Big: halves, wins, and news
Big: halves, wins, and news
Please see this week’s update for Kent AC members – 07/09/25–
KENT AC NEWS BULLETIN
7 September 2025
Back to school for some, back to winning form for all! It’s been quite the week for Kent AC, starting on Tuesday night where 2024 club champions and best performers were awarded their rightful metalware. Thursday night saw the grand finale of this year’s Assembly League at Beckenham Place Park… more below, but the TL:DR version is that we swept up both the individual and team awards, which is testament to the brilliant turnout from all across the six races this season.
Today then saw a swarm of navy blue traversing both sides of the river and hurtling towards Greenwich in the Big Half. 81 runners took to the streets and braved the September sun during today’s Big Half. Amongst these, Ben Hope was 1st VM45, Vic Cartwright was 4th VW40, and Miki Jablkowska was 4th VW70. Well done to everyone who ran and to all who drank and ate at SALT afterwards- with thanks to Ellie for organising that all-important decanter.
Autumn evenings may be drawing in, but the fun is well and truly just beginning. We have our 5000m championships, 200m, and junior 800m races at Ladywell this Thursday – enter here whilst you still can as entries close later tonight! There will be races for all times so give it a go!
Details of this year’s cross country season are here now too, so please read carefully, put the dates in your diary, clean last year’s mud off your spikes, and get those hill reps in.
Since April, Kent AC have been taking part in the monthly Assembly League series – six races across Beckenham Place, Victoria Park, Crystal Palace, Sutcliffe, and then back to Victoria Park, and culminating back at Beckenham Place. Across this season, we have seen a brilliant turnout at all races with our club consistently having several dozen runners out.
Firstly, and most importantly, a huge thank you to Richard Elliot for organising and sorting out our entries and numbers this year- no mean feat but carried out admirably and with much patience!
Thursday saw the final one for this year and after the heavens had opened throughout the day, the early evening settled into perfect temperatures and beautifully blue sky. Winning conditions indeed. The race against the daylight was on as runners took on the two lap course through the woods, getting that taste back for the hills and underfoot mud of the upcoming cross country season.
Kent AC came in HOT – with Matt Speed coming second overall, just ahead of Olly Buck and Jim Allchin. Half of the top 20 men were Kent AC. On the women’s side, Ellie Freeden led the way, coming first, with Caitlin Bradley just behind. Seven of the top eight women were Kent!
This set us up for what can only be described as a clean sweep for the overall season awards…
Kent AC men’s and women’s won the league – and even better, our B teams both won too, showing that breadth, depth, consistency and commitment to show up really did count for a lot! Glad to keep those trophies in our hands for another year!
On the individual and age group front, a huge congratulations goes to Ellie Freeden and Jim Allchin for winning their respective titles. The successes don’t stop there – Lin Skinner, Vic Cartwright, Rob Laing and Samuel Taylor won their age categories too. There were a LOT of medals handed out on Thursday!
See you all next April to do it all again!
On Tuesday night, our last summer social of the year combined with an awards evening to celebrate the successes of the past year.
Massive congratulations to:
Sofia for winning the most points across her countless performances at the SAL matches. Fun fact: Sofia is now the proud guardian of the Arthur Twinn trophy, which has not been awarded since 2016 and has been repurposed to now be a mixed trophy… so well done especially to Sofia for seeing out close competition from Alex Harris.
Joe Appiah for the club’s best male performer – with many world rankings and records to his name, especially at the 60m and 100m hurdles.
Clare Elms for the club’s best female performer after also claiming many world rankings and records. In fact, history fans – this cup goes back to 1952, with previous winners including senior internationals such as Averil Usher/Bowring and Bev Panton.
Ellie Freeden for the women’s 5000m club champs, where she topped a podium consisting of Aisling Ahern and Clare Elms too.
Our fourth open meet of the summer will be on Thursday 11th September.
The events taking place are:
200m (11+)
800m (Juniors only, U11 to U17)
5000m (U17+)
There will be prizes in the form of SOAR vouchers for the first 3 finishers in the 5000m, for men and women. All races will be seeded, there will be photo finish and results will be on Power of 10.
If you’re available on the day, we will need volunteers to help out – please contact Rich Giles.
At the AGM all committe posts are open to election. If you’re interested in a role then please contact the President or Secretary to find out more information. Email addresses can be found here here or email for further information.
In particular, we have vacancies for the Club Secretary and Coaching Secretary. If you have the interest and time available for either of these roles, please do conact us for a job description and to discuss it with the current incumbents.
October is set to be the biggest month of the year. Competing highly against Taylor Swift’s new album release for the event of the year will of course be the start of the cross country season on 15th October for the Surrey League at Hurst Green.
Details will follow for each individual race, but for now please check out the fixtures and start signing up on the spreadsheet. Important note to please make sure that your England Athletics membership is up to date and paid for beforehand.
A reminder also that across the cross country season there are six club championships at stake: male, female, main champs (at South of the Thames on 20th December), Grand Prix and Grand Prix handicap. The Grand Prix and handicap are for the best six performances across the whole 9 races of the XC season. The grand prix rewards the overall best and most loyal performer, whilst the handicap can only be described as a dark art- a handicap using best six performances of the same 9 races.
Last year’s winners were: John Gilbert and Amy Clements for champs, Matt Speed and Aisling Ahern for the Grand Prix, and Calum Fraser and Jo Mott for the handicap. Good luck to all this year!
If you have any questions, please let your XC Captains (Owen, James, Gen, Parris, Jason, Nicky, Jules) know and they’ll gladly help. Spikes at the ready.
September
11 – Late Summer Meet – Ladywell Arena
20 – SEAA 6/4/3 Stage Road Relays – Aldershot
October
4 – ERRA 6/4 Stage Relays – Sutton Park
11 – Surrey League XC – Hurst Green
November
15 – Surrey League XC – Beckenham Place Park
22 – South of Thames 5 Mile XC – TBC
22 – Kent County Vets XC – Central Park, Dartford
29 – SEAA Masters XC – Horseden Hill, Greenford
December
20 – South of Thames Senior Champs 7.5 mile XC (including Club XC Champs) – Wimbledon Common
January
10 – Kent County XC – Brands Hatch
10 – Surrey League XC – Mitcham Common
24 – Southern XC – Beckenham Place Park
February
7 – Surrey League XC – Wimbledon Common
21 – National XC – Sedgefield, County Durham
March
29 – Southern 12 Stage Road Relay – Milton Keynes
April
11 – National 12 Stage Road Relay – Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham
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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 £6.50 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
The Alex Yee 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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