A podium presence
A podium presence
Please see this week’s update for Kent AC members – 28/01/24–
KENT AC NEWS BULLETIN
28 January 2024
On Wednesday evening, Ivona Gongolova and Heather Castle raced a Battersea 10k, finishing in 43:50 and 53:12. Paul Crompton took on the 5k, crossing the line in 20:44.
Kudos to you all!
Our resident ultra marathoner Zuzana Nemeckova ticked off her next challenge this weekend, racing the Arc of Attrition 100 miler along the Cornish coast path in 33:02:39.
What an amazing achievement, enjoy your well earned recovery!
A particularly impressive result came from Joe Appiah who equalled his age group world record in the 60m hurdles.
Some of the recorded results below.
LJ
Jack Jones 6.03m U17
Siv Eliassen 4.47m
Lwiza Kamdem 3.94m
TJ
Siv Eliassen 9.36m
Shot Put
Lwiza Kamdem 8.46m
60mH
Joe Appiah M50
Equal WR 8.23s
Watch Joe’s race here.
60m
Clio Parkes 8:02s and 7.94s
200m
Clio Parkes 200m 26.10s
300m
Mei Eden-Green 46.88s
Elena Oliphant 42.91s
800m
Elena Oliphant 2.16.62s
A victorious world record holder
Papped on the podium
Full event results as available here.
It has also been a bittersweet week as we have said a temporary farewell to a long-standing member, Katie Rowland, as she heads to New Zealand for an exciting new venture. A special thank you to Katie for not only being an excellent member of the club in racing but also for the many hours of volunteering as Social Secretary and Road Captain over the years.
It’s not goodbye, just see you later. We wish you all the best in New Zealand!
A Thursday threshold session send off
A bunch of mighty blue vests headed to Beckenham for the annual Southern Cross Country Championships on Saturday, with the weather setting us up for a great day ahead. Read on for a full race report.
Plus a reminder that the 2024 annual track pass is available to purchase on the sumsup shop.
SUNSHINE AND SOUTHERNS
We had a historic day at the Southern Cross Championships with the men winning the first male team medal following our ladies success placing bronze last year. A day to remember for Kent AC, due to the number of athletes taking part in the race. We were close in 2018 when John Gilbert famously took the crown with the team finishing 4th, and this year we were able to go one better and get our best six on the podium. A team medal created out of the amazing strength of depth that we have developed as a club and planned months ago to put out on this specific day. What an amazing feeling to work together for something for so long, and for it to come off exactly as you hoped it would. Those medals go with the men’s 12-stage podium last April and the Welsh Castle team victory in June for a very special 12 months.
The bronze tribe
The team packing was incredible with a two minute, forty second spread between Max coming home in 13th and Cameron Dockerill closing the team out in 65th. In between was Nicholas Torry (26th), previous winner John (30th), Robert Sesemann (34th) and Mathew Speed (64th).
It’s not too much of a stretch to say Rob and Matt had the run of their careers yesterday in pursuit of team glory and it paid off. Cam who has so impressively led the line over the last two years admittedly had an off day but hung tough to beat out Ben Clarke to the final team position.
Kudos to Ben Clarke, Dame Dibaba and Owen Hind who finished comfortably in the top 100 but just outside the scoring six. Another day it would have been their turn.
As a club, we had a hugely impressive 45 runners, with only five returned numbers. Shout out to Dan Ansell for closing the team out in 451st and Jonathan Tipper in 151st who took a very heavy fall within the first mile to stick with it rather than take an early bath.
Navy vests dominating the pack
The women were 8th on the day after some late injuries forced withdrawals. Amy Clements led the team home in 13th, followed by Alexa Parker (58th), Victoria Cartwright (86th) and Amy White (95th). Close behind was Claire Oxlade (108th), Parris Williams (128th). Kudos to Sarah Young for closing the team out in 294th and special mention to Sofia Contino (260th) for her continuing transition from 400m specialist to 20x that distance.
Lovely ladies
Photo credit: Norman Fairbrass
In the juniors we had another historic first in the under 15 boys, completing the first ever team in a respectable 19th.
Great runs from Dylan (70), George (78), Lucas (166) & Harry (178). Big shout out to George who had a massive breakthrough improving from 109 last year despite being the youngest in the year & Dylan who improved from 135 last year. Keep up the training lads, the hard work is really paying off.
Post race smiles
In the under 15 girls Alice Hales and Sophia Hamoda both ran strong races. It was Sophia’s debut and she recovered from an early fall and finished fast. Another shout out to Claudia Rigley in the under 13 girls for her debut cross country, battling through to finish 154 despite an early fall and feeling poorly!
We are nearing the end of the cross country season with the final Surrey League and National Cross Country race to go. We have put entries in from the National, if you have entered but yet to tell us/ and pay for travel packages then remember to do that ASAP as it helps with both admin and club finances. Details for the SL will be circulated shortly.
JOIN THE CREW
* 17th February – a volunteering take-over of Hilly Fields parkrun. Pink hi-vis is the new navy blue.
* 2nd March – pacing at Dulwich parkrun to reap a raft of PBs.
If you’re happy to volunteer and/or pace, could you please complete this sheet with your name, email, and parkrun barcode number.
For the pacing please add the fastest and slowest times you’d be happy to pace – they’re looking for a wide range of abilities (down to around 36 minutes), so more the merrier!
For more information, contact Richard Giles.
30% OFF NEW BALANCE
We have 9 discount codes for 30% off New Balance to give away to track gate volunteers.
Sign up for gate duty here by Wednesday 31st January and you’ll be in the draw to win a huge saving on your next pair of trainers. Winners will be announced on February 1st.
RACE DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
We look forward to the last Surrey League race on Sunday 10th February, at West Horsley, Guildford. Let’s get around it!
A summary of dates for your diary
2024
February
10 – Surrey League XC – West Horsley, Guildford
24 – National XC Champs – Weston Park, Shropshire
March
16 – British Masters XC Champs – Corwen, N Wales
24 – Southern Relays – Milton Keynes
April
6 – National Road Relays – Sutton Coldfield
21 – London Marathon
August
3- 10k Sri Chimnoy Battersea Park (club champs)
September
1 – Big Half (club champs)
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 Jacqueline Francis 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
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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