There were a number of Medway & Maidstone AC athletes selected to run for Kent at the UK CAU Inter-Counties Cross-Country Championships, Prestwold Hall, Loughborough which took place on Saturday 12th March.
In the Senior Men’s race Teweldethan Menges finished 76th in a strong field of runners and 4th scorer for Kent. In the U20 men’s Ethan Gear finishing a brilliant 20th and 4th Kent scorer. He was part of the scoring U20 men’s team which saw the team take the gold medal. There was more success for the U17 men’s team with an equally brilliant run for Haydon Gear and first in for Kent, finishing in 11th place with the team taking the silver. There was an outstanding run for U15 Alex Dack finishing in 6th and first back for Kent with the team collecting a bronze team medal. A strong run from team mate Franklin Shepherd in 85th.
The U17 ladies had 3 M&M ladies representing Kent. All running well with Anna Palmer (54th), Abigail Royden (78th) and Lily Crossley (144th). The U15s girls had more medal success with Iris Crossley 40th and collecting a team silver medal. Club teammate Natalie Austin finishing in 104th. The Kent U13 girls team were represented by Rose Crossley running well in 64th and Sofia Cudmore-Smith in 99th.
Many of the above have been selected and representing Kent at the English Schools Cross Country Championships at Paddock Wood on Saturday 19th March.
The British Masters Cross-country Championships were held at Tonbridge on Saturday. The male master runners from M35, up to and including M55s, competed over an 8 km course. The women masters and M60+ runners competing over 6 km.
Medway & Maidstone Athletics Club had some excellent results, including the M55 Team which took team gold. The M55 team was led by Alun Rodgers finishing in 6th place (34.08), followed by Noel Lyons in 8th (34.43), with Gareth Williams completing the three-man team in 11th (35.36). Bob Fursey was the team back-up runner finishing in 31st (41.22).
Tom Collins was 7th, running in the M35 category (30.18) and Justin Lane was 9th in the M45 race. In the 6 Km race, Paul McCauliffe (M65) was 5th (28.32) and Jenny Fowler was 13thin the W45 category (30.10).
This race ends the cross-country season for the club Seniors and Masters. There is, however, still a lot to look forward to as the club’s athletes continue to train and compete for road races and track & filed competition.
The English National Cross-country Championships were held at Parliament Hill, London, on Saturday. This venue is notorious for being extremely muddy and Saturday was no exception with long stretches of deep mud along the 12 Km course.
The winning team was Southampton AC, followed by Leeds and Cambridge & Coleridge AC. Medway & Maidstone AC’s team wasn’t at anything like full strength with several athletes unavailable. The 6-to-score team finished in 44th place out of 337 teams taking part.
The individual race was won by Mahamed Mahamed (40.52) representing Southampton AC, followed by Emile Cairess of Leeds AC (41.07) and Alex Yee (Olympic Triathlon silver medalist) of Kent AC (42.04).
The club’s top individual was Tewelde Menges in 113rd place. Tom Collins was the club’s 2nd runner in 205th, followed by Justin Lane 535th, Harry Collins 713th, Alun Rodgers 856th and Josh Nice completing the 6-to-score team in 1012th. Gareth Williams lost one of his shoes early in the race, ran for 3 miles in one shoe, but eventually had to give up. There were 2091 finishers.
The Senior Ladies saw only 2 competitors with Karen Cudmore (446) and Bernadette Harrop (722)
Further results for the younger age groups can be found below.
The winter cross-country season is now almost complete. The club are waiting to see if the final race in the Kent Fitness League is to go ahead after being cancelled due to storm Eunice. The club have a clear lead in the men’s competition and second in the combined team standing (on the same league points). The final winter race will be the British Masters Cross-country Championships at Tonbridge on the 12th March where the club has several athletes entered.
