in three days, culminating in a half-marathon. The hottest conditions were experienced in the first event over 10k. Alison White (52.43) was sixth W60 and took team silver and Sue James (54.28) was 11th W65 and gained team gold.
Alan Newman (43.18) and Des White (44.43) took no rewards from the M60 10k race, but were bronze medallists for GB M60 in the cross-country relay the following morning, finishing seventh overall.
Alison White returned to take a bronze with the GB W60 trio and James dropped down to complete a slightly-less competitive W55 team (fourth).
The final event was the halfmarathon and after Newman (1:37.15) and Des White (1:44.17) had toiled in the sun without any tangible reward Alison White (1:56.26) crossed the finish line for another W60 team silver medal.