THE STOP WATCH TIMES

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1 THE STOP WATCH TIMES The Newsletter of Paddock Wood AC June 2005 For copy Please put Stop Watch Times in the Subject Box Deadline for the July Edition is 28 th June 2005 EDITORIAL I must apologise if this edition of the Stopwatch Times is below par but I am trying to edit the whole edition in one thundery wet afternoon after returning from a 2 week holiday in Tunisia (land of the sun 28 o C every day clear blue sky s). David Perman (Editor) CHAIRMAN S CORNER Paddock Wood All Weather Running Track at Putlands Great news, after all the hard work by Mike Ridger in the past 12 months we are now moving ahead with getting the planning permission for the All-weather track at Putlands, the public notice appeared in The Courier on Friday 27 th May. After many false horizons hopefully we are now moving towards the reality of a track of our own for training purposes within the next months. Once we have the planning permission the hard work of raising funds will begin, we will be calling upon ALL of you to assist as don t forget it will be YOUR track so please be prepared to volunteer. Annual General Meeting Yes it s coming up to that time of year again the date has been set for Monday 18 th July.the venue is Mascalls School, Paddock Wood and the time is 7.30pm. Please put the date / time in your diary and make every effort to attend. Not only is a good way to show your support for the club but also it is a good forum to raise any subject that needs attention. PWAC New Years Eve Bash We ve listened to our members and have make great efforts to resurrect the PWAC New Years Eve Bash, it will be at the Primary School and we are really looking to everyone to commit to it as soon as possible, we need over 120 people to attend to make it a success. Please see any of the Fund Raisers for further details and let them know how many tickets you ll want ASAP. Track & Field Meetings Even though it s summer it certainly hasn t felt like it at some of the recent track & field meetings; the order of the day has been umbrellas, thermal leggings and hot drinks, I m sure we had better weather for the cross country fixtures in the winter. I must congratulate all who have attended the fixtures; Athletes, Managers, Officials and Supporters I m sure the sun will shine soon!!!! 2006 Warm Weather Training A few us recently competed in the European Veterans Non Stadia Championships at Monte Gordo on the eastern part of the Algarve in Portugal and we had a really marvellous week in the sunshine. The surrounding area has a fantastic sports complex with all-weather track & field facilities, a 10km flat sandy beach and trails through an adjoining forest that is marked out with various distances. Depending on the time of the year the accommodation is relatively cheap, and the food and drink is not just great but quite cheap. We were wondering whether there would be any interest in a group of athletes (and non-athletes who just wanted to enjoy the beautiful area) going out for a week in the spring of 2006 it would need approx. 20 people to make it viable. Let me know if you have any interest and if it looks like a goer then we ll get further details sorted out. Let me know via our address - paddock.woodac@btopenworld.com Social Get-together Don t forget we are aiming to get together every month for a social chat etc.; the next one is Friday 10 th June at The Foresters Arms in Maidstone Road to 8.30pm, please come along and join us. PWAC Website Keep accessing our website it s full of useful information and please keep sending in any articles, photos, results, ramblings, etc. or comments on improvements to me either at des.white@btinternet.com or pwac_website@hotmail.com. Des White (Hon. Chairman)

2 SCVAC KENT DIVISION TRACK & FIELD LEAGUE Many thanks to everyone who turned out on Friday 20 th May at Ashford the weather was once again horrible, but we did have some marvellous results. Star of the night in the Men s events was Carl Sheldon who flew down the track in the 100m and secured 1 st place in the over 60s with a time of We are finding it hard in Division 1 this year and are now in 6 th (and last position) in the league with 4 points (M&Ms are 5 th with 5 points) we need more men athletes for the next few fixtures to try and avoid relegation it will be embarrassing to go down just as the women are promoted. It was difficult to pick out a women s star on the night as we had nine 1 st places - Mary Brown, Margaret Poole and Sue James grabbing two 1 st places each with Fiona Buckingham, Julie Woods and the 200m relay team grabbing the others. Even though Gill Tree didn t get a 1 st place in the 800m she ran a fantastic race to place 2 nd behind GB international Liz Batty. Overall a great result as this maintains our 1 st place in the 2 nd Division with 18 points (Kent AC are 2 nd with 14 points). Alison White (Team Manager) RACE ENTRY FORMS It would be appreciated if anyone would pass me any unwanted race entry forms that they may acquire at events. Jenny Perman FUND RAISERS SECTION Paddock Wood Fete July 2005 We shall be running a Tombolla stall at this event this year. We would like to start collecting for the stall as soon as possible so do please look out any unwanted gifts, bottles of wine, spirits as well as tins of beans, coke etc (please check dates). If any one has an item suitable as a star prize we would appreciate hearing from you. Many thanks Mary, Terri and Wendy SOCIAL EVENTS FOR YOUR DIARY Early July - PWAC Annual General Meeting Friday 1 July - Social gathering, Forester s Arms Paddock Wood, 8pm Friday 5 August - Social gathering, Forester s Arms Paddock Wood, 8pm Monday 8 - Friday 12 August - Startrack Early September - PWAC Club Championships, Canterbury Friday 2 September - Social gathering, Forester s Arms Paddock Wood, 8pm Friday 7 October - Social gathering, Forester s Arms Paddock Wood, 8pm During November - PWAC Fireworks celebration, Paddock Wood Friday 4 November - Social gathering, Forester s Arms Paddock Wood, 8pm Friday 2 December - Social gathering, Forester s Arms Paddock Wood, 8pm PADDOCK WOOD AC 100 CLUB The May draw was held at the National Junior League fixture at Erith on the 22nd May and drawn by Diane Williams. The winning numbers were as follows: - 1st No:48 - Alan Newman and Sue James p 2nd No:71 PWAC p 3rd No:27 - Des McElroy p David Lindsey TRACK AND FIELD LEAGUE TEAM MANAGERS Kent Young Athletes League Team Manager: JULIAN SEAL National Young Athletes League Team Manager: COLIN UNDERDOWN National Junior Athletes League Team Manager: MICK DUFFIN Southern Men s League Team Managers: JAMES RIDGER & JAMES BATCHELDER Southern Women s League Team Manager: MARK WOODS

