TAC Distance Runners

Please contact markhookway@icloud.com should you have any questions or contributions regarding the web site. Some pages are password protected, so please contact me if you need the current password. See www.tonbridgeac.org.uk for further information, including new member enquiries.Site created by Mark Hookway copyright 2020.

Blackheath and Bromley Harriers Open Meeting, Monday 21st September

There were five TAC personal bests set at Bromley on Monday evening.

800m
Fenton Davoren (u17) 2.05.13 pb by 1.7s
Ethan Rocks (u15) 2.11.77 pb by 5.0s - won his race

1500m
Isaac Arnott (u17) 4.28.13
Edward Lindsay (u15) 4.31.18 pb by 4.9s
Tom Woolley (m40) 4.39.26
Lily Slack (u15) 4.44.81 pb by 2.2s. Time ranks 8th in UK age group.
Harriet Woolley (sw) 4.58.00 pb by 5.34s - won her race
David Barclay (u15) 5.01.20
Sophie Slack (u15) 5.11.77

Full results can be seen here - www.justiming.co.uk/liveresults/2020/bandb21.9/schedule.html

Weekend news, Saturday and Sunday 19th/20th September

Friday Tim Weathall Miles, at Nottingham
Kiri Marsh won a 1 mile track race in 5.04.6.
Saturday, New Forest Multi Terrain Marathon
Steph Puxty ran her debit marathon in 4.46.42
Sunday, Yeovil Open Meeting
Josh Prendergast moved to third on the UK under 15 boys' 3000 metres rankings for 2020, when he finished second at Yeovil in 9.05.99. It was a pb by 37.0 seconds.

Hanzekovic Memorial Continental Tour Gold meeting in Zagreb, Tuesday 15th September
TAC 1500 metres record by James West !

James West finished second to Stewie McSweyn of Australia on Tuesday night, setting a new TAC men's 1500 metres record of 3.34.56. This was a pb by 1.2s and James held the previous record. It ranks him 23rd now on the UK All Time list -
thepowerof10.info/rankings/rankinglist.aspx?event=1500&agegroup=ALL&sex=M&alltime=y

Night of 1500s, at Millennium Arena, Battersea Park, London, Tuesday 15th September

Kieran Reilly finished 6th in the Men's A race in 3.45.18, which was a personal best, seven years after the last one that he set !
The time moved Kieran into the TAC top 10 all time list, pushing Steve Fennell out.
The in-form Steve Strange won race 11, in 3.54.60, which was a pb by 3.1s. The only other competitor was Miles Weatherseed who did not finish his race.
Full results are here - data.opentrack.run/en-gb/x/2020/GBR/fifteen-1500s/event/1/

Photos above - Kieran Reilly and Steve Strange with 1500m pbs at Battersea

Blackheath and Bromley Open Meeting Monday 14th September
Videos loaded !

There were plenty of good TAC results at Bromley.
Full results can be found here - www.justiming.co.uk/liveresults/2020/bandb14.9/schedule.html
600 metres
Sean Molloy (79.78) and Charlie Crick (79.90) produced a TAC 1-2 in the fastest race, with the latter being a big pb. Jess Murphy ran 1.40.69 in her debut at the distance to win race 3.
1500 metres
Race 1 - Jamie Goodge (4.00.86) finished 2nd, once again just missing a sub 4 clocking. Fenton Davoren (u17, 4.17.90) was just outside his recent pb, whilst Isaac Arnott (u17, 4.18.99) ran a huge pb by 54s !)
Race 2 - Huxley Crush (u15, 4.24.93) won and reduced his pb by 23s, whilst Edward Lindsay (4.36.04) also ran a pb.
Race 3 - Ethan Rocks finished 2nd in 4.38.48, a pb by 17.9s
Race 4 - David Barclay ran 5.00.08 which was a pb by 0.01s

Above photos
Left - Fenton Davoren and Isaac Arnott. Right - Sean Molloy and Charlie Crick

Above photos
Top - David Barclay, Edward Lindsay, Ethan Rocks
Bottom - Huxley Crush, Jamie Goodge, Jess Murphy

Dartford Meeting, , Sunday 13th September

Lily Slack ran 4.47.04 and Sophie slack 5.15.01, for 1500 metres.

