Home » Latest Club News »
Lewes AC athletes win championship medals across the age groups
With the summer track and field season coming to an end and the cross county season beckoning there have been some great results in recent Championship events. Starting at the top end of the age groups Hamilton Thomas and Peter Kennedy both won medals in their events at the Masters UK Track and Field Championships held at Birmingham over the weekend. Hamilton won gold medals in the over 70 age category in the hammer and heavy hammer events. He also won a sliver medal in the discus event. Peter Kennedy competing as an over 60 man won a bronze medal in the 800m with a time of 2mins 27.36sec. He also won a bronze medal in the men’s 1500m race with a time of 5mins 03.79secs.
Competing further afield at Ottawa in Canada in the World Duathlon Championships Alf Pollard came 5th in the M70 -74 age category. With a 10K run and a 40K bike ride Alf’s time of 2hours 41.32 minutes placed him in fifth place, a great achievement.
Moving down the age groups Chris Gilbert in the Sussex Road Running Championships held as part of the Hellingly 10K won the silver medal. Finishing 9th position in the race overall in a time 36mins 11secs Chris was the second over 40 runner to finish to win the silver medal.
Not to be outdone by the older club members the younger athletes came up trumps in the Sussex under 17 and under 20 steeple chase championships. Star performer in only her second run in the Under 17 women 1500m steeple chase event was Ruby Whyte-Wilding who won the gold medal in a time of 5mins 36.82 secs. Not only was this a personal best but placed Ruby 9th in the under 20 rankings for the South East Region and 25th in the UK under 17 rankings. Competing in the same championships in the under 17 men’s 1500m steeple chase Patrick McManus won the gold medal in a time of 4mins 58.72secs with James Martin winning the silver medal in a time of 5mins 16.70 secs. Patrick’s time placed him 12th in the SE ranking for this event and 47th in the UK rankings.
There were also star performers in the Under 13 and Under 15 age groups when competing in the Sussex Combined Events Championships. These Championships require the athletes to score points over five events which are long jump, hurdles, shot put, high jump and a 800m run. With three Lewes AC athletes entered all three came home with Championship medals. Winning gold medals were Polly Saunders in the Under 15 girls’ pentathlon with 2,456 points and Rose Brooker in the Under 13 girls pentathlon with a points score of 1,816. Making up the medal winning trio was Bill Saunders with a bronze medal in the Under 13 boys pentathlon with a score of 1,194 points.