3 PENTATHON CUP REPORT The results to follow do not include the Hildenborough 10 and 5 miles, as I understand like the Mascall s 10k and 5k they are approximate distances. These results together with Sevenoaks 7 are in Carol s road running report. I will give an update on the current leaders in my next report. Ladies Tina Oldershaw Fiona Buckingham Penny Roberts Miriam Dorrity HILDENBOROUGH 5M DARENT VALLEY 10k 10/04/05 Men Time Pos Time Points Std 67 John Tolhurst S3 78 Sue James G2 103 Lionel Stielow S3 253 Val Lindsey S3 309 Miriam Dorrity S1-Pb 310 Penny Roberts S2 381 Dinah Truett B1 Val was 1 st and Penny was 2 nd in Ladies O/55 Sue was 3 rd in Ladies O/45 There were 453 finishers WHITSTABLE 10k 2/05/05 Pos Time Points Std Sue James G2 Julian Seal B3 Dinah Truett B2 Janet Seal B1 Sue was 1 st Lady O/50 CANTERBURY 1/2M 15/05/05 Pos Time Points Std 20 Andy Fletcher G1 30 Mickael Hegesippe S2 115 Harry Abrahim B3 pb 287 Val Lindsey S3 351 Penny Roberts S2 427 Dinah Truett B2 There were 513 finishers Paddy Heffernan ROAD RUNNING REPORT HILDENBOROUGH 10M Men Time Rob Rowland Pete Buckingham pb Lionel Stielow Harry Abrahim Gareth Robb John Tolhurst Ladies Gill Tree Angela Creamer? Rob Rowland and Pete Buckingham received trophies as 2 nd and 3 rd man in the 10-mile race and Gareth Robb was 5 th man in the 5-mile race. SEVENOAKS 7 8/05/05 Pos Time 55 Rob Rowland Tina Oldershaw Pete Buckingham Lionel Stielow John Tolhurst Chris Anderson Bob Adams Harry Abrahim Penny Roberts Val Lindsey Dinah Truett Our ladies had an excellent run at Paddock Wood Half Marathon. Tina Oldershaw was 2 nd Vet lady 35 and Tina, Bev Remnant, Fiona Buckingham and Terry Raveh-Martens were 3 rd Women s team. Harry Abrahim achieved a pb here in a time of although he has shaved nearly two minutes off of this at Canterbury. So, the results of the Grand Prix after Canterbury ½ marathon, the men are in 2 nd place with 1134 points. Maidstone Harriers are 1 st with 1263 points and Invicta East Kent AC is 3 rd with 1009 points. The ladies are in 4 th place with 261 points. Dartford RR are in 1 st place with 377 points, followed by Canterbury H with 312 points and Dulwich are 3 rd with 263 points. Maidstone is just behind with 253 points and Sevenoaks have 242 points. This is very close. Let s have as many of us as possible out for the Les Golding Memorial 10k on 12 th June. This takes place at Herne Bay at 10.00am. See Jenny Perman at training for an entry form. Postal entries close on Wednesday 8 th June. This is a Kent Championship race so remember to tick the box and

