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Ashford AC Parkrun Report

Posted: 8th Feb 2019 by Lewis Smith

It’s not Saturday, it’s Parkrun-day! 

Ashford AC’s endurance group has continued to grow from strength to strength, since the beginning of 2018. A large number of athletes of all ages and abilities have joined the endurance group over the past year, who have all performed very well at the local Parkruns. In 2018, Ashford AC saw a total of 32 male runners and 20 female runners participate in the community-led 5km run, held on a weekly basis every Saturday morning at 9:00am.

The Club has seen an impressive five runners break the 17 minute barrier over the past year. Marshall Smith has run the fastest time for the Club, with a Parkrun best set at Ashford in a time of 15m53s, not far off the course record. Oliver Prior and Adam Wood have both ran times of 16m17s, and Louis Small has run a time of 16m38s. Nick Collins has consistently run low 17 minutes, with a best time of 16m55s.

As for the women, Briony Walsh is the fastest over Parkrun, with a time of 19m25s, despite only just breaking 20 minutes a few months beforehand. Gemma Carter Collins ran a time of 19m32s back in October, but with a PB of 19m06s, she will be hoping to break the 19 minute barrier soon. Amberley Odysseas is third fastest with a time of 22m26s, marginally quicker than Rebecca Dyer (22m27s) who has shown great progress following an operation.

Doc’s marathon group has proved to be very popular this year, with a number of new runners joining the club and some as second claim. Recently, they did the ‘Warren Workout’, which is part of their training programme and is a good build-up to their spring marathon races. It might have been an early start, but the runners met up and did a long run, followed by a parkrun at tempo effort. A number of them broke 20 minutes (the ‘time to beat’) including Gerard O’Sullivan and Matthew Flay. Ronan Donohue, who is also targeting a spring marathon, almost broke the 20 minute barrier with a time of 20m09s. The ladies are also running very well with great performances recently from Claire, Heather, Vikki and Jenny, although this list could go on and on! Jenny Wilton has seen great progress, starting off 2018 with a 25m01s parkrun and has since improved this time to 23m23s.

Jaqueline Benson, a race-walker, has been running the parkrun on some weekends and race-walking on other weekends. This is clearly showing great benefits as she continues to improve in all her recent races. Her best time of 24m06s just proves this, which is almost a 6 minute improvement from her first parkrun of 2018. The same goes for Grace Whittingham, another keen race-walker, who has a best time of 24m14s.

Twin brothers, Louis and Jack Small, continue to impress, not only at the cross country races, but also on the road at the Whitstable Seafront Parkrun. They have PBs of 16m38s and 18m02s. Louis, to date, remains unbeaten over the 5km distance, despite only being aged just 14 years old.

Two youngsters, Thomas Green and Liam Woodham, have surprised many. Both are still only in the Under-13 age category and are already on the tiptoes of the top runners (and their Dads) at the local parkrun. They have very respectable PBs of 19m38s and 23m00s. 

We hope to see lots more of our athletes continue to run this popular event. If you are unaware of the Parkrun, details can be found below, and best of all it is free! Just don’t forget your barcode!!

http://www.parkrun.org.uk/ashford/


Nice Work Forestry 100 Running Series

Posted: 26th Jan 2019 by Lewis Smith

Nice Work have launched the brand-new Forestry 100 Running Series. This is a new series of 10K running events in partnership with Forestry England to celebrate their 100th anniversary. This will involve a series of 10K races set in sixteen of the nation’s favourite forests across the country. The series kicks off in Bedgebury Forest. 

Each 10km trail has its own individual characteristics to keep you on your toes. Enter any individual 10km event or conquer the nation's forests and complete the Forestry 100 Challenge, running 100km of forest trails across any ten events in the series.

The first race begins on Sunday 31st March 2019 at 9:00am in Bedgebury Forest. This will use sections of the forest never run before.

The event is open to runners of all abilities, from novices to experienced athletes. With a beautiful wooden medal for all finishers, some fantastic prizes for leading ladies and gents, and an exclusive technical t-shirt for all 'Forestry 100 Challenge' entrants.

For more information, please visit:

https://www.nice-work.org.uk/races/FC100-Bedgebury

 

Other local Nice Work races coming up include: 

The Deal Half Marathon on Sunday 10th February at 10:30am.

The 10th Tenterden 5 Miler on Sunday 17th February at 10:30am.

The 43rd Dartford Half Marathon on Sunday 3rd March.

The Brett Lydd 20 Miler and Half Marathon on Sunday 10th March.

For further details of the above races, please visit:

https://www.nice-work.org.uk/races/