The third meeting in the Southern Counties Veterans AC (Kent) league series took place at Bromley on the evening of 7 June and for the second time running, we managed to fill every event spot in the Division 2 programme.
We had a highly successful set of sprints, with Paul English winning the M35 A stream 100m comfortably in 12.4 seconds, demolishing the club M40 best performance time which he held from last year and placing him in the first 15 of the UK rankings. Martin White was second in the B stream with 13.8 seconds, over a second clear from the next runner; John Denyer helped out in the M50s; and Geoffrey Kitchener won the M60s in 14.3 seconds.
In the 800m races, our fastest runner was Chris Desmond, who dropped in to encourage the team and was then inveigled into joining us – he substituted for Rob Carr who, warding off leg injury, concentrated on discus instead. Chris ran in 2 minutes 31.4 seconds which would have been enough to win the M50 event, but he joined stronger competition in the M35s. Rob Peers achieved third place in the M35 B stream, despite having conducted a very strenuous club training session the night before; and a slightly faster time brought John Denyer fourth place in the M50s.
It is fair to say that none of our field event performances was spectacular, except for Paul English, whose first long jump attempt of 5.18m was an outright win in the M35s, a club M40 best performance by a long way and sufficient for twelfth place in the UK rankings. Unfortunately, he sustained a hamstring injury in this achievement - we wish him a speedy recovery.
Paul’s injury meant that he was unable to participate in the 4 x 200m relay, so Chris Desmond kindly stepped in to join Martin White, Rob Peers and Geoffrey Kitchener. Although we had a good race, there is no doubt that we missed Paul – just over a second at the finish covered second, third and fourth places, and we were just shaved into fourth. That also was our position for the total points for the meeting and we retain a solid fourth place in the overall series.
Our next meeting will be in the evening of Friday 21 June at the Black Lion Leisure Centre at Gillingham – a relatively new track where we have not competed before. Events include 200m, 1500m, high jump, shot put, javelin and 4 x 400m relay. I shall be glad to hear from anyone who wishes to attend, whether as part of the team or a guest.
I attach the results and a picture (above) of the M35m 100m finish – Paul English easing off at the finish, a comfortable win.
Geoffrey
Thirty-three runners including seven first-timers congregated in fine weather for the June handicap. Rob Peers was the winner but Gabe Morris still leads the series. More details here.
A huge turnout of 30 SAC runners contested the Harvel 5 on 1 June and came back with two trophies. John Denyer won the M65 category, also beating the first M60 finisher, while Jim Fitzmaurice won the M70 race by over five minutes. In addition, Chris Desmond was second M50, with Keith Dowson fourth, Geoff Vine second M65 and Simon Hallpike second M60 (thanks to John and Geoff being too old for that category).
At the sharp end, David Lee was fifth overall, while Jane Morgan was our first female finisher - 29th woman out of 286 in the race. Nearer the other end, Jim Knight gave his new hip its first competitive outing and finished in 641st place.
The Sevenoaks AC results were as follows:
| Pos | Gun Time |
Name | Team / Club | Sex | Age Group |
Chip Num |
Chip Time |
Pos by Chip Time |
| 5 | 28:27 | David LEE | SEVENOAKS AC | M | Senior | 369 | 28:26 | 5 |
| 22 | 31:03 | Chris DESMOND | SEVENOAKS AC | M | v50 | 315 | 31:02 | 22 |
| 30 | 31:53 | Lee LINTERN | SEVENOAKS AC | M | Senior | 520 | 31:50 | 30 |
| 38 | 32:37 | Keith DOWSON | SEVENOAKS AC | M | v50 | 67 | 32:34 | 39 |
| 48 | 33:10 | Joe PARSONS | SEVENOAKS AC | M | Senior | 145 | 33:07 | 48 |
| 55 | 33:36 | John DENYER | SEVENOAKS AC | M | v65 | 762 | 33:33 | 55 |
| 56 | 33:38 | Daniel WITT | SEVENOAKS AC | M | Senior | 16 | 33:35 | 56 |
| 83 | 35:12 | Geoffrey VINE | SEVENOAKS AC | M | v65 | 65 | 35:08 | 83 |
| 104 | 36:06 | Simon HALLPIKE | SEVENOAKS AC | M | v60 | 709 | 36:02 | 107 |
| ??? | 36:18 | Rob Peers | SEVENOAKS AC | M | v40 | 373 | no chip | ??? |
| 120 | 36:31 | Manuel FIELD | SEVENOAKS AC | M | Senior | 306 | 36:01 | 106 |
| 142 | 37:26 | Lyndon COLLINS | SEVENOAKS AC | M | v60 | 304 | 37:19 | 141 |
| 197 | 39:47 | Jane MORGAN | SEVENOAKS AC | Fem | v35 | 260 | 39:27 | 198 |
