October 2016

Kent Cross Country League at The Schools at Somerhill, Tonbridge, Saturday 29th October
Videos loaded !

Full results are on the Results 2016 page.
​Many thanks to everyone who volunteered to help today, which made the event go so smoothly. In summary -
Senior Men - 3rd (2nd 12 to score). 9th Dan Bradley
Senior Women - 3rd (2nd 6 to score). 8th Chloe Bird
Under 20 Men - 1st Jamie Goodge
Under 17 Men - 1st Team. 1st Bede Pitcairn-Knowles, 2nd Dan Blades
Under 17 Women - 2nd Team. 6th Clara Tyler
Under 15 Men - 1st Team. 4th Fraser Gordon
Under 15 Girls - 2nd Team. 4th Katie Goodge
Under 13 Boys - 1st Team. 1st Matthew Taylor, 2nd Fin Croll, 3rd Olukorede Fasina. 20 runners a record.
Under 13 Girls - 2nd Team. 2nd Maddie Wise.

Above and below - The under 13 squads were out in force

Some photos below and more on Facebook page Mark Hookway.
​They will go on www.tonbridgeac.co.uk under Scrapbook

Ben Reynolds wins World Masters, over 50, 5000m Championship, in Perth, Australia, Friday 28th October

Ben Reynolds has won the World Masters 5000m in 16.01.64, competing in Perth, Australia. Ben won by twelve seconds in the end, pulling away over the last kilometre.

USA racing this weekend, Friday and Saturday 28th/29th October

It's Conference Championships weekend in the USA, although Flotrack are not screening any of those featuring the TAC runners. 
South East Conference, at Fayettville, Arkansas, on Friday
20th Robbie Farnham-Rose and 40th Luca Russo. Full results are at - 
http://www.flashresults.com/2017_Meets/xc/SEC/001-1_compiled.htm
West Coast Conference, Mission Bay Park, San Diego, on Friday
Ryan Driscoll finished 29th. Full results are at - http://www.rtspt.com/events/wcc/xc2016/men_res.pdf
American Athletic Conference, at Cincinnati, Ohio, on Saturday
Henry Pearce finished an excellent 4th in 24.20. Full results are at -
​http://live.finishtiming.com/#/results/meet-xc/20163071/scoreboard-xc/6

Robbie Farnham-Rose in the middle of the Alabama team, pre race

TAC Fantasy Cross Country League - Results and standings after race 1 (Kent League on 15th October)

Ian Crawley updates us all about results from the first Kent Cross Country League on the Fantasy League page.

The FL team are also offering a late entry option, which gives the advantage of knowing more form, but the disadvantage of missing out on first round points. See my email late on Thursday evening. Have some fun getting your entry in at Saturday's Kent League and help raise some club funds.

New Podcast Launched !

As there is an absence in the market for athletics based podcasts, four of us got together this week to try something new.
We have launched Trackside Podcast and the first episode is available here -

​https://soundcloud.com/tracksidepod

Its also available for download via itunes at - https://t.co/81RB37TLhq

The idea is to simply air some commentary and views on topical subjects within our sport - athletics and distance running.
There is also a Twitter link at @tracksidepod

Hopefully, it will create a bit of interest and maybe evolve, but certainly we aim to give a bit of coverage to the sport and cement links to other clubs and personalities.
Photo below - Mark Hookway, James Taylor, Pete Brenchley and Alex Hookway
​At the first recording of the Trackside Podcast

Winter 2016/17 parkrun Grand Prix - update 1, after 22nd October event

The Winter TAC Age Graded Parkrun Grand Prix got underway on Saturday and Sophie Slack (age 10) and Andrew Mercer (M40) continued to battle it out at the top, however Toby Emm U15, Olukorede Fasina and Anne Brenchley W70 all ran PB’s to add 5 points to their score and take early top 3 places (you can only have one PB bonus in the winter series).   It is great to see competition between athletes aged 10 and 70+
​The full table is on the parkrun page.
Mark Pitcairn-Knowles

Sunday 23rd October news

Great South 10 miles run at Portsmouth
Nicole Taylor ran 60.00 in her 10 miles debut, as she placed 21st in the Elite women's race. Full results can be found at -
http://www.greatrun.org/myresults/full-search
Oxford Cuppers Cup, Varsity Cross Country Trial, at Oxford
Miles Weatherseed had an excellemnt run to place 6th in the mens race. Full results are on the Results 2016 page.
Tonbridge 10k at Hildenborough
Mark Pitcairn-Knowles  38.45  6th Overall, 1st M50, Lucy Pitcairn-Knowles  42.50 26th Overall, 3rd Lady, 1st W50 (2nd W45). Richard Bamford  43.30  30th Overall  PB and first road 10k, Pat Hollands  89th  55.10 overall
Full results are at - http://www.swifttiming.co.uk/cgi-bin/list_race_result.php?meet_event_id=1330001​
Weymouth 10 mile road race
Julian Rendall won a tough 10 mile road race whilst on a family holiday in 57.09. Full results are at -
www.egdonheathharriers.com
Welsh Cross Country Relay Championships
Charlie Joslin-Allen represented Cardiff Met University as they finished third in the Welsh Cross Country Relays. Charlie ran 11.24 for the 3.5km loop and is continuing a comeback to full fitness. Ex TAC member Huw Evans ran the first leg for the Les Croupiers AC masters team.
Full results are at - http://www.welshathletics.org/media/1097769/2016-cross-country-relays-results.pdf

Left - Mark and Lucy Pitcairn-Knowles after Tonbridge 10k, Right - Nicole Taylor in Great South Run

Charlie Joslin-Allen (second from right) represented Cardiff University at the Welsh Cross Country Relays

Saturday 22nd October news.

