London Calling!
96
London Calling!
<<First Name>>, Please see this week’s update for Kent AC members – 21/04/24<!–
KENT AC NEWS BULLETIN
21 April 2024
Sarah says Hi!
Before the big day there was a special event locally – a Podium 5k elite meet in Dulwich Park on Saturday afternoon. Rumours of a British guest star were confirmed when Laura Muir was spotted warming up – her intention was seemingly to have an attempt at the British 5k record held by Eilish McColgan at 14:45, and to that end she chose to join the men’s open race in order to get better pacing, and shelter from the breeze. In the end she was a bit short, not helped by wind and the undulations in the road that Kent runners know so well, coming home in 15:20, just behind our own Dame Dibaba, who set a PB with 15:19.
Dame being chased by an Olympic medallist {pic Mark Hookway]
There were 4 races in all, 2 open and elite men’s and women’s. The first race featured 8 Kent runners, including Clare Elms targetting the VW60 world record of 18:17, paced by Richard Giles. She found the conditions against her this time, and the target very stiff, finishing in 19:11, but there will be more opportunities for another crack at the record. There were 4 PBs in our first 6, with Sam Dames setting a PB by almost a minute with 16:23, and Nick Ostrowski (16:28), Alex Harris (16:29) and Ian Ellwood (16:49) also setting road 5k marks, although it should be noted that some have quicker parkrun times! Isaac Parker (16:28) and Kieran Page (16:50) also ran well.
Richard pacing Clare [pic Mark Hookway]
In the second race teenager Joe English ran a storming 15:03 PB to finish 5th, James Boustead also ran a PB in 15:07, with Dame Dibaba setting his mark in 15:19 and Harry Dexter coming home in 16:21.
The marquee men’s race was 3rd up, featuring Owen Hind and Rob Sesemann for us. Owen was tight with the lead pack for the first two laps, and finished 4th in 14:23, his best time for 4 years. Rob sneaked under the 15 minute barrier in 14:59.
Owen in the home straight
The final race was the women’s elite, featuring Amy Clements and Alexa Parker. Amy was trying to improve on her 16:34 PB set just last week in Battersea Park, and she was agonisingly close, running 16:35. Given the conditions, the effort was worth a PB. Alexa also ran well, in 17:33.
Amy Clements [pic Mark Hookway]
We have a reminder of the upcoming SAL next month – do sign up if you’re interested in running, throwing or jumping, or just helping out.
On the same day (May 18) is the Night of 10,000 PBs in Parliament Hill Fields, the annual extravaganza of running that’s building a big reputation. Kent will have a few runners there, and it would be great to get some spectators up to support.
And finally there’s a call out for anyone interested in taking over the women’s xc captain role.
LONDON MARATHON REPORT
On a bright and dry spring morning, perfect conditions for running, Kent AC sent out a huge cohort onto the streets of London, 61 runners starting and 58 completing (plus one, who we’ll come to!)
Undoubtedly the most impressive run of the day came from Nick Torry. The 48 year old was on target early on to break the V45 British record, of 2:17:26, and in the end ran a stupendous 2:18:46, the 2nd fastest V45 time (Kent’s Chris Greenwood is 11th on that list), which was enough for 10th place in the mass start, 29th overall, and, needless to say, the Kent AC men’s champion for 2024.
Nick in full flow
There were two more sub 2:30 runners, both in PBs, Ben Clarke in 2:23:46 and Jake Herrera in 2:29:34. Just behind them, Jon Tipper ran his second 2:30 time in a row, in 2:30:39, just behind Matt Speed in 2:30:37. Ben Hope in 2:33:16 was just ahead of the next most impressive run of the day.
Jon Tipper cruising
Che Compton ran a PB of 2:33:16, aged 49, 7 years after his last PB, proving that you can keep on setting new targets and breaking old ones as you get older.
Barny Day out for a stroll
Victoria Buck was our fastest woman runner and winner of the club championship, in 3:04:43, although second claimer Lara Bromilow ran 2:49:22. Kersha Dwyer (3:15:23 PB) and Rebeka Hanns (3:17:12) were 2nd and 3rd first claim women.
Chris Busaileh
There are too many results to highlight all individually, but notable performances include Ed Andrews setting an 11 minute PB in 2:39, Fergus Johnson setting an 8 minute PB in 2:41 and Ben Racle setting a 5:31 PB in 2:42. George Hobhouse ran 2:44 on debut, and Andy Wright and Sharon Stanley, winners of the club ballot places, ran 3:13 and 3:58 respectively. Miki Jablkowska ran 4:52:40, which is highly creditable for a VW70!
Vic Cartwright, having run 8 miles, decided to go home for some tea and cake, then came back out to join her mother running her first ever marathon! I think they’re still out there…
Vic & mum
Full results:
Philip Woodford-Smith 2:41:58 William Wright 2:58:31 PB Alison Thomson 4:35:40
Ben Racle 2:41:59 PB Gian Valentini 2:59:48 Martin Morgan 4:45:15 (pacing)
Tom Marshall 2:42:09 Victoria Buck 3:04:43 Miki Jablkowska 4:52:40
Ian Clarke 2:42:14 PB Alex Morales 3:05:36
Tom Heslop 2:43:39 Joseph Wilkes 3:05:53
HELLO SUMMER TRACK RACING
It’s time to start looking 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.
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? We’re planning two Sunday morning training sessions focused on throws and jumps at Ladywell Arena to provide some focused prep ahead of the SAL. These will be on Sunday 28 April and 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
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
A summary of dates for your diary
May
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
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
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
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
CLUB CONTACTS PAGE
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