Thanet AC Athletes Shine Bright At County Champs

10 athletes from Thanet Athletics Club took centre stage at the County Championships at the weekend and boy did they not disappoint!

Head Coach, Darren Hatton with Lola Brett, Gracie Lawton and Bethany Shimmen-Smith. Photo by Nick Purt.

It was a great wekend for Thanet AC's heptathletes, Bethany Shimmen-Smith (U20) had a super weekend where she took a fantastic bronze medal in the high jump competition with a huge personal best of 1.55m. Bethany also recorded a personal best in the 60m hurdles (11.02s), another personal best in the 60m (8.58s) and a 4.50m long jump to finish her weekend off.

Lola Brett (U20) also recorded 2 personal bests on her way to a successful weekend. First of all in the high jump clearing 1.40m and next a big personal best in the shot putt with 8.11m before rounding her weekend off with a 4.32m long jump.

Gracie Lawton in her first year being coached by Darren recorded an amazing 4 personal bests. She started the weekend with the 60m hurdles where she posted a time of 10.65s. Gracie then moved on to high jump where she flew over 1.45m to secure her first bronze medal of the weekend. Day 2 would be more of the same for this U17 athlete, securing 2 more bronze medals in both the shot put and long jump where she also recorded personal bests of 8.81m and 4.57m respectively.

Bethany Shimmen-Smith with her bronze high jump medal. Lola Brett on the podium with her silver medal. Photos by Nick Purt.

Crystal Green (U20) had a very good weekend with personal events in both of her events. First of all was the 200m where she recorded 27.97s, and then the following day she came back in the 60m to record 8.48s.

Senior athlete Lewis Parsons had a frustrating weekend with a recurring hamstring injury. After cruising through the heats of the 200m he had to pull out of the final as it wasn’t worth the risk. Such a shame as he was in great shape to medal in this event, but this does bode well for the rest of the season.

Richard Faraday preparing to throw a shot put PB , left. Lewis Parsons and Cameron Berry ahead of their 200m races, right. Photos by Richard Faraday and Darren Hatton respectively.

We then move on to our debutant athletes at the County Champs as we had 6 of these in total.

Richard Faraday (U17) was just outside the medals in 4th place when he competed in the shot putt and threw a big personal best with 9.26m.

Olivia Prosser and Imogen Carter (both U17) ran seasons bests in the 200m to start their competitive seasons off. Next was Lily Beckett (U20) who ran a seasons best in the 60m.

Then we had Natalia Kolodziejczyk (U20 60m) and Cameron Berry (U17 60m and 200m) who were competing in their first ever athletics event!

Sprints coaches Paul Weaver and James Bridge with athletes Natalia Kolodziejczyk, Lilly Beckett and Crystal Green. Photo by Lewis Parsons.

Head sprints coach James Bridge commented on the weekend saying “It has been a very tough time of late trying to train the groups at our club as we can’t train on the track, but to have such a good turn out for a County Champs shows just why we give our time and effort to coach these up and coming athletes. I am very proud of them all, especially those that competed in this event for the first time, and I look forward to seeing them progress this year.”

"This was a fantastic weekend for Thanet AC, once again punching well above our weight. Although I applaud all our athletes who gained a personal best and medals, it really is the taking part that matters. I'm so proud of every athlete who took the time to drive the two hour journey, put on the vest and compete. You are all winners!" - Chair, Julien Lawton

• Darren Hatton