Best team in the country
Athletics Skeleton
Tonbridge AC’s senior men won the English National CrossCountry Team Championship for the first time at Nottingham on Saturday.
They shattered their previous best of 11th, achieved for the past two years.
Chris Olley, 20, produced the performance of his life on the tough 12k course to finish fourth, beating many internationals.
Corey De’Ath ran strongly to finish 23rd out of almost 2,000 starters.
Next home was Ben Cole in 37th, with Max Nicholls 39th, Kieran Reilly 41st and Charlie Joslin-Allen 145th.
Tonbridge’s total of 289 saw them pip defending champions Morpeth Harriers by four points.
Tonbridge women claimed their best-ever finish of fifth out of 93 teams.
Ashley Gibson finished 17th, overtaking Nicole Taylor (22nd) on the second half of the 8k race. Lucy Reid was 50th, with Chloe Bird 95th out of more than 800 finishers.
The club’s under-17 men won their age group, led home by individual winner James Puxty. Dan Seagrove (33rd), Bede Pitcairn-Knowles (46th) and Dan Blades (51st) completed the line-up.
There was further under17 success as Phoebe Barker finished second in the women’s race, helping Tonbridge to overall fifth. Kathleen Faes was 34th, with Clara Tyler 94th and Grace Fleming 140th.
The under-20 men finished second to Aldershot.
George Duffan was seventh, Tim Faes had his best national in 19th, with Alasdair Kinloch 23rd and Jamie Goodge 28th.
The under-15 boys won bronze from 36 teams thanks to Fraser Gordon (25th), James Kingston (51st), Ingmar Gunn (60th) and Toby Emm (68th).
Tonbridge had teams in all 10 events, with the under-20 women eighth, under-15 girls fifth, under-13 boys fourth and under-13 girls 14th.
Jake Berry was the highestplaced Medway & Maidstone athlete at the National CrossCountry Championships, finishing 17th in the under20 category. Tweledebrhan Menges (52nd) and Max Read (154th) followed Berry home.
The senior men’s race saw Tom Collins leading the M& M contingent in 235th place, backed up by Mark Wilkins (458th) and Andrejs Safars (618th).
There were only two M& M entrants in the under-15 boys’ event, with Hamish Reilly 54th and Daniel McGlynn 169th. The under-13 boys were represented by Ethan Gear, who crossed the line in 66th spot.
Only four women runners took part but all were well placed.
Isobel Shelley was 38th in the under-13 race followed by Billie Rouse in 159th. In the under-15 race, Charlotte Young was 60th and Lola Wheeler finished 41st in the under-17 race.
Ashleigh West hit new heights on her way to gold at the England Indoor Age Group Championships.
The M& M athlete cleared 1.76m in the women’s under-17 high jump, a new personal best and club record which makes her the country’s No.1-ranked high jumper in her age group.
Meanwhile, in the under-17 long jump, Mayong Tabe (5.28) was ninth while Lauren Farley threw 11.03 to finish 15th in the shot put.
In the under-20 60m hurdles, Joe Thurgood missed out on a place in the final by just one hundredth of a second. He did, however, record a new best of 8.35sec to rank ninth in the country in his age group.
Prolific Tom Carpenter won Maidstone’s riverside parkrun on Saturday in a time of 16min 23sec.
He saw off a strong challenge from Ed Peters, who produced a personal best of 16.45 to repeat his second place of two weeks ago, with Steve Throssell third again in 17.40.
Ella Knight (JW15-17) was the first woman in 22.48, Alison Strange came second in 22.52, with Lauren Harker (JW11-14) keeping the younger generation to the fore by finishing third in 23.17.
The best age- graded performance was a close tussle with Dave Moorekite ( VM75-79) 22.59 for 83.90%, getting the better of Alan Newman (VM60- 64), 20.00 for 82.33% in a field of 342 runners.
Richard Beavington won the Malling race in 19.47.
William Jeffery took second place in 20.21, with Brendan Almond third in 20.37.
First woman was Sophie Ward in 23.08, with Laura Taylor second in 24.56 and Michelle Batstone third in 25.13.
James Graham ( VM6064) was the best age-graded performer – as he was last week – with 20.41 and fourth place overall for a score of 79.61%. There were 131 runners.
The Heart of Kent Hospice Maidstone Road Run takes place on Sunday, March 19.
It starts at East Malling Research Station at 8am and takes in the surrounding villages.
There are three distances – half-marathon, 10k and 5k fun run – with runners of all ages and abilities welcome. All runners receive a medal.
For details and to book your place, visit www.hokh.org. Olympic champion Lizzy Yarnold finished third at the Skeleton World Championships in Germany over the weekend. Yarnold, from West Kingsdown, took the bronze medal with a time of 2min 36.08sec, finishing behind German pair Jacqueline Lolling and Tina Hermann. The 28-year-old, a former pupil at Maidstone Grammar School for Girls, made her skeleton comeback in December after a year out. She said: “It’s emotional. I feel like this is the beginning. “I was always confident but I do feel now that I’ve got back into the swing of things.”