South of England Cross Country Relay Championships, at Wormwood Scrubs
A TAC senior mens team of Jamie Bryant, James Taylor, Dan Bradley and Harry Paton placed 9th.
We haven't attended this relatively new championship since it would mean so many being asked to race in a lot of consecutive weeks. The mens result is on the Results 2016 page.
Full results are at - http://www.seaa.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54&Itemid=62
Manchester University Cross Country Relays
A number of TAC runners were competing for their university and full results are awaited and should appear at -
http://www.umaccc.com/relays-results/​
Parkrun
Dom Brown was given 15.27 as his time for the Rother Valley parkrun, which was just one second outside the course record.
Lucy Reid was 1st lady at the Richmond parkrun in 18.35
Luke Reeves was 2nd at Maidstone in 18.04 and Andrew Mercer was first home at Tonbridge in 17.25
Full TAC results are at - ​http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=2404

Tonbridge mens team at South of England Cross Country Relays
​Harry Paton, James Taylor, Jamie Bryant, Dan Bradley (Photo courtesy of Diane Bradley)

Training session at One Tree Hill, Saturday 22nd October 

Analysis of the training is on the Training Completed page.

Training squad at One Tree Hill on Saturday

Other weekend news, Saturday and Sunday 14th and 15th October

Sunday
Ben Cole finished 21st in the Manchester Half Marathon in 69.12
Saturday
North Midlands League at Derby - Chloe Bird finished 8th and Kiri March 19th, both running for Nottingham University.

Kent Cross Country League at Stanhill Park Farm, Wilmington, near Swanley, Saturday 15th October
Videos loaded !

Full results are on the Results 2016 page.
​In summary -
Senior Men - 2nd Max Nicholls (race won by Jake Berry on Medway & Maidstone). Team 2nd and won 12 to score.
Senior Women - 1st Nicole Taylor. Team 3rd and 2nd in 6 to score.
Under 17/20 Men - 1st James Puxty, 2nd Dan Seagrove, 3rd Simon Coppard. Team 1st
Under 17/20 Women - 1st Phoebe Barker. Team 2nd
Under 15 Boys - 4th Fin Harvey. Team 1st
Under 15 Girls - 6th Katie Goodge. Team 2nd . 14 TAC runners is a record
Under 13 Boys - 1st Matthew Taylor, 2nd Fin Croll. Team 1st. 18 TAC runners is a record
​Under 13 Girls - 3rd Maddie Wise. Team 2nd
​Total 108 TAC runners is a Kent League record.

USA News - Saturday, 15th October

Luca Russo and Ryan Driscoll both raced at the Adidas Pre National Invitational, at Terre Haute. Luca moved through well to finish 129th in 25.28, with Ryan 146th in 25.38. Full results are at - ​http://www.rtspt.com/events/ncaa/prenats16/mblue.pdf

USA News - Friday, 14th October

Robbie Farnham-Rose had probably his best cross country performance yet, whilst in the USA when he finished 6th in the Crimson Classic, at Alabama. Robbie ran 24.38 for the 8067m course.
Full results are at - http://live.pttiming.com/xc-ptt.html?mid=102

At a big race in Wisconsin Henry Pearce finished 71st over 8k in 24.49
Full results are at - ​http://www.harriersolutions.com/xclive/live.aspx

Weekend ahead - USA

For those of you who follow the TAC athletes based at USA universities i think all four maybe racing this coming weekend -
Robbie Farnham-Rose - at Crimson Classic, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on Friday. Event starts at 9am (3pm UK time). Not certain of exact start time for Robbie's race.
Henry Pearce - at Wisconsin Invitational, on Friday. Race start is at 1.20pm (7.20pm UK time). This is being shown live on Flotrack Pro.
Ryan Driscoll and Luca Russo - at Adidas Pre Nat Invite, Indiana, on Saturday.  Race is at 11.35am (4.35pm UK time). This is being shown live on Flotrack Pro.

National Road Relay Championships, at Sutton Coldfield, Saturday 8th October
Videos loaded !

Full results are at - https://www.race-results.co.uk/results/2016/ . They are also on the Results 2016 page
It was the first National Championships of the year and I think most came away encouraged by how competitive the TAC teams were, taking three bronze medals and placing fourth in the senior mens race.
Senior Men
It was a frustrating experience, as Corey De'Ath struggled once again on the first leg, coming home in 30th, which left the rest of the team a mountain to climb, if they were to repeat last year's victory. After the first leg we were 73s down and at the end were 4th and just 37s behind the winners Cardiff. The support almost everyone gave Corey was superb and its that team spirit that has seen us get to a stage where we are disappointed with a 4th place. Infact the team as a whole ran 55s faster than last year's winning time. George Duggan ran the fastest ever stage for TAC on this course
Senior Women
The team was hit by illness to two runners the day before, but it was positive that we were still able to complete a team for only the third ever time. Nicole Taylor ran the fastest ever TAC lap of 14.55, which was 20s faster than two years ago.
Under 17 Men
A bronze medal might not have been expected before the day, but we were actually leading going into the final leg. James Puxty ran 11.42, which was the fastest lap of the day and went third on the TAC all time list (you can see previous stats under history). The impressive stat here was that we had the first C and D teams home, demonstrating the good depth in this age group.
Under 17 Women
TAC didn't have a team in this event, which was the first time that we havent fielded a squad in one of the six young athletes races for ten years.
Under 15 Boys
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the day was the performance from our under 15 boys of James Kingston, Toby Emm and Fraser Gordon. They each ran almost half a minute quicker than I anticipated to take the bronze medals.
Under 15 Girls
Like the Under 17 men this is a good squad in depth and we had a bunch running similar times. The 11th place by the A team, equalled the best TAC placing this century, whilst Katie Goodge's 14.06 was the quickest ever by a TAC runner.
Under 13 Boys
A very solid performance by all three of our runners to win the bronze medals, which were our first medals in this race for four years.
Under 13 Girls
The attitude of our girls in the under 13s is excellent and they finished 16th from 70 starting teams.

