KENT AC NEWS BULLETIN 

10 January 2021

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LOCKDOWN #3

And this time it’s even more serious. With Covid-19 hospital admissions at an all time high, we must run independently. No group activities, no group training. Track’s shut. Take care when running in popular walking places. You can run with one other, two metres apart, but be mindful of the impact you’re having on fellow pavement and park users. This will not last forever, but protecting the NHS is far more important that athletics training. Run without your watch for a bit and chill out.
Given that we’re all feeling a little deflated in the gloom of a January lockdown, it’s essential that we support each other virtually. Take part in virtual events, such as the EA Virtual Relays (see below for changes to deadline – you can still enter!) and reach out via social media.
Take pictures while you’re out on your run and tag @kentversation then hashtag #KENTACrunslockdown 
Motivation is all! Let’s all share the love.
Talking of KENTversation, you can listen to the latest offering and all previous episodes on Spotify now.

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IDRIS OJURIYE

 Some of you may have seen the sad news regarding the sudden death of Idris Ojuriye at Herne Hill Harriers this week. Our thoughts are with his friends and family.
Here are links to gofundme and everloved pages set up in his memory for members who wish to leave messages of condolence or make a donation in memory of Idris.
 

Idris Ojuriye – Herne Hill Harriers Statement:
We are saddened and shocked to advise that Idris Ojuriye, a very popular and talented sprinter in our Herne Hill Harriers teams sadly passed away suddenly on Monday 4th January after suffering a blood clot which led to a heart attack a week after his 36th birthday.. Idris was an invaluable member of our men’s British Athletics League national league team for over fifteen years competing …
www.hernehillharriers.org

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FIXTURES

England Athletics Virtual Road Relays
Many thanks to all the Kent AC athletes who have currently entered the event, hopefully we can get more runners entered and raced, given that the deadline for virtual submissions has been moved to midnight on 13 January, so please enter here.

A reminder, the entry is completely free and the competition is made up of mixed teams of 8 (4 men and 4 women).  The top 50 teams will qualify into the National Round.  The minimum age for entry is 15 so it would be good to get some of our younger runners involved and get as many teams out as possible.
We’ve had some fantastic results in from doughty Kent AC runners.
Once all runs done so far are submitted, Kent is provisionally in 2nd place nationally behind Windsor, Slough, Eton and Hounslow AC (WSEH).  Therefore, we will easily qualify into the national round ,which follows on from this regional round, but it would be great to see how high up in the regional round we can finish.

Some performances of note so far:
Anthony Johnson currently sits in 6th place overall with his excellent 24:22, Phil Sanders is leading M45 with 26:13 and Jonathan Tipper is 2nd M40 with 26:13.  Alexa Parker is the first Kent AC athlete on the women’s side with 29:30, Katie Rowland has run 30:05, with Sarah Hanley 30.32, Jen Berg 32.41. 
 Key things to remember when planning your route:

• Net elevation change between start and end points must be less than 10m
• Start and finish points must be within 500m of each other
• Laps must be longer than 1km
• Elapsed time will be used, so no ‘Ross Barkley attempts can be done!’

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CROSS COUNTRY SURVEY

England Athletics is supporting the consultation with cross country clubs and their athletes, cross country competition providers and the cross country community to capture thoughts on how cross country can provide equal opportunities for all participants at all levels in the future.
As members of EA, Kent AC athletes will have received an invitation to take part in the survey (about 5-10 minutes to complete), the deadline for which is 29 January.  

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GOOD STUFF, JACQUELINE

One of GoodGym Lewisham’s most energetic volunteers is our own Jacqueline Francis, who recently completed her 400th good deed. She has been running across Lewisham, doing great work with GoodGym since Day 1, visiting older people, dropping off shopping, sorting out libraries and digging people’s gardens. GoodGym Lewisham singled her out for special praise on Twitter this week, but the woman herself is too modest to post it on her own feed. She’s an absolute star. 
To find out how you can do good while improving your fitness, contact GoodGym

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PERFORMANCE WEBINAR

On Thursday last week, several Kent AC members joined an online webinar: Performance in the Mind by sports psychologist, Dr Josephine Perry.
The webinar covered 11 tools and techniques useful for athletes training through lockdown and to use when returning to sporting competition.
You can view the slides from the webinar here and the recording is also available here until 14th January. Passcode: N6GZ$L?h

Some useful tips:

• Control the controllable: Focus on the events and actions you can influence, don’t waste energy on those that are out of your control.
• Don’t drive for perfectionism: Try to do things differently every so often to demonstrate to yourself your ability to be flexible and cope with changing conditions.
• Imagery: Try to imagine a positive outcome for the event or situation enabling you to identify the components that will help you achieve whilst creating a positive mindset.

You can also find some free performance in the mind worksheets here (including a pre-race routine timesheet) and find Dr Josephine on twitter. If you want to read further about Dr Josephine’s research, you can order her book: Performance under Pressure: Psychological Strategies for Sporting Success.

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NEW MEMBERS

A warm welcome to our newest members:
Caroline Evans
Victoire Nora Nzouba-Ndams
Richard Pledger
Nick Mooney
Alex Newton
Matthew Henty

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DONATIONS

If you would like to raise some money for the club, Ted has suggested donations for
Junior Track and Field development – Sprints, Jumps & Throws/Coaching support.
Training and racing opportunities have been limited for our young athletes during 2020 and with that, fundraising opportunities have also been restricted. With that in mind, we thought we could maintain the spirit of the past 3 years of raising funds for developing track and field at our club, however, it is not a requirement to securing a place. We are asking for your continued support, if you are able, as again we understand that 2020 has been very hard on a lot of people financially, but all contributions welcome no matter how small.
Just giving link.

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KENTversation

No podcast this week, but you can catch up on last week’s episode with club president Alan Curtis and other previous episodes on Spotify here.

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