Hip Hip Hoorelay!
Hip Hip Hoorelay!
Please see this week’s update for Kent AC members – 16/04/23–
KENT AC NEWS BULLETIN
16 April 2023
–
There were also good marathon results in Manchester and Boston (not that one), while Jon Tipper, unable to make the trip for the relays, had to settle for one of the fastest 10 parkruns in the country with 15:26 at Dulwich.
There’s a shoutout for the first SAL meet at Hornchurch, either competing or officiating, and don’t forget the Coronation Games on 7 May,
entries are still openGood luck to those Kent runners attempting London next week!
–
MEN’S RELAY SUCCESS!
Kent supplemented the team that gained 5th place in the Southern Relays two weeks ago by bringing in Olympians Alex Yee and Paul Pollock, 2:14 marathon runner Ross Braden and veteran stalwart John Gilbert, all sub-30 10kers, creating possibly the strongest team in our history. Our B team also qualified for the Nationals, so we had a good coachload travelling to the Midlands.
The quality of the field was demonstrated by ex-British 5k record holder Marc Scott leading out the first leg, with Cam Dockerill producing a phenomenal run on the fiercely competitive leg to bring us home in 15th out of 62 starters. Noah Armitage Hooke ran the 7th fastest 2nd leg, bumping us up to 10th.Owen Hind gained us 3 more places with the 6th fastest 3rd leg, then Jake Simmonds got us to 5th with the 4th fastest 4th leg. Max Nicholls gained us a place to 3rd with the 4th fastest 5th leg, then Sean Fitzpatrick ran a steady leg before handing over to Alex Yee.
Alex blasted the field, overtaking 3 runners to take the lead, gaining nearly 90s on the leader and handing over 34s in front. Kent held the lead for the next 3 legs, with Rob Sesseman, Paul Pollock and Ross Braden all running strongly, Paul being chased by an impressive trio of Andrew Butchart, Dewi Griffiths and James Kingston.
The last two legs were run by our accomplished veterans John Gilbert and Chris Greenwood. John was overtaken by Jamie Crowe of Central AC, and Chris by Robel Bahelbi of Highgate as we finished with our best ever result, ahead of Swansea, Tonbridge and Aldershot, not to mention Hercules Wimbledon.
For a while it looked as if Alex Yee had won the prestigious fastest long leg medal, which he has won twice before, and has been won in the past by legends such as Brendan Foster, David Moorcroft, Chris Thompson and Mo Farah, and he was indeed awarded the medal, but revised results gave it to Andrew Butchart by 1 second. Alex can consider himself unlucky here given that his watch showed 24.55 for his leg against 24:58 by the results. Unfortunately, without chip timing, the organisers do sometimes ‘reallocate’ the odd few seconds which seems to have cost him. Ross Braden ran the 3rd fastest short leg overall.
Alex in full flow (Photo – Harrison Read)
Our B team also ran well, finishing 26th overall and 2nd B team behind Highgate B.