Under 17 men - Simon Coppard, James Puxty, Bede Pitcairn-Knowles

Under 15 boys - Fraser Gordon, Toby Emm, James Kingston

Under 13 boys - Fin Croll, Matthew Taylor, Olukorede Fasina

Other weekend news, Saturday and Sunday, 8th/9th October

Jamie Bryant was first home at a parkrun just outside Ipswich and ran 16.39.
Dan Watt was the first runner home at the Tonbridge parkrun in 17.11
​Joe Watts ran 39.46 to finish 43rd at the Plymouth 10k road race, on Sunday.

Midweek Schools Races, Wednesday 5th and Thursday 6th October

I have received results from two more schools cross country events from Wednesday and Thursday this week -
Wednesday - Kings Trophy at Wimbledon
This featured plenty of TAC runners, who are at both Judd School and Sevenoaks School.
Thursday - Independent Schools at The Schools at Somerhill
These races featured plenty of TAC athletes (no doubt I havent highlighted them all) from various local schools.
See the Results 2016 page for details of both.

Tonbridge AC Winter parkrun Grand Prix 2016/17 - Launch

Mark Pitcairn-Knowles has announced details of the TAC Winter parkrun Grand Prix, which are on the parkrun pages.

English Schools Cup, 1st Round, Kent Division at The Schools at Somerhill, Monday 3rd October

Results of Mondays schools races are now on the Results 2016 (some names corrected from the official results).
There were four races and all were won by TAC runners - Matthew Taylor, Maddie Wise, Lizzie Miller and then a three way tie from James Kingston, Adam Van der Plas and Toby Emm, for Judd.

Tonbridge AC Junior 1 mile races, Sunday 2nd October

In bright sunny and dry conditions we had the opening junior 1 mile races of the season at Tonbridge School with 31 runners between 5 and 12 years old taking part. Sam Collinson of TAC was first home in the boys race in 6.10 and Penny Horne of St Johns School first of the girls in 6.57. Full results are on the Results 2016 page.

Fantasy Cross Country League 2016/17 Launched !

The TAC Fantasy Cross Country League for the 2016/17 season has been launched. Below are the launch details with rules and the entry forms. The first Kent League fixture on 15th October is when it all starts, so please get your entries in before then.

Message from Ian Crawley -
​Fantasy XL Launch Blog
What is Fantasy XL league? That seems to be the question on everyone’s mind as Cross Country Season looms.
Well it is four things:

1. It is a fund raising effort for the club.  If 100 people enter 3 teams each we raise £1000 (before prizes).
2. It is a way athletes can measure their performance over the season.  Each XC race is different, times are not really comparable, so collecting Fantasy XC points provides some measure of how you are doing.
3. It is a team building exercise, once you have picked your team across the age groups you will develop an interest in other races apart from your own, encourage your athletes to take part and cheer them on in the races.  The TAC team spirit is often commented on by people from other clubs and this is a way to enhance it.
4. Finally it is a bit of fun, last year there was lots of banter and good natured competitiveness between team managers as the season ebbed and flowed. There is also competition for who can choose the most cringe worthy team name.

How to get involved?
This is for athletes as well as friends and family, there is no limit, the more the merrier.
There is a list of “seeded” athletes published on the Fantasy XL tab on tacdistancerunners.com together with their prices.  All athletes not listed are priced at £1m.  You should note that there are more athletes priced at £1m than all the others combined.  Don’t be disheartened if you are low priced or not shown on the list, it is an opportunity, because you are potentially a bargain buy for an ambitious team manager.  There is a prize at the end of the season for the athlete with the best average i.e. points per million, so low priced athletes potentially have an advantage.  There will inevitably be lots of debate over the seeded athletes’ pricing and whether or not there are athletes who should be on the list but are not, but again this presents opportunities for the astute observer to profit from bargains. Highly priced athletes have a challenge to prove themselves worthy of their high prices.
You first need to choose a team of 6 with one athlete from each age group.  This team goes into the A Team Competition.  Once you have done this you can select additional teams with no age group constraint i.e. you could choose any combination of athletes regardless of age.  These additional teams can be either 6 athlete teams or 12 athlete teams and will be entered into the B Team and C Team competitions respectively.  My recommendation is to go for one of each, which will cost you £10, a bargain when you think of all the fun you will have throughout the year. You may only spend up to £40m on each team, with any unused money being translated into points at the rate of 50 points per million.
Points are awarded according to the rules which are set out on the Fantasy XL tab.  Essentially there are 10 qualifying races throughout the season with points awarded based on turning up to run enough times, race place, race ranking compared to other TAC athletes and any medal winning performances.
So research your athletes, fill in the entry form (also on the Fantasy XL tab) and return to James Taylor together with payment and then prepare for the fun. The closing date is 15 October, the day of the first qualifying race, so don’t delay.

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Tonbridge Half Marathon, Sunday 2nd October

Julian Rendall (74.29) and Dan Bradley (74.53) scored a  TAC 1-2 in the Tonbridge Half Marathon. 
Also spotted were Maria Heslop (81.59) (2nd claim TAC) who won the ladies event, Ollie Kingston (87.56),  Sally Musson (97.04), Chris Everett (97.36), Duncan Ralph (1.44.28) and Lucy Pitcairn-Knowles (1.45.02).
Full results should appear at - http://www.tonbridgehalfmarathon.co.uk

Other weekend news, Friday 30th September to Sunday 2nd October

Friday
Notre Dame Cross Country Invitational , USA
Robbie Farnham-Rose placed 87th in a high class race over 8km, with a time of 24.49
Full results are at - http://www.flotrack.org/result/9048-2016-joe-piane-notre-dame-xc-invitational​
Thomas Trophy, Sevenoaks (Schools report from John Sanders and Carl Croll)
Here are (some of) the top performers, (those I can remember). U.11 girls: 1 Breed, 2 & 3 Slacks, and various others. U.11 boys: 1 Albert Kreuzburg , and a few others. U.13 girls: 1 Maddie Wise, 2 Ella de Munck, 3 Alex Evans, and others. U.13 boys: 1 Fin Croll, 2 Ollie Hill, 4 Elliot Webb, 5 Finley Webster, 8 Freddie Nicholson and many others.
Saturday
Chile Pepper Cross Country Invitational at Arkansas, USA
Luca Russo finished 44th in another high class US cross country event on Saturday, running 24.52 for the 8km event.
North Staffordshire Cross Country League
Euan Nicholls, who is now at Keele University, finished 10th in his first race for them. Results should eventually appear here -
http://www.nsccl.org.uk/results.htm
Parkruns
Michael Ellis was the quickest TAC parkrunner on Saturday, as he clocked 16.14 at Sheffield Hallam. Sophie Slack at 20.14 was the fastest female. TAC results are at - ​http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=2404

