Connor Neal and Jack Seery from Thanet Athletics club were selected to represent Kent on Sunday 8th July at the U17 Inter-Counties meet in Lee Valley. Connor had a good run in the 400m race and finished 2nd with 51.49s. He then jumped 5.83m in B String long jump, finishing in an amazing 1st place. George Seery had been selected for the triple jump at Kent Champs earlier in the season, but due to an unfortunate last-minute injury he was unable to compete. His brother Jack stepped in to take his place and accumulate points for the team, finishing in a respectable 6th place in A String with a jump of 11.69m. It was a punishingly hot day and a shortage of officials made it over run, but both boys put in excellent performances and contributed to the Kent team finishing 2nd overall!!
Also on Sunday 8th July Thanet Athletics Cub took 17 of their U13/15 athletes to compete in the 3rd round of the Kent Youth Athletics League match at the Julie Rose Stadium, Ashford. Many great results were achieved. U13 athletes, Poppy Rowland-Hill and Lily-Ann Showers made their debuts for the club. Both won their events in long jump and 70m hurdles, with Poppy setting a new club record in the hurdles. They then both ran amazing times in the 75m races, gaining outstanding 3rd places. Other U13 athletes, Keeva Fredericks, came 1st in the hammer with a seasons best and Harvey Humphereyes ran a good race in his 100m and gained a personnel best in the 1500m. The U15 girls, Leah Wearing-Channing and Grace Jakeman gained personnel bests in the 100m. Libby Pritchard and Mabel Naisbitt gained valuable points in the 75m hurdles, with Libby also setting a personnel best for the discus. Mabel and Keira Hulks both had outstanding runs in their 300m races with Keira also winning the discus. Sophia Baker competed in the 100m and long jump and another debut, this time from Scarlett Whittle, gained a personnel best in the high jump! The U15 boys saw Louis Small win 1500m and Dermot O'Brien gain a massive personnel best in the race too. Jack Small ran a quick 300m, with Joe Lowes also stomping home with excellent 300m and 100m, both gaining valuable points for the team. Ethan Ramsamy made his debut and came 2nd in his 100m race setting a personnel best as did Max Whittle in both 100m & 300m. With the U15 girls 4x300n relay coming 3rd, boys 2nd in 4x100m and 1st in 4x300m the team managed to finish 5th overall in the league!! The last match of the season will be held on Sunday 5th August in Erith, and the team will be training hard to repeat the same success next time. A huge thank you goes to the officials, coaches and parents who gave up their time to support the club.
A team of 7 athletes and 3 officials from Thanet Athletics Club travelled to the David Weir Athletics Stadium in Carshalton Surrey for the 4th leg of the Southern Athletics League on Saturday 14th July.
Despite being the smallest team on the day, there were some outstanding performances from the athletes, with many competing in multiple events to help the points total.
On a hot humid day, Lewis Parsons managed to compete in a staggering 8 events, with Konrad Farrell doing an outstanding job with superb performances in 5 events. William Jennings gained valuable points in 3 events, with a debut performance from Tim Reynolds in the Discus. Despite being slightly injured, Aston Fredericks took the 3rd leg in the 100m relay helping the relay team to an outstanding 2nd place. Bianca Schuster and Lyn Sole also competed in 4 events each, again scoring valuable points for the team.
A score of 67 points were won on the day, showing again that the team spirit was high, with everyone pulling out all the stops to achieve the best they could.
A huge thank you goes to James Bride, Darren Hatton and Christine Lee who gave up their time to officiate.
The last Southern Athletics League meeting of the season will be held on Saturday 18th August at Tooting, and Thanet Athletics Club will be there again hoping for a successful conclusion to the league season.