Wingham 10km Run, Sunday 13th September

Tina Oldershaw won the women’s race at the Wingham Run near Canterbury, on Sunday. Oldershaw ran the 10 kilometres in 41.20, more than three minutes clear of the second female finisher. Like many other similar events that are currently taking place, runners start in small waves, being socially distanced and positions are determined purely from the times recorded over the set course.

Saturday 12th September results

BFTTA Open Meeting, at Dagenham
Josh Prendergast recorded one of the fastest ever times by a TAC under 15 boy, when he won an 800 metres at Dagenham in 2.02.61. This improved his recent pb by 4.5 seconds and moved him to sixth on the UK rankings for the age group.
South London Harriers Open Track Meeting, at Coulsdon
Charlie Crick finished second over 800 metres in 1.55.40.

Upcoming events

See the email to all the TAC distance runners on 8th September with details of events at Bromley and Chelmsford, plus Parkrun news.

English Cross Country Association Statement - 10th September

This was posted on the ECCA Facebook page on Thursday -
Just updating our followers of our efforts to salvage at least some of the XC season.

COVID 19 regulations do provide many hurdles and hoops to go through, but we feel that competition in some form at least needs to be provided if at all possible.

Clearly we cannot have a National Championships in the normal format. So please accept our apologies.

However, we are now able to advise that we are planning to hold the English National Cross Country Relays within the Covid 19 restrictions that currently apply, at Berry Hill Park in Mansfield. The probable format will be to host the event for all age groups over two days – 31st October and 1st November – but entry will be invitation only. Invitations will be sent to the first 30 clubs (‘A’ teams only) in each race at the 2019 championships.

Full details will be sent to those clubs in due course.
We will provide updates as the preparations unfold.

Note - Tonbridge AC team placings in 2019 National Cross Country Relay Championships
Senior Men -11th
Senior Women - 16th
Under 20 Men - 8th
Under 20 Women - 22nd
Under 17 Men - 3rd
Under 17 Women - no team
Under 15 Boys - 6th
Under 15 Girls - 22nd
Under 13 Boys - 7th
Under 13 Girls - 6th

Aldershot Night of 1500 metres Thursday 10th September 2020
Videos loaded !

Sean Molloy finished 3rd in the men's A race (race number 15) at Aldershot on Thursday, recording a season's best of 3.53.8. In race 14 (men's B race) Charlie Crick (u20) had an excellent run to win in 3.58.1, which was a pb by 20 seconds.

Above - Right : Charlie Crick and Left : Sean Molloy at Aldershot

Other weekend news, Saturday and Sunday 5th and 6th September

Aberdeeen Athletic Club Meeting, Saturday
Jamie Goodge finished 2nd over 5000m with a pb of 15.18.83
Folkestone 10km road race, Sunday
Tom Woolley finished 17th (3rd M40) in 36.54 and Harriet Woolley finish 29th (4th female) in 39.30.
Chatham Maritime 10k road race, Sunday
Dan Bradley was 1st home in 32.16 and Nichola Evans 9th (1st female) in 40.06, which was a pb.

British Championships, Friday and Saturday 4th/5th September
Videos loading !

TAC had five distance runners at the British Championships, although all will be a bit disappointed with how it went.
James West was the only one to qualify for a final and finished 4th in the 1500 metres, having hoped to challenge for the title.
Sean Molloy and Ben Murphy were in the 800 metres, whilst Miles Weatherseed and Kieran Reilly ran the 1500 metres.
Full results can be found here - www.uka.org.uk/results/20200904_Manchester/timetable/index/

Above
Top - Right Ben Murphy. Left James West and Miles Weatherseed
Botton - Right Kieran Reilly. Left Sean Molloy

Tonbridge AC Development Meeting, Monday 31st August
Videos loaded !

