On the road again
On the road again
Please see this week’s update for Kent AC members – 24/09/23–
KENT AC NEWS BULLETIN
24 September 2023
You’ll find a full report on how we got on in Aldershot at the Southern Road Relays further below whilst a large Kent contingent participated in the Vitality London 10,000 this morning. Results are yet to be posted but we hope you all had a fantastic race!
Smiles all round
Also this morning, three Kent runners ventured over to West London to take part in the Ealing Half Marathon with John Gilchrist finishing in 86:55, Ivona Gongolova in 1:35:58 and Nicky Hayes crossing the line as 1st v55 female in 1:44:33. Kudos to you all!
Autumn marathon season kicked off this weekend, in Warsaw, Jonathan Ratcliffe (2c) ran the 26.2 miles in 2:49:21 and 1st v50. Very inspiring!
The two Bens took on the Berlin marathon, maybe that brought them luck as they both achieved a PB! Ben Clarke raced alongside some of the elite and sub-elite field finishing in a fantastic 2:26:08. Ben Mitchell also had a superb race taking down the marathon in 2:44:08. Hopefully you are both celebrating in the Berlin nightlife this evening!
Ben Clarke celebrating with a beer and a pretzel, woohoo!
Down in Kent, Tom Carpenter completed the Hever Castle Half Ironman, coming 25th out of 152, with a 1:54 half marathon time.
Although we all were hoping for third time lucky for Alex Yee yesterday in his world title bid, unfortunately falling behind on the swim and unable to recover, meant he finished 29th in the race and fifth in the overall standings. Still so proud!
Now onto the relays…
ACTION RELAY
On Saturday, Kent AC travelled to Aldershot for the Southern road relays. Clear blue sky and warm September sun, perfect conditions for our runners! Two laps on an undulating course.
The ladies started at 1:30pm with four teams in the mix, three Senior teams and one v40. Our ladies were up against the likes of Olympian Steph Twell, racing for Aldershot, Farnham & District who came first overall.
Missing a few of the ladies here but nearly a full team picture!
Our A team had a strong start with Bryony Proctor on the first leg, running the 6k in 21:48, setting up a good second leg for Amy Clements who finished in 21:01, followed by Katie Rowland maintaining a quick pace in 22:01 and a fast finish from Alexa Parker in 22:03. Our senior women’s A team came 6th out of 61 teams.
Our senior women’s B team also did extremely well, finishing 31st out of the 61 teams participating. Jen Berg completed the course in 24:32, Ellie Freeden in 23:52, Ella Day in 25:15 and Sarah Critchton closing for the team in 23:31.
Parris Williams and Gen Blanch formed our C team, despite being two women down, the girls gave it their all with Parris crossing the line in 24:41 and Gen finishing in 25:27. Fantastic effort ladies!
Now onto the women v40s, where we won a bronze medal with just one second difference between us and 4th place. Clare Elms stormed around in 23:01, our newest member Lin Skinner took the second leg in 25:10, Anna Delis finished in 30:57 followed by Teresa Murphy bringing it home for the bronze medal in 23:27. Kudos ladies!
Our fabulous v40 ladies with their bronze medals!
Gen enjoying her well deserved post race fuel
The senior men’s A team had hopes of finishing in the top 8 and got off to a great start with Ross Braden coming in 14th in a swift 18.13. Chris Greenwood looked to build on that but disaster struck part way round when Chris suffered a pulled hamstring. He somehow managed to hobble round the remaining 3k to keep the team in with a chance of making the top 25 and qualifying for the Nationals. Jake Simmonds began the fightback, making up 18 places on leg 3 (18.52) with Cam Dockerill then moving us up a further 8 spots (18.45). Matt Speed then brought us into 31st (19.38), meaning Rob Sesemann had to find another 6 places. He made light work of it, running an aggressive first mile to bring us home in 25th (19.09), just missing out on catching our B team.
The B team were particularly impressive, finishing 23rd and 3rd B team. Dame got us off to his customary flying start finishing 39th on a competitive leg 1 in a quick 19.02. Joseph Yee, despite having done very little running after an end of season break, made up 7 places with an impressive 19.07. Not to be outdone, James Boustead (19.14) and Joe Hartley (19.15) continued to move us through the field bringing us up to 22nd by the end of leg 4. Sean Fitzpatrick continued his comeback from recent injuries/illnesses with a 19.29 to keep us in the top 25, handing over to George Russell in 24th. That meant George had the unenviable task of having to hold his position whilst knowing that there were a number of teams hunting him down. George ran a measured, cool headed leg (19.59) to move up a further place, holding off Rob in the last mile in the process.
Finish line in sight for Rob
To emphasise our depth, we were also one of only a handful of clubs to close out a C team. Calum Fraser ran a well judged leg 1 in 69th in 20.03. There was then nothing to separate the next 4 legs. Michael Longley (20.48), Ian Ellwood (20.51), Sam Dames (20.44) and Anthony Johnson (20.45, in his first race for several years) broadly held position before handing over to Ross Braden who jumped at the opportunity to run another leg after Neil Philips had a last minute call up to the M40s. Ross ran an impressive 19.01 to ensure we closed out a team.