Team results:
[Leg number/name/time/position in leg/team position]
A Team
1 Cameron Dockerill 26:32 (15) (15)
2 Noah Armitage Hooke 15:35 (7) (10)
3 Owen Hind 26:32 (6) (7)
4 Jake Simmonds 15:33 (4) (5)
5 Max Nicholls 26:18 (4) (3)
6 Sean Fitzpatrick 16:02 (12) (4)
7 Alex Yee 24:58 (1) (1) 2nd fastest long leg
8 Rob Sesemann 15:41 (5) (1)
9 Paul Pollock 26:17 (5) (1)
10 Ross Braden 15:10 (2) (1) 3rd fastest short leg
11 John Gilbert 26:24 (5) (2)
12 Chris Greenwood 15:48 (7) (3)
Top 3 teams:
1 Central AC 4:09:54
2 Highgate Harriers 4:10:38
3 Kent AC 4:10:50
B Team
1 Dame Dibaba 27:43 (38) (38)
2 George Russell 16:22 (25) (33)
3 Chris Busaileh 29:07 (40) (35)
4 Chris Mullin 16:53 (28) (34)
5 Ben Clarke 28:02 (25) (33)
6 Peter Lighting 16:40 (24) (31)
7 James Boustead 28:40 (31) (31)
8 Ian Ellwood 17:47 (34) (31)
9 Matthew Speed 28:22 (22) (31)
10 Calum Fraser 16:56 (24) (29)
11 Che Compton 29:02 (25) (26)
12 Ben Harding 17:42 (32) (26)
Kent men’s road captain Chris Busaileh said: “It was an absolute privilege to be part of what was a special day for the club. Getting a team together that has the potential to be competitive is one thing but the guys need to deliver on the day. They did that and then some. Even on my most optimistic predictions we were nowhere near 4.10.50. That’s a course record by nearly 2 minutes. We ran that because so many of the guys stepped up a level when it really counted. We were unfortunate to come up against two better teams on the day but that’s ok; it just means we’ve got unfinished business for next year.”
“A word too on the B team. Simply getting a B team through is impressive but to finish well in the top half of the field when, by definition, you’re without your 12 best runners is incredible. The majority in that team would walk in to almost anyone else’s A team yet not a single one complained about not making the cut. Instead there was genuine excitement about being involved and I’ve no doubt that enthusiasm helped spur everyone on.”
–
OTHER RESULTS
In Boston (Lincolnshire) Tim Sharp ran 2:59:56, achieving his target by just 4s, and Paul McCrone ran 3:30.
Apologies if we missed your result, please inform us if you’d like to be included. Email to .
–
KENT AC’S CORONATION GAMES – 7 MAY
Events to be contested are 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, The Gunpowder Mile, Hurdles, Relays, Javelin and Long Jump. Exciting news for more mature jump racers: there will also be Hurdle entries for W40-W59 and M50-M59 age groups.
There will be qualified track officials and timekeepers, so times will be official and recorded on powerof10 and elsewhere.
The entry portal is open here. Book your race soon as some events are already booked up.
There will be a fully licensed bar, a wood-fired pizza van and a coffee hut. It costs £5 to enter the first event and £2 per event thereafter.
All spectators are welcome; should be a great day for the club.
–
SOUTHERN ATHLETICS LEAGUE
We also need officials and volunteers and if you are interested please contact .
–
RUNNING WELL
We all know that recovery, fuelling and generally treating our bodies as miraculous temples is as important to an athlete’s wellbeing as the actual training, but still we believe that if we run our bodies into submission, those PBs will happen. They just won’t.
Learn more about the fun stuff during an evening of lectures, food, drinks and general high jinks, cunningly inserted between our two training nights for maximum recovery. You owe it to your temple to attend.
Running & Wellbeing Event: Performance, Power, Psychology and Pints
Wednesday 17th May 2023 19:15-21:15 at St. Dunstans Jubiliee Ground, Canadian Avenue, London SE6 4SW
An opportunity to learn, question, reflect and socialise.
There will be a bar and food.
Free ticketed event – please book here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/running-wellbeing-event-performance-power-psychology-and-pints-tickets-590468165177
–
BECKENHAM & DULWICH RELAYS
SWIPE RIGHT FOR IMPORTANT DATES
Save the dates for the all-important National relays, Kent AC Open meet, a wellbeing event, SAL, Assembly League, parkruns, and the big 125 anniversary dinner:
4 May – Assembly League Victoria Park
6 May – parkrun takeover (location TBC – please share ideas!)
7 May – Kent AC Open Meeting, Ladywell Arena
17 May – Wellbeing Event, St Dunstan’s
20 May – SAL, Hornchurch
1 June – Assembly League TBC
18 June – SAL, Mile End
6 July – Assembly League TBC
9 July – SAL, Stevenage
3 August – Assembly League Victoria Park
19 August – SAL, Thurrock
7 September – Assembly League BPP
16 September – 125th Anniversary Dinner
–
KENT AC IS 125
Save the date: 16 September 2023
Careful observers of our club badge will notice three dates:1898 was when our two founder clubs, Lewisham Hare and Hounds (1885) and West Kent Harriers (1887) merged to form Kent AC.