At Tonbridge, on Monday, Ben Murphy won the fastest 800 metres in 1.51.92, from Miles Weatherseed who recorded a pb of 1.52.80 in second. James West had finished second in an 800 metres on Saturday, at Lee Valley in 1.49.29, in cold, wet and windy conditions and together with Reilly, Murphy Weatherseed and Sean Molloy, is due to compete in the British Championships. Of the female 800 metres runners Annabelle Hales and Lily Stewart, who are both under 17s, recorded personal bests of 2.21.23 and 2.21.57, respectively.

The standout 1500 metres performance, on Monday, was most probably the 4.10.96 clocking by Josh Prendergast, which moved him to second on the UK under 15 rankings. Sean Molloy won the fastest race in 3.57.10, from Jamie Goodge’s pb of 4.00.39. The latter’s sister Katie Goodge also ran a pb of 4.39.14. In the final track event, on Monday, Kieran Eland won the 400 metres in 49.73, a fraction away from his pb.

Results can be found here -
data.opentrack.run/en-gb/x/2020/GBR/tacaug/event/

Photos above
Top - Left Lily Stewart and Annabelle Hales, Right Ben Murphy
Middle - Left Josh Prendergast, Right Katie Goodge and Edward Lindsay
Bottom - Left Kieran Eland, Right Sean Molloy

British Milers Club Meeting at Lee Valley, Saturday 29th August
Videos loaded !

In total contrast to the past week the TAC performances were disappointing and the weather awful ! Results to come and videos being loaded. James West finished 2nd in the mens A 800 metres in 1.49.29, whilst Ben Murphy (800m), Miles Weatherseed (1500m) and Sean Molloy (1500m dnf) were all below par.
Results are here - www.britishmilersclub.com/results/results.aspx?meetingid=407579

Above - James West finished 2nd over 800 metres at Lee Valley

Mid Cheshire 5km road race, Friday 28th August

Ally Kinloch bounced back from what was a disappointing race on Tuesday to record a 6 second pb of 14.24 and finish 9th in this top quality road race.
Full results are here - runcheshire.niftyentries.com/Results/Mid-Cheshire-5k-Summer-2020#

Hercules Wimbledon 3000 metres night, Wednesday 26th August
Videos loaded !

There were eight 3000m races at Wimbledon in superb conditions, as the winds had dropped totally. There were two TAC runners in the fastest seeded race of the night and they produced a superb 1-2 result.
Kieran Reilly won in 8.17.3 with Steve Strange coming home in 8.18.0 and taking 28s from his pb ! Both ran around 60s for the final lap.

Kieran Reilly (62) and Steve Strange (67) take 1-2 at Wimbledon

British Milers Club meeting, at Trafford, Tuesday 25th August

Alasdair Kinloch had his first race of the season, running 8.40.92 for 3000 metres, in wet and windy conditions.
Full results are here - www.britishmilersclub.com/content/bmcitemdisplay.aspx?itemid=1677
Videos are here - www.runjumpthrow.com/event/british-milers-club-open-meeting-25-august-2020/

Best Fit Today Track Academy Open Meeting, at Dagenham, Sunday 23rd August

Josh Prendergast (u15) convincingly won his 800m in 2.07.17. Josh’s time improved his best by almost six seconds from last year.

Full results are here - https://justiming.co.uk/liveresults/2020/bftta23.8/schedule.html

Bromley Twilight Meeting, at Norman Park Track, Friday 21st August 2020
Tonbridge AC club records for James West and Nicole Taylor at 3000 metres
Videos loaded !

