Big Half plus
The main event of the week was the Big Half, held on a deceptively warm morning that caught out a few runners. Kent AC had a big turnout, with about 70 runners, most of whom had good runs despite the conditions.
Our first man and woman, and winners of the club championships, were Dame Dibaba and Amy Clements. Dame ran 70:15, a PB, despite flying out at the start and nearly breaking his 5k PB! With better pacing he’ll run sub 70 next time!
Amy was 17th woman finisher, and 2nd VW40, in 79:33.
Joe Hartley (70:57) and Chris McGurk (73:33) were the next KAC men home; Iona Cousland (85:33) and Daisy Noble (94:09) the 2nd and 3rd Kent women.
Notable age category performances came from Lara Bromilow (2C) 4th VW40 (83:30), Tom Mower 6th VM40 (73:33), Pete Lighting 6th VM45 (78:54), Becky Fox 7th VW45 (94:34) and Karen Samuel 5th VW60 (2:02:20)
Well done to all those who ran!
Assembly League
On Thursday we had the last Assembly League race of the season, at Beckenham Place Park, with prizegiving afterwards in the Beckenham clubhouse.
While the men didn’t make the top 3 on the night, they were 4th to 7th and had 5 of the top 10, so easily won the A and B races on the night. The women came 2nd in the A team competition and won the B team.
Individually our first man home was Dan Pettitt, with the first woman being Amelia Pettitt.
Over all 6 races, Kent AC won men’s and women’s A and B trophies, and individually the VM40 (Dave Morgan), VM50 (Che Compton), VM65 (James Steatham), Sen women (Amelia Pettitt), VW40 (Nesrin Sabanci), VW50 (Suz Spalding) and VW70 (Zoe Gaffen) categories.
Another successful, and fun summer season for Kent AC!
Ultra News
Individual performance of the week unquestionably goes to Alex Hamlet. In the fearsome Ultra Tour de Monte Rosa in the Swiss alps, 105 miles with 11,000m of climbing, he came 3rd!
It took him 30 hours, including crossing a glacier at 3000m, which he said was the highlight.
He has a place in the prestigious UTMB for 2027, so no doubt many of us will be dotwatching his progress then!