Please remember to get your entries in if you wish to enter the Kent Indoor Championships at Lee Valley. This is for individual entry. Entries close the 3rd March
Information can be found here: http://www.kcaa.org.uk/track-field.htm
There has been plenty of indoor action over the past several weeks and several Club records broken. Ellie Turner equalled the senior women’s 60m club record at Loughborough at the end of January. Recording a time of 7.55 followed by a new 200m indoor pb of 25.20 at the London Indoor Games a week later. Nathan Isaac with an indoor pb over 200 of 23.34 and 7.21 in the 60m. Erin Hughes in the 400m running 62.55 for an indoor pb. Lucy Hope recorded a new indoor pb and senior club record of 59.81. Dylan Parton also recording an indoor pb of 51.49. Competing the next day in the 60m, Dylan finished with a pb 7.19.
U17 Rebeccah Akinsanya now holds the indoor U17 200m club record, 26.00 along with her 2 other Club records. Also reaching the semi finals in the U17 60m Indoor Southern Championships. A current indoor pb 8.03. Bukunmi Edun now holds tge U13 boys 60m hurdles indoor club record with a pb run of 10.31.
At the Indoor England Athletics Age Group Championships in Sheffield there was a PB run in the 60m hurdles for U17 Emily Moyle in 9.57. Cheyne West also improving throughout the season and achieved a pb in the 60m of 7.55 and a strong the 60m hurdles.
Charlotte Young and Billie Rouse both made the final of the U20 800m. With the pair recently taking turns to break the Club record. Recording indoor pbs. Billie 2.14.43 and Charlotte currently with the record of 2.14.35.
Theo Ronchetti has recently broken the U15 indoor 800m record at Lee Valley recording a time of 2.09.8, over 2 seconds of the old record.
John Foster recorded a 60m pb and Club record. Improving from his previous best 8.55 running 8.52 at Eltham on the 13th of Feb 2022. Also with a 60m pb, Kieran Isaac, 7.64.
Further afield in Virginia Conor Murphy continues with his fine form setting another new pb and senior club record of 48.92.
Well done all athletes. Full results for indoor competition can be found on the Pof10.
The final Kent league for the men and women took place at Norman Park, Bromley. Full results can be found below.
The men finished the season in second in both the 4 and 12 to score teams. Unfortunately due to a number of the ladies senior team being unavailable for the final event they finished low down the finishing table. but there were some great individual performances across the season.
Congratulations to Tom Collins 3rd place overall, Anthony Webb M45 1st place (4th overall), Noel Lyon’s M55 1st place and Gareth Williams M55 3rd place.
Full results: http://www.kcaa.org.uk/kent%20league%20results.htm
Congratulations to all 12 M&M athletes plus 4 reserves who have been selected to represent Kent at the National Inter-counties Cross Country Championships at Loughborough,12th March
U13 GIRLS Rose Crossley and Sofia Cudmore-Smith
U13 BOYS Reserves Owen Tucker and Freddie Gibson
U15 GIRLS Iris Crossley and Natalia Austin
U15 BOYS Alex Dack and Franklin Shepherd
U17 LADIES Anna Palmer, Abigail Royden and Lily Crossley.
Medway & Maidstone Senior Men’s team competed at the Southern Cross-country Championships on Saturday 29th August, two years after the previous event. Whilst all the other regional championships have reduced their race distance, the Southern Championships are still an endurance-sapping 15 km.
The organisers had problems finding a venue to hold this large event and in the end Beckenham Place Park was selected late in the day. Whilst, being local, this was useful for the club. However, the venue was too small and the terrain, being a mixture of hard dry paths and grass, not really suitable for cross-country. It did mean there were some very fast times which suited some athletes more than others.
Problems with sickness and a myriad of other unfortunate events meant that half the M & M athletes that had been entered couldn’t run on the day. The team still finished a creditable 17th out of 106 competing teams. Southampton AC took first team place, followed by Highgate Harriers and Tonbridge AC.
The individual gold went to Andy Coley-Maud of Guilford & Godalming claiming his second Southern Championship win (47.41). Silver was taken by Ben Alcock of Bedford & County AC (47.46), followed by Alexander Teuten of Southampton AC (47.49).
First home for Medway & Maidstone AC was Tewelde Menges in 52nd (51.45). He was followed home by Tom Collins in 80th (52.45), Anthony Webb 91st (53.44), Chris Rampling 208th (57.39), Justin Lane 242nd (58.48) and Jayden Iles 288th (1.00.14), closing the six-man team. Excellent support was also provided by Gareth Williams 378th (1.03.25), Alun Rodgers 388th (1.03.45), Sean Rodwell 435th (1.05.27) and Darren Wright 485th (1.07.99).
