M&M maintain momentum
Medway & Maidstone cemented their place at the top of the Kent Youth Development League at Erith on Saturday.
The club’s under-17 and under20 teams combined to beat Bexley by 290 points and secure a third straight meeting win. M&M’s under-17 women got the ball rolling with Olivia Harrison (10.09m PB) third in the javelin, while Summer Salter won the B string event, threw a PB of 19.36 in the discus and won the main hammer.
Charlotte De La Porte Godden won the B string hammer and helped the team to fourth in the 4x100m.
Katie Rothery had a day of second places, finishing runner-up in the 300m hurdles, 80m hurdles and triple jump. She finally got a win when Abi Walters, Erin Hughes and Gbemi Kusumu ran with her in the 4x300m relay.
Hughes had a strong run in the 300m before stepping up to help the under-20 team in the 800m, getting second place with 2min 36.2sec.
The under-17 800m was won by Billie Rouse in 2.25.4.
The under-20 ladies dominated sprint and hurdle events and had strong results in the throws. Emily Featherstone won the 400m hurdles B string (72.60), 100m hurdles (17.2), long jump (4.93m) and 4x100m relay.
Elle Wastell took the 400m hurdles A string (66.70), 200m (27.2), discus and 4x400 relay, Mayong Tabe won the long jump A string (5.65) and Grace Adeleye triumphed in both the hammer (42.15) and discus (28.51).
Zara Edeleanu continued her successful season with third place in the 100m (13.7), first in the javelin and was a member of the winning 4x100m relay team. The under-20 men continued their dominance with Ben Blake first in the discus (26.71) and shot (11.35) and second in the javelin (34.31).
Nathan Isaac won the 200m (24.2), finished second in the 100m (11.6) and anchored in the winning 4x100m relay team. James Grogan showed his talent with second in the long jump (5.19), triple jump (10.56) and high jump (1.55).
He ended by winning his third 2k steeplechase (7.42.2) and remains undefeated at that event in the league this year.
It was a busy day for the under17 men with Johnny Berry winning the long jump (5.35 PB) and high jump (1.78).
Finn Rodgers also won two events, the 100m hurdles (16.9) and the 400m hurdles (63.9), adding third place in the 400m (56.4).
Harry Blake won the discus (48.31), was second in the hammer (48.31) and third in the shot (8.86).
William Heathcote ran PBs in all of his individual events, with first in the B string 400m hurdles, (70.8), second in the B string 200m (24.8) and third in the B string 400m (61.2).
Zach Smith took third in the triple jump (10.18), sixth in the A string 100m (12.6) and seventh in the 200m (26.0), with Jamie Pearce fifth in the 800m (2.31.2). M&M were second in the 4x400 relay and fourth in the 4x100m.
It’s been a busy week for Medway & Maidstone’s road runners.
They fared well at the challenging North Downs 30k with Tom Collins second (2hr 02min 36 sec) and Chris Rampling third (2:02.51).
Other times: 14th Lee McMeekin 2:16.47, 43rd Alun Rodgers 2:30.33 PB, 93rd Sean Rodwell 2:39.51 PB by more than an hour, 143rd Bob Fursey 2:49.46, 49th female Claire Wilkins 3:09.54, 73rd female Mo Fazakerley 3:23.03.
The Kent 3k and 10k Track Championships were held at Dartford last Wednesday. Lee McMeekin (M45) won the 10k in 34.57.67, followed by Justin Lane (35.41.84 PB) and Neill Wright (35.52.52 PB), while Emily Hale set a PB of 10.54.22 in the 3k.
Richard Tomlinson won M50 gold in 16.52 at the British Masters 5k Road Championships in Horwich, near Manchester.