Dartford Road Runners - Joydens Wood 5km (Wed. 28th May)
The popular Dartford RR summer series got underway last Wednesday in Joydens Wood, with eighteen club runners taking part. The club's highest place finisher in an excellent second place was Liam Carr (18:43), with Luke Ford (19:57) and Mark Penny (20:01 & 1st M40) in 6th and 7th. Catherine Gonzalez (pictured) finished 17th overall and first lady in 22:26. Susan Dixon (W55) finished third lady in 24:28 and Rose Baker was awarded first W55. All results can be viewed here.
Hercules Wimbledon 1500m Festival Night 2024, Wimbledon (Wed. 28th May)
Personal bests over 1500m for Holly Dixon (4:19.80s) and Arthur Roux (4:10.33s).
Southern Counties Veterans AC Kent League Division 1, Tonbridge (Fri. 31st May)
The second of this seasons SCVAC League took place at Tonbridge School, where both team finished fourth.
Men (Tim Carter): Again, the team produced a good performance on the night gaining a further 4th place - we are placed in 4th place overall after two meetings. All events were covered on the night.
Some excellent performances included 1st places for Chris Loudon in M35A 1500m - 4:13.1s in cold blustery conditions and after a starter's error false start called back after 300m, also Paris Hunt in the M60 200m - a super race, with Paris just holding on from several quality competitors.
Paris and Wole Odele were the overall stars on the night - each showing outstanding versatility. In addition to the above, Paris gained 3rd place in M60 HJ - 1.35m and 4th place in M50 JT - 31.62m.Wole was 2nd in M50 HJ - 1.40m, 5th in M50 200m giving nearly 10 years away to some sprinters and was an integral part of 4x100m relay. Individually between them 20 points.
A solid 3rd place for Matt Preston M50 1500m - 4:47.8s and 4th places - Ed Adigwe (M45) in the M35A 200m - 26.2s and Neb Jovanovic (M45) in the M35B 1500m - 4:37.8s.
A special thank you to Lincoln Campbell (M55) who unexpectedly (for him) competed in the M35B 200m and M35 HJ gaining 2 points for the team and also Peter Wishart (M60) in the M35 JT - not his event.
Lastly, very pleased we had four non-scorers. John Barron and James Rooks produced fine performances as M65 200m (nearly M70!) - 33.1s and 37.2s respectively in difficult conditions. Also Ed Adigwe and Peter Reynolds (who had a fine race with Neb) in 1500m times of 4:34.2s and 4:38.3s respectively.
Women (Christine Bond): Our W35 200m sprinters were Sophie Johnson and Maggie Illingworth, both warmups for other events later, Lisa Atkinson with an outside lane ran a comfortable 200m in the W50’s way ahead of the two behind her.
In the1500m, it’s here I think Rose Baker and Stephanie Dungate took gold in the `short notice’ appearance award! Having raced Wednesday’s Joydens Wood 5k, trained Thursday, Friday lunchtime Serpentine 5k, they both stepped in to complete at short notice, 4th for Rose in a W35 age group, which would have been the same in the W50’s, and a good result for Stephanie in the W60’s finishing 3rd.
Natalie Mann and Christine Bond were our only winners, both in the javelin. A `Wow’ when Natalie’s javelin landed, and we tried to pick up some tips! A bit of `in house’ competition between Julie Backley and Christine had even the volunteers and other competitors joining in. Having run the 1500m for 3rd place, this was Julie’s first javelin competition so to finish 3rd was good enough for us.
Thanks to four willing bodies who despite getting quite cold, ran the 4x100m, Maggie, Lisa, Rose and Sophie.
Kent AC Ron Hale Open T & F Meeting, Ladywell (Sat. 1st June)
With no league meetings apart from the Masters on Friday night lots of athletes made the short trip to Ladywell to compete in the Ron Hale Memorial Open meeting put on by Kent AC and there were some notable improvements in performances, writes Mick Bond.
Dayne Douglas was the fastest of the sprinters on the day with solid 11.30s and 22.83s clocking's into a head wind and new under 20 member Reuben perry Smith impressed with a 200m debut in 22.85s.
Olly Cook improved his 800m PB for the third time this season winning the A Race in 2:04.67s. Lots of other club members tried out the mile and automatically ran personal bests as it was the first time many had run the distance. All results can be viewed here.
Harvel 5, Harvel, Kent (Sat. 1st June)
The Harvel 5 is another very popular event with twelve Cambridge Harriers finishing, eight of whom had run on Wednesday evening at the Dartford RR Joydens Wood 5k. The clubs first finisher was Luke Ford in 20th position in 32:13. Susan Dixon in 65th overall won the W55 age category. CH results are here.
Coombe Hill Fell Race, Buckinghamshire (Sun. 2nd June)
Having now become a permanent fixture in the fell running calendar, this year saw four Cambridge Harriers making their way to Buckinghamshire for the Coombe Hill Fell Race which is a popular and challenging trail running event held under FRA rules (Category: BS), hence the designation of a fell race, although it could be argued that the race does not fit the traditional definition of a fell race as understood in the more mountainous regions of the UK, such as the Lake District, Scotland, or Wales.
The race takes place at Coombe Hill, near Wendover in Buckinghamshire, part of the Chiltern Hills, an area of outstanding natural beauty offering stunning views of the surrounding countryside. The race is approximately 7km in distance run over a mix of woodland trails, open fields, and chalky paths with a steep 260 meters ascent to the summit of Coombe Hill.
One of the unique aspects of the Coombe Hill Fell Race is that your entry includes a pint of beer. Considering entry to the race is only £5, or £3 for FRA members, this is definitely a bargain especially considering the high cost of entering most races nowadays.
The weather this year, like last year didn’t disappoint and we were fortunate to have wonderful blue skies, sunshine and little wind, although due to all the recent heavy rain we have had we were also treated to some very muddy sections on the woods reminiscent of the worst (or best) of the cross country season but without the cold. All in all it was agreed by all that this was an excellent race.
Results: 3 Kyle Hurst 28:01, 26 Christian Poulton 34:19, 35 Will Longhurst 35:17, 62 James Floyd 38:07.
