Kate Funnell secured the U17 3k walk title in 15:32.1 with Jonathan Hobbs taking the U20 gold in 14:15.9 which was also good enough to give him the senior silver medal.

Veteran Gary Macdonald took the M50 gold over 3k with 18:17.8 and on a weekend where blustery conditions restricted performances the only two championship bests to fall came from the walkers.

Individual star was the consistent Rachel Hanagan who claimed gold in the U20 triple jump with 11,13m in an Ashford clean sweep with sister Laura taking silver with 10.76m and Joanna Norman the bronze with 9.36m.

Rachel also landed silver in the 200m in 26.1 just .3 of a second off the gold prize. Laura took her second silver medal in the 400m hurdles clocking 67.0.

Lucy Homes took the gold in the U20 javelin with a throw of 23.50m and rising star Caitlin Dock was the champion in the U17 pole vault with 2.39m holding off teammate Sam Lynch who notched a 2m clearance.

Aaron Meakin was the winner of the U15 hammer mastering the technically difficult implement with a fine 30m throw.

Silvers went to Warren Uden in the men’s steeplechase with 11:34.2 and Peter Wickens in the men’s javelin with 51.12m.

Blake Robinson has a consistent series in the U20 discus to take silver with 32.85m and veteran Candy Hawkins scored again with silver in the women’s 5000m with 20:08.1.

Ashford secured 10 bronze medals with Matt Morsia pressing hard in the triple jump ending with 14.76m and three came for the U17 lads with Tom Williams narrowly edged into bronze in the 200m with 23.5; Max Reeves was third in the 100m hurdles in 15.80 and Nathanial Fatola third in the long jump with 5.30m.

Ashford’s pole vaulters again performed with Kara Gibbs holding off teammate Emmeline Rendell to take the bronze with 3.20m while Ellie Gooding was third in the U15 event with 2.45m. Jack Huxley just missed a medal with fourth in the U17 boys with 2.30m.

In the U17s Amelia Jones was third in the 800m with 3:24.2 and Lauren Bamford took bronze in the 300m hurdles with 49.80.

Lauren just missed another medal with fourth in the long jump with3.85m on a countback with Kayleigh Miller-Leslie sixth.

Matt Hogben, seventh in the 800m (2:05.5), just missed a medal in the high jump fourth with 1.75m while veteran Chris Kingsland was third best of the M35s in the hammer but was fourth male overall with 33.69m.

Tom Snare, fourth in the U17 discus (35.35m) was also seventh in the shot while in the U15 80m hurdles Ben Isaac was fourth and teammate Aaron Meakin fifth. Jack Goss was sixth in the 800m final and Dan Steadman fourth in the U15 javelin with 27.19m.

Sam Beckett was sixth in the U20 women’s 200m with Lucy Holmes eighth while Hester Hill and Caitlin Dock were fifth and sixth in the U17 200m final.

Sprinter Emem Umoh came through a tough heats to secure a fine fifth in the U15 100m final while Jade Goss was narrowly edged into fourth in the javelin with Charlotte Tappenden 11th in the high jump.

Several former Ashford athletes also shone Nick Leavey winning the men’s 200m in 21.6; Romney Marsh’s Max Nicholls winning the U17 steeplechase for Tonbridge with sister Grace second in the senior 1500m while Matt Blandford took double gold in the U17 shot and discus for Tonbridge.

Hythe’s Kelsey Howard, also now at Tonbridge, won the U20 3k walk.

Correction

Ashford’s Candy Hawkins added another gold to the club tally winning the W40 5000m event with 20:08.1 and is now looking to add to her success in the the Southern Vets championships being held at the Julie Rose Stadium next month.

She has also been selected for the European Deaf Athletics Championships to be held in Kayseri, Turkey in July this year.

