Blowy Brighton and Sutton Windfield
Blowy Brighton and Sutton Windfield
Please see this week’s update for Kent AC members – 07/04/24–
KENT AC NEWS BULLETIN
7 April 2024
Our relay runners up at the National 12 & 6 stage in Sutton Coldfield didn’t have many hills or mud, but definitely had headwinds, which slowed all the teams and made it a tougher day than usual for the showpiece of the club racing season. Both men’s and women’s teams ran very well and finished in 11th and 18th respectively, with some notable performances. Full report below.
Ivona Gongolova went to Berlin for a half, which she completed in 1:42, while Sarah Young stayed at home and was a pacer in the London Landmarks Half in 1:57.
On Thursday we had the first Assembly League race of the season, in Beckenham Place Park. 36 Kent runners competed on the BPP parkrun course, and while detailed team and category results aren’t yet available, Kent had their usual respectable showing, with 3 of the first 9 and 6 of the first 17 runners, plus the first two women (Claire Oxlade and Nesrin Sabanci), with entries a little limited due to relays and marathon training commitments.
We have another call for members to become officials. We had to cancel our planned April open meet due to the lack of qualified officials, so this is now a priority for the club. England Athletics changed its qualification criteria this week, so that a Level 1 official just has to complete an online course (plus administrative checks) to be qualified, removing the requirement for experiences. We all want to make the most of the our club and facilities, but we need volunteer participation to make it happen. The club will actively support anybody who wants to contribute in this way – please contact Jacqueline Francis for more information.
We also have advanced notice of the Beckenham Relays and the Dulwich Relays, in May and June, and of the Southern Athletic League (SAL) fixtures this summer – please sign up if you’re interested in taking part.
NATIONAL RELAYS
Men’s race report from road captain Chris Busaileh:
Kent AC’s men came a very creditable 11th at the National 12 stage relays on Saturday. Although last year’s 3rd place was always going to be difficult to match without our two Olympians, this was nonetheless a strong showing, missing out on a top 10 finish by just 1 second.
Rob Sesemann (27.06) kicked things off for Kent, coming home in 18th on the fiercely competitive leg 1. Dame Dibaba (15.48) then produced the Kent run of the day, moving up 7 places and running our quickest short leg by some distance. Cam Dockerill (27.50) continued his comeback from injury to hand over in 15th to Matt Speed (16.35) who found the sharp short leg tough going off marathon training but ground it out to keep us in striking distance of a number of teams in 16th. Max Nicholls (27.05) duly took the opportunity, passing 3 runners to bring us home in 13th. Joe English (16.12), in only his 2nd race for the club, moved us up a further place to 12th, looking like a future star.
Owen keeping focused [Photo credit Mark Hookway]
Owen Hind (26.46) then reminded everyone just how good he is with our fastest long leg of the day, passing 3 more and bringing us into the top 10. James Boustead (16.13) ran another very solid relay leg, losing one place but keeping us in the top 10. The gaps were now starting to open up and Nick Torry’s very quick 26.57 was only enough to hold 10th but did bring us within striking distance of Tonbridge. Jake Simmonds (16.26) unfortunately wasn’t able to hit his usual very high standards as he overcame some breathing difficulties to keep us in 10th. On the real hard man’s leg 11, Ross Braden was bitterly disappointed with his 27.28 but kept grinding through and finished strongly to hold 10th despite feeling terrible. It was a welcome return to the team for Ben Harding (16.35) to close things out, narrowly missing out on the top 10 and bringing us home in 11th.
It is worth bearing in mind that the tough undulating course was made all the more challenging this year with some extremely strong winds, particularly for the long leg runners. Times are therefore not really comparable with previous years. Notably the prestigious fastest long leg, won 3 times by our own Alex Yee, was this year claimed by prospective Olympian and occasional Kent runner Phil Sesemann.
Kent women also had a highly creditable performance finishing 18th in the 6 stage competition. Teresa Murphy led out the tough long stage in 36:00, handing over to Lucy Elms. She ran a solid short leg in 19:36, and then handed over to her mother Clare, who gained 7 places to 23rd with 20:02. Ellie Freeden had the other long leg duties, and held our position with 34:56 before handing over to captain Alexa Parker. Her 18:24 was the 4th fastest for leg 5, and the 14th fastest short leg of the day, gaining us 4 places to 19th. Amy White gained one more place in the anchor leg with 20:19. A very good collective performance on a tough day against the best runners in the country.
