M&M medal at Masters
Athletics
The Kent Masters CrossCountry Championships were held at Dartford on Saturday.
Medway & Maidstone AC had runners in all four men’s age groups and two of the women’s groups.
In the M40-49 race, Barry Royden led the way for the club with fifth place in 31min17sec.
He was well supported by Richard Tomlinson in seventh (31.33), Lee McMeekin in ninth (32.08) and Simon Hesketh in 18th (33.29). This solid packing was good enough for second place in the team event.
This was a particularly good result for Royden, as he was less than two weeks off his 50th birthday and was very much top of the age group. Kent AC took gold and Tonbridge won the bronze.
Alex Gibbons of Blackheath took individual gold in 30.09, followed closely by last year’s British and Irish Masters champion Chris Greenwood of Kent AC, with fellow club-mate Phil Sanders taking bronze.
In the M50-59 race, Gareth Williams (36.10) was the first runner home for M&M in 17th place with Adrian Moody (37.26) 27th, Bob Fursey (37.35) 29th and Martyn Corbishley (44.05) 74th. Tonbridge’s Ben Reynolds, returning from his 5k and 10k successes at the World Masters in Perth, took the individual gold in 31.11
He was tracked for most of the race by Graeme Saker (Tonbridge AC) while Tony Tuohy of Dulwich took the bronze.
In the M60 race, Phil Wallace (20.51) led the team with 16th, a good result after a long injury.
Ivan Whitmore (24.58) was 42nd and Colin Carpenter (28.21) finished 44th to complete the line-up.
Alan Camp, of Blackheath & Bromley AC, (17.43) was joined by Paddock Wood’s Alan Newman and Julian SpencerWood (Kent AC) took the individual medals.
In the M70 race, Stephen Russell took the only individual medal for the club with a bronze finish of 24.31. David Moorekite of Larkfield AC led the field home in 22.29.
In the women’s races, M&M had a depleted squad due to injuries, resulting in just three runners.
In the W35-45 category, Louise Knight (18.44) finished fifth. She was supported by Alison Williams who finished a creditable 26th (22.05) after just returning to the sport after many years.
Dartford Road Runners’ Hazel Behagg took the honours in 17.08.
In the W45-54 race, Mo Fazakerley (21.36) finished 20th. Maria Heslop of Paddock Wood won the race in 17.02. After a three-week break, Tom Carpenter returned to Maidstone parkrun on Saturday to resume his place at the head of the field, in 16min 33sec. Second was Jacques Cunningham-Marsh (JM15-17) in 17.17, his first time at Maidstone and also the best age-graded performance at 79.27% from a field of 274. Third was another junior runner, Luke Reeves (JM15-17) in 18.46. Charlotte Bates was first lady finisher for the fourth week running, in 19.32. Second was Maidstone Harrier team-mate Sharon Barnett in 22.36 and Lauren Harker’s personal best of 22.44 saw her take third spot. Juniors dominated the finish at Malling, with Callum Brooks (JM15-17) just pipping his Medway & Maidstone AC clubmate Ben Hughes (JM11-14) by one second. They finished in 18.58 and 18.59 respectively. Kieran McAuliffe was third in a best of 19.30 as 96 runners made up the field. Victoria Wright, on her first visit to Malling, was first lady to finish, in 24.01. Second place went to Clare Brown in 24.45 and, after her second place two weeks ago, Carole Fisher was third in 25.00. In Sunday’s Thanet Coastal 10 mile race, Tony Rea (MV70-74) from Dragons RC was second in the MV70 class in 1:21.12 to finish 96th out of 304 finishers.