A number of TAC distance runners raced in this invitation meeting, organised by Mark Hookway, with plenty of help from some TAC and Blackheath volunteers.
Conditions at Bromley were not as bad as we thought they might be and there were some top class performances, from many internationals.
Amongst them were James West and Nicole Taylor. Nicole shaved 0.23s from her own TAC record with 9.12.18 to finish 3rd in the women's A race. Then James, in the final race of the night produced a 7.43.29 clocking to just be pipped on the line by Marc Scott. James' time was 3.9s better than his indoor best and was inside Mark Scrutton's previous club record outdoors.
800m - Sean Molloy 1.50.28, Ben Murphy 1.51.06, Kieran Eland 1.59.30
1500m - Kieran Reilly 3.53.46, Miles Weatherseed 3.54.84
3000m - James West 7.43.29, Nicole Taylor 9.12.18, Phoebe Barker 9.48.10, Katie Goodge 9.51.77 (pb)
Full results can be found here -
data.opentrack.run/en-gb/x/2020/GBR/tactim/

Above - James West breaking the TAC 3000m record,
where the first four are now ranked 1,2,3,4 in the World for the 2020 outdoor season.

Above - Nicole Taylor running TAC club 3000m record

Milton Keynes 5km road race, Friday 21st August 2020

Ben Cole ran 14.54 and won 'Wave E', whilst Steve Strange recorded a pb of 14.57 in Wave C' having never broken 16 minutes before.
Full results are here - www.mkac.org.uk/static/mk5kmresults.htm

Loughborough August Invitational, Sunday 16th August

Kieran Reilly (senior) finished 2nd in his 800 metres, when returning to his old university. In what was his opening track race of the Summer he recorded 1.53.61.

Tonbridge AC meeting, Monday 31st August

Due to the current restricted guidelines with numbers and competition conditions, the meeting will now be for Tonbridge AC members only.
Many thanks to all members who responded to the recent email with event choices. The timetable is now been constructed using the feedback provided.
Please watch out for further information.

Chelmsford Miles of Miles, Sunday 8th August

Steve Strange finished 2nd overall in the Chelmsford Miles of Miles event on Sunday.
Full results are here - www.chelmsford-athletics.club/mofm-2020-results

Above - Steve Strange at Chelmsford

TAC Time Trials Videos - July and August

I have posted some videos of time trials that have taken place recently.
See the Race Videos Summer 2020 pages.

Above - Sean Molloy runs 2.56.8 for 1200 metres in a Time trial

Training in Lockdown

See the Training Planned page for some schedules and advice. This includes a generic schedule for those seeking some structure and guidance.

Goodbye Oscar

To those who knew him I am truly sorry that we had to say goodbye to Oscar yesterday. He had the best possible life and enjoyed nothing more than being surrounded by people at cross country events.

Many thanks to everyone who has messaged.
Mark and Dawn

Track Coach Clubhouse - podcast and video cast. Episode 4, 30th June

Andy Poppleton (sprints/hurdles), Lewis Church (Decathlete and multi events coach), plus Mark Hookway (Distance running Coach and Team Manager), discuss – Coaching styles
youtu.be/66spgqOCELU

Update - Friday 12th June

Current TAC position

The current situation at TAC is-

The track is available in a very restricted manner, with one coach being allowed to book use with five athletes, whilst maintaining social distancing.
A timetable of sessions is available to coaches, in order to book these centrally.

We are trying to protect track use at busy times (Tuesday/Thursday evenings and Sunday mornings) for more senior sprinters, hurdlers and field eventers.

There are no toilets available and we are told that there will not be until the centre is allowed to open.

The fields at Tonbridge School are not now available to TAC runners.

The current guidelines allow six people to meet, from different households, whilst remaining two metres apart.

Virtual Events - results

Training Club 3k World Champs
Chris Olley ran a solo 8.14 on a track in California for 3000m and Chloe Bird ran 10.49 for a gps recorded 3k, as part of this challenge last week.

Medway and Maidstone Virtual Open 1 mile, Monday 1st June to 3pm Sunday 7th June
Tom Woolley ran 4.59 and Liz Weeks 5.35

Virtual races/challenges - events

British Milers Club Virtual 3km Challenge, 18th to 21st June
One of the Virtual events going on this month is a 3km challenge/time trial.
The details can be found here - https://data.opentrack.run/x/2020/GBR/bmc3k/

British Masters Virtual 5k road relays, 14th to 20th June
Russell McIntyre, from TAC, is heading the organisation for this event.
The details are here - https://data.opentrack.run/x/2020/GBR/bmaf-virtual-rr/
If you are over 35, simply register as an individual and the system and organisers will handle the rest eg team make-ups.
As I write almost 2000 have now entered, with loads of TAC veterans included.