South of England Road Relay Championships, at Bedford Autodrome, Sunday 25th September

Full results are now on the Results 2016 page. In summary -
Under 13 boys 5th, B team 18th (Olukorede Fasina 8th fastest)
Under 13 girls 7th (Alex Evans 10th fastest)
Under 15 boys 6th
Under 15 girls 4th (Katie Goodge 9th fastest)
Under 17 men 3rd (James Puxty 3rd fastest)
Under 17 women no team
Senior men 2nd, B team 9th also qualify for National Championship, C team 22nd (James West 4th fastest, Ally Kinloch 10th)
Senior women 20th
Veteran over 50 men 1st (Graeme Saker 1st fastest)
​Veteran over 40 women 9th 

Some photos below and many more on Mark Hookways Facebook page, that will also appear at www.tonbridgeac.co.uk
We have plenty of video footage for editing and the final versions will be available as soon as possible.

Other weekend news, Saturday and Sunday 24th/25th September

Henry Pearce made his debut for Tulsa University, at Stillwater, Oklahoma, in the Cowboy Jamboree Cross Country Meet. He finished an excellent 9th. Full results are at --http://sidearm.sites.s3.amazonaws.com/okstate.com/documents/2016/9/24/UnivMenInd.pdf

Ryan Driscoll ran for San Francisco in Minnesota, at the Roy Griak Invitational but had a very disappointing day, finishing 148th. Full results are at -
http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/minn/sports/m-xc/auto_pdf/2016-17/misc_non_event/Griak16_MD1_Results.pdf

Joe Watts ran a personal best in the Disneyland Paris Half Marathon in 89.20

Holly Gordon won the Brighton Aquathon for her age group.

Swansea Bay 10k Road Race, Sunday 18th September

Ben Cole ran 31.27 to finish 12th in the Swansea Bay 10k road race.
Full results are at - ​http://www.swanseabay10k.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Swansea10K-2016-ProvA.pdf

USA, Saturday 17th September

Luca Russo, running for Missouri University placed 45th in his first race of the cross country season, at the Vanderbilt Commodore Classic, at Nashville.
Full results are at - ​http://www.cfpitiming.com/liveresults/2016_Cross_Country/Vanderbilt_xc_2016/

TAC Summer parkrun Grand Prix - completed

The final event of the Summer Grand Prix took place at Tonbridge on 17th September. Here is Mark Pitcairn-Knowles summary. The full results are on the parkrun page.

Sophie Slack had a 16 point advantage over Andrew Mercer (lowest score 14 to discard) and as it turned out the winning score, with a PB, was 31 points, this would have given Andrew victory by 1 point, if neither Sophie or Lily had run!  Unfortunately for Andrew (3rd overall) he is injured and it was Sophie who scored the 31 points to extend her score to 107, with her 4th scoring PB run and take the Park Run GP title following on from her winter success.   Lily Slack has been close behind her sister throughout and in fact it was only her relatively less good first race when she did not run a PB that resulted in her being 8 points adrift, such was the standard set by Sophie.
There were a number of PB’s, but I think Anne Brenchley’s (W70) has to be mentioned as we all know it is harder to run a PB as you get older. 
The summer GP series saw 77 TAC runners register a score.   Any ideas on changes to the scoring system for the Winter Series etc please contact Mark Pitcairn-Knowles.

Saturday parkrun news, 17th September

George Duggan equalled the fastest ever parkrun by a TAC athlete, at Maidstone, where he ran 15.03. This was the same time as Chris Olley set at Fulham Palace in December. Both Harry Brown and Luke Reeves ran to finish 4th and 5th in 17.58 and 18.16. For Harry this was his first time under 18 minutes.
​Jamie Goodge was first home at the Tunbridge Wells parkrun in 16.54, ahead of Dan Bradley. Katie Goodge also took a fair bit from her pb with 20.17 and was first female home.
At Lullingstone James Puxty was 1st home in 18.12, whilst his sister Steph was first female with 22.57. Stephs time beat the fastest TAC female time on this tough course.

Mamores Verical Kilometre Race, Scotland, Friday 16th September

Max Nicholls was 6th in the Mamores Vertical Kilometre Mountain race on Friday evening in 45.06.
Results are at - ​http://www.skylinescotland.com/mamores-vertical-kilometre/results/

National Police 10 mile road race championships, Norfolk, Wednesday 14th September

Harry Paton finished 4th in the National Police 10 mile road championships in 59.04, in sweltering conditions.

Kent Under 13 and veterans Track Championships, at Erith, Sunday 11th September - Day 2

Simon Fraser won the M40 1500m in 4.32.28 and 400m in 57.36.
Olukorede Fasina and Fin Croll were 2nd and 3rd in the under 13 boys 1500m in 4.44.58 and 4.48.55
​Full results are on the Results 2016 page.

Sunday news, 11th September

Graeme Saker (m50) won the Swanley Park multi terrain 10k in 38.21. Full results are at -
http://niceworkevents.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/sunday-11th-september-2016-swanley_11.html​

Max Nicholls (below) made his GB senior debut when he placed 56th in the World Mountain Running Championships (uphill only), in Bulgaria. Looks like someone from the organisation team couldn't spell ! Full results are at -
http://saparevabanya2016.info/results/​

Sophie and Lily Slack finished 1st and 2nd in the Great North Run Junior race, running 15.44 and 15.48, in the 'orange' race (I imagine its was for under 11s). See photo below.

