End of season round-up for Thanet Athletics Club

Thanet Athletic Club members

By Lyn Sole

Thanet Athletics Club had a busy season competing in competitions up and down the country.

The club sent a team of U15 and U13 boys and girls to the Kent Young Athlete League. The  team competed in three league meetings. 

In June they finished 5th in the match, July finishing 3rd in the match and August where they accumulated enough points to finish 4th in League Division 2, narrowly missing out on third place by one point.

Although fielding a smaller team than a lot of the bigger clubs, all athletes pulled together to produce an amazing team effort, with personal bests and club records being smashed.

Another team was sent to the Southern Athletics League to compete in Division 3 south east. There were five meetings with the team travelling to areas including Tonbridge to compete. 

Again, despite having a small team, the atmosphere among the athletes was electric, with some  competing in five events to show what a great team spirit was being produced. The team finished 12th in their respective league, matching last year’s performance, and again personal bests and club records being smashed.

A selection of athletes were chosen to represent Kent at the intercounties competitions. Eve Seery (70m hurdles) and Poppy Rowland-Hill (high jump and long jump) were chosen to represent the U13 team, and both achieved amazing results, helping Kent U13 girls win their match, beating 12 other teams.

Geore Seery was chosen for the U17 men’s team and competed in the long jump and 100m hurdles, helping Kent to take a well-deserved 3 rd place in their match..

Connor Neal and Konrad Farrall were chosen to represent Kent in the senior section, both producing outstanding performances. Eve Seery and Poppy Rowand-Hill were in action again at the U13 girl’s pentathlon held in Tonbridge. Both were up against exceptionally strong competition, but Eve put in a staggering performance over 5 disciplines to pick up 2nd place and a well-deserved silver medal. Poppy managed 3rd place, which was staggering considering she gained no points in the long jump.

Harriet Edwards also competed on the day. This was her first ever pentathlon competition and she put in a strong performance, laying down a good foundation for her moving forward in the future.

George Seery was also chosen to compete in the 400m hurdles at the New Balance ESAA English Schools’ Championships Held in Birmingham in July, where he made it through the heats to come 5th in the final, placing him in the top 10 U17 400m hurdlers in the country.

The Kent U13 and master’s championships were held in Erith in September. Eve Seery and Poppy Rowland-Hill were again in action. Poppy put in some great performances, picking up a silver medal in the 150m, and gold in the shot. Eve narrowly missed out on the final of the 75m, but more than made up for her disappointment with a silver in the 70m hurdles, silver in the discus and  silver in the long jump despite a starting lineup of 19 athletes.

Despite having had a long season, competing up and down the country at master’s events, Lyn Sole managed a 2nd place in the discus, 2nd place in the 200m and a third place in the 100m.

On Sunday, September 22 the club sent two teams to compete in the Kent relay championship’s held at Medway park Gillingham.

The U15 girls competed in the 4x100m relay picking up a medal, before having to run the 4x300m five minutes later where they finished a very respectable 5th considering only having five minutes recovery time. The U13 girls 4x100m breezed through their heat, smashing the long-standing club record by over two seconds, before storming their way to a gold medal in the final.

Lyn Sole was also competing at the same venue in the Kent masters long jump competition finishing 3rd to pick up a bronze medal. George Seery finished 6th in a strong field at the English Schools multi events, helping the Kent team take the bronze medal in a strong competition against all the other counties.