Gareth Morris
ASHFORD AC’s Gareth Morris proved he is getting back to full fitness after injury with a silver medal in the 400m hurdles at the Welsh Athletics championships held in Cardiff.
The Loughborough student ran 54.25 secs to improve his personal best by nearly half a second and was only beaten by Rhys Williams, who represented Great Britain in last year’s World Athletics Championships.
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.
