The English Cross Country Championships took place in the beautiful grounds of Bolesworth Castle on Saturday 25th February. A number of athletes made the trip to Chester and there were some brilliant results.
Masters’ athlete, Bob Fursey, was the only male senior representative competing over the 12km course, finishing in a respectable 1160th. In the U15s, Theo Ronchetti run strongly to come home in 22nd place (15:33). He was followed by Henry Gibson, 169th in 17:13. Under 13, Freddie Gibson, continued his fine cross country form finishing in 10th place (10:43). His training partner, Louie Gear, was 141st in 12:01.
Masters’ athlete, Taryne McPherson, ran competitively to finish 329th and was our only senior female athlete over the 8k course. In the U20s women, four athletes represented the Club over the 6km course. First in was Ella Webb (54th) followed by Annabelle Young (78th), Sharne Elphick (117th) and Ciara Harrop (119th). The U17s were led home over the 5km course by Abigail Royden (33rd), Lily Crossley (55th), Natalia Austin (82nd) and Lola Sutton (112th). The team finished a respectable 7th place. In the under 15s Iris Crossley finished in 28th followed closely by her sister in 36th. Sofia Cudmore-Smith (109th) and Heide Hughes (164th).
England Age Group Champs, 11 and 12/02/23 @ Sheffield
Although a number of the eligible athletes from the club chose to give these champs a miss, I’m pleased to say that one M&M athlete did compete and with great effect!
Cheyne West had already had a good indoor season with pbs over 60m, 60m hurdles and 400m, as well as a couple of medals from the SEAA Champs in early January. He clearly saved his best for these champs. Racing over 60m hurdles, Cheyne set a new pb of 8.31 to qualify for the final. In the final he went even faster, finishing in 8.23 to take the England U17 title. All in all a fantastic indoor season. Well done Cheyne!
11/02/23 @ Huntingdon, West Virginia
Now back from his hamstring niggle, Conor Murphy raced over 200m and 400m for the first time this winter, recording 23.09 and 50.08, showing that he is well on this way back to full fitness. Well done Conor!
Sutcliffe 60’s 12/02/23 @ Sutcliffe Park
Another installment of this popular series of 60m races, with a number of M&M athletes competing.
On the ladies side Lucy Hope stepped down in distance looking to try to run sub 8 seconds. It didn’t quite happen on the day, but runs of 8.06/8.11 were a good return and stand her in good stead for a 200m at the Kent Indoors.
On the men’s side, Josh Aboagye recorded times of 7.71/7.70 over the 2 races, while Alex Anagnostou was just a fraction slower with a brace of 7.73 clockings. In the U17 races, Daniel Culver recorded a new pb of 7.77 and was slightly slower on his second run, clocking 7.86, while Jake Foster, also recorded a pb, this time at 7.83, after first running 7.90. John Foster completed the M&M contingent on the day, running times of 8.80 and 8.77.
Well done to all!
Newham 60’s 15/02/23
Making his 60m debut for this winter season was Andre Wright, opening with a 7.11 clocking, only to go faster again in his second race, recording a time of 7.03, making him the fastest M&M athlete this winter to date over the distance. Well done Andre!
Middle Distance Open 15/02/23 @ Lee Valley
A small band of M&M athletes had the good sense to step on to the newly re-laid indoor track at Lee Valley to race over 800m. Star of the show on the night was Theo Ronchetti, racing to a big new pb and under 17 club record of 1:57.42, showing the benefits from a good winter and promising much for the summer. Well done Theo!
Also at under 17, Franklin Shepherd also broke the 2 minute barrier with his best time indoors this winter of 1:59.39. Looks like a strong summer for the 800m at under 17 level. Well done Franklin!
Not to be outdone by the 800m boys, Henry Gibson had a super run over 1,500m, recording a new pb and club record of 4:32.28. Well done Henry!
Well done also to Abigail Hawkes, our sole female representative on the night, with a 2:30.73 clocking.
