[Navy] Gold and silver baubles for Kent’s tree!

Please see this week’s update for Kent AC members – 17/12/23–

KENT AC NEWS BULLETIN
17 December 2023

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas! This means there’s a bit of a hiatus in serious racing until Kent County xc in the New Year, but with Christmas and New Year parkruns and the imperative to burn off the turkey and wine, we know you’ll be out and about over the festive period!

An impressive 26 runners made their way to Lloyd Park in Croydon for the South of the Thames Senior race yesterday and returned laden with silverware! Full report below.

The ballot is still open for a club London Marathon place. The draw will take place on January 8th, so if you qualify, and are up for it, drop us a line.

And if you buy an annual track pass now, you can get 12 months for the price of 11, and not have to think about it again for a whole year.

Ian Ellwood won the £250 monthly draw in December – there are still 2 numbers remaining if you’re interested.

SOUTH OF THE THAMES SENIOR CROSS COUNTRY

The senior team ventured to Lloyd Park on Saturday for the second instalment of the South of Thames series, the South of Thames Senior race. There is apparently a good historical reason for calling these races Junior and Senior despite the name confusing many of us! We have a great record at this race, frequently getting team and individual medals in both men’s and women’s competitions, and this year was a return to the podium after last year’s low turnout due to the location (Aldershot on a train strike day)

We were welcomed by perfect cross country conditions, no rain, low winds, good running temperatures and enough mud to keep us on our toes. The course included three laps around an undulating and indeed, muddy, track to reach 12km. To give you an idea of how muddy it was, one supporter shouted, ‘great running, or great sliding rather’. 

Mud shot
So how did we do? Given the crazy time of year and illnesses galore, we had a solid turn-out and impressive results with another set of podiums:

Team Results (provisional):
Men’s 6-to-score – 2nd place
Men’s 12-to score – 2nd place
Women’s 6-to-score – 4th place (and close)

Individual medals:
Max Nicholls 3rd overall🥉
Tom Mower 1st v40 🥇
Vic Cartwright 1st v40 🥇

Max Nicholls storming through the mud for his 3rd place finish

Women’s 6 to score: Victoria Cartwright, Nicola Cartlidge, Lin Skinner, Suze Spalding, Vic Buck, Nesrin Sabanci

Men’s 6 to score: George Russell, Cameron Dockerill, Max Nicholls, Dame Dibaba, Tom Mower, James Boustead (not pictured)
The 12 to score team were the above men plus Lyndon Marfell, Calum Fraser, Chris Mullin, Nicholas Chevis, Joseph Vis and Alex Harris.

Special mention to the age group champions Tom Mower and Victoria Cartwright for storming home to win their categories. Victoria was also the first scorer for the Kent AC women’s team. Special mention also to Max Nicholls who made mud look like it was concrete with the speed he went through the course to finish 3rd overall. 

There’s a video of the race here, courtesy of Mark Hookway.

Thanks everyone for turning up and giving it your all, we look forward to more laps around muddy courses in 2024! 
Gen, Sarah, James and Owen

LONDON MARATHON BALLOT

Club ballot entries are still open for those of you wanting to run the 2024 London Marathon who have failed in the LM ballot. We have two club places to give away.

The criteria are that a) you have competed for Kent AC in an event in 2023 (this includes wearing the Kent vest in a major race), and b) you have applied for and been rejected in the ballot for the 2024 London Marathon (evidence of your rejection will be required before the place is awarded).

Please submit your entry for the club ballot to  by 7th January 2024.
The draw will be at the next Committee Meeting on 8th January. Good luck!

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS…A TRACK PASS

From Monday, the new 2024 annual track passes will be available on the sumup shop.

We are offering 12 months for the price of 11. An ideal Christmas present for yourself!

RACE DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

A summary of dates for your diary

2024
January 
6 – Kent County XC – Brands Hatch
13 – Surrey League XC – Wimbledon Common
27 – Southern XC champs – BPP

February
10 – Surrey League XC – West Horsley, Guildford
24 – National XC Champs – Weston Park, Shropshire

March
16 –  British Masters XC Champs – Corwen, N Wales
24 – Southern Relays – Milton Keynes

April
6 – National Road Relays – Sutton Coldfield
21 – London Marathon

12 LANES OF CHRISTMAS

For those of you wanting to enjoy some reps at Ladywell Arena over the festive period, please make note of the below dates for Kent AC hire.

Tuesday 19th December – as usual
Thursday 21st December – No booking
Sunday 24th December – No booking
Tuesday 26th December – No booking
Thursday 28th December – As usual
Sunday 31st December – No booking
2024
Tuesday 2nd January  – As usual and back to normality!

ADMIN ON TRACK

Would you like to take a leading role in the club? Are you organised and have an eye for detail? Or do you just want to earn a pint for some volunteering? If you answered yes to any of these questions, we have just the ticket for you.

We are looking for a new Track Admin Officer. This is a committee post, which involves technical admin of the track pass app and negotiating hours and rates for the track with GLL and the council. 

If you would like to find out more about this, then please contact Amelia. 

MEET YOU AT THE GATE

Gate volunteers form the unsung heroes of the club, making sure that our Tuesday and Thursday night sessions can run smoothly and safely.

It’s a great way to meet new people and have a chat with friends too, as well as give back a little bit of time to the club. You can sign up here!

LET’S MAKE IT OFFICIAL

Athletics needs more officials, and volunteering in this way is a wonderful way to give back to the club.
This is a great opportunity to help get club events’ results on Power of 10. And it’s fun.

Our SAL performances not only need athletes, but also qualified officials – so you can directly contribute to our success! Every qualification counts! 

It’s a straightforward process that the club will pay for, with more detail on available courses here.

Please contact Len Reilly for more info.

It would be great to see a few more people put their names down to help out!

EASYFUNDRAISING

Please remember to use easyfundraising every time you shop online.
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

 

WIN A TRACK PASS

In recognition of the importance of our volunteers, all gate volunteers each month are in with a chance of winning themselves a month’s track pass (worth £10).
To be added to the rota simply email Jacqueline or Laurie 
 
We only need each track attendee to volunteer a couple of times a year to spread the responsibility fairly.

T&Cs for the track pass draw:

All volunteers for the current month will be added into the hat for a draw each month.
The winner will win a free pass for the next calendar month.
Names will be automatically drawn from https://namepicker.net/ (or similar alternative)
The winner can either chose to:

use their free pass within a calendar year
allow their free pass to roll down to another volunteer
annual pass holders can nominate another club member if they cannot make use of the pass themselves 

No refunds/discounts will be provided in place of the free monthly pass.
Volunteers will only be eligible to win a pass once every three months.

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 now has new 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

You can have your say about what goes in the newsletter and keep us apprised of your results or running adventures by emailing the comms team directly here.

The password for the club contacts page  is .

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