Steve Langford and Pete Davey parade their medals

IT was a great day for training partners Steve Langford and Pete Davey at the Kent Veteran Championships.
Steve, who competes in the Vet 50 category, took his tenth long jump title earning the gold with a jump of 5m 20 just 10cms short of the championship record that he set last year. Steve also took silver in the 100m having to content with a very strong head wind clocking 13.5 secs.
Davey had a busy day in the Vet 35 category opening with a silver in the 110m hurdles just losing out on gold to Kent AC’s Joe Appiah. Pete clocked 16.33.
It was double gold for Pete though in the 100m and 400m clocking 12.28 and 57.58 respectively. In the long jump Pete had a real battle that went down to the very last jump of the competition. Although Pete leapt to 5m 67, Steve Lake of M&M took gold.
Both Steve and Pete train at the Julie Rose Stadium under their coach Chas Robinson.

The successful senior women

ASHFORD AC’s senior women had a splendid day at the Kent Relays championships at the Black Lion track in Gillingham.
Highlight was a well deserved gold in the 4×400m race where Laura Hanagan, Caroline Hatley, Sam Beckett and Rachel Hanagan came from behind to take top honours.
Always playing catch-up Sam managed to hand over to Laura in second place after the third leg and she tucked in behind the leader to storm home down the final straight to secure a brilliant gold.
In 4×100m Sam, Rachel and Caroline were joined by Lucy Holmes to secure a hard earned bronze and there was another third for the quartet of Sam, Lucy, Caroline and Caitlin Dock in another fine run in the 4×200m final.
It was a remarkable performance by Sam who only got home at 4am after taking a second in the final of the Street Athletics in Manchester to get up and help the three senior women’s squads to the gold and two bronze medals.
The club secured another bronze in the U15 girls 4×100m event with fine runs by Sophie Hamlyn, Kayleigh Miller Leslie, Lauren Bamford and Hester Hill.
The U15 4×200m squad just missed out the medals in fourth after a good effort by Kayleigh, Lauren and Hester joined by Abigail Purkis.

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.

Former Ashford field events ace Hannah Hogben has been hammering the opposition setting a championship best in the Oxfordshire county championships with 42.97m to lift the gold in the hammer event.
Hannah, now living in Oxford, also shone in the Oxford v Cambridge University match setting a person best of 44.25m in the hammer but had to settle for the silver medal at Oxford’s Ifley Road Stadium.

Ashford U15s who did a clean sweep of the medals in the 3000m walk

ASHFORD Athletic Club had another excellent weekend at the Kent track and field championships at the Julie Rose Stadium claiming 14 county titles and 39 medals in total.
Gareth Morris got them off a fine start taking the 400m hurdles crown in 56.16 and Matt Morsia had a good weekend winning the senior long jump with 6.70m and adding the bronze in the triple jump.
James Phillips continued his progress through the ranks securing gold in the men’s 800m in fine style with 1:59.22.
Young Oliver Williams is a rising star at the club taking the U15 high jump gold and adding a bronze in the 80m hurdles just behind teammate Max Reeves while Callum Shaw added another gold in taking the U15 triple jump.
The club’s new walkers section also shone with three golds, Jonathan Hobbs winning the U17 men’s 3k walk and Kate Funnell repeating the feat with victory in the girls event.
Ashford took the top three places in the U15 girls 3000m walk led by Rebecca Roddy from teammates Katherine Buckley and Megan Lillington. Veteran Gary Macdonald won silver in the M50 walk.
There was gold and silver for Ashford in the U17 women’s high jump won by Deborah Martin with 1.60m from multi-eventer Caroline Hatley and Caroline added bronze in the 80m hurdles.
Rachel Hanagan was the high flyer in the U20 women’s triple jump with 11.05 and added bronze in the 400m.
In the U15 girls Kayleigh Miller-Leslie outpaced the pack to win the 75m hurdles in 12.11 while Sophie Hamlyn held off a big field to win the long jump with a fine 4.44m.
In the senior women Isabel Dickinson took gold in the 5000m and Candy Hawkins won the vets O35 5000m title.
Young Kirsten Hooten shone with a silver in the U15 javelin and bronze in the shot while Nathan Fatola took a fine second in the boy’s long jump. Tom Snare won silver in the U17 men’s shot and added a silver in the discus behind teammate Blake Robinson.
The difficult conditions meant just one championship best fell over the weekend with Amir Williamson (NEB) powering the men’s hammer to 66.62m.