Max Nicholls (left) , Sophie and Lily Slack (right)

Blackheath and Bromley Harriers, Will Bolton Memorial Relays, at West Wickham, Saturday 10th September
Videos loaded !

In total we had about 80 runners taking part across the races and despite the wet weather at times, the team spirit and all round effort was superb. Those making their TAC debuts were particularly good, as it can be a daunting time for juniors in that situation. I hope that you all enjoyed being part of the TAC squad and thanks for giving it a go.

The senior relay provided both a good battle in the men's and women's categories.  The Tonbridge senior mens A team were matched up against their under 20 counterparts and a race long tussle ensued. James Puxty, as an under 17, was brought into the senior team on leg 1 and came hope in 2nd after Blackheath. Jamie Goodge was not far down for the TAC under 20s. Meanwhile Nicole Taylor stormed around the first leg and no doubt ran the fastest ladies lap.

On leg 2 Corey De'Ath hit the front for the seniors and George Duggan moved the u20s into second, before Kieran Reilly and Ally Kinloch (u20) went on leg 3. Ally closed Kieran down, but it was good to see the latter back racing, after a very difficult year. It was nip and tuck at the last changeover, as Julian Rendall and Stuart Brown set off. Stuart had one of his good days and finished strongly to give the u20s a win by only around ten seconds. The win meant that TAC retain the trophy won the last seven years now.

Meanwhile Lucy Thompson, Kiri Marsh and Maria Heslop helped TAC to second behind Blackheath in the women's contest.

Corey De'Ath ran the fastest lap of the race in 12.39 with George Duggan at 12.40. Nicole Taylor ran the fastest ladies lap with 14.37.

The earlier Junior race for u13s and u15s also provided good competition and the TAC u15 boys and girls both won, with I believe the u13 boys also being first.

Full results are on the Results 2016 page. Some photos below and all on Facebook page - Mark Hookway. They will be on the Scrapbook at www.tonbridgeac.co.uk

Winning Team - Stuart Brown, George Duggan, Alasdair Kinloch, Jamie Goodge

Fastest Laps - Corey De'Ath and Nicole Taylor

Photos above of those who made their TAC debuts

Kent Under 13 Track Championships, at Erith, Saturday 10th September - Day 1

Known results -
Under 13 Boys 800m final - 2nd Olukorede Fasina, 3rd Fin Croll. Finley Webster tbc

Photo courtesy of Ola Fasina - Olukorede Fasina, Finley Webster, Fin Croll

Other weekend news, Friday 9th September

Robbie Farnham-Rose finished 6th, over 5k, at the Powerade Chatanooga Cross Country Invitational, in Tennessee, USA.
Full results are at -
Alabama University report link - http://www.gomocs.com/documents/2016/9/9//UTC%20PowerAde%20Invitational%20Men.pdf
​http://rolltide.com/news/2016/9/9/track-field-cross-country-alabama-cross-country-teams-finish-second-at-chattanooga-powerade-invitational.aspx

TAC Fantasy Athletics League results - end of season, after match 5

The final results are in and are posted on the Fantasy League page.
The winning team was managed by Una Laqeretabua and the best value for money athlete was Discus thrower Catie Kohler.
​Look out for details of the Fantasy Cross Country League coming soon from James Taylor and the team.

Eridge 10 mile Challenge, Sunday 4th September

TAC won the mens team race at this ten mile trail race, near Tunbridge Wells, as Julian Rendall won, with Andrew Mercer 2nd and Dan Watts 4th.
Full results should appear at - ​http://www.twharriers.org.uk/eridge-10-run/

Weald St Georges, 10k Road race, Sunday 4th September

There were a few TAC runners in the Weald 10k road race.
Maria Heslop (2nd claim TAC) was 1st lady and 3rd overall in 37.46 Others were -
4th James Stoney 37.55, 13th James Pigot 40.36, 16th Mark Pitcairn-Knowles 40.57, 65th Lucy Pitcairn-Knowles  46.40.
​There were 343 finishers.
Full results are at - ​http://www.swifttiming.co.uk/cgi-bin/list_race_result.php?meet_event_id=940001

Other Sunday news, 4th September

Luke Reeves (u17) ran a debut 800m at the Medway and Maidstone open meeting, in 2.18.51 and was the only TAC distance runner in action.

Saturday news, 3rd September

University of San Francisco Cross Country Invitational
In the USA Ryan Driscoll made a solid start to his second year at the University of San Francisco when he finished 17th in their senior mens' 8k home race. Ryan ran 25.03 for the accurate 8km (5 miles)
Full results are at - http://www.usfdons.com/documents/2016/9/3//USF_Invite_MEN.pdf?id=1168
Report - http://www.usfdons.com/news/2016/9/3/cross-country-usf-impresses-at-season-opening-invitational-charlotte-taylor-alex-short.aspx?path=cross
Surrey Road Relays
Tom Holden anchored his second claim club, South London Harriers, to a big win over Belgrave at Wimbledon, in the Surrey Road Relays. Tom ran 14.27 for the 2.8 miles and was equal fourth fastest lap. Results are at -http://www.surreyathletics.org.uk
Parkruns
The Tonbridge parkrun had a record number of finishers this week with 517, which was the first time that more than five hundred had completed the event. Julian Rendall was first home.
Full TAC results from all the Saturday parkruns can be seen at -
​http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=2404

This week's 'Big Hitters' - the top personal bests in the last week, 24th to 30th August

Here are a few, who have set some of the biggest personal bests over the past week -
800 metres
Ben Brooks (u17) 2.13.90 (5.1s improvement)
1500 metres
Harry Brown (u17) 4.22.00 (5.7s improvement)
3000 metres
Bede Pitcairn-Knowles (u17) 9.09.46 (11.7s improvement)
1500 metres steeplechase
Bede Pitcairn-Knowles (u17) 4.31.48 (3.8s improvement)

Tonbridge AC Bank Holiday Monday Open Meeting, Monday 29th August
Videos loaded !

