Youngsters do club proud on county stage
Several Medway & Maidstone AC members were in Kent colours for the British Athletics Inter Counties Cross-Country Championships held at Prestwold Hall, Loughborough, on Saturday.
The under-13 boys were represented by Freddie Gibson and Louie Gear. Gibson finished 15th to become the first scorer for Kent while Gear came 186th.
In the under-17 men’s race, Franklin Shepherd finished 145th.
The under-15 girls were represented by three M&M athletes.
Iris Crossley scored for Kent with another strong race to finish 36th, followed by Rose Crossley in 78th and Amber Matthews in 111th.
The under-17 ladies also had three M&M athletes.
Abigail Royden, running a strong race, placed 40th to be third Kent scorer. Lily Crossley was 98th and Beth Palmer - after losing a shoe early in the race - still finished 124th! In the under-20 ladies’ event, Ella Webb ran well to finish 51st and be second scorer for Kent. An equallystrong run from Annabelle Young in 58th made her third scorer for the county, while Anna Palmer finished 86th.
M&M runners were out in force at the Paddock Wood Half-Marathon on Sunday.
The weather held out for the race, with 11 people from the club involved. Ben Tyler was placed 11th overall in 1hr10min14sec, followed by Daniel St Martin in 1:14.53 for 59th.
Jonathan Whittall was 72nd with a time of 1:16.30 and Neill Wright achieved a personal-best time of 1:19.04 for 110th.
For the ladies, Chloe Hammond beat her own personal-best time - and club record - as she finished with 1:32.18 for 360th, followed by two ladies who also got personal bests. Vanessa Vander ran 1:43.23 for 608th position and Hayler Palmer came 824th with 1:50.53, standing them in good stead for their debuts at next month’s London Marathon.
Other results: