Ashford Athletics Club » Race Walking

Race walkers step up

News Desk — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 12:04:20 +0000

ASHFORD’S young race walkers have shone in the Younger Age Group Walking Grand Prix which is based on the results of the eight key races over the year.
Ashford’s tiny squad came a brilliant fourth out of 24 teams with a hat-trick of third places for Rebecca Roddy in the Under 15s, Kate Funnell in the Under 17s and Jonathan Hobbs in the Under 20s.
Tonbridge, with a very large squad, won from Birchfield Harriers and Nuneaton Harriers.
The gallant contribution of Felicity Endacott in the Inter Area match made the difference to earn promotion from fifth to fourth enabling Ashford to beat big clubs like Leicester Walking Club, Sheffield, Wolverhampton and Bilston, Coventry and local rivals Cambridge Harriers and Medway & Maidstone.
These events are held all over England from Sussex to Sheffield and include the National Track championships, Road championships, Inter Counties and Inter Area matches with individuals scoring in a maximum of their best five of these.

Best spurs Kate to victory

News Desk — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 07:24:21 +0000

ASHFORD AC’s trio of race walkers featured strongly in the South of England’s win over the Midlands and the North in their match at Dartford.
Kate Funnell carved 27 seconds off her personal best over 5km to win the Under 17s race in 26:32.
Jonathan Hobbs also won the U20 one hour walk recording just over 12km while in the U13/U15s event over 3km Rebecca Roddy secured a fine third place.

Rachel sets new mark

News Desk — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 23:57:46 +0000

ASHFORD AC’s Rachel Hanagan broke a 23 year old club record in a fine weekend in the U20 heptathlon at Stoke.
Rachel finished a splendid sixth with a personal best points tally of 4,205 after a victory in the 800m in a personal best 2:24.78 and second in the 200m in 26.17. She set another best in the high jump with 1.49m and a season’s best 5.24m in the long jump.
Her points tally broke Karen Hambrook’s club record in the heptathlon set in 1987.
Caroline Hatley also competed well finishing 17th in the U17 heptathlon with season bests in the long jump and high jump.
Ashford multi eventer Chris Blandford was 17th in the U20 men’s decathlon with a personal best javelin of 51.09m and more bests in the 110m hurdles (20.40) and 100m (12.48) with a seaon’s best 400m of 56.10 and high jump of 1.54m.

Depleted squad just edged out

News Desk — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 20:19:18 +0000

ASHFORD AC’s Senior Ladies travelled to Bromley last Saturday to contest the final match of the Southern Womens Track & Field League Senior only Division 1, reports Derek Laws.
Following promotion in 2009 the target for the season was to consolidate, aiming to finish mid table.
The season had got off to a flying start with the team after the penultimate match laying 4th just five points behind Portsmouth in 3rd. A good result at Bromley could have seen the team climb to take the 3rd spot.
Unfortunately this was not to be. After one of the most exciting tussles of the season between three of the four clubs (Portsmouth being one of them) the team lost out to 3rd on the day just 6 match points separating the three clubs.
This resulted in Ashford dropping to 5th in the League table. However a remarkable achievement, well above mid table, the original pre seasons aim.
Without the team being able to field a single dedicated thrower coupled with a couple of holiday commitments it was always going to be a battle. A full team would have without doubt triumphed.
Distance runners Helen Wheeler and Lesley Hall, who also doubles as the team’s masseur, once again provided excitement in the 3000m both pulling in and overcoming main rivals Portsmouth. Helen was 2nd A string in 11.02.7 with Lesley winning B string.
Amanda Jukes returning after a lay off ran a solid 1500m for 3rd in 5.32.9 with Kate Funnell, also returning after recently being hospitalised for an operation gained 2nd B string.
Earlier she had joined Amelia Jones in the 800m where Amelia clocked 2:33.3 for A string 3rd and Kate with another B string 2nd.
Rachel Hanagan was in winning form once again with three top spots in 400m in 59.8secs, 100m Hurdles B and another impressive Triple Jump win in 11.05m. Her sister Laura had joined her winning B string with an excellent 10.11m.
The sprints were contested by Kim Smith and Caitlin Dock, gaining more valuable points against strong competition. Caitlin had earlier entered her first ever SWL pole vault competition and was rewarded with first placed B string in a personal best performance of 2.40m and looking forward to a bright future in this event.
Emmeline Rendell was 3rd A string with 2.60m before winning the B string 400m Hurdles which she had to break away from the pole vault for. Laura Hanagan gained 2nd in the A string running a very mature race.
The sprint hurdles saw the return of Caroline Hately notching up a fine 2nd A string in 16.3secs. She then claimed a personal best in the javelin B string with 21.10m whilst newcomer Olivia Price showed she has a future in the event throwing the spear out to 28.79m.
Jumpers Deborah Martin and Katie Hamilton teamed up for both the Long and High Jumps. Unfortunately both events took part at the same time so they had to run back and forth between the events. They were handsomely rewarded however both claiming firsts in high jump and a 3rd and 2nd in the long jump.
Deborah has had an excellent first full season and aims to try even more events next year.

