Everybody is Hot Hot Hot!
Everybody is Hot Hot Hot!
Please see this week’s update for Kent AC members – 25/06/23–
KENT AC NEWS BULLETIN
25 June 2023
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If members fail to pay fees, the cost of the monthly track pass will need to be increased for everyone.
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As reported last week, we won the SAL fixture on our 125th birthday last Sunday, with a large athlete turnout ensuring we filled our competition card and won by an impressive 29 points.
The juniors came 4th in their fixture at Norman Park on Saturday, with lots of excellent individual performances. The next generation continues to be very promising!
On Wednesday, Kent retained both the men’s and women’s titles in the Dulwich relays on a balmy midsummer’s evening.
Jake celebrating before the line
And this morning 15 Kent runners did the North Downs Run, 30k of hilly trails in 30C, with some impressive results – Amy Clements first woman, Che Compton 5th overall and 2nd VM40, Teresa Murphy 3rd VW45 and several others.
Full reports below.
And don’t forget the Track Social this Tuesday after training, drink, nibbles and chat until 9pm.
DULWICH RELAYS
Another week, another relay trophy for Kent AC – in fact a pair of them, as we retained our titles in both men’s and women’s races in this friendly fixture in Dulwich Park. We put out 18 3 person teams – 10 men’s, 7 women’s and one mixed, with the irrepressible Che Compton remarkably managing two legs for two teams to cover for an absence.
In the Men’s race it was the young runner Olly Buck who kicked things off. Olly ran 4:54 for the one lap, one mile course to come home in 4th place giving Rob Sesemann a 60 meter gap to close down on the second leg. Rob ran a very controlled 4:48 to get the team into 1st place with a 12 second lead going into the last leg. Jake Simmonds ran a 4:47 on the 3rd leg to gain another 8 seconds over Dulwich to retain the title.
Kent’s winning men’s team
The men’s C team of Che Compton, Richard Giles & Joe Hartley got the bronze medal in the closely fought race. A big thank you to Chris Schofield, Tom Sloan, Jonathan Beatty for stepping in as replacements last minute. After smashing the first leg in 5:10, Che was back out on the course 5 minutes later running 5:17 on the 3rd leg for the D team.
Joe Hartley closing out the C team for 3rd
In the woman’s race our usual lead out runner Bryony Proctor stormed round in the 3rd fastest leg of the day in 5:35 to put the woman’s team in a strong position on the handover. She handed over to Clare Elms who recently ran a UK age best over the 1500m. Clare ran a very solid lap in 5:44 to hand over to Alexa Parker. Alexa stormed round the one lap course in the fastest leg of the day, 5:23. The woman’s C team of Iona Cousland, Amy White & Nesrin Sabanci claimed the bronze medal in the race. 4 of our runners were in the 6 fastest legs of the day. Well done girls we are all very proud of you.
Kent’s winning women’s team
We had one mixed team this year which included juniors Alice Hales, Tallulah Jones and Junior Coach Ian Ellwood. A big thank you to Ian Ellwood & John Barron for all the hard work behind the scenes in getting 9 juniors to run on the Wednesday night. They all ran fantastically which shows the future of the club is in very good hands.
A big thank you from myself to everyone who ran. Team spirit and the high standards we set at Kent AC was on full flow throughout the evening.
[Race report from relay captain Jake Simmonds]
SAL MATCH #2 – MILE END
Kent AC made the short journey to the East End for our second fixture of the season, on the 125th annniversary of the founding of the club. The proximity helped with rounding up athletes to compete, with 35 athletes competing in 68 out of the 69 events contested, including A and B strings. This was essential to our win on the day, by 29 points.
Once more this season we could call up an Olympian to our ranks, Conrad Williams reprersenting us in a SAL for the first time in a few years. He may be 41 but he can still hold his own against the youngsters, winning the A string 200m in 22.95, the B string 100m in 11.56, and helping the 4 x 100m team to second place.
Conrad Williams
Jake Simmonds ran a controlled 15:45 to win the A string 5000m, with Dame Dibaba 2nd in 15:51, picking up the B string points. Joe Hartley won the 1500m steeplechase, with Lyndon Marfell winning the B string.
Dame, Jake and Jon Tipper
In the women’s events, Clio Parkes gained an impressive 2nd place in the 100m and 3rd in the 200m, in 12.77s and 26.48s respectively. Clare Elms ran a remarkable 5:04.41 in the 1500m, on track to continue cleaning up the British age group records in the event (she currently holds the V45, V50 and V55 1500m records)
Clare Elms
In some events, our ability to turn out athletes paid big dividends – in the men’s 110m hurdles, for example, there were 3 athletes, two of them from Kent, and we picked up maximum A and B points – big credit to Alex Harris, who’d never run the event before but stepped up and gained valuable points. In the women’s steeplechase, there were 4 runners, of which Kent had two – Sally Urquhart (who also ran the 5000m) and Sofia Contino.
