TWO athletes from Tavistock Athletic Club represented the South West of England at the recent International Antwerp Athletics Gala in Belgium. High calibre athletes across the world competed, including Jade Kinsey and coach Adam Tofield. With little sleep the athletes got up and made their way to the track. With a 12,500 stadium capacity along with several event tents and a bar the Athletics track looked spectacular. Adam was first up in the 400m. He set off fast and was in the lead at 200m, with three Belgians, and one English athlete chasing him down. Adam mistimed his pace slightly, going off a bit too fast and paid the price as he started to feel the lactic down the final 100m. He finished 2nd behind a fellow Brit and then considered heading straight to the bar. Jade started her international appearance in the women's 200m. Having been given the news moments before her race that she would have to use the stadium blocks, it didn't give her enough time to properly set them up. As a consequence Jade got a bad start and lost a fair bit of time on her competitors. However, with Jade's speed endurance she managed to close them back but needed a bit more distance to break into the top 3 finishing just behind in 4th. Keen to put this behind her Jade stepped up for the 400m a couple hours later. Graded in the A race, with potential prize money of 125 Euros for the winner, it was clear there was some fierce competition with their eyes on the prize. With the wind picking up, conditions were getting harder. The women set off at a blistering pace and there were three early movers pushing for the win. With a close finish at the line, it was won by an athlete from Belgium and Jade managed to finish closely behind in 5th. Although Jade did not run a PB, this was a fantastic achievement and experience to be up against some of the best on the international stage and the majority of competitors would have been a few years older than her. Adam who coaches Jade, said: 'Although we didn't have the best preparations, the whole experience was fantastic and will help prepare for bigger and better things next year. I'm very proud of what Jade has achieved this year and so should she be. She has competed all across the country and can now add an international competition to that list. 'Jade has taken massive steps in her development and just needs to continue working hard and remembering the squad philosophy Dream! Believe! Achieve!'