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It’s swift season
<<First Name>>, Please see this week’s update for Kent AC members – 02/05/22<!–
KENT AC NEWS BULLETIN
2 May 2022
At this time of year birdwatchers anxiously await the return of swifts – birds whose legendary endurance allows them to stay in flight for a whole year – and distance runners shrug off their winter layers and race to test out their speed following winter training. For Kent AC’s senior athletes, the season has started swift indeed, and our fledgling members are proving that the next generation are also well set for future glory.
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THE FUTURE’S BRIGHT
Saturday 30 April saw
the first match of the Kent Youth Athletic League at Erith Stadium
This was our first track & field competition of the season. Invited by KYAL (Kent Youth Athletic League) to join division 2 only 8 weeks ago it’s been a roller coaster of a ride preparing for the event. On a glorious morning 21 juniors, their parents, coaches, officials and supporters arrived in Erith nervous but excited and ready to give their all. What a fantastic day it turned out to be. Lots of PB’s—not least because many athletes were competing for the first time—and more first places than we dared hope for.
Based on AAA standards the outstanding performance of the day was achieved by u13 girl Tess Hepple in the long jump with 4.42m.
A new club record was set in the u15 girls 1500m by Abigail Wrake in 5:33.5 And a special mention to those athletes attempting completely new events for the first time (Alice,Tallulah,Jasper, Amelie and Lara)
Highlights included relay wins in 4 x 100m for u13 Girls (Tess, Alice, Tallulah and Faith) & u15
Boys (Kyros, Iyanu, Jasper and Jack)
Long Jump : 1st Tess Hepple A string : 1st Alice Hales B string :
70m hurdles: 2nd Tess Hepple A string
75m : 2nd Faith Adedeji A string
150m : 2nd Tess Hepple A string : 1st Faith Adedeji B string
1200m : 3rd Tallulah Jones A string : 1st Alice Hales B string
For the boys there were wins for Derek Olewunne in the 100m and in the U15 boys Long Jump Jack Jones came first
Congratulations to all those who took part..
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A LONG WEEKEND’S RUNNING
It all started on Friday night, as weekends generally do, but our racers held off Friday-night drinks until they’d dealt with 5000 metres’ hard running.
Kent AC had a strong showing at the Friday Under The Lights 5k in Battersea Park. Congratulations to Ross (running in a Kent AC vest for the first time), Dan and Richard for superb PBs:
Ross Braden 14:20 (PB) Dan Pettitt 15:10 (PB) Chris Greenwood 15:37 George Russell 16:04 Sam Evans 16:19 Richard Giles 16:30 (PB) Claire Oxlade 18:34
On Saturday morning, Kent AC’s devoted parkrunners selected Beckenham Place Park (see image below) for their Saturday morning 5k social. Some were checking out the course for Thursday’s Assembly League first fixture (see Club Championship Dates, below), others were driven to explore further afield by the absence of Catford parkrun owing to a funfair sprawling over the course. Our first man in was Dame Dibaba, which was significant for a couple of reasons: he holds the course record (15:58 in 2017); he was still fasting on Saturday and will be celebrating Eid al-Fitr today and tomorrow (3 May) at Mountsfield Park.
Hot on Dame’s heels came Peter Lighting (16:53) and Jonathan Tipper (17:00), so our men took gold silver and bronze (although of course it’s a run not a race etc). First woman was Nasrin Sabanci (20:53, and not long after came Victoria Cartwright (21:15), both women train with Ellie’s group on a Tuesday. Many congratulations, also, to Kent AC’s boy wonder Ollie Buck (JM 11-14) who ran it in 18:00 and our man wonders at the other end of the age range, Roger Beardsworth (M60-64) who ran 19:55 Julian Spencer-Wood (M70-74), who ran 22:51.
First thing on Sunday 1 May, London celebrated spring with the frankly terrifying Westminster Mile.
Ben Harding was 3rd in the 1st wave in 4.21
Mike Cummings (2nd claim) 4.23
Ian Ellwood 4.54
Ali Farrel 6.06
Thanks to Nicky Hayes, currently injured, for marshalling at this event.
Bank Holiday Monday was a 10k day. The Vitality 10k, having been kicked about by Covid for the past two years) finally made it back to the city centre amid some fanfare. Once again, there were club performances to blow our Kent AC trumpet about:
We had a really strong turn out for this event, too many to list individual performances, but stand-out runs (apart from the relatively unknown Aldershot & Farnham guy Ellis Cross beating Mo Farah) include Kent AC’s wonder woman Katie Rowland coming in 20th woman in 36:14 and Victoria Buck coming fifth in her age category in 40:26.
Among the men, Dan Pettitt ran 32:13 and Callum Fraser 33:40.
We had more than 60 runner taking part: seven of our women and three our chaps were placed in the top 100. A great BH Monday for Kent AC, and celebrations in the Chandos pub were well deserved.
Any typos in this newsletter must be forgiven owing to aforementioned celebrations.
CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP DATES
Every year we set a calendar for Club Championship races on the road, ranging from 5k to Marathon, where the leading club members (plus age categories) earn themselves the title of club champ!