British Championships 18 and 19/02/23 @ Birmingham
M&M’s one of two representatives this year was Ellie Turner with invites for the 60m and the 200m. She elected to only race the 60m to protect her foot from the tight indoor bends and found herself drawn alongside Alisha Rees, at the time of the race, ranked 3rd in the UK, in her heat. Ellie ran a strong race, finishing second and equaling her pb from last season, 7.55.
Ellie backed that up by finishing 3rd in her semi-final, running a fraction faster at 7.54. Although she did not qualify for the final, she was pleased to note that she was 11th fastest on the day and that her heat winner, Alisha Rees went on to win the bronze medal. A fitting end to a super indoor season, well done Ellie!
Charlotte Young was our second representative. Competing over 800m in a very strong field. She finished 7th in a strong heat with a time of 2:13.35 and very close to her season’s best.
British Masters Championships 18 and 19/02/23 @ Sheffield
Again, M&M’s sole representative this year was Rachel Hicks. A new name to most at the club, Rachel has joined as a second claim member this winter, so I think that the club can make a “claim” on her performance, even though the results will show “Belgrave”!
Racing her first 400m indoors for a number of years and now a V35 and a mum, Rachel was understandably a little nervous, but I’m very pleased to report that she ran a very controlled race, finishing 4th in the time of 67.35. Rachel is keen to race over 4H this summer for M&M in the SAL and this performance augers well. Well done Rachel!
Well done to all those who competed with such distinction!
Veterans, Bob Fursey, Taryne McPherson and Paul Mcauliffe were greeted by a sunny cool breeze as they lined up to compete in the Dymchurch 10km. The route started at the beach café heading south for 1km to the first turn around point to head west past the beach house until the 2nd turn around point at 6km – to then finish outside the beach hut. The route was flat and fast throughout, unfortunately it was not accurately measured, nevertheless these three had a good run putting in a collective decent effort. Bob finished first out of the 3, placing 9th with Taryne following closely finishing in 12 place and 2nd female, Paul had a superb run especially after his fantastic performance the weekend before.
Headcorn Half Marathon – Sunday 12th February
Sean Barwick came 2nd in the Headcorn Half Marathon in a time of 1.20:11 an improvement of almost 3 minutes from his previous best time.
Canterbury 10 miler – Sunday 22nd January
Chloe Hammond ran a PB of 68.09 in the Canterbury 10 taking 4 minutes of her previous best time and also a Club age group record. Josh Niece run 67.38.
Medway & Maidstone AC repeated last season’s outcome in the Kent Cross-country League by taking second places in the 4-to-score and 12-to-score team competition, both on the day and for the overall season. With 22 teams competing, this was another great result for the club. Tonbridge AC just scrapedvictory on the day, giving them the overall league title.
Consistently good runs over the season’s 4 races also led to several individual medals and high league individual rankingsfor the club. After 4 races, Ben Tyler of Medway & Maidstone AC took Gold. Silver went to Chris Loudon of Cambridge Harriers, with Tom Collins of Medway & Maidstone AC taking bronze. Tewelde Menges (also M & M) was leading until the final race, but is currently away on a training camp.
In addition to the overall Senior category medal winners, club runners were also awarded age group category medals, Neill Wright taking bronze in the M40s and Adam Featherstone bronze in the M50s. Going into the last race Anthony Webb was clear leader in the M40 category, but injury prevented him running the last race.
Other club members achieving high rankings after 4 races were Cameron Featherstone (U20 12th), Neill Wright (M45, 13th) and Justin Lane(4th M40 and 14th overall). Lane had a clear 3rd place M40 ranking before the final race and although he ran all 4 races a recent operation moved him down the list.Gareth Williams was 8th in the M50 rankings.
In the final race, Sean Molloy of Tonbridge AC was the first runner home, followed by Tyler (M & M) and Oliver Weston (Invicta AC) in 3rd. Following Tyler for the club was Jordan Howes in 7th place. Howes has improved significantly over the season, his previous league positions were 31 and 25. Collins was 3rd team scorer in 10th, followed by Jamie Walsh to complete the 4-to-score team. Walsh is another runner having a great season and despite being injured 10 days before the race Walsh had a great run to finish in 17th.