Report from Chris Busaileh, Senior Men’s Road Relays Captain
For the vets men, I’ll start with the V40 team of Alex Harris, Richard Giles, Nick Ostrowski and Rob Laing who all put in fantastic performances, finishing 5th team in a very strong field. The consistency summed up by the very pleasing symmetry of the splits: 21:26, 21:07, 21:07, 21:26.
Moving on to the V50s, Kent AC had our best result ever, winning silver. In the end we were less than 30 seconds behind the winners, SLH. Congratulations on super runs from Jules Gevers, Tom Sloan, Will Pitt and Phil Sanders.
Our happy silver medallists!
Not to be out done, the v60s also picked up bronze bling. Fantastic runs from Bernie Hutchinson, Andy Gardiner, Dave Child and finished up with Roger Beardsworth putting in a storming anchor leg.
Collecting the goods
Now back to the v40s, I can hear you saying “5th is very good, but not great given our record in this event?”. Well, to demonstrate our strength in depth across the B-group, that was our B team. The Kent AC A team picked up silver. Superb runs from Jake Herrera, Jonathon Tipper, Barny Day and Neil Phillips. A special shout out to Neil Phillips on anchor leg, who was drafted in mid-race to cover our declared runner suffering an unfortunate injury running earlier for the senior men. Chris B quickly sorted out the declarations mid-race with the officials and we managed to finish within 10 seconds of the eventual winners, Herne Hill!
I’ve been told that during the race that there were so many blue vests filling high positions in all categories that the course commentator said “WOW Kent AC” over the tannoy.
So, in summary, what a day! We medalled in every category, and our v40s B team eclipsed many big name A teams. This has to go down as Kent ACs most successful vets SEAA relay performance.
Report by Jules Gevers, Vet Men’s Road Relays Captain
Full results can be found here
https://results.sporthive.com/events/7110965601510196480/races/116
Looking forward to the Nationals on 7 October in Sutton Coldfield!
KENT AC AGM
Kent AC Annual General Meeting 2023
This is notice of our Annual General Meeting which will be held on Tuesday 14 November at 8.30, upstairs at the Blythe Hill Tavern, 319 Stanstead Rd, SE23 1JB.
Please come along after the track. Food will be provided!
The AGM is a yearly gathering of the club members, primarily to hear reports from committee members about the club’s activities and finances; to appoint the committee and vote on any contested positions; ask questions to the committee and express your ideas and concerns. If you wished to propose any change to our rules/constitution or a major change to club policy it would be useful if this was submitted in writing before 6 October. This will enable it to be included in the calling notice to all members and agenda, which will be sent out in mid October.
The committee is made up of volunteers and we have a number of vacancies which give you an opportunity to be more involved.
They are:
Trophies secretary (previously Dan)
H&S advisor (previously Amelia)
Women’s road manager (Katie Rowland will be setting down when she moves away in early 2024)
Social secretary (Katie Rowland will be setting down when she moves away in early 2024)
A big thanks to all for their hard work over this and previous years.
If you are interested in any of these please write to and your mail will go to the incumbent who will happily tell you what their job involves.
If you wish to stand, please let know before 6 October so it can go in the agenda.
A big thanks too to those putting their name forward for roles this year:
Zuzana Nemeckova to become membership sec.
Bernie Hutchison is standing down after a remarkable 33 years in post
Rob Sesemann to join the comms team
Gen Blanche as joint womens xc manager
James Boustead as joint mens xc manager
Kieran Fitzpatrick to join welfare team, replacing Neil Gordon-Orr
Anne Hepple and Claire Oxlade to take on junior’s secretary from John Barron
A full list of committee, juniors-sub committee and non-committee posts can be found on our website.
Thanks
Vic and Len
PALMER SHIELD
One piece of booty from our amazing 125th anniversary dinner was the acquisition of a splendid and large shield.
It has prompted a little light research on Neil and my parts. You’ll see that it was presented to Kent Ladies Athletics club. The best information is that his was a separate to the [men’s] Kent AC and was in existence before World War II. The best I have found about the donor was that there was a Reginald Palmer OBE born 1887, Camberwell and died in 1975. His dates slightly suggest that his was a pre-war donation. A tiny plaque at the top says it was presented to Kent AC by W L Copp. There was somebody of that name active as a sprinter and administrator in the early 1930s.
A Kent AC women’s section was set up in 1949.
Suitably, for such a weighty item, it was for combined points scored (though in what competitions is unknown) in the javelin and discus.
What’s most intriguing is that the dates on the mini shields don’t start until 1969. I wonder if it came to the club after the war, then sat possibly in hiding and unawarded until it was found or there was meaningful competition to start its use.
There are three names on it covering the years 1969-75, Y[vonne] Marson; [Ilse] Kirsten and Y Neufville. Kirsten, who was from Germany, made it hers from 1970-5. Justifiably so as her discus best was 40.44, still a club record.
This a opens a whole world of research on the history of Kent Ladies AC and women’s records, many of which date from the 1970s and which as yet aren’t reflected in the rankings on our website. More to do…
Len Reilly
RACE DATES
A summary of dates for your diary:
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)
9 – SEAA Masters CC Champs – Horspath, Oxford
16 – South of the Thames Senior – Lloyd Park (Senior XC champs)
2024
January
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
16 – British Masters XC Champs – Corwen, N Wales
April
TBD – Southern Road Relays – TBD
TBD – National Road Relays – Sutton Coldfield
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.
DUTY CALLS
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!
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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