Kayleigh shines in championships

News Desk — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 08:56:23 +0000

ASHFORD Athletic Club’s rising young star Kayleigh Miller-Leslie took an excellent bronze medal in the 75m hurdles in the England AAA’s championships at Bedford with a personal best 11.61 seconds.
She competed well above herself, beating all the girls except those ranked number 1 and 3 in the country.
She qualified in the heat as a fastest loser and went into the final with the fourth fastest time on the day.
After a slower start than in her heat she finished strongly to take third place and she also took fifth in the long jump with 5.07m.
Lauren Bamford and Max Reeves also competed in the hurdles both gaining personal best times with Lauren recording 12.04 and Max 12.32.
In the U17 5000m walk Kate Funnell came third clocking a best ever time of 29:47.88 and in the U15 walk Rebecca Roddy was an a fine second with a huge personal best clocking 17:17.80 over 3000m.
James Phillips just missed qualifying in the U23 800m heats with 1:54.70 and Gareth Morris recorded 55.99 in his 400m hurdles heat while in the U15 javelin Kirsten Hooten threw 28.07m.
Former Ashford star Jack Green claimed the national U20 400m hurdles title with a superb 51.54.

Matt cleans up

News Desk — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 20:53:56 +0000

ASHFORD athletes enjoyed success in Sunday’s Southern Inter Counties match at the Julie Rose Stadium.
Matt Morsia led the way with victory in the A triple jump with a personal best leap of 15.17m but there was also a fine effort in the women’s event where Rachel Hanagan took third with a season’s best 11.26m.
Race walker Kelsey Howard also shone winning the B 3000m walk with 16:00.56.
Sarah Snare had a good day second in the B shot with 9.34m and fifth in the A javelin with a season best 31.81m.
Gareth Morris was also busy second in the B 110m hurdles in a personal best 16.52 and was also third in the A 400m hurdles in 56.09.
Sam Beckett took third in the women’s 400mH in 68.66 while veteran Pete Davey was fifth in the A men’s 110m hurdles in 16.33.
Romney Marsh rising star Grace Nicholls recorded a fine second in the women’s A 1500m clocking 4:40.80.

Janine cops gold

News Desk — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 11:10:45 +0000

Kelsey Howard and Kate Funnell at Glasgow

ASHFORD AC’s Janine Brown stunned even herself in taking a superb gold at the National Police UK Championships held in Scotland.
Despite awful conditions with rain and wind she claimed victory in the 800m with a season’s best 2:29.3 and also took bronze in the 1500m race in another season’s best of 5:06.3.
The event was also trials for the European track and field championships being held in the Ukraine over September 22-25 but Janine said she was not seeking selection as she needs a break after a long and demanding season with injury and marathon training.
But she aims to be back with road and cross country events for Ashford and Kent Police after her break.
Another Shepway athlete enjoying success is Vicky Silk who was back on form with two golds in Dublin strengthening her claim for selection for selection in the world championships in New Zealand in January.
She threw consistently in the discus to win with a personal best 18.88m improving her best by 84cm and she went close to setting another best in the shot with a winning throw of 6.13m in another impressive series.
She now has two meetings left with the Diamond League meeting at Crystal Palace on August 15 and then in Slovakia in late August for the IWAS world championships.
Kate Funnell and Kelsey Howard represented the Folkestone School for Girls at the Four Nations U17 International Athletics meeting at Scotstoun Stadium, Glasgow with Kate coming fourth and Kelsey fifth.

