Blue Sunday
Blue Sunday
Please see this week’s update for Kent AC members – 21/01/24–
KENT AC NEWS BULLETIN
21 January 2024
The reason for starting with a Sunday hymn of praise to parkrun is because this weekend our own Mark Anderson earned his place in the prestigious 500 Club; that is, the elite group of parkrunners who have completed that prodigious number of Saturday morning park-based 5ks. At Hillyfields parkrun yesterday morning (20 January for late readers), the man of the moment listened modestly while Run Director Glen Hancock delivered a rousing celebration of Mark’s incredible park running stats: his first parkrun was 29 October 2011 in Crystal Palace; he’s done all of the parkruns taking place within the M25, he’s graced the finish funnel at Crystal Palace and Hillyfields more times that most; he’s travelled abroad and to the frozen north to complete exotic and downright pesky parkruns all over the place (170 different places in total). Well done, Mark!
Marking his achievement
Also at parkrun this week Dame Dibaba sped cheerfully around Hillyfields in 16.25 and was participating in a further hill sprint session before the rest of us staggered home. Dame was chased all the way in by Owen Hind (16.26).
If you’re keen to up your parkrun tally, do it for the club: we have some exciting parkrun takeovers coming up next month, when we attempt to turn the field navy blue, or fuchsia pink.
Well done everyone who made it to parkrun this weekend. If you didn’t, it was probably because you were running elsewhere, like Victoria Buck, Sarah Crichton, Katie Rowland Kate Williams, Lara, Caroline Ford, Ben Clarke, Jon Tipper and the very fortunate Martin Morgan, who topped up his tan while enjoying the hilly Madeira Marathon. Check out their times and trials in the Results section, below.
If you’re inspired to take your running further afield, read on for details of a dirty weekend on in Shropshire, subsidised by our glorious club. We have exciting information about the National XC up in Weston Park, with the option of a sleepover in Wolverhampton; an offer no fun-loving cross country runner would refuse, surely?
Plus a reminder that the 2024 annual track pass is available to purchase on the sumup shop.
RESULTS, HOME & ABROAD
Canterbury trails
Before we celebrate the Women of Kent (pictured above, l to r Katie Rowland, Kate Williams, Victoria Buck and Sarah Crichton) having a capital time in Canterbury, a belated CONGRATULATIONS for our communications supremo Dan Pettitt, who ran his first ever marathon, in Houston Texas, in 2 hours and 40 minutes. He achieved this a week ago, but his triumph came too late to be recorded until now.
On Saturday 20 January a few hardy Kent AC souls ran the British Athletics Cross Challenge. Lara was 39th in the main women’s race. Caroline Ford came 19th in the Women’s open 4K and Ian Ellwood was also 19th in his open 4k.
Back to the Canterbury 10, on Sunday 21 January. it was the women’s day. A few Kent AC men joined in too, but first navy-vested runner across the line was Teresa Murphy, who was 11th woman and clearly ran too fast to be in the photo, second in her category in a fantastic 1:08.
She was followed by Katie Rowland, 22nd in 1:11:36 and Victoria Buck apparently also 22nd in 1:11:53 . Shout out to Sarah Crichton (1:14) Kate Williams, seventh in her category in 1:25, Cath Stibbs, 1:15, Patrick Insole (1:16), Khawaja Shahabuddin (1:27). The Canterbury 10 is a very popular race with our club, and we recommend it.
There was also a half marathon in Farnborough, where Ben Clarke earned himself third place
From Kent to St Albans, where the fleet of foot Jonathan Tipper demolished another ten miler – The Fred Hughes – in an unbelievable 55:23. He came eighth and was first V40, for his pains. He also recommends this race to his club mates, not least because he can use his influence to bag nice warm changing facilities.
The next Home County to be checked off is Surrey, where Max Nicholls won the Box Hill Fell Race for the third consecutive year.
He had some Madeira, m’dear
Saving the sunniest and most exotic to last, Martin Morgan took himself to Madeira to run a marathon and conquered the tough, hilly course, 7am start, 21 degrees heat, a distinct lack of shade and rather too many cobbled streets to record a result of 4:20:43. Many congratulations, Martin!
SIGN UP: NATIONAL XC CHAMPS
This year’s National XC Championships will be held at Weston Park near Telford on Saturday 24th February 2024.
Nationals XC Championship Payment and Entry
The club has kindly agreed to subsidise travel and accommodation for those racing. Day return trip with the club will be £35 and £65 overnight. If you’re arranging your own travel and accommodation entries are free (no cost).
