Corre Más Rápido!
Corre Más Rápido!
Please see this week’s update for Kent AC members – 01/12/24–
KENT AC NEWS BULLETIN
1 December 2024
First up, is a big push to purchase your tickets for this year’s Christmas Party bash. It’s always fun and this is your opportunity to talk about training plans, upcoming races and new shoes over drinks and Christmas nibbles. See below for more information.
✨🎄🪩
Saturday 14th December
St Dunstan’s Jubilee Ground, Catford
7:30pm
£20 including buffet and arrival drink
https://kentac.sumupstore.com
Spread the word!
Kent AC Christmas party tickets are on sale🎄✨
It’s going to a dazzling affair and we hope to see many of you there to celebrate 2024!
£20 per person including an arrival drink, a buffet and a dancefloor🥂
Purchase your tickets here – get them before they’re gone!
We had 8 runners yesterday for match 2 in the Surrey League XC with 3 Surrey League 1st timers.
First up were the under 13s. Edward Pearce excellent time 12.29 24th out of 50 runners. Daria Gilmore under 14 minutes with a position 38th also out of 50 runners. Both preformed really well for their first times.
The under 15 boys had a full team and were a credible 8th out of 16 teams. First home for Kent was George Searle. He was the 14th under 15B in a time of 15:23 putting him up in the top 25%. In second and third was the battle between Luke Roderick and Lucas Stickland with Luke narrowly pipping Lucas. They were 30th and 32nd out of 59 runners in times of 16:26 and 16:29. Mateo Mathers picked up some valuable points in a time of 18:26.
The last race of the day was the U15 G with Tallulah Jones again comfortably in the top half with a position of 19th in a time of 18:11. Close behind with her first SL run of the year was Alice Hales. She was 29th out of 54 runners in a time of 19:00 minutes. Thats all the junior mud this year until a busy January. Next up the Christmas Party….
The County Vets XC in Dartford is always a good Kent AC club day out, with a fab turn out and super individual runs.
M50: First race was the Men V50s. Despite having a somewhat depleted team we won team gold, Che Compton (individual bronze), Steve McGrory, Jules Gevers and Paul McCrone. This shows the club’s strength in depth, as our winning team didn’t include any personnel from last years winning team. We won by a 6 points, which, as we’ll come too, was a massive margin compared to other races.
M60: The M60s won team silver, missing gold by 3 points and avoiding bronze on countback. Kent AC’s team was tightly packed, and was a classic rematch of the club 5000m earlier in the year, with Luke Armitage (8th), Roger Beardsworth (10th) and Len Reilly (12th). In the same race, Julian Spencer-Wood had a splendid run, winning silver in the MV70 category.
W35/W45/W55/W65: The women enjoyed a victorious afternoon at the Kent Vets Cross Championships at Dartford on Saturday, winning individual and team medals in two categories. Vic Buck, Lin Skinner and Vicky Boyle ran off with v35 team gold; a super impressive achievement bearing in mind that all three were down ageing for the event. Vic Buck outran most of the v35 field to bring home individual bronze. The v35 team was completed by Heather Castle. Congratulations also to our outstanding sixty year old, Clare Elms, who brought home individual V55 gold, and celebrated team bronze with Sarah Young and Nicky Hayes. Ronnie Haydon and Kate Williams weren’t far behind, in a superb showing by our v55s overall. There is no stopping Clare – she is going on to compete in the BMAF 5k on Sunday. Finally, Zoe Gaffen and Annabelle Hadlow were role models to us all in their enthusiastic participation as v65s. Well done everyone!
M40: The final race of the day was the Men V40s. Kent AC have 12 consecutive wins. Alas, that run came to end in a very close competition. We packed 6 runners into the top 18 in front of Cambridge Harriers 4th scorer in 20th place. But that wasn’t quite good enough on the day. Hats off to Cambridge Harriers for putting out a very strong team and pipped us by one point.
It was a great race for the spectators, with lots of overtaking over the 4.5 laps. Our silver medalling team was Rob Laing (6th), Dave Morgan (7th), Sam Evans (10th) and Neil Phillips (12th).