With race walking an emerging discipline within athletics at the moment, it is quite a coup for the school to have two athletes competing at this level, in the same age group and at the same time being good friends.

Kate also recently competed in the Aviva UK Championships at Birmingham joining Lisa Dobrisky in featuring the club’s colours at the highest level in the BBC televised event.

Throwers shine for men

News Desk — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 11:23:45 +0000

From Pete Le Rossignol

WITH several regular members of the team missing, the Ashford AC men’s team travelled to Milton Keynes for their third Southern League, Division 1 match.
Adding to the pressure, the coach journey took longer than expected due to road works and accidents en route.
However, the team kept focussed and amused themselves playing games like pass the bottle etc. On arrival, the team of 15 athletes commenced to work together to cover the 34 individual events and 2 relays, knowing also that two of the teams against them, were above them in the league.
The pairing of Jon Ward and Chris Kingsland in the throws was tremendous, with 4 firsts and two second places between them. Ably supported by Chris Blandford and John Rolfe in the javelin, the quartet amassed 36 points out of the team’s total of 92, an exceptional effort.
The team spirit continued throughout the afternoon and pole vaulters Luke Williams and Mick Goodall excelled in a competition where the opposition was potentially far better. Luke clearing a personal best height of 3.40 metres to win the A string and 60 year old Mick taking the B string with a season’s best clearance of 3.30 metres. Luke also went on to take second in the A string 110m hurdles in another pb of 19.5s.
Acting team manager, Matt Hogben, epitomised the team’s commitment by taking part in 6 individual events and the 4 x 400m relay, whilst having to cope with the strength sapping heat.
Sprinters Chris Meakin and Steve Walder gained valuable team points. Chris still returning to form from injury competed in both sprints and the 4 x 100m relay. First year U17 athlete, Steve, gained valuable experience, competing against older athletes, and ran well in the 4 x 100m relay.
Ashley Cochran and Pat Duncan added more points in the 800m and 30 minutes later despite being disappointed with his 800 time, Ashley ran an incredible pb of 52.7s in the 400 metres A string race. Later, Pat also teamed up with Chris Blandford in a gruelling 1500 metres race.
In the 5000 metres Matt Iles endured the heat to gain a valuable point which was priceless when considering the club gained third place by only one point.
In the 3000m steeplechase, Warren U den and Phil Heathfield added a further important points tally with Warren taking another 10 seconds off his pb. Phil had also partnered Matt Hogben in the 400m hurdles.
In the jumps events, Matt Smiley teamed up with the ever busy Matt Hogben, where they managed to gain 9 important points, from the long, high and triple jump.
Both relay squads added more points to enable the team to stay the one point ahead of Enfield and Haringey AC to round off an excellent team effort for a well deserved third place.
MATCH POINTS: Highgate 132 points, Marshall Milton Keynes 128, Ashford 92, Enfield and Haringey 91, Harrow 80.

Walking tall

News Desk — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 10:27:08 +0000

Golden trio Jonathan Hobbs, Kate Funnell and Rebecca Roddy

ASHFORD Athletic Club secured another first with three gold medals at the Kent County Race Walking championships at Bexley at the weekend.

Jonathon Hobbs from Folkstone won the U20 junior men’s race, Hythe’s Kate Funnell the U17 girls event and Rebecca Roddy the U15 girls race.

As well as this both Jonathon and Kate won gold in their respective age groups, having gained the most points throughout the Bexley Winter League.

Walkers shine for Kent

News Desk — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 09:34:22 +0000

TWO Ashford AC race walkers were in the medals representing Kent in 5K Inter Counties/Molly Barnett races that took place at the weekend at the University of Warwick.
Hythe’s Kate Funnell has moved up to the U17 age group since the end of the track season and has been doing very well in what is a competitive age group.
She has still been winning races and is rapidly improving at the top level in her age group. She was the second Kent girl home just outside her personal best in a time of 29:07 behind New Romney athlete Kelsey Howard (Tonbridge) but only by eight seconds. Jonathon Hobbs raced really well and was the first Kent athlete home in what was for him a personal best.