Hayden Gear continued his excellent season winning an individual bronze medal in the U17 men’s race. Cameron Featherstone (75th) & Callum Featherstone (100th). The U20 Mens Team achieved a top10 placing finishing 9th. led by Ethan Gear (20th). Alex Donnelly (71st) Sean Barwick (72nd) & Isaac Thomas (83rd).
U15 Alex Dack, fresh from his triumph in the Kent Cross Country Championships, took victory in the boys’ race, becoming the club’s first individual South of England champion since Barry Royden won the senior men’s title in 1992. He was part of the large leading group which gradually fragmented as the race progressed, breaking away in the final 300m and sprinting to the line to win by 6 seconds in 15:11.
Franklin Shepherd was next home in 23rd place, just over a minute behind (16:19) and Ethan Rollings was 146th (18:41).
A weakened U13 boys’ team finished in a creditable 16th place; Reuben Sarakbi led the team home in 73rd place (12:20), followed by Jake Alford (101st in 12:35), Henry Powell (133rd in 13:20) and Dominic Powell who completed the scoring in 158th place (14:31).
There was 4 seniors ladies competing for M&M. Chloe Hammond was first back finishing strong in 161st position followed by Karen Cudmore 193rd, Vanessa Vander 217th and Bernadette Harrop’, in her first race back after several months break due to injury, in 303rd.
The M&M Under 17 Women had a very successful day with a total of 7 athletes competing – this is one of the biggest turnouts in this age group for a long time. Anna Palmer, Lily Crossley and Abigail Royden continued their excellent cross country seasons, finishing in 18th, 23rd and 25th positions respectively. Ella Webb was M&M’s fourth team scorer in 76th place, followed by Lola Sutton (79th), Ingrid Linn (111th) and Ciara Harrop (119th). These superb performances meant M&M finished in a very respectable 4th place in the team event.
The U15 girls team also with 7 athletes were. represented by Iris Crossley 23rd, Natalia Austin 26th, Millie Dack 39th, Beth Palmer 74th, Heidi Hughes 90th, Elizabeth Fry 118th and Abigail Hawkes 163rd.
The U13 saw Rose Crossley finish in 25th with Sofia Cudmore-Smith finishing in 54th position.
This weekend sees the final Kent League at Norman Park, Bromley for the Senior Men and Ladies.
After a delay of two years, it was great to see the return of the Kent Cross-country Championships on the outer fields around Brands Hatch racecourse on Saturday. Apart from the weather of heavy rain the other major difference this year was Medway & Maidstone AC’s medal haul, highlighting many great team and individual performances.The team medal tally in 2020 was 6 bronze medals, in 2022 this improved to 6 bronze medals, along with a silver and a gold.In relation to individual medals, in 2020 the club had just one gold, in 2022 this increased to 2 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze. The Senior men’s 12 Km race was very similar to the previous 2020 race with 17 athletes completing the course. The team were rewarded with bronze medals in both the 6-to-score and 12-to-score team competitions as in 2020.The main difference this year was the weather which was cold, very wet and windy, resulting in a muddy, slippery course.The overall 6-to-score team winners were Tonbridge, followed by Kent AC, then Medway & Maidstone AC.Tonbridge AC also claimed the 12-to-score team win, again followed by Kent AC and Medway & Maidstone AC. The overall individual winner was Jamie Goodge of Tonbridge covering the 12 Km course in 41.41.The silver medal place was claimed by James Kingston (U20) of Tonbridge (41.50). Owen Hind of Kent AC, the previous winner, was third in 41.54. The first runner home for Medway & Maidstone AC was Teweldebrahn Menges, in 14th in 44.27. Second for the club was Tom Collins (M35) in 17th, followed by Jacques Cunningham-Marsh 20th, Anthony Webb (M45) in 21st, Daniel St Martin in 42nd, a big improvement from 58th last time, and Jack Crossley (M40) in 43rd to complete the 6-to-score team. The 12-to score team was completed by Mark Wilkins (M40) 49th, Justin Lane (M45) 53rd, Neil wright (M45) 74th, Chris Rampling (M35) 78th, Alun Rodgers (M55) 80th and Daniel Longhurst (M40) in 86th. The overall team was completed by Gareth Williams 91st, Harry Collins 98th, Sean Rodwell 118th, Richard Kerswill (M50) 153rd and Bob Fursey (M55) 155th.There were 203 finishers, a slight increase on the 2020 race.
