Indian summer runners!
Indian summer runners!
Please see this week’s update for Kent AC members – 10/09/23–
KENT AC NEWS BULLETIN
10 September 2023
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Apparently they have a race in Newcastle just like the Big Half. Who knew? Alex Gillespie, James Bates and Adrian Young did, running great times in difficult conditions – 90:01, 1:50:02 and 1:54:40 respectively, Adrian after recovering from Covid just a couple of weeks ago.
Closer to home, but twice the distance, a few Kent runners completed the Richmond marathon – Henry Massingham ran 3:05, Thomas Thain 3:06 and Susanna Davies 4:04.
The athlete of the week though was Joe Appiah, who won three gold medals at the British Masters Championships last weekend. He ran 13.85s in the 100mh, 11.82s in the 100m, and jumped 5.90m in the LJ to take three V50 titles. Not satisfied with that, he also officiated as starter for most of the other races. As a coach, official and masters athlete, Joe continues to be a credit to the sport and the club.
Over two days in the last couple of weeks our juniors held multi event championships at the Ladywell track, which we report on below.
Please note important upcoming events:
Thursday 14th we have our 5000m track championships, do come along to watch and support if you’re not participating.
Saturday 16th we have our 5k road championships, being held at Dulwich parkrun.
On Saturday evening is our 125th anniversary dinner, being held at the Old Joinery in Greenwich
On Sunday morning, for those that can manage it, there’s a light run around Catford to recognise the history of the club, led by Len Reilly. Meet at the Ninth Life pub at 945am.
RUNNERS ASSEMBLE!
On a sweltering Thursday night, the 5th and final Assembly League race of the season was held in Beckenham Place Park, on the parkrun course. As we have done all season,. Kent turned out in force, and completed a clean sweep of all team events. Kent’s men and women A teams won all 5 races this season, and the B teams won 4 each, meaning we comfortably won all 4 team trophies.
On the night, the women had a remarkable result in filling the first 5 places – Amy Clements (18:28). Alexa Parker (19:24), Clare Elms (19:53), Sarah Crichton (20:18) and Georgina Wiley-Stinson (in her last race for the club before relocating to Australia on Friday) (20:45)
The men couldn’t compete with that, but did come 2nd, 3rd & 4th, with Jake Simmonds (16:51), Dame Dibaba (16:57) and Joe Hartley (16:59), and had 6 of the first 9 to finish. A remarkable 54 Kent runners turned out on the day, with age category wins for Amy Clements (VW40), Alexa Parker (Sen), Sarah Crichton (VW35), Teresa Murphy (VW45), Ali Farrell (VW50), Clare Elms (VW55), Che Compton (VM45) and Jonathan Ratcliffe (VM55)
The runners congregated in the Beckenham clubhouse while the results were compiled, which took a couple of hours, and they confirmed multiple individual titles for Kent, as well as the team titles:
Sen Men – Jake Simmonds
M20 – George Searle
M45 – Che Compton
Sen Women – Alexa Parker
W20 – Sophie Walker
VW40 – Amy Clements
VW45 – Teresa Murphy
VW65 – Zoe Gaffen
Jake with the senior men’s trophy
Congratulations to them, and to all runners who turned out this season – we had 78 scoring runners over the season, which is a tremendous contribution to the competition. Thanks also to the volunteers from SEAC for organising the league, and the clubs which hosted the events.
JUNIOR MULTI-EVENT CHAMPIONSHIPS
We held multi event championships for all age groups of our youth athletes over two evenings in the last two weeks. Six events were competed for – 200m 800m, 60m hurdles, high jump, long jump and shot put.
All the athletes did fantastically well to compete at numerous different events that weren’t necessarily their strongest.
In the U13 boys category, Reuben Richardson ran 11.21 for 60m hurdles and Zac Cunningham ran an impressive 200/800 double in 30.46secs and 2mins 43. Zac Murray had strong showings across all the events, leading to his age group win.
Among U13 girls, Eva Duncan jumped an inspiring 1.15m in the high jump and Mariam Muravjova showed her sheer speed by running 12.37s for hurdles and 32.69s for 200m. Holly Hales came first overall with good performances in 5 events.
In the U15 boys category, Ewan Willis ran a speedy 11.21 for 60m hurdles, Louis Holley sped away a competitive 200m race in 26.05 and Dylan Sandhu showed his strength, scoring highly across all 6 events, winning the category.
For U15 girls, our resident multi eventer Tess Hepple stole the show and ran the fastest 60m hurdles in 9.61 secs, and combined with an excellent 4.62m in the long jump, alongside her other strong showings to win her age group.