The 12-to-score team was completed by Callum Featherstone (U20) in 27th, very closely followed by his brother Cameron Featherstone (U20) in 28th. Alex Donnelly, with a big improvement on previous league races, was 33rd. Lee McMeekin in 37th (2nd M50 on the day) travelled up from Devon to run and showed he is returning to full fitness. Neill Wright (M45) was 45th, Johnathan Whittall 46th , Adam Featherstone (M50) 52nd and Justin Lane (M45) completing the 12-to-score team in 88th. Stephen Turpie, running his first Kent League race for nearly 4th years, provided good support in 91st, followed by Gareth Williams (M55) 100th, Sean Rodwell (M35) 109th, Bob Fursey (M60) 131st, Barry Royden (M55) 163rd and Adrian Donnelly (M50) 177th.
The Senior Women only had two athletes for this final Kent league. Emily Hale finished in 10th place and Jenny Fowler (W45) in 32nd. Well done to both.
The only remaining Cross-Country race is the English National Cross-Country Championship at Chester on the 25th February.
The 2nd Sportshall league event took place on Sunday 5th February in Ashford.
With several of the athletes new to Sportshall the results were brilliant. There was an individual gold medal for U15 Harry Wickers and a silver medal for Showemimo Oluwadamitan. Team sillver medals for the U13 girls and bronze for the U13 boys team. Well done all.
Howes records perfect season and more success for M&M athletes
The final race of the KFL season saw Medway and Maidstone AC athletes travel to Haven, Allhallows for a new race in the KFL calendar. The challenging course featured a combination of farmers fields, muddy riverside trails and leg sapping stretches of sand and shingle beach. Despite the conditions, Jordan Howes added to his previous four race wins in the league, finishing first again, to not only take the league title but also recording a perfect season score of 100 points. Jordan, in his first season running cross country becomes the first M&M men’s KFL league winner since Clayton Barrett in 2011/12.
Following Jordan’s victory, the medals kept coming for M&M athletes. Emily Hale finished as 3rd lady on the day to confirm her position as 3rd place lady in the overall standings. Daniel St Martin, following a great run on the road in Chichester the previous week showed his consistent form finishing in 4th place which also gave him 3rd in the overall standings and first placed M35.
In the age category standings, Neill Wright (19th) finished well ahead of his competitors taking the overall M45 title. Adam Featherstone (28th), with a remarkable return from injury this season finished as 3rd place M50. In other achievements, ever present KFL athlete for M&M, Nigel Read, completed his 50th KFL race for the club.
Other highlights from Allhallows were Cameron Featherstone (23rd) finishing with a overall 9th place finish in his first season, with his brothers Owen Featherstone (18th and 11th overall) and Callum Featherstone (first season, 11th and 12th overall) not far behind. Jacques Smit (18th) and Abigail Royden (4th lady) made their KFL debuts. Kiril Miryanov (34th), Gareth Williams (60th) and Adrian Moody (82nd) completed the men’s scoring team, which again won the team competition for the day, completing the clean sweep for the season and retaining the title this season.
The ladies turned out in force for the last race of the season with Vanessa Vander (60th lady), Hayley Palmer (80thlady), Catherine Rodwell (95th lady) and Sarah Kenyon (134th) giving the team a 13th place finish. This gave the overall combined team a respectable 3rd place, finishing 5th in the overall league standings.
M&M’s athletes travelled to Beckenham Place Park on the outskirts of London for the annual South of England Cross Country Championships on Saturday. Only 4 senior men particated but saw strong runs from Ben Tyler (58th), Jamie Walsh (127th), Alex Donnelly (236th) and Masters’ athlete, Bob Fursey (524th).