There was some good entertainment, some excellent performances and plenty of helpers at the open meeting, which went off well in glorious conditions.

The standout distance running performance for me came over 800 metres, where Ben Murphy was paced to an excellent personal best of 1.53.68, by Sean Molloy (1.53.40). Jack Keywood missed running under 2 minutes for the first time by just a fraction of a second with 2.00.24.

The day ended with what for many was the highlight, as 10 teams of two generation, family teams, contested the 2 x 400m relay. Emma and Ewan Wood emerged victorious in 2.01.15, closely followed by Ben Wrighton/Sean Molloy in 2.02.99 and Ben Brooks/Steve Brooks in 2.03.09.

Full track results are on the Results 2016 page.

Henry Isola Cross Country, New York, USA, Sunday 28th August

Whilst on holiday in the USA Nicole Taylor won the womens section at a cross country event in New York, in 23.45 for the 4 miles.
Full results  - ​http://web2.nyrrc.org/cgi-bin/htmlos.cgi/02266.1.356729705944760708

England Athletics National Under 15 and 17 Championships, at Bedford, Saturday/Sunday 27th/28th August
Videos loaded from day one !

There are a few TAC distance runners in action at Bedford over the weekend.
​
Bede Pitcairn-Knowles had maybe the best race of his career so far to win the bronze medal in the under 17 1500m steeplechase, in a pb of 4.31.48. He was third of 16 runners, who had qualified for the championships.

Simon Coppard has made the u17 800m final, qualifying as a fastest loser. He ran 1.56.56 to finish 5th in his heat. A below  par Dan Seagrove didn't qualify.

Simon went on to finish 6th in the 800m final on Sunday (official time awaited but around1.57/8)

All race videos are at - http://www.runjumpthrow.com/fixtures/10008-england-athletics-under-17--under-15-championships

Bede Pitcairn-Knowles (right) after his third place in the National under 17 men's steeplechase

Tonbridge AC Summer parkrun Grand Prix - Latest News with one event remaining, after 27th August
Update from Mark Pitcairn-Knowles

The penultimate qualifying Park run GP run coincided with the TAC takeover.  Although none of the top 3 took part, it is quite tight with only 4 points covering 7th to 14th places.   James Puxty won the race and scored the highest AG percentage 82.83% (plus a 5 point bonus for PB)    Julian Rendall was close behind on both counts.  ​

I believe there were a number of other TAC runners who either did not have their Bar code or have registered that they are members of TAC.   The AG Grand Prix rule is that you have to be registered as a member of TAC (this makes results very easy to scan through)    Follow the instructions on your weekly email from Parkrun to add your TAC membership.

PLEASE NOTE  THE FINAL QUALIFYING RACE WILL NOW BE ON THE 17th SEPTEMBER to avoid clash with B&B relays.

PK

See the parkrun page for the latest Grand Prix league table.

Tonbridge parkrun 'Takeover' in conjunction with IAMGB day, Saturday 27th August

Tonbridge AC supplied a team of volunteers for the Tonbridge parkrun today, including a few pacers to help some runners towards target times. James Puxty was first home overall. Corey De'Ath was first home today at Dartford and Tom Holden, likewise, at Dulwich.

Watford Open Meeting, inc BMC Gold standard races, Wednesday 24th August
Videos loaded !

Dom Brown and George Duggan had a good tussle in the British Milers Club mens 1500 metres A race, giving us a 1-2, as they ran 3.48.76 and 3.48.92, respectively. This was a season's best for Dom and both ran well, off what was a relatively slow first half to the race.

The other TAC competitors were Harry Brown (u17) who took more than five seconds from his pb, in the open 1500m race 14, with 4.21.91and Olukorede Fasina (u13) ran 4.50.61, which was outside his best. Full results are at -
​http://www.watfordharriers.org.uk/indexnc.htm

This week's 'Big Hitters' - the top personal bests in the last week, 13th to 23rd August

Here are a few who have set some of the biggest personal bests over the past week -
800 metres
Ewan Wood (u15) 2.13.71 (4.1s improvement)
Lizzy Miller (u15) 2.21.45 (3.2s improvement)
1500 metres
Lizzy Miller (u15) 4.47.10 (2.4s improvement)

South of England Under 15 and 20 Inter Counties, at Horspath, Oxford, Sunday 21st August

TAC only had a couple of distance runners in the Kent under 20  team on Sunday and neither were at their best. Hannah Czarnowski ran 2.29.47 to finish 7th in the 800 metres and Toby Ralph was 4th, over the same distance, in 1.58.60.

British Milers Club Grand Prix, at Trafford, Saturday 20th August

James West probably finished a superb season with second place in the 1500 metres A race in 3.45.62, with Tom Lancashire winning in 3.44.80. James was hoping to go quicker than his 3.40.0 pb but wet and windy conditions didnt help.

Southern Athletics League (u17,u20, senior) at Tonbridge​,  Saturday 20th August
Videos loaded !

Unfortunately TAC placed 4th of the four teams and are likely to be relegated from the top division.
​Full results are on the Results 2016 page.
There were 800m wins for Hannah Czarnowski and George Duggan, whilst Ollie Dunn (800m) and Bede Pitcairn-Knowles (1500m) ran pbs. Another highlight was seeing four of the TAC girls making their steeplechase debuts, alongside Emma Avis, who helped encourage them to try the event (see below).

Podplus Ashford 5k, Friday 19th August

Kieran Reilly made a bit of a comeback from injury on Friday at Ashford and actually ran 16.00 for 5km. Unfortunately, he was misdirected very near the finish and ended up doing an extra loop and officially being second.

