M&M in a hurry to break records
Athletics
There were medals galore for Medway & Maidstone sprinters at the Kent Indoor Athletics Championships.
In the under-15 boys’, David Adeleye (pictured) set new club records with golds in the 60m (7.36sec) and the 200m (24.17) at Lee Valley.
Rory Kuypers also set two new club records in the under17s – over 60m (7.16) and 200m (22.92) to win silver medals in both events.
Ellie Turner enjoyed similar success in the under-20 women’s sprints, winning the 60m in a new club-record time of 7.69 and finishing third in the 200m in another new club-record time of 25.50.
There were also sprint medals for Shauna McFarlane (SW 60m, first 8.16), Kayleigh Anderson ( SW 60m, third 8.43), Dan Gill (SM 60m, third 7.15), Darcey Kuypers (under20W 60m, second 7.77), Alex Marshall (under-20M 200m, third 23.49), Eleanor Callaghan Inge (under-17W 60m, second 8.07) and Nathan Isaac (under17M 60m, third 7.37).
In other track events, Lewis Heffernan and Reece Dimech completed a one-two in the senior men’s 400m, sharing the winning time of 50.62. Also at 400m, George Blake finished third in the under-20 men’s race in 53.84 with Isaac Milham repeating that in 52.83 in the under-17 men’s event.
Lucy Hope completed the medal haul at the distance with a third place finish in the senior women’s race in 64.51.
Joe Thurgood completed M& M’s top individual medal haul with a gold in the high jump (1.85m), silver in the 60m hurdles (8.64) and bronze in the pole vault (3.10).
After setting numerous club records throughout an excellent indoor campaign, Thurgood threw 11.92 in the shot for a second silver medal and new club-record distance.
In the field events, England international and No.1-ranked under-17 high jumper Ashleigh West won her specialist event with a new championship-best performance height of 1.74.
West then set a new personal best of 5.26 to win a silver in the long jump behind another M& M athlete, Jade Oni, who won the gold with a new PB of 5.29.
Shot putters Jack Royden and Zara Obamakinwa also won golds, with throws of 13.82 and 11.76 respectively.
With the completion of these championships, attention now turns to the start of the summer outdoor season in midApril.
The Medway & Maidstone men’s team have qualified for the National Road Relay finals.
They finished 24th in the Southern 12-Stage Road Relays at Gravesend Cyclopark on Saturday. The race consisted of six shorter legs of 4.7k and six longer legs of 7.2k, run as a relay.
Also competing were an M& M team in the women’s race.
The women’s team consisted of six runners, with two long and four short relay legs. They finished 25th of 37 teams. Individual results: Men: Long Legs ( 7.2k): Ben Tyler 20min42sec, Mark Wilkins 20.58, Tom Collins 21.41, Teweldebrhan Menges 20.47, Neill Wright 23.54, Lee McMeekin 22.03. Short Legs ( 4.8K): Cameron Payas 15.58, Simon Habtom 14.15, Darren Wright 17.05, Gareth Williams 17.45, Alun Rogers 16.47, Alan Jones 16.22. Women. Long Legs ( 7.2k): Kerrie Clarke 27.16, Emily Hale 29.27. Short Legs ( 4.8k): Stephanie Hearn 17.17, Alison Williams 20.10, Bernadette Harrop 19.25, Kat Ford 24.17.