As part of the Medway Mile festivities at Medway Park, Medway and Maidstone AC played host to four elite track mile races, sponsored by Bellway Homes. After weeks of hot sunny weather, the rain arrived just in time for the track races, creating some testing conditions for the athletes.
The first of the races, the C race, saw three late changes of the lead, with Darren Wright (Medway and Maidstone AC) showing off his fast finishing to take the win in a personal best time of 5:15.00. In the B race, it was hotly contested at the front between Robert Donohue (Blackheath AC), Cameron Featherstone (Medway and Maidstone AC) and Chris Fullerton (Invicta East Kent), with the latter taking the in in a time of 4:35.96.
The Ladies A race saw a tactical affair with the field going through half way in a bunch, until Annabel Carter (Tonbridge AC) and Abigail Royden (Medway and Maidstone AC) started to push the pace and stretch things out. Over the last lap, Carter opened up a big lead to take the win in 5:18.35 with Harriet Woolley (Tonbridge AC) coming through to second place and Royden finishing third.
The Men’s A race took the honours of the race of the night. With Cameron Payas (Tonbridge AC) pace making the pack through 900m, Stuart Brown (Tonbridge AC) then took on the lead in what looked to be a two way battle between him and fellow Tonbridge AC athlete Sean Molloy. With 50 metres to go Molloy looked to be cruising to victory, only to be beaten on the line by Jordan Chambers (Tonbridge AC), who romped home from a long way back, winning in a time of 4:13.94. Despite the inclement weather, all four races provided great entertainment for the spectators that braved the conditions. If you were there and enjoyed what you saw or simply fancy getting into athletics a try, Medway and Maidstone are hosting their next open meeting on Saturday 3rd September at Medway Park. For more details, visit www.mandmac.org or email contactmandmac@gmail.com
(Report by Sean Rodwell)