Lyndon Marfell with Alex Harris behind
On an individual level, Alex Harris competed in 4 events (hurdles, HJ, PV & TJ) gaining 14 points, while Sofia Contino competed in the 400m, 400h, 1500m s/c and discus for 13 points. Rosie Ashton gained 14 points from the 100h, 400h and TJ. That’s over 15% of our competitive points from just 3 athletes – big congratulations to them.
Fixture results:
1. Kent AC 261
2. Victoria Park 232
3. Thurrock Harriers 228
4. Woodford Green 182
5. Basildon AC 152
6. Enfield & Haringey 128
The next fixture is at Stevenage on Sunday 9th July. We will be in need of athletes for that, so please contact Ian Ellwood or Olivia Shortland if you can make it. Train fares can be reimbursed, and there may be places in cars available.
KYAL MATCH #2 – NORMAN PARK
Last Saturday Kent’s juniors competed in the second match of the season at the track in Norman Park, Bromley. We came a creditable 4th out of 8 teams, as in the first match.
Standout performances included Faith Adedeji winning the U13 Girls 75m in 10.2s, the 150m in 20.6s and the 70m hurdles in 11.7s, and Lwiza Kamdem competing in the U15 Girls shot (1st), javelin (2nd), LJ (1st B string) and 4 x 100m relays (3rd)
The U15 girls category saw our best turnout, with 7 athletes, and best results, contributing points in almost every event, and coming 3rd in both relays. 6 boys participated in the U15s, with Dylan Sandhu’s 3rd place in the 800m the highlight.
In the U13 boys, 4 Kent athletes gamely tackled as many events as they could – a total of 11 individual plus the relay, so their category position of 4th out of 7 teams was a great achievement!
In thew U13 girls there were just 3 of them, but they managed 8 events between them, Faith winning her 3, and Amelia Jackson and Eva Munoz competing gamely in unfamiliar events.
John Barron, youth coach, commented that given the depleted turnout due to exams and school sports days, this was a very respectable result showing great progress among our juniors.
NORTH DOWNS 30K RUN
15 Kent runners, 10 women and 5 men, braved a blisteringly hot day (that wasn’t forecast when they signed up!) to run the North Downs 30k today, with all completing it, and some very good results.
Amy Clements was first woman in 2:27:44, and Che Compton was 5th overall and 2nd MV40 in 2:10:38. Nesrin Sabanci and Victoria Cartwright were 7th and 8th placed women, while Teresa Murphy was 13th and 3rd FV45. We also won the women’s team race.
Other finishers included Matthew Thomas, Alex Robbins, Gian Valentini, Steven Mowll, Nicola Cartlidge, Sarah Young, Zuzana Nemeckova, Ronnie Haydon-Jones, Jo Wint and Suzanne Spalding.
GATEKEEPERS REQUIRED
We now need volunteers for the gate on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Volunteers can sign up here, and read more about gatekeeping duties, and its rewards, below: ‘Win A Track Pass’.
SITUATIONS VACANT
We really need members to step up and help out with the following roles at the club:
Joint Club Secretaries
Joint Comms Managers
H&S work
Men’s XC Manager
Trophies Secretary
Only some of this work has future cover, and then only temporarily, so and more help is needed both in the short and longer term. Dan and Amelia, who did so much before they moved overseas, will happily advise on what’s involved.
The club tries to work on the principle that lots of people take on a large number of small roles.
The great response for volunteers at the Coronation Games shows that can hold true.
I hope our wonderful membership will be similarly generous in helping with these tasks.
Len Reilly
Co-president
HAPPY 125th BIRTHDAY TO KENT AC
I am sure you are aware that this year Kent AC celebrates its 125th anniversary. The club was founded in June 1898 as an amalgamation of Lewisham Hare and Hounds and West Kent Harriers. It has been based in Lewisham since it was founded.
We are celebrating this with a weekend of events on 16-17 September, a highlight of which will be a delightful evening of feasting and dancing on the Saturday evening. Look forward to reminiscing over a 3 course dinner, terrace drinks at sunset and boogying late into the night. It is sure to be a night to remember!
SUMMER RUNNING
Events for the diary:
27 June – Track social
6 July – Assembly League, Sutcliffe Park
9 July – SAL, Stevenage
25 July – Track social
26 July – BMC event, Tooting Bec
3 August – Assembly League, Victoria Park
19 August – SAL, Thurrock
29 August – Track Social
3 September – The Big Half
7 September – Assembly League, BPP
16 September – 125th Anniversary Dinner
LET’S MAKE IT OFFICIAL
Athletics needs more officials, and volunteering in this way is a wonderful way to give back to the club.
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 on available courses here.
Please contact Len Reilly for more info.
It would be great to see a few more people put their names down to help out!
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 or Laurie
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 here. 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
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