British Milers Club and Cambridge Harriers Meeting, at Eltham, Wednesday 17th August

There were personal best 800 metre times for James West (1.49.34), Michael Ellis (1.58.79), Sam Avis (2.05.19), Ewan Wood (2.13.71) and Lizzie Miller (2.21.45), whilst George Duggan (1.51.94) produced a fine win, just outside of his best time.

Summary results are on the Results 2016 page and full results will be at www.britishmilersclub.com

Manchester International, at Sports City, Manchester, Wednesday 17th August

Tom Holden running for Great Britain under 20s finished a close second in the men's mile. Tom ran 4.14.52, having gone through the half mile in around 2.16
Full results are at - ​http://welshresults.athletics-uk.org

Tom Holden - represented Great Britain under 20s at the Manchester International

Hercules Wimbledon AC Night of 5ks, Wednesday 17th August

Ben Cole ran 15.07.43 to finish 8th in the A race.

South of England under 15 and 17 Championships at Ashford, Saturday/Sunday 13th/14th August

Both Lizzie Miller and Katie Goodge qualified through the heats for Sunday's under 15 girls' 1500 metres final, whilst Bede Pitcairn-Knowles was 4th in the u17 mens 1500m steeplechase. We think Bede ran 4.49, but don't have any official results as yet.

In the under 15 girls 1500m final Lizzie Miller had an excellent race to finish 6th, with a new personal best of 4.47.10, whilst Katie Goodge was 11th in 5.00.96.

This week's 'Big Hitters' - the top personal bests and debuts in the last week, 31st July to 12th August

Here are a few who have set some of the biggest personal bests over the past week -
400 metres
Dominic Brown (sm) 52.56 (0.2s improvement)
800 metres
Oliver McCarthy (u13) 2.37.52 (9.0s improvement)
Maddy Crabb (u15) 2.52.88 (8.3s improvement)
1500 metres
Holly Gordon (u17)  5.26.79 (24.9s improvement)
​Luke Reeves (u17) 4.38.18 (2.0s improvement)

Thursday news, 11th August

Ben Murphy placed 3rd in an invitation 1500m at Kent AC in around 4.03 on Thursday. Official results are still awaited.

TAC Tonbridge parkrun Grand Prix update

Mark Pitcairn-Knowles has updated the current TAC parkrun Grand Prix league table. See the parkrun page for details.

Watford Open Meeting, Wednesday 10th August
Videos loaded !

The Watford Wednesday Open Meeting once again attracted an excellent level of entries and included 24 races over 800 metres. The races start with the 'slowest', using athletes target times and finish with the 'fastest' and on this occasion TAC had six runners in action, including a second claim member, Finn Harvey.

First to go for TAC was Olukorede Fasina (u13), who had won over 800m on Sunday at the Kent League with a 2.21.5 pb. Here he sliced another chunk from his best, running strongly to record 2.19.01, which ranks him second this year on the TAC under 13 rankings.

Jamie Brown (u20) is another athlete who has been on a mission of improving his pbs and reduced it again to 2.01.18, having run 2.02.92 at last week's Tonbridge meeting. Jamie was in race 18 and next up was Simon Coppard (u17) in race 22. Its fair to say that Simon likes the Watford track as he produced his fourth win in four 800m races at the open meetings this Summer. This time he ran a superb 1.55.47, taking more than three seconds from his best and moving up two places to top the TAC under 17 rankings and go into the club's top ten overall for the year.

In the last race of the night the club had two representatives in George Duggan and Dom Brown and both had good races as they placed second and third, respectively, recording pbs of 1.51.58 and 1.51.75.

Full results are at - http://watfordharriers.org.uk/WOG100816.htm
Summary on Results 2016 page

Tom Holden selected for Great Britain under 20 mens team at 1 mile

Tom Holden has been selected for the GB under 20 men's team for the Manchester International, that takes place at Sports City next Wednesday 17th August. This will be Tom's first ever international selection, outside a schools cross country, a few years ago.

Tom joined TAC at the start of the track season, transferring from South London Harriers and has had a fine season, that has included running 1500m in 3.46.30 and 3000m in 8.11.13. He was second over 1500m at the National under 20 championships.

Joe Fuggle from the club has also been selected for the GB under 20 team, at 400m hurdles. See the full team at the following link -
​http://www.britishathletics.org.uk/media/news/2016-news-page/august-2016/10-08-16-manchester-international/

Tom Holden (43)

Nick Barrable - Orienteering Update, Wednesday 9th August

I received this from long time TAC member Nick Barrable, who still occasionally turns out for the club. His main focus these days is orienteering -
In Tallinn, Estonia, at the moment for World Masters. Got a Bronze in the Sprint yesterday - M40. My preferred vest is always TAC - best racing top. I didn't retain my Gold from last year but was closer to Gold than I was expecting and 2 seconds off Silver. I was pleased with a medal, as I hit my knee in Wales a week and a half before and it isn't fully recovered so I am still not up to firing on all cylinders.
Shot of me with the other 5 GBR medal winners and me being interviewed by Estonian TV in the finish. (see below)

Now we have two Long Qualifiers, then a rest day, then the Long (Forest) distance.
Also - it was good to see Max Nicholls in the Mountain Trophy Team for GB - alongside one of our current best Orienteers Graham Gristwood, who is 32.
Keep up the great work,

Best wishes,
Nick Barrable

Kent Young Athletes League (u13/15) at Gillingham, Sunday 7th August

Full results are on the Results 2016 page.

There were A-race 800m wins for Lizzie Miller (u15 2.24.6) and Olukorede Fasina (u13 2.21.5), both with personal bests. Fraser Gordon (u15 2.12.9) ran the biggest pb, whilst their were 800m club debuts for Jamie Witz (2.37.3) and Huxley Crush (2.45.8) in the under 13s.

Other weekend news, 7th/8th August

Michael Ellis dipped under 10 minutes for the 3000m steeplechase, on Saturday, when running for the City of Sheffield (where he attends university) in the British League. He ran 9.55.75 to take 7.0s from his pb. Michael has improved from 11.04 in 2014 and 10.33 last year.

