Denmark and Goats
Denmark and Goats
Please see this week’s update for Kent AC members – 06/05/24–
KENT AC NEWS BULLETIN
6 May 2024
It’s May and it’s still raining but that’s not putting off our runners from traversing London, southern England and Europe. Read on to see how we’ve got on.
A date for your diary: Kent AC are taking over local Catford Parkrun on 29th June. We’d love a good showing for our beloved club so if you can run, marshall or give a simple wave of support for passers by in Mountsfield Park next month. A sign up sheet in the Whatsapp groups will follow shortly.
It’s the first week of May and that means the first Victoria Park Assembly League of the season! We had a tremendous turnout with athletes voyaging up to the north side of the river. Well done to all those who competed!
Whilst Eliud Kipchoge may be the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) in the marathon, we have our very own Exmoor Goat in Ralph Weir who came 5th in the Exmoor Ultra. This was a leg spinning 58k race with 2500m total ascent covering the southwest coastline. Congrats Ralph!
Looking sprightly after 58k!
Another ultra from Colin in the Waterville Trail Festival 43km who came 13th place!
Now for the Bannister Mile over in Oxford. This event marked the 70th anniversary of Roger Bannister’s first ever breaking of the 4-minute mile. Three of our club runners made the journey over to Iffley Road to compete on a wet day. First up was one of our experienced senior runners Cam Dockerill who finished in 4:27 with a strong kick. Next up was young gun Joe English who came through in 4:21; he’s one to watch out for! Finally, we had veteran Clare Elms who narrowly missed out on the W60 World Record by 2 seconds as she ran an astonishing 5:30.
Umbrella’s out
Kent goes international in Copenhagan. Huge congratulations should be made to Ross Braden for earning his first England vest to represent club and nation in this popular marathon. He came through in 2:20:01 to earn 15th place. Other notable runs were from Rupert Bedford in 3:17:11 and Patrick Insole in 3:39:54.
OPEN FOR SUMMER
Entries are now live for our Summer track Open. Sign up here
We will also need volunteers for this event so to give a helping hand, click here.
RUN, JUMP, THROW…
…yourself into summer (as the rain starts lashing down again). The Southern Athletics League is back, with the first meet taking place in Dartford on Saturday 18 May.
Division 2 is competitive and we need as many people to bring their talents to the team as possible.
Get your spikes out and put your name down for an event (or three) on the spreadsheet.
Interested in trying something new or want to brush up on some skills? A bunch of hardy Kent AC athletes, including Sofia, Jo Mott, Jaqueline and our esteemed marathon champ Victoria Buck:
ignored the weather and leapt at the chance of joining in on this year’s first Sunday morning training session Miguel Stucchi was their coach today. Interested in joining in for the second? More throwing and jumping to be enjoyed on Sunday 12 May.
They’re completely optional and there is no official sign-up, just come down to the track 10am-12pm and join in.
Further SAL dates:
Sat 15 June – Thurrock
Sun 14 July – St Albans
Sat 17 Aug – Ware
WOMEN’S XC CAPTAIN
After more than 3 years as the women’s XC captain and then as co-captain Sarah Crichton is stepping down. Sarah has been an invaluable leader both in the role as xc captain/co-captain and as a welcoming and very active member of the club. The amount Sarah does for the club, often behind the scenes, is immense so we can’t thank Sarah enough for all her time, effort and contributions.
The role of xc co-captain involves collaborating with the other captains to gather race interest, execute race communication, input race entries, arrange travel and race-day activities, write race reports and represent the xc captains at committee meetings (womens xc co-captains share a vote when a vote is required as the role is shared). We represent the membership to work on the season’s goals, and to build enthusiasm for races.
The committee will accept nominations for the position, and if there is more than one person interested, the committee will welcome statements for the position and then vote.
If you are interested in applying and/or have questions about the role, please email or text/WhatsApp Gen Blanch – +447828888031.
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.
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 25 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
YOUNG INTERVIEWEES NEEDED
A request from Sarah Young on behalf of her son, Alfie:
Please could you share this with your running network; I am looking for a few interviewees to help contribute to my dissertation:
Identifying the Impact of Marketing and Message Framing on Young Adults consumption of Caffeinated Sports Supplements and Energy Drinks in the UK
To clarify, the term caffeinated sports supplements includes any form of pre-workout powder, pill, gel, bars containing caffeine, this could even include running gels used during long distance races, but not supplements such as protein powder or vitamins.
I am looking for young adults aged between 18-25 who have experience taking these products for their workouts, runs or exercise sessions etc…I will just be asking questions on their experiences with these products and how they perceive the promotional side of them, too, the entire interview should only take 15 minutes max, and will be conducted and recorded over zoom.
please contact Alfie – .
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
A summary of dates for your diary
May
2- Assembly League, Hackney
5 – KYAL – Norman Park
18 – Southern Athletics League – Dartford
18 – Night of 10,000m PBs – Highgate
22 – Beckenham Relays – BPP
25 – Masters Relays – Leicester
June
15 – Southern Athletics League – Thurrock
19 – Dulwich Relays – Dulwich Park
22 – KYAL – Medway
29 – Catford Parkrun Kent Takeover
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)
LUCKY NUMBERS
If interested, email David at
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).
KEEP US UPDATED
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