| 232 | 40:55 | James FITZMAURICE | SEVENOAKS AC | M | v70 | 550 | 40:46 | 235 |
| 233 | 40:57 | Rob JOHNSON | SEVENOAKS AC | M | Senior | 528 | 40:25 | 225 |
| 271 | 41:56 | Happy FISHER | SEVENOAKS AC | Fem | v35 | 710 | 41:27 | 269 |
| 285 | 42:30 | Hugh SHEWELL | SEVENOAKS AC | M | Senior | 82 | 41:59 | 281 |
| 286 | 42:31 | Sarah SHEWELL | SEVENOAKS AC | Fem | v45 | 83 | 41:22 | 263 |
| 314 | 43:21 | Carol BEADLE | SEVENOAKS AC | Fem | v45 | 81 | 43:01 | 316 |
| 356 | 44:38 | Olivia POCOCK | SEVENOAKS AC | Fem | Senior | 93 | 44:08 | 355 |
| 359 | 44:38 | Tony OSTLERE | SEVENOAKS AC | M | v50 | 349 | 44:18 | 362 |
| 377 | 45:01 | Jenny AUSTIN | SEVENOAKS AC | Fem | v35 | 488 | 44:33 | 370 |
| 383 | 45:06 | Debbie MOSLEY | SEVENOAKS AC | Fem | v35 | 511 | 44:37 | 378 |
| 411 | 46:02 | Clair THORNTON | SEVENOAKS AC | Fem | v35 | 71 | 45:20 | 399 |
| 423 | 46:58 | Maria ASHLEE | SEVENOAKS AC | Fem | v35 | 141 | 46:16 | 420 |
| 447 | 47:58 | Zehra MEHDI | SEVENOAKS AC | Fem | Senior | 55 | 47:09 | 443 |
| 449 | 48:05 | Sylvia LEWIS | SEVENOAKS AC | Fem | v60 | 747 | 47:16 | 444 |
| 525 | 50:31 | Rosemary DRAPER | SEVENOAKS AC | Fem | v45 | 742 | 49:42 | 512 |
| 588 | 54:04 | Annie MILLER | SEVENOAKS AC | Fem | u20 | 555 | 53:43 | 587 |
| 627 | 58:07 | Lesley KNIGHT | SEVENOAKS AC | Fem | v60 | 56 | 57:17 | 625 |
| 641 | 1:00:00 | Jim KNIGHT | SEVENOAKS AC | M | v60 | 58 | 59:53 | 644 |
Full results are here.
Foot note: Gabe Morris and Adam Phillips ran the Kent Roadrunner Marathon - 17 laps of the Cyclopark at Gravesend - on the same day. Gabe was 60th in 3:24:50 and Adam 176th in 3:55:17. Full results here.
For the second meeting in the Southern Counties Veterans AC (Kent) league series, we filled every event spot and were rewarded with a third match place in division 2, one of our more successful outings and one with three club best performances.
Conditions at Canterbury on 20 May were somewhat dull, but without rain, and competition was unaffected. With the first sequence of events (the 200m sprints) over, we were challenging for the lead position in the division, having taken second place in the M35A race (Paul English, in 25.9 seconds); second place in the M35B race (a debut for Martin White who, despite not running in spikes, recorded 28.2 seconds for an equal 30th place in the M45 national rankings); and first place in the M50s (Geoffrey Kitchener, in 29.7 seconds).
In the M60 1500m race, John Denyer took second place in 5 minutes 23.3 seconds, a club best M65 performance. Both first and second runners clocked the fastest UK times of the year for M65 athletes over this distance, so John is ranked second in the national rankings. Maurice Marchant, although an M60, stepped down to join with the M50s, with whom he took fourth position at this distance. The M35 1500m race was contested by Rob Carr and (although an M60) Geoff Vine. Neither was on best form and Geoff’s lead was whittled away by Rob who moved ahead over the last lap, both however achieving valuable points for the team.
In the field events we were represented in the shot put by Paul English (second in the M35 competition, well exceeding the current club best M40 performance, and placing as 43rd in the national rankings – demonstrating that Paul is not just a sprinter); and by Maurice Marchant and David Simpson. The javelin was thrown by Rob Carr and David, the latter achieving third place in the M50s with 20.16 metres. We had two competitors in the high jump also, Martin White securing fourth place in the M35 competition with 1.20m, despite not having jumped before; and Geoffrey Kitchener took second place in the M50 jumps.
With the last event of the evening approaching, we were in overall points virtually neck-and-neck with Bromley Vets. But fielding a 4 x 100m relay team with three sprinters – Paul, Martin and Geoffrey – and John Denyer (still recovering from his 1500m race), we outpaced Bromley by a tenth of a second to secure second place in the relay and third place in the match (hence fourth in the series). Our relay time equalled the club best time, from 2009. So: a successful meeting on a number of counts.
The full results are here. Our next fixture is on Friday 7 June at Norman Park, Bromley, where the events cover 100m, 800m, long jump, discus and 4 x 200m relay. Please let me know if you are able to take on any of these.
Geoffrey
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