KENT AC NEWS BULLETIN 

11 April 2021

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GOLDEN GIRLS

Kent women win Wimbledon Relays

In the shadow of Centre Court, Kent AC women served up a dominant victory at the Wimbledon Relays. They swept the team prize finishing almost two minutes ahead of second place Herne Hill Harriers and placed three runners in the top 10 overall.

Sarah Hanley set off first from the Wimbledon Park track out onto the hilly course, followed in one minute intervals by Alexa Parker, Georgina Wiley, Isabel Bradley, and Kent debutante Genevieve Blanch. All the team produced fantastic runs, picking up and passing other runners as they entered the final 500m round the track, but special congrats to both Alexa and Katie winning their waves.

This was the perfect start to the season for the Kent women in what could turn out to be the first of many victories this season.

Thanks to team captain Katie for organising and big shout out as well to Pete Boxall for all his fantastic work. Also, thank you to Hercules Wimbledon for putting on a great event. For full results click here.

Sixth for Kent Men

Bleary-eyed and only slightly bushy-tailed, the men’s team lined up for an 8:30 am start. With impending marathons only a couple of weeks away, there were some last minute squad changes, but the team (superbly managed by James Bowler) held steady to pull of a 6th place finish against some strong opposition. There were some solid individual performances with Owen Hind rekindling his mojo for a 4th place finish overall, whilst others backed up early season performances on the hilly 5km circuit. Special mention must also go to Pete Lighting and Ian Ellwood for forming a stand-alone ‘All-Stars’ team and providing strong camaraderie on the early morning start. For full results click here.

Teams 
Women
Alexa Parker
Sarah Hanley
Katie Rowland
Georgina Wiley
Isabel Bradley
Genevieve Blanch

Men
Owen Hind
Anthony Johnson
Dan Pettitt
Rowan Crichton
Ben Harding
Joe Hartley
Sam Evans
Jonathan Beatty
Rob Laing
Adrian Lowther

All-Star team
Pete Lighting
Ian Ellwood

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RACES ARE DEFINITELY BACK

It was a great week for races with the Easter break providing additional opportunities to run fast. It was PBs aplenty as people made up for having little running over the six months. It was fantastic to see so many great runs so early in the season and it will be exciting to see how this will no doubt continue now the track has reopened. If you’re interested in doing some racing see the race calendar below.

PB5k – Ardingly – Monday 5 April
Noah Armitage-Hookes – 15:00 – PB!
Anthony Johnson  – 15:00 – PB!
 Ben Harding – 15:31  
Rowan Crichton – 15:39 – PB!
Joe Hartley – 15:42  
Jonathan Beatty – 15:57 – PB!
Sam Evans – 15:58  
Kieran Page – 17:30 
Sarah Hanley – 18:05    
Teresa Murphy – 18:47    
Khawaja Shahbuddin – 20:08  

Blackheath and Bromley Open 
Olly Buck – 2:18 – PB!

PodPlus Kent Spring Marathon – Sunday 11 April
Paul McCrone – 3:34:18  
    
RunThrough Kempton Park 10km  –  Saturday 3 April
Chris Busaileh – 34:31  
    
RunThrough Olympic Park 10k –  Saturday 3 April
Che Compton – 35:26    
Matthew Henty – 44:09  – PB! 

Congratulations to all runners! 

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UPCOMING JUNIOR TASTER EVENT

I’m very pleased to be able to announce an important step on the road to the club’s desire tomore fully represent the local community.

Members have recognised that we could do more to reflect Lewisham’s diversity, and that track and field, juniors, and middle/long/XC/road running operate essentially separately. As a consequence the diversity we do have is diluted, and opportunities to participate in multiple disciplines are more limited than they should be in an athletics club.

The Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity (EDI) Working Group was set up to improve the situation. It became apparent that T&F should be a core part of the club, that it should be strengthened in terms of coaching and athletes, and that the best way to start that is with a strong youth athletics offering.

Many thanks to the EDI WG for all their efforts in making this happen. It will be a multi-year endeavour (much like the women’s groups which continue to improve) and I thank all who have participated so far, and will do so in the future.

Alan Curtis. President, Kent AC

Junior Taster Saturday event on 22 May at Ladywell Arena for 11–17-year-olds

To grow our junior membership Kent AC is holding a free recruitment event from 13:30-17:30 on Saturday 22 May. Activities include sprinting, middle distance, hurdles, long jump, high jump and javelin. 60 places are available.

Existing junior members are welcome to participate and share their Kent AC experience. You don’t need to register just come along on the day. 

Adult members with children that would like to join in please register via the Kent AC website. A club video has also been produced to support our recruitment efforts.

We anticipate places will go quickly once we share with local schools from Monday 19th April.

We also need volunteers to help us stage the event. If you can spare the afternoon or just a couple of hours please contact /" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ian Ellwood 

REMINDER – KENT AC SUBS

Have you paid yours? 
Membership renewal reminders have been sent out as usual in the hope that training and competition can return to some form of normality this year. Should this not prove to be the case then the committee will come to a collective decision on what action to take with regards to club subscriptions for the 2022/23 year. When you pay your subscription, you’re also offered England Athletics Affiliation for a further £15.

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TRACK, TRACK, TRACK

We’re back on track!

And it feels great. It’s worth bearing in mind, though, that Tuesday training sessions require a lot of organisation, so volunteers to help with checking that people have signed up and are aware of Covid restrictions are always welcome. Contact Heather, the excellent volunteer organiser, via the website.

Get into the track pass habit
No training unless you’ve signed up to the track pass. You can pay for a month or a year. Here’s how:1) Make sure your membership has been renewed as you must be a paid up member to use the track
2) Purchase your monthly track pass in advance of the session here 
3) Sign up to the appropriate group and session using the links below, for more information about training groups see here
4) Upon arrival before your session, please show your Kent AC membership app, or a print out, at the gate

Please see a helpful FAQs guide here
 

Group spreadsheets to register for sessions (links for payment this month and FAQs within):

Men’s A group 

Men’s B Group

Women’s Group (PB/EB)

C Group

Juno Group

Despite the above being very track-focused, we will be expanding our offering to properly cater for our field athletes. So stay tuned for more info very soon.

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FIND YOUR NEXT RACE

Kent AC Summer Racing Calendar 
Take the first step to your next PB by having a look at latest fixture list – everyone in the club can add races they come across to the list and we encourage you to do so!
You can find the doc here 

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BIG HALF UPDATE 

The Vitality Big Half postponed until Sunday 22 August 2021

This week Ted contacted the Big Half organisers to get an update on the status of the places already claimed and the remaining places available. 

If you are registered for the event please look out for an email later this month where you will be given the option to either keep your entry for the postponed 2021 date, defer entry to 2022, or receive a refund. If you decide you no longer want to run, or want to defer to 2022, please let Ted know so he can give your 2021 place to another club member 

Ted will be in touch in early May to allocate further places for those who are interested in participating

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NEW MEMBERS

Welcome to the bumper 13 new members who have joined Kent AC over the last few weeks.  We look forward to meeting you on the track soon! 
Bianca Strohmann
Jethro Duerte Holman
Ben Armson
Mike Cummings
Fiona Brand
Isabelle Hatton
Lee Edwards
Samuel Taylor
Liv Shortland
Faiza Aslam
Kevin Egan
Joe Hall
Cameron Irwin

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