DULWICH AND BECKENHAM RELAYS
If you’re looking for some fun races to fill in the gap between spring road season and cross country, we have a couple of local events that are always well attended by Kent, with plenty of success.
On Wednesday 22nd May there are the Beckenham Relays – teams of 3 running around Beckenham Place Park. We will be entering multiple teams, there’s electronic timing and it’s well-organised and competitive.
On Wednesday 19th June there are the Dulwich Relays in the equally familiar Dulwich Park – one lap each (just under one mile) As with Beckenham, we will have many teams entered, men’s and women’s and split by age category.
Both of them are friendly, social events, although taken seriously on the course, as ever. Do sign up here if you’re interested, whatever your ability.
SAL ALERT
With the relays behind us, it’s time to look forward to sunny days on the track! The Southern Athletics League is back, with the first meet taking place in Dartford on Saturday 18 May on a snazzy blue track. Get your spikes out and put your name down for an event (or three) on the spreadsheet. And if you feel tempted to try something new, give it a shot and see where it takes you!
Further SAL dates:
Sat 15 June – Thurrock
Sun 14 July – St Albans
Sat 17 Aug – Ware
MASTERS RELAYS
Sign up is now open for the British Masters Road Relays at Mallory Park, Leicester –
the biggest Masters road event in the UK on Saturday the 25th May 2024.
The Relays are billed as ‘the biggest masters road event’ so therefore we’d like to enter men’s and women’s teams in as many vets categories as possible (35-44, 45-54, 55-64, 65-74 and 75+) and we’d like to aim for as many medals as possible too!
The course is a traffic free 3 mile loop around a lake for each leg on tarmac, with licensed café on site and camping available. It is possible to get there on time via public or private transport on the day, and the club will contribute to transport costs, so please embrace the opportunity of travelling to and running at Mallory Park.
Further details are here and the all important sign up sheet is here.
If you have any questions, then contact Jules, Nicky or Lin.
A SUMMER ADVENTURE CALLS
Our co-President Len Reilly has floated an idea for a couple of challenges for the summer, if we can get enough participants.
Welsh 3000’ peaks in a day.
This is a tough day out taking in all 15 summits over 3000’ in Snowdonia (Eryri as it is now). Its 24 miles summit-to-summit and maybe 30 road to road, with about 4000m of up and down, some of it over rough rocky steep loose terrain, and no guarantee of good weather.
I’m already committed to this on weekend 29/30 June.
I have inexpensive characterful basic bunkhouse accommodation for up 13 people and perfectly located for this. It’ll need cars to get there and a couple of supporters to take people to the start and to minister supplies at the road crossings.
More here: https://www.welsh3000s.co.uk/
London Loop in 24 hours
The London Loop is a 150 mile (poorly) signposted walk starting (or finishing) in Erith and finishing (or starting) in Purfleet and following paths roughly inside the M25. It breaks down into anything between 16 and 24 sections, their ends reachable by public transport, mostly trains. The challenge would be to do it as a relay in a single 24 hour push. A quick calculation gives an average moving speed of 10 min miles and my experience of doing bits of it shows that’s not easy, and that’s in daylight and for some of the time knowing where I am. It’ll need good planning, good navigation, extensive use of Oyster cards, a short night and occasional use of headtorches. And maybe some route reccing before.
We would need to start in the middle of the day to take advantage of the 24 hour trains that serve west London and the easy night time navigation along the canals.
Weekends of 22/23 June or13/14 or 27/28 July are possibilities, or even midweek.
If there were lots of interest we could have one squad going clockwise and the other the other way.
More here:
https://innerlondonramblers.org.uk/ideasforwalks/loop-guides.html
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
A summary of dates for your diary
April
21 – London Marathon (club champs)
May
5 – KYAL – Norman Park
18 – Southern Athletics League – Dartford
22 – Beckenham Relays – BPP
25 – Masters Relays – Leicester
June
15 – Southern Athletics League – Thurrock
19 – Dulwich Relays – Dulwich Park
22 – KYAL – Medway
July
14 – Southern Athletics League – St Albans
28 – KYAL – Norman Park
August
3 – 10k Sri Chimnoy Battersea Park (club champs)
10 – KYAL – Dartford
17 – Southern Athletics League – Ware
September
1 – Big Half (club champs)
EASYFUNDRAISING
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You can also install a helpful Chrome extension, which prompts you to donate whenever doing any online shopping – really handy
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 has 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).
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