See below for the dates of the races selected for this year (note – these races have been picked to try and not clash with any other races that the club participates in):
5km – Assembly League, Beckenham Place Park – Thurs 5th May
10km – Sri Chimnoy 10k, Battersea Park – Sat 6th Aug
Half Marathon – Big Half, Greenwich – Sun 4th Sep
Marathon – London – Sun 2nd Oct
We are also looking for volunteers to help organise our track club championship races throughout the summer, so if that is something you’d like to get involved with please message info@kentac.org.uk
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BIG HALF: DEADLINE APPROACHES
KENT AC HALF MARATHON CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS
Limited Places Available – The Vitality Big Half –Sunday, 4 September 2022-£10/place
(Questions to Ted directly ted@trineire.com)
The Vitality Big Half is scheduled to return for its 5th year running in 2022 on Sunday, 4 September 2022.
We’ve been allocated Community places for our club which will be distributed to our club members* only.
Places will be allocated through a ballot. The Ballot deadline is Saturday 7th May after which the ballot will be closed. No exceptions. Winners will be announced on Tuesday 10th May. The remaining names will be placed on a waiting list.
Below is the link for you to register your interest in a place. Ted will then send the registration link when you will have 7 days to claim your place and pay. There is a registration fee of £10 per entry that is payable directly by the athlete to the organisers through their system.
We are limited to 50 places which will be given to the next person on the waiting list if you don’t claim your place within the 7 day period. Please note:
A £10 Community place entry fee will be paid directly by you to the Big Half Organisers within 7 days of receiving the entry link
The place will be handed onto others if you miss the 7 day deadline
Applications are non refundable
Places are non transferable
These are not championship places
No special negotiations for late comers
*Members are fully paid up as of today’s date.
Non club members will be invited if we don’t fill the quota so please grab your place now ….don’t miss out!
Please register your interest in the following link:
Kent AC Big Half Community Places 2022
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RACE DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
Club Parkrun dates
May 14 – Sutcliffe Park Parkrun
Bromley Midsummer 10k
Wednesday 22 June at 7.15pm
Post race drinks – venue TBC
https://kentlondonathletics.com/bromley-midsummer-10k
Southern Athletics League (SAL)
May 22 Carshalton
June 12 Battersea park
July 16 tbc
August 13 tbc
September 10 Reserve date
This season the traditional scoring system returns and promotion and relegation are back and we should certainly be competing to elevate our status. We will be competing for this honour against the Herne Hill Harriers, London City AC, St Mary’s Richmond and Sutton and District. The secret to getting promotion is to fill as many events as possible.
We also need people to be officials and volunteer to help facilitate the events. No experience is needed for this but those with experience are extra valuable.
Assembly League
First Thursday of the month, starting in May at Beckenham (5km) and Victoria Park (3.5 miles) being the other venue.
May 5 Beckenham
June 9 Victoria Park (to avoid bank hol)
July 7 Beckenham
August 4 Victoria Park
Club Championships – Road Races
5km – Assembly League, Beckenham Place Park – Thurs 5th May
10km – Sri Chimnoy 10k, Battersea Park – Sat 6th Aug
Half Marathon – Big Half, Greenwich – Sun 4th Sep
Marathon – London – Sun 2nd Oct
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NEW MEMBERS
Welcome to our new members this week, we look forwrd to running with you:
Nadine Javis Hadden
Blessing AmobiAngel AmobiJeffrey Brown
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CLUB KIT SHOP
Our club kit offering is now with one supplier, New Balance.
The Kent AC/New Balance branded kit shop is now open for all club members. Click here to access.
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WIN A TRACK PASS
In recognition of the importance of our volunteers, agate volunteers each month are in with a chance of winning themselves a month’s track pass (worth £10).
To be added to the rota simply email Jacqueline/Simon at (jacquelinea3@hotmail.com /
simon.allen@kingschurchlondon.org).
We only need each track attendee to volunteer a couple of times a year to spread the responsibility fairly.
T&Cs for the track pass draw:
All volunteers for the current month will be added into the hat for a draw each month.
The winner will win a free pass for the next calendar month.
Names will be automatically drawn from https://namepicker.net/ (or similar alternative)
The winner can either chose to:
use their free pass within a calendar year
allow their free pass to roll down to another volunteer
annual pass holders can nominate another club member if they cannot make use of the pass themselves
No refunds/discounts will be provided in place of the free monthly pass.
Volunteers will only be eligible to win a pass once every three months.
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TRACK, TRACK, TRACK
Buy your track pass here.
The usual track times are:
Tuesday 17:15 – 20:45
Thursday 18:30 – 20:30
Sunday 09:00 – 11:30
Please note that individuals are permitted to do their own sessions during club opening times, but coached group sessions continue to take priority.
Track Pass – Juniors
Please purchase your £5 junior monthly track pass in advance here. When purchasing the track pass can parents/guardians please enter the athlete’s name when completing the transaction
Please see a helpful FAQs guide here
Registering for a session
Group spreadsheets to register for sessions (links for payment this month and FAQs also here):
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