Go The Distance (Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust) Event - full details available 12th June and entries close Friday 31st July
5k, 10k, half or full marathon (walk, run or cycle)
Emily Hale, who used to run for TAC and is now with Medway and Maidstone, contacted me about an event that she is helping to organise.
Emily has volunteered her help at Maidstone hospital and is helping promote this event.
This is a charity event to raise funds for the NHS staff welfare system, providing physical and mental support.
If anyone is interested in taking part or donating please register interest here - mtw-tr.gtd@nhs.net
The event doesn’t go fully live until 12th June.

Soar Weekly Challenge
This would be more suitable for seniors due to the amount of running involved, but Soar have a challenge with a nice prize available.
Details are here - https://www.soarrunning.com/blogs/news/soar-x-the-run-yard-weekly-challenge

Some of the other virtual events can be found here - https://data.opentrack.run/x/?type=VIRTUA

Track Coach Clubhouse - podcast and video cast

Andy Poppleton (sprints/hurdles), Lewis Church (Decathlete and multi events coach), plus Mark Hookway (Distance running Coach and Team Manager), discuss –

Episode 1, 13th May - Thoughts and experiences about the challenges during lockdown
Episode 2, 21st May - Planning Training, Phases through the year and Recovery aspects
Episode 3, 10th June - Training Group dynamics and culture

The discussion features three Tonbridge AC coaches.
A video of the discussion can be found here on YouTube –
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQt1MC3OSkv_UehQzjEKAWE-itfq0sGVt
You can also listen to the discussion as a podcast –
Apple Podcast link – https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/track-coach-clubhouse/id1513191764
Spotify – open.spotify.com/search/track%20coach%20clubhouse
Track Coach Clubhouse can also be connected with via Twitter, Facebook and Instagram

Video Cast discussion with Lucy Reid, Nicole Taylor and Julie Goodge, Saturday 18th April
Successfully transitioning through the age groups to become a senior athlete

I have wanted to have this type of discussion for some time, to try and utilise the experience of some others to explain the difficulties of transitioning from junior to senior athlete. Hopefully, Lucy, Nicole and Julie have provided not only an insight into what they had to deal with, but also have some thoughts that may help others.

Virtual National Road Relay, Saturday 4th April until Wednesday 8th April

More than 3700 runners took part, recording a 5k time with their GPS watch and logging it onto the Open Track system, alongside their Strava links or similar evidence.
The final results were -
Men 12 to score - TAC 3rd (2nd B team)
Women 6 to score - TAC 6th
Women 12 to score - TAC 3rd (3rd B team)
Lucy Reid ran the quickest women's 5k

All the final results can be found here - data.opentrack.run/x/2020/GBR/vnrrc/

tac_times.xlsx
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Above - Virtual National Road Relays photos
Henry Pearce, Lucy Reid, Michael Ellis, Stuart Brown
Will Beeston, Tony Bennett, Nicola Summerfield, Verity Hopkins
Charlie Crick, Alex Crockford, Russell McIntyre, Claire Day
Steve Strange, Sean Molloy, Corey De'Ath. Tony fullbrook
Sam Crkc, Nathan Chapman, Chris Olley

Virtual Road Relay, with 5km legs around 4th April - update

We have made significant progress with the National 'virtual' road relay to be held around 4th April. The rules are shown below.

Under 17s and younger can enter but will only show an individual time and not contribute to the 'relay' teams ie non scoring.

Note that the window for posting a time is Saturday 4th April until Wednesday 8th April.

Entry deadline is Friday 3rd April, before midnight. So far 33 TAC runners have registered.

Entries and details here - results.opentrack.run/x/2020/GBR/vnrrc/

Potential courses document here -

potential_5k_courses.pdf
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