With a depleted U17 team, Franklin Shepherd switching from indoors, had a strong run to finish 55th and Riley Maisey finishing in102nd.
The U15 boys were first to race over 4500M but due to a number of withdrawals were reduced to just a single athlete – Maxime Foissy who finished in 177th place (17:31).
There was a better result for the U13 Boys team who raced over 3000m; Connor Cousins – continuing his strong performances this season – was first home in 35th place (10:50), followed closely by Louie Gear in 49th (11:01), Daniel Kershaw 146th (12:22) and Henry Powell who closed the scoring in 154th (12:33), his brother Dominic was close behind in 161st (12:51), the team finished in 16th place overall.
Four Senior women contested the 8000m course. Emily Hale running well to finish in 112th, followed by a strong run from Taryne McPherson (152nd), Karen Cudmore (215th) and Vanessa Vander (309th).
Returning to form, Ella Webb raced strong, finishing in 22nd. Annabel Young (42nd) Ciara Harrop (61st) and Sharne Elphick (62nd).
The U17 women had an exceptional day finishing 3rd team and collecting bronze medals. Leading the team in, Abigail Royden (25th), Lily Crossley (38th), Natalia Austin (42nd) and Lola Sutton (56th). Followed close behind was Beth Palmer (57th), Mercedes McGivern (86th) and Ingrid Linn (103rd).
Iris Crossley was first U15 M&M finisher in 26th. Backed up by Rose Crossley (44th), Sophia Cudmore-Smith (82nd) and Heidi Hughes (112th) with a team finish of 12th.
London Games U20/Senior, 21 and 22/01/23 @ Lee Valley
This high quality/well supported open meeting has grown hugely in the 10 years since its inception, limited this year to 950 athletes over 2 days. I’m pleased to say that a number of M&M athletes took the opportunity to race.
In what must have seemed like a zillion 60m races, one after the other, a number of M&M athletes competed with distinction.
On the ladies side Ellie Turner, opened her winter campaign winning the B race in 7.59 and followed that up with a 7.64 in the A race, while Abi Walters set a new pb of 8.12 and was slightly slower in her second race with 8.24. In the senior men’s races, Nathan Isaac recorded times of 7.25 and 7.18 and Rory Kuypers, in his first race for 3 years, raced to a time of 7.23, meanwhile at under-20 level, Jasper Emmanuel posted times of 7.25/7.20, while a new name for many, Jamie Kent-Smith recorded 7.59 and 7.46 for a new PB. Also competing was Keiran Issac, who ran 7.78/7.76 and completing the under-20 contingent for M&M, was Thomas Kalve, who ran 8.51/8.45.
Moving to the 200m oval track, Dylan Purton set a new indoor pb over 400m of 50.76, as he continued his “400m education” in preparation for the summer and there was also an indoor pb for Erin Hughes, as she recorded a time of 62.03. Josh Aboagye, who had been suffering with a cough and cold in the week, ditched his handkerchief and throat sweets and made his debut over 400m, recording a time of 54.95, which considering the circumstances, was very respectable.
Star of the show for M&M was Lucy Hope who ran a big new indoor pb and senior club record of 58.24 for 400m. Well done Lucy!
London Games U17/15/13 28 and 29/01/23 @ Lee Valley
Again starting with the 60m races, this time for the under 17 age group, Grace Akindeji recorded a new pb of 8.18, while on the boys side, Cameron Isaac was the fastest with times of 7.62/7.54, the latter of which was a new pb. Also competing were the “2 Daniels”. Daniel Shoyoye and Daniel Culver recorded times of 7.69/7.67 and 7.84/7.85 respectively. Sadly, there was only one M&M U15 athlete entered in the 60m and Sienna Gratwick ran the identical time of 8.84 in both races. It was a busy weekend for Sienna, as she also ran a 200m in 29.01 and long jumped 4.01.