The U17 Men had a good championship with Hayden Gear leading the team to a team bronze. Hayden put in an excellent individual performance placing second overall and an individual silver medal. Cameron Featherstone (14th), Callum Featherstone (25th) & Dylan Leach (27th) completed the team success. The U20 Mens team were just as prosperous, earning another team bronze for M & M AC. Ethan Gear (5th), Luke Stringer (16th), Alex Donnelly (18th), Isaac Thomas(23rd) contributed to this teams success.
The U13 boys had their first taste of a county championships cross country, racing over a single 3050m lap. Their squad which was reduced by a number of but performed very well and they were unlucky to miss the podium by just 12 places. Owen Tucker led the team home in 10th place (11:57) followed closely by Freddie Gibson in 11th (12:01), Jake Alford was 37th (13:15) and the team was completed by Sam Fowler in 52nd place (13:59), they were supported by Louie Gear 56th (14:10).
The U15 boys continued their rich vein of form from the Kent League race series by finishing a close second to Tonbridge AC in the two lap 4400m race, just 5 places from the team gold. Alex Dack took the individual gold in 16:01 having led for most of the second larger (3200m) lap, he was briefly headed again by Noah Paterson of Folkestone Running Club with 300m to go but kicked again and retook the lead with 200m remaining, going away to win by 6 seconds. Franklin Shepherd completedthe podium, out sprinting Harrison Fraser of Tonbridge AC to take third in 16:20. Theo Ronchetti was 16th (17:39) and the team was completed by Riley Maisey in 17th place (17:49) who battled to the line with Henry Gibson 18th (17:50). Further support came from Ethan Rollings in 21st (18:14) and Jay Trimmer in 43rd place (20:21).
A much depleted senior ladies team, due to illness, left only 4 runners out of the 9 entered. Nevertheless the 4 performed strongly and should be proud of themselves. The ladies were the last race of the day and with the heavy rain and previous races, conditions underfoot were difficult. Chloe Hammond (36th) was first M&M across the line followed closely by Taryne McPherson (40th). Vanessa Vander (75th) finished the 3 to score team. Cat Rodwell finished in 105th position.
The Under 17 Women’s team had a very successful day finishing the day in first place in the team event.Anna Palmer, Abigail Royden and Lily Crossley all finished in the top 6, in 3rd, 4th and 6th places respectively.They were followed home by Ella Webb (15th), Annabel Young (17th), Lola Sutton (18th), Ingrid Linn (26th), Jenny Swandale (28th) and Ciara Harrop (29th). In the Under 20 Women’s event, Charlotte Young finished in 5th place.
There were strong performances in both the U13s and U15s girls teams. Rose Crossley took the lead from half way though the 3050m U13 girls race and maintained her first place position to win the County title in 11:58. Supported by Sofia Cudmore in 20thposition (13:48) and Sienna Mabb in 25th(14:02), the girls managed to secure a 3rdplace in the team medal with 46 points, narrowly behind Tonbridge with 43 points. The U15 girls were well represented over the 4,400m course with Iris Crossley leading the Maidstone and Medway team home in 5thposition (18:39), followed by Millie Dack in 10thplace (19:11) and Beth Palmer in 15th(19:32). The team scored 30 points which also secured them the 3rdplace team position. Heidi Hughes had a strong run to finish 16th(19:49) and was followed to the finish by Elizabeth Fry in 30thposition (20:48). Two team medals and an individual gold was a great performance from the M&M girls in the wind, mud and rain. This race was the start of the Championship races, with the Southern Championships on the 29th January at Beckenham and National Championships at Parliament Hill on the 26th February. There is also the final Kent League race at Bromley on the 12th February and the British Masters on the 12th March.