For the stattos: Apart from 3 silvers, we have won team M40 gold in every competition since 2005.
Then it was off to the Malt Shovel for the post-race debrief, with Kent AC runners carrying more silverware than bargain hunt.
Let’s go Valencia. Some of our Kent lot took to the fast streets of Valencia for some incredible marathon racing. After years now of putting on some fast road running, Valencia is the go to place for a quick winter PB.
First up, we have Ben Clarke. After weeks of travelling across the Northern Mediterranean, he still managed to fit in some consistent training to put him in pole position for a PB. And PB he did, knocking off 2 minutes to inch himself closer to that sub 2:20 barrier at 2:21:44. I think he sums up most marathon experiences well when he says, “It was all so good til it was hard”.
Next across the line and back from his stint in Kenya was Harry Tivnen who smashed through the 2:30 barrier to knock off 6 minutes from his previous PB in 2:28:54. It seems that altitude training (and years of dedication, consistency and determination) pays off.
Following closely behind and managing to fit in excellent training around pesky injuries was budding coach Chris Busaileh. Like the others, Chris smashed through his PB to break that magic barrier in 2:29:54. Another succinct line from this marathoner, “Marathons are a long way and quite hard”. I’m beginning to see a trend here…
Over to JT who also finished strongly in 2:34:22. Alas no PB but still an excellent run nevertheless. Adam Paterson finished closely behind in 2:34:38 missing out by an agonising 7 seconds to add to the PBs best for our Kent group today. Excellent run to both and go enjoy some well-earned Spanish beers.
We head over to Lees Valley where even more PBs came in the 60m hurdles: Tess Hepple (9.09), Claudia Rigby (10.56) and Mack Atanda (11.62)
In Victoria Park we had some runners compete too: Teresa Murphy 1st V45 in 88:02, Alex Morales 89:41, Ivona Gongolova 1st V40 in 1:43:23 and Khawaja Shahabuddin 1:56:35.
In the British Masters 5K we had Tim Sharp run 17:52, Julian Spencer Wood 23:25, Clare Elms come through 1st in the V60 in 18:57 and Karen Samuel race 25:49. Some of those runners raced twice this week!
Also notably, over in Hilly Fields Parkrun we had a mini Kent takeover with 9 of the top 10 runners deriving from Kent AC. They then went on to run 10 hills and a mile tempo as part of Ken and Chris’s winter training plan. Hopefully that hill training will pay dividends in the cross countries and races to come.
When you’re waiting around on the cross country field, then layering up after the race, your best friend is your Kent AC bobble hat. If you are still lacking this style essential, you can go to the Kent AC online shop to order and pay. Your ears will thank you for it.
If you failed to get a London Marathon place, you have a second chance.
The club will have two places and we’ll run a ballot as in previous years. There is one extra criterion, to encourage volunteering at the club – you have to have helped the club out in some way this year.
The criteria are:
1. Be a fully paid up club member.
2. Been rejected in the London Marathon 2025 ballot (need to provide evidence)
3. Have run for the club in 2024 (state which race)
4. Have volunteered for the club in some way in 2024.
This can include manning the gate at the track, marshalling or otherwise helping at an open meet or a race, being a coach or holding a committee post. You still have a chance to do so before the draw.
The draw will take place later this year at the Christmas Party on 14 December.
If you wish to enter the draw, send an email to Phil at , with evidence of your LM rejection, what races you have run, and what volunteering you’ve done.
Deadline: 13th December
December
7 – SEAA Masters XC Championships – Horspath, Oxford (tbc)
14 – Christmas Party – St Dunstan’s Jubilee Ground, Catford
21 – South of Thames Senior XC – Somerhill School, Tonbridge
2025
January
4 – Kent County XC Championships – Brands Hatch
11 – Surrey League XC – tbc
25 – Southern XC Champs – Beckenham Place Park
February
8 – Surrey League XC – Epsom
22 – National XC – Parliament Hill
March
30 – 12/6 Stage Road Relay Championships – Milton Keynes
April
12 – 12/6 National Road Relays – Sutton Coldfield
25 – London Marathon
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Buy your track pass here.
The usual track times are:
Tuesday 17:30 – 20:45
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).
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