Some of the club’s hurdlers took their opportunity to compete over 60m hurdles this winter, with Cheyne West running 8.80 in the under 17 men’s event, while in the under 17 ladies event, Emily Moyle recorded a time of 10.09 and Nia Thomas celebrated a new pb time of 10.95. Nia’s younger sister, Gwen was also in pb form, running 11.42 in the under 13 girls event. Back on the oval track in the under 17 men’s 200m, despite arriving at the “last minute”, Ben Purton recorded a new indoor pb of 25.47. Just behind him, also recording a new indoor pb of 25.55, was Daniel Culver, who also found time to finish with a best distance of 11.86m in the shot. On the ladies side, it was down to the “2 Graces”; Grace Akindeji, with her second indoor pb of the weekend, finished with a time of 27.44, while U15, Grace Durrant, was a fraction slower with a 27.48 clocking.
Finally over 400m, U17 Cheyne West recorded another good time of 52.86 and making her debut indoors over 800m, Abigail Hawkes, ran 2:33.59.
SEAA U20/Senior Championships 04 and 05/02/23 @ Lee Valley
As is tradition, this meeting starts with all of the 60m and 60m hurdle races on the first day and then follows that with the field events and the races over 200/400 and 800m on the Sunday. Rory Kuypers was the only M&M athlete competing in the men’s sprints, recording a pb of 7.13 in the 60m and then recording a new indoor pb time of 22.92 in his 200m heat to reach the semi-final, before trimming that further to 22.87 in his semi. M&M athletes were also in action over 400m with Joe Burton, returning to the SEAA Champs for the first time since winning a bronze medal as an under-17. Gosh, that seems such a long while ago, 2014 if my memory serves me correctly! With a number of injury niggles to contend with this winter, JB recorded a very encouraging 52.29. Erin Hughes continued her indoor season with a very solid 62.39. There was also a club record over 400m on the day. After setting new senior indoor figures of 58.24 at the London Games, Lucy Hope was on a mission to break 58 seconds indoors for the first time and ran the best race that I have ever seen her run. A mixture of good race execution and sheer “grit and determination” saw her set a new overall, indoors and out, pb and club record of 57.80. Well done Lucy! ……..plus there were also some medals for M&M athletes!
In the senior ladies 800m, Charlotte Young traveled down from Loughborough University, where she is a second year student and “strolled” through her heat with ease. Charlotte is one of those intelligent middle distance runners, who favours indoor racing over the racing across muddy ploughed fields! Fresh from setting a new M&M senior indoor 800m record of 2:13.22 in Sheffield on the 21st January, she then attacked the final like “a lady on a mission” and was rewarded with a hard won silver medal, finishing in a time of 2:15.74. I’m sure that she will now be hoping to go faster again at the BUCS indoor champs in 3 weekstime. Well done Charlotte!
On the first day of the championships, Ellie Turner was in action over 60m. After having opened her indoor season at the London Games, 2 weeks prior, she raced out of the blocks to win her heat in a PB and club record equaling time of 7.55. She trimmed that slightly to 7.54 in finishing second in her semi-final, but she was to save the best for last. In the final she ran a big new pb and senior club record over 60m of 7.50 to finish 3rd in the same time as the winner of the silver medal. Ellie has accepted an invitation to race at the upcoming British Indoor Champs on the 18th/19th February and we all hope that a sub 7.50 time is possible on the fast track at Birmingham. Well done Ellie!
…..and just when you thought that it was only the “ladies” who were winning medals, along comes Dylan Purton. Most of you will know Dylan as a 200/100m sprinter. This winter he has changed the emphasis of his training, with an eye to racing 400m at championships in 2023 and the SEAA indoors was his first opportunity. Every event has it’s challenges, but many would concede that the 400m is probably/possibly one of the most “challenging” and the way that the SEAA organise their indoor meetings adds a further challenge. While you are given 4 hours recovery time between your heat and the final, you have only just over an hour between the semi-final and final.