Among U17 boys, Jack Jones jumped an out of official competition long jump PB in an incredible 6.30m and had an exciting 200m race against Jasper Jones, with only 0.21secs separating them. Jasper Jones won the category overall, his 800m and shot put outweighing Jack’s advantage in the other 4 events.
In the U17 girls category, Lara Ellis showed her strength in the 200m and shot-put events, running 31.73 and Kehinde Onasaya followed on from an impressive Southern Athletics League (SAL) debut, jumping 4.77m.
Well done to all the young athletes who competed, some of whom are already competing with the seniors in the SAL and contributing healthily to the club’s results.
We will hand out medals on Thursday 14th September at the end of Junior training before the adult 5000m club championships at 6:45pm so can each age group athlete of the match please contact to confirm their attendance to receive their medals.
We wouldn’t have been able to host this mini multievent competition without the patience and enthusiasm of the athletes and the support of the volunteers to make it happen, so thank you to everyone! We hope that the competition has inspired our athletes to continue to develop their skills in a number of different events so that we can build on our amazing results at the Kent Youth Athletics League and aim for a higher placed finish next year!
Report by Sarah Crichton (Youth Coach)
AGM AND COMMITTEE VACANCIES
This is early informal notice that the club’s annual general meeting will be held in the autumn, so informal that a date hasn’t been set yet.
An important function of the AGM is to elect the club’s committee and other officers – all posts, not just vacant ones (except the president which is on a three year cycle) are subject to an annual vote.
The club has a number of vacancies that need to be filled to continue the club’s smooth running. Currently these roles are being done by existing committee members, or not at all.
Most pressing is that of Club secretary. As with all roles this is very much what the post-holder wishes to make of it and its duties can be shared. The secretary is one of the key admin roles, responsible for agendas and minutes, distribution of external communications, oversight of all the club’s activities and shaping its direction. The postholder(s) need good admin and communication skills, some diplomacy, and a knowledge of the club and athletics in general.
Track pass administrator – This role maintains the track pass payment system dealing with payments, receipts and the occasional query.
Trophies secretary – This role is custodian of our silverware, keeping a record of what is with who and looking after the rest. You will arrange for engraving and keep a stock of medals for presentations.
Please come forward to help with these roles. We have a tradition of a large number of people doing a range of small jobs. We also have about 600 members, so I hope it is possible to welcome some new faces to help keep the club running smoothly.
Len Reilly
Co-President
RELAY CALL
On Saturday 23 September we are competing at the Southern Road Relays in Aldershot.
We are entering senior and vet teams plus the club will cover travel.
Speak with Katie Rowland or Chris Busaileh if you have any questions.
Spreadsheet is now live, you can sign up here!
The National Road Relays will be in Sutton Coldfield on 7th October.
RACING CALENDAR
A summary of dates for your diary:
September
14 – 5000m track championships
16 – Parkrun takeover – Dulwich (5k Championships)
16 – 125th Anniversary Dinner
17 – Kent AC memorial run
23 – Southern Road Relays – Aldershot
October
7 – National Road Relays – Sutton Coldfield
14 – Surrey League xc – Richmond Park
November
11 – Surrey League xc – Mitcham Common
25 – South of the Thames Junior xc – BPP
December
2 – Kent County Vets xc – Dartford (Age group xc champs)
16 – South of the Thames Senior – Lloyd Park (Senior xc champs)
January 2024
6 – Kent County xc – Brands Hatch
13 – Surrey League xc – Wimbledon Common
27 – Southern xc champs – BPP
February
10 – Surrey League xc – TBD
24 – National xc Champs – Weston Park, Shropshire
March
TBD National Vets xc – TBD
ADMIN ON TRACK
Would you like to take a leading role in the club? Are you organised and have an eye for detail? Or do you just want to earn a pint for some volunteering? If you answered yes to any of these questions, we have just the ticket for you.
We are looking for a new Track Admin Officer. This is a committee post, which involves technical admin of the track pass app and negotiating hours and rates for the track with GLL and the council.
If you would like to find out more about this, then please contact Amelia.
GATE READY FOR ACTION
Gate volunteers form the unsung heroes spine of the club, making sure that our Tuesday and Thursday night sessions can run smoothly and safely.
It’s a great way to meet new people and have a chat with friends too, as well as give back a little bit of time to the club. You can sign up here!
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.
Our SAL performances not only need athletes, but also qualified officials – so you can directly contribute to our success! Every qualification counts!
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!
SWEEP DRAW
The pot this month was won by John Gilbert. There are still two numbers available, £6 per month to enter for the chance to win £250. Contact David Devlin if you wish to participate – the surplus from the sweep goes to assist the club.
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 18:00 – 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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