The final meeting of the over-35s SCVAC track and field league competition this year was held at Dartford on 29 July, writes Geoffrey Kitchener.  We had no women's team this time and the men's team consisted of Duncan Cochrane, Zachary Ramsden and Geoffrey Kitchener.

All of us were present for the opening track event, the 100m sprint.  Our fastest runner was Zachary, with a 14.3 second third place in the M50 category.  Duncan and Geoffrey shrugged off the years to fill the two M35 events; the latter's 15.8 seconds looks to be worth equal 12th place in the M70 UK rankings and a club M70 best performance.  After this, Zachary and Duncan sought to fit in some field events before the main race of the evening.  Duncan threw 5.98m in the M60 shot and Zachary achieved third places in the M35 version of this event and in the M50 triple jump.  After his second jump, the 3000m races intervened and both athletes were placed in the same race, Zachary as an M50 and Duncan as an M60.  Seven and a half laps round the track are involved, and as Zachary came into the final straight, his finishing pace enabled him to lap his clubmate and secure second M50 position with 11 minutes 26.9 seconds.  Duncan's third place in the M60s was still over three minutes ahead of the next following athlete in that category.

We had insufficient athletes for the relay, but as we had covered nine events between us, we felt satisfied with the evening's achievements.  It was unsurprising that the club was placed fourth in the meeting's results for men, division 2, and the overall position for the series of our matches was similar, the club lying ahead of Bexley B in fifth and unplaced Swanley, who were unable to field a team for any of the meetings.  The overall women's team position remained the same, at fourth.  This was a relatively low-key league season, with four matches instead of the usual six, and with the volunteer organisation struggling at times to pick up after the covid-induced gap and changes in those organising.  We are unlikely to achieve much higher placing without filling in more of the available events, and we only filled a majority of events in the third, Tonbridge, meeting.  Nevertheless, whatever the placing may be does not detract from enjoyment by the participating athletes.

The Dartford results are here.

Here are a couple of photos from the evening.  Maybe we could have a spot the ball competition with Duncan putting the shot!

Closing date for entry to the Kent masters championships (which is done as individuals, not via the club), most of which are held on 17/18 September, is 25 August, via Online Registration.  I've yet to see a programme for this.

Best wishes,
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Jamie Philip was 7th overall and first veteran at the East Peckham 10k on 31st July. Conditions were cloudy with a strong breeze and cooler than in some of the previous years and the first ten runners, including Jamie, beat the previous course record.

There were seven SAC runners in all, including Bridgit Weekes who won the W55 category by nearly three minutes, despite being at the upper end of that ten-year category.

The SAC results were as follows:

The full results are here.

Tonbridge was the venue for our third over-35 athletics league competition of the season on Friday 15 July, writes Geoffrey Kitchener, and we had the benefit this time of numbers sufficient to field relay teams for both men's and women's competitions.  The results are here.

The track programme began with 400m sprints, in which Laura Bestow led the way for our women's team with second place in the W35 A string race, and Courtney Harris in the B string achieved third place in a first outing over this distance.  For the men, Zachary Ramsden, Duncan Cochrane, Oloff Van Zyl and Geoffrey Kitchener all contested the various age categories of the one-lap event, with a star performance by Oloff taking first M50 place in 59.0 seconds.  This is a performance close to one earlier this month for which Oloff already ranks in the top dozen M50 athletes nationally for the current season, both of which eclipse Geoffrey's M50 club best from 20 years ago; Geoffrey's 79.2 seconds in the M60 race, however, ranks as a club M70 best performance, albeit showing a falling-off of a second per year in the last two decades.

The 1500m events followed on the track, in which the women's W35 A and B strings ran together, our representatives being Laura together with Suzy Claridge.  Laura achieved third place in the A stream with 5 minutes 44.8 seconds and Suzy was second in the B stream with 5 minutes 57.8 seconds, taking 8 seconds off the W45 club best performance, which has stood for 17 years.  Zachary, Duncan and Gary Walsh covered the men's 1500m, with the latter two athletes tracking each other for most of the race before Gary pulled away.

Field events included high jump, where Oloff had a timetable clash against the sprints, but Zachary managed to pull out a second place in the M50 group, with 1.21m.  Also available was the hammer throw, in which Oloff took third place, stepping down to the M35 category which has a heavier weight specification than the M50s.

The evening finished off with 4 x 400m relays, for which our women were joined by Alzbeta Benn.  Laura put us well into contention with a fast first lap and Courtney, Alzbeta and Suzy followed through to give us second place.  The men's 4 x 400m relay kicked off with a blistering first lap by Oloff, although the follow-up by Geoffrey, Gary and Zachary was not able to sustain this advantage.  Nevertheless, the fourth place of 4 minutes 48.3 seconds (split times 58.8(!), 80.3, 79.8 and 69.4) knocks over 23 seconds off the previous M50 club best performance, all runners being in no less than this age category.

Overall results for the meeting (and series) give the Sevenoaks women's team as fourth in division 2, but this is without contesting any field events.  The men's team was also fourth at the meeting, but in the series overtook Bexley B, who failed to put in a team this time.  Despite the overall results, this was a meeting enjoyed by all and showed quality through the setting of the various club best performances.

The next, and final, meeting is on Friday 29 July at Dartford, when the programme will be:
6.45 p.m. 100m women (W35A and B, 50, 60+)
[6.45 p.m. discus women and shot putt men, division 1]
7.15 p.m. 100m men (M35A and B, 50, 60+)
7.30 p.m. discus women (W35, 50, 60+), division 2
7.30 p.m. shot putt men (M35, 50, 60+), division 2
7.30 p.m. triple jump women (W35, 50, 60+),
7.45 p.m. 3000m women (W35A and B, 50, 60+)
8.10 p.m. 3000m men (M 35A and B, 50, 60+)
8.30 p.m. triple jump men (M35, 50, 60+)
8.30 p.m.  4 x 100m relay women, mixed ages
8.40 p.m. 4 x 100m relay men, mixed ages.

Please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. your interest in competing. 

Dan Witt won the July handicap ahead of Bridg Weekes and Chris Desmond.

Dan also ran the fastest time with Suzy Claridge the fastest woman.

Bridg also improved her club handicap women's WMA record.

Lucy Wilkes continues to lead the series after seven races, albeit now only on tiebreak from Suzy.

The next race is a seven-miler starting at 08:30 on Sunday 7th August from the Sevenoaks School track

The details are here.