Dylan finished second in his heat in a well judged indoor pb of 50.69, before winning his semi-final and dipping under 50 seconds for the first time indoors with a time of 49.96. Another to save the best for last. With most of the crowd gone in the third to last race of the meeting, Dylan ran a super race to finish second, just pipped on the line. He was however, able to savour a new indoor pb of 49.52 and a silver medal. He just missed emulating his fellow group member, Conor Murphy, who won this title in 49.59 in 2020. Well done Dylan!
Meanwhile, in Lexington, Kentucky, Conor was himself back to racing after a recent hamstring issue, recording a time of 50.71, which he then immediately bettered at the end of the meeting with a rolling 4 x 400m relay leg of 48.8. Great to see you back racing Conor!
M&M athletes have been in action over the first few indoor competitions of the year with good effect.
Lee Valley Open 02/01/23: First out of the blocks were those who took part in the now traditional Lee Valley New Year Open, which is an excellent meeting particularly for young athletes, to have a race indoors to see how their winter training has been going.
In action for M&M was Cheyne West, who had a super day recording 2 big new pb’s in the 60m of 7.27 and the 400m of 53.48. It is clear that training is going well and that Cheyne is already building on the success he had last year on the track.
Also in action for M&M over 200m were Jake and John Foster. Jake set a new indoor pb of 25.91, while John, running his first ever indoor 200m, recorded a time of 28.80.
Sutcliffe 60’s 08/01/23
The new indoor surface laid just before Covid at Sutcliffe Park and this series of 4 open meetings from stretching from December to March, provide a great opportunity for M&M athletes to race 60m indoors at a venue which is almost “on your doorstep”.
I’m pleased to say that there were a number who opted to take advantage of this at the January edition, all who came away with very encouraging performances.
There were pb’s for Jasper Emmanuel (fastest M&M athlete on the day with 7.15), Ben Purton (7.75), Daniel Culver (7.77) and Harry Blake (7.80) as well as season’s bests for Dylan Purton (7.22) and Alex Anagnostou (7.61).
Also in pb form was Rebeccah Akinsanya. After recording a time of 7.87 in her first round run, she went even faster in the second round, finishing with a new pb of 7.79, which was also a new under 17 M&M club record.
SEAA U17/15/13 Championships @ Lee Valley
The first of the indoor championships of the year were held at Lee Valley for the younger age groups and it was good to see a small number of M&M athletes taking part.
Once again prominent was Cheyne West, bagging a couple of medals with pb performances. On the first day he finished second in the U17 men’s 60m hurdles final in a new personal best time of 8.43 and then returned on the Sunday, this time over 400m and produced a pb run of 52.09 for a bronze medal. All looking good for further progress on the track in the summer over 400m hurdles.
The only other male competitor from the club to compete at these championships was Franklin Shepherd, who also had a good weekend, producing a seasons best of 2:03.38 in the U17 men’s 800m heats and then finishing 5th in the final with a time of 2:04.46.
In the U15 girls sprint events, Grace Durrant made the semi-finals of both the 60m and the 200m, finishing with a new personal best of 8.31 over 60m and a new seasons best of 27.42 in the 200m. Also in the U15 girls event, Sienna Gratwick had a busy weekend with runs over 60m (8.83) and 200m (29.52) as well as a 4.18m in the long jump qualifying round.
At U17 level, Azaria Makinde made the semi-final of the 60m setting a new pb of 8.14 in the process on the Saturday and then set a seasons best of 27.78 in Sunday’s 200m heats. Also over 200m, Rebeccah Akinsanya recorded the fastest heat time of the day with a 25.42 clocking for a new pb and club record, before also being fastest over the 3 semi-finals with a time of 25.70. Sadly, she was then finished for the day, as a sore hamstring led to her withdrawing from the final.
Congratulations to all those who have competed to date, particularly to those who have set new personal bests.
Special mention to Cheyne West, who at time of writing, is ranked 4th in the UK over 60m hurdles and 6th over 400m and to Rebeccah Akinsanya, who again at time of writing, is ranked 8th in the UK at 60m and 3rd over 200m.