For those who plan on attending here are the next steps:
1. Entries. If you’d like to race please make sure you’ve said Y on the Google spreadsheet so we can enter you. Entries are due this week by this Thursday the 25th of Jan.
2. Intentions. Please fill out this form so we know your travel intentions. There are options to travel back the same day or to make your own travel arrangements.
3. Payment. Important NEW step. If you intend to join us overnight OR for the day please submit your payment here:
£65 Overnight. Train to/from Euston plus overnight accommodation: https://kentac.sumupstore.com/product/national-xc-trip-travel-to-from-euston-overnight-accommodation
£35 Day Return. Train to/from Euston: https://kentac.sumupstore.com/product/national-xc-day-return-travel-to-from-euston
No cost. Entry only with self arranged travel.
If you have any questions, please speak to XC Captains, Gen, Sarah, Owen and James.
This has traditionally turned into a weekend away with a stopover nearby following the race. This year we’ll be spending the night in glamorous Wolverhampton after the race.
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FLASH MOB @parkrun
* 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.
THANKS, YOUR HONOURS
For those of you who forgot to read last week’s newsletter, check out these two honourable athletes:
At the AGM in November, the club appointed Pete Boxshall and Bernie Hutchinson as Honorary Members of the club in recognition of their service to the club and as thanks for all they do for our community. Their respective citations below will be addd to the club website for all to see. If you see them around, do say hello and congratulations!
Pete Boxshall
Pete Boxshall (what better initials could an athlete have?) was made an honorary member at the 2023 Annual General Meeting.
Although best known as a coach and de facto team manager today, he had an outstanding career as an athlete.
Pete joined Kent AC in May 1982 and, building on his background as a footballer, swiftly became a member of the small hardy Tuesday training group at Ladywell’s then cinder track. He soon became a regular in our competition cycle: cross country, road, especially Assembly League, (won in 1986) and the growing and determined track team. He excelled on the track with pbs at 400 of 55.3; 800 of 1.59, 1500 4.08 and 3000 sc of 9.31, then a club record. He also made up the scorecard in jumping and throwing field events. However he made the ‘chase his event dependably putting in sub-10 performances during the 1980s and 1990s as we worked our way into the British League. He was a member of our most important team squads: first national six stage qualification in 1993; 12 stage in 1996 and British league qualification in 2001. He ran for Great Britain as a vet 40 in the ‘chase.
Perhaps one of his best decisions was to avoid club admin and management and he cannily steered away from committee involvement. But he did manage the men’s XC squad in the early 2000s as his running tapered off.
He has contributed to the club tremendously in the last decade and a half, developing, from almost nothing, the women’s group as their coach and team manager. He has nurtured team spirit, loyalty, ambition and success through countless hours at the track and competition offering sound, effective, challenging but achievable schedules and gentle, even-handed, sensitive, personalised advice. With his help the womens’ section has developed into one of the strongest squads in the south in road and cross country. He was awarded a prestigious England Athletics coaching award in 2016, which he received with his usual modesty.
He is also great fun to socialise with having a keen memory and a fund of stories of past successes and pitfalls. If this isn’t enough he is also a qualified timekeeper regularly out in pitiless summer sun up a gantry over the track finish line.
He is a credit to Kent AC and we are delighted to honour him in this way.
Bernie Hutchinson
Bernie Hutchison was made an honorary member at the 2023 annual general meeting.
Bernie joined Kent AC in 1986 from Ealing Southall and Middlesex. He fell in with the developing Tuesday evening training groups and has been a regular on cross country, road and track for many years. He features in all our standard and important competitions: assembly leagues, regional and national road relays, track (5000 m pb 15. 37) and cross country; and has a marathon pb of 2.33. His appetite to run and compete is as strong as ever.
His contribution to the club has mostly been behind the scenes. In addition to a spell as track B team manager from 1990 and cross country manager from 1998, he held, until a successor came forward in 2023, for a remarkable 34 years the post of membership secretary. In duration of tenure this is the second longest ever held by any club officer. This is the sort of unglamorous role that every organisation needs but which is rarely appreciated, let alone applauded. Bernie has done this accurately, thoroughly, promptly and consistently and has overseen its management through numerous systems – paper based, then excel and now on a proper database, assisted in this work by his professional IT skills, attention to detail and vigilance.
He is a credit to Kent AC and we are delighted to honour him in this way.
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
January
27 – Southern XC champs – BPP
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)
MEET YOU AT THE GATE
Gate volunteers form the unsung heroes 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 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
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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