Max Nicholls selected for Great Britain team at the World Mountain Running Championships

Max has been selected to represent the Great Britain senior mens team at the World Mountain Running Championships, on 11th September in Bulgaria. Its an uphill only championship.

Tonbridge AC Open Meeting, Tuesday 2nd August
Videos loaded !

This has to have been one of the best open meetings put on at Tonbridge, with the number of entries superb and the competition across all the age groups. For me one of the highlights was in the very first race of the evening when 79 year old Alan Marriot took on Richard Pitcairn-Knowles (80+) over 100 metres !

There were plenty of good middle distance races and the provisional results are now on the Results 2016 page. Gary Goodge has captured the 400m, 800m and 1500m races on videos and we will show them, when editing completed.

The top personal bests at 1500m came from Holly Gordon (a 24.9s improvement to 5.26.79), Kiri Marsh improving by 3.7s to 5.06.81, with both Alex Evans (under 13 girl) and Luke Reeves (under 17 men) both taking a couple of seconds from their bests.

At 800m the biggest pbs were from Ollie McCarthy (u13) who won and ran 2..37.52 for a 9.0s improvement, with Ben Brooks (u17) (8.4s off to 2.19.07) and Maddy Crabb (8.3s off to 2.52.88).

There were race wins for Dom Brown/George Duggan (in a training session, starting with 800m), Ollie Dunn (u20, 800m), Ollie McCarthy (u13, 800m) and Simon Coppard (u17, 1500m).

Tonbridge AC Fantasy League Updated after 4 matches

Finally we have an update on the Fantasy League page, showing the latest league table and athlete averages.
There is just one Southern Athletics League match to be completed now, on 20th August, at Tonbridge. This is when the final results will be calculated.

The top 3 are Una Laqeretabua, Richard Christian and Simon Fraser.

Wednesday Circuit Training this week, 3rd August

This week's circuit training will be at Tonbridge School Track, since there is work going on at Judd School, preventing use of the sportshall.

Southern Inter Counties Under 13 Championships, at Kingston, Sunday 31st July

Fin Croll and Ollie Hill represented the Kent under 13 team, at 800 metres and both came away having run significant personal bests. Fin was 6th in the A-string race in 2.16.70 (1.3s pb) and Ollie was 7th in the B race with 2.25.84 (2.0s pb). Fin's time tops the clubs under 13 rankings for the season. In the 1500m Olukorede Fasina was 3rd in the B string, just a tenth of a second outside his pb with 4.45.64.
​Full results are on the Results 2016 page.

Ian Crawley wins National M50 (over 50) Decathlon title, at Birmingham, 30th/31st July

Ian Crawley won the National, over 50s, Decathlon title at the weekend, so why does that qualify for a mention on a distance runners site. Well, as Ian reports a 5.17 pb for the 1500 metres at the finish, helped clinch the title. Full results are awaited.

Ian Crawley (right) pictured with fellow TAC competitor Richard Christian

This week's 'Big Hitters' - the top personal bests and debuts in the last week, 22nd to 30th July

Here are a few who have set some of the biggest personal bests over the past week -
400 metres
Becky O'Hara (u20) 56.93 (0.06s improvement)
800 metres
Jamie Brown (u20) 2.03.17 (0.3s improvement)
1500 metres
BenMurphy (u20)  3.58.23 (15.4s improvement)
1 Mile
James West 3.58.69 (16.7s improvement) - 2nd fastest ever TAC
3000 metres
James West 7.58.47 (16.0s improvement) - 2nd fastest ever TAC
Nicole Taylor 9.36.56 (9.5s improvement) - 2nd fastest ever TAC

British Athletics World Mountain Running Trials and Home International, Keswick, Saturday 30th July

Max Nicholls raced for the England senior team at Keswick in the British Athletics World Mountain Running Championships trial, which incorporated the home international. Max placed 5th and his brother Euan was 14th in the under 20 men's race.
​Max was part of the winning England team.

Max 2nd from right in winning England team

Watford Open Meeting, Wednesday 27th July
Videos loaded !

Its fair to say that James West is enjoying a purple patch of performances, as following his sub four minute mile last Friday he followed up with a sub 8 minutes clocking over 3000 metres, at Watford.

The race had been set up to attract a good number of athletes capable of running below 8.30 and included the likes of Charlie Hulson (National Cross Country Champion 2015), Andy Baddeley (9th Olympic Games 1500m in 2008 and 3.49 miler). TAC provided the pacemakers in Sean Molloy and Robbie Farnham-Rose, aiming to try and get somebody under the 8 minute mark.

Our pacers did a good job getting to the 2k marker and it then came down to Andy Baddeley and James West at the head of the 22-strong field. Baddeley did a superb job to keep the pace going and held James off all the way to the line, as they clocked 7.58.00 and 7.58.47. This was a sixteen second pb for James. Behind them there were a dozen or so personal bests, including Chris Olley in 4th with 8.06.15.

James goes second on the TAC all time list, behind Mark Scrutton's 7.50.38, set in 1983 and puts him 10th in the UK for 2016.

Later in the evening Nicole Taylor also ran a terrific 3000 metres, taking almost ten seconds from her pb with 9.36.56. This was just three seconds away from Grace Nicholls' club record, but is the fastest time by a TAC female this year.

Ben Murphy (u20) was another to make a big breakthrough, with his performance in race 18 of the 1500s. He placed 2nd in 3.58.23, improving his pb from 4.13.69. Ben is a good example to many since all he has really done in the last year is get stronger, by being far more consistent with his steady running than ever before.

There were also 1500m pbs for Michael Ellis (4.10.41) and Fin Croll (u13, 4.41.55). Second claim member, Finn Harvey (u15) shaved his pb to 4.21.01, whilst Katie Goodge (u15) ran 4.53.12 and Stuart Brown (u20) 4.18.54.

Full results can be found at - ​http://www.watfordharriers.org.uk/indexnc.htm