The club is therefore among the oldest athletics clubs in the country and one of the oldest sports clubs in the borough – certainly the one with the longest continuous association.
The club was first heard of in mid June of 1898, hence the focus on the SAL match on 18 June, but we will celebrate our 125th birthday more thoroughly on 16 September with an event at the track, runs and a dinner and dance to remember.
–
SHOW TRACK AND FIELD YOUR LOVE
Athletics needs more officials, and volunteering in this way is a wonderful way to give back to the club.
Courses take place on 1 April in Norman Park, and the following are available:
Level 1 Starter/Starters Assistant
Level 1 Track Judge
Level 1 Field Judge
This is a great opportunity to help get club events’ results on Power of 10. And it’s fun.
It’s a straightforward process that the club will pay for, with more detail here.
https://www.kentac.org.uk/membership/get-involved-volunteer/becoming-an-athletics-official/
Please contact Len Reilly for more info.
It would be great to see a few more people put their names down to help out!
–
KIT DONATIONS FOR JUNIORS
We still have more juniors who would be interested in receiving some kit. Please let Amelia know if you have any running kit (not only New Balance) that could be useful to the juniors.
This doesn’t have to be just Kent AC club kit, all running kit suitable for junior athletes is welcomed. Amelia will be setting up a junior kit swap shop at the open meet on 7 May.
–
WELFARE OFFICER VACANCY
The role would suit somebody with a children’s services background in education, health or social care though this is not essential. It is a great opportunity to make a difference and also looks good on your CV! Training in the role is offered by England Athletics and Neil will do a full handover/induction for my replacement. If you might interested or would like to find out more please let us know at .
–
MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY VACANCY
We would love to find someone who is:
– Diligent with an attention to detail
– Proactive in dealing with queries
– Computer literate
– Familiar with online payment systems
– Able to attend regular meetings and/or submit reports
If this is you and you want to give a little back to the club, then please reach out to to find out more.
–
SWEEPSTAKE NUMBERS AVAILABLE
–
NIGHT OF THE 10,000M PB’S ENTRY NOW OPEN
–
EASYFUNDRAISING
Over 7,000 brands pay easyfundraising a commission when you start your shop through their platform, so you can raise FREE donations for us no matter what you’re buying. These donations really help us out, so please sign up if you haven’t yet. It’s easy and FREE! You can get started at https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/kentac
You can also install a helpful Chrome extension, which prompts you to donate whenever doing any online shopping – really handy
WIN A TRACK PASS
To be added to the rota simply email Jacqueline/Laurie at ( /
).
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.
–
TRACK, TRACK, TRACK
Buy your track pass here.
The usual track times are:
Tuesday 17:30 – 20:30
Thursday 17:30 – 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
Ladywell Arena now has new opening hours dedicated to the public. While during these times the Kent AC track pass is not valid, members can pay for an individual session.
Session times are:
Monday: 07:00 -15:00
Tuesday – Thursday: 1300 -1700
Friday: 07:00 – 15:00
Saturday – Sunday: 09:00-15:00
Price:
Adult resident: £2.70
Adult non resident: £3.00
Junior (U16): £1.30
The Kent AC track pass continues to be required for training on Tues/Thurs evenings and Sunday mornings.
Track staff have encouraged people to double check the opening hours before their training session, as they may occasionally be closed for school sport days and football friendlies. Hours can be checked at https://www.better.org.uk/leisure-centre/london/lewisham/ladywell-arena. This will likely suit members who can’t make training sessions but would like to train in the morning/lunchtime/evening.
Pay as you go fees can either be paid via cash to the desk or using the Better app (note: staff are working to add the sessions to the app).
–
KEEP US UPDATED
–
–