4 entries on the day don t qualify for the championship race but do for the Grand Prix. The races left to run in the Grand Prix are: - 12 th June Les Golding 10k (Kent Champs) 17 th July Dartford ½ Marathon (Kent Champs) 14 th August Red Lion 10k 4 th September Thanet Marathon (Kent Champs) 2 nd October Sittingbourne 10miles 6 th November Deal 5miles 4 th December Thanet 10miles Mascalls 5k and 10k fun runs are on Sunday 19 th June. If anyone wants to enter please let me know as soon as possible, give me your 6 entry fee and I will get the team sheets to Tony Barnes before the race. Please remember to keep either myself or Paddy informed of your race times on memery@towrylaw.com or on Carol Emery (Road Running Rep) HEAD COACH S BITS 16 th Paddock Wood Half Marathon This year s event was by far our most successful, both in terms of entrants as well as income. You will hear about all this at the AGM in early July. We had a few problems with the organisation of the race in that we began to set it up in October, which was later than normal. This meant we were late advertising it, and then there were problems with our club website which Des White eventually got the web server provider to sort out which was not until late January, I think. Once that was resolved we were off! But then we had another problem. Sports Systems, the company who handle the entries, database input, attaching the chips to the numbers, sending the numbers out, etc. seemed to have overstretched their resources by taking on the Bath Half (6000 runners), Hastings Half (4000 runners) and one or two other large entry races in the few weeks leading up to ours. This meant that our entrants did not get the service they should have got in the lead-up to the race. Sports Systems were still inputting data on the morning of the race at the Car Auctions premises. However, despite the hurried input of data resulting in mistakes on the entries with names incorrect, clubs incorrect (or missing), all came good in the end. We were extremely lucky with the weather yet again, We had the usual moans from residents about the traffic chaos, but this year it was justified because one of the officers on duty decided to do his own thing regarding traffic control in Maidstone Road don t control any of it. As a result I understand he was severely b*!@^ ed twice and his name was mentioned in correspondence to the Chief Inspector at Tonbridge. I don t think he will be invited back next year. Apart from the traffic chaos, Race Day was a day that went by far too quickly. Everything seemed to fall into place and the clear up afterwards was very smooth, thanks to some help from a small group of helpers who stayed behind, some of them having run the race as well. I actually got home before 8:30 this year, had time for a shower and change, ate my dinner and managed to get down to the Foresters for a swift pint or three. I wonder how many of you know just what goes into my build up for a race of this magnitude. I ll list just a few. Obtaining a Race Permit from SEAA, Obtaining Road Closure Orders from separate Highways Departments one in Tunbridge Wells and one in Maidstone, Liaising with the Police, Liaising with Red Cross, Liaising with Raynet, Having meetings with Police, Red Cross and Raynet, Liaising with our Sponsors, Liaising with BARR, Obtaining crowd barriers (including collecting and returning them to Erith), Obtaining transport (trucks), Obtaining the tables and benches, Writing Letters asking for permission to use British Car Auctions, Eldon Way, Transfesa Road and Hop Pocket Lane (all private roads), Writing and delivering Letters to businesses in Eldon Way, Writing and delivering letters to businesses in Transfesa Road, Letters to residents around the whole of the course (I had help delivering these), Writing letters to all the public utilities, Obtaining teams to run the water and sponge stations, Arranging for the Mile Markers to be erected outside private homes, Arranging for the rest of the signs to be erected, Advance Warning Signs around the town and on the approach roads, and so on and so on. Anyone want to take over the job of Race Director of Kent s Biggest and Best Half Marathon? Names on postcards please. Anyway, none of the things that seem to happen overnight, or over the race weekend, would happen at all if it were not for those who volunteered to help out before, during and after the event. Many of you would have trained hard for our Half Marathon and would have been justifiably tired afterwards, so you are excused. For those of you who have not helped out with the Half Marathon, don t be shy about coming forward. Please don t wait to be asked because you may get overlooked. You may find that you have some little bit of expertise in an area that we could make use of. I fully appreciate that this year our race took place during the School Holidays and many of you were away. Next year will probably be the same, but for those of you who helped us out this year, very many

5 thanks. Our race is very much appreciated by those who take part and we have had dozens and dozens of verbal Thank You s from the runners on the day as well as compliments via our website, although one runner complained that there was no 12 Mile marker. Strange that because it was still there when James and Glenn collected the signs after the race! So Many Thanks to all who helped make our race the best one yet. Mick Duffin (Race Director) THE FLORA LONDON MARATHON This probably seems like a dim distant memory now for those who ran it, but it was another memorable day, if only because Paula Radcliffe proved her critics wrong by not only winning the race but set a new fastest time for it as well despite the pit-stop. Congratulations to all of our members who ran the race, especially Paul Hasler who modestly said in The Foresters that he was quite pleased with his performance. I would have been ecstatic. To finish 57 th was a superb result. The report from the water station was very good. I don t think I can top it, but I too have a team at the London Marathon. Mine is in the Finish area. I am the Head Gopher, heading up a team of 30 Gophers who are mainly responsible for finding lost kit bags. Our day is something like this: 06:00 Leave home for Hildenborough where our coach is located. 06:30 Team is assembled and on board the coach so we leave for The Mall. 07:45 We arrive in Parliament Square and a few minutes later we are driving through Admiralty Arch into The Mall. 08:00 We are parked in the service road at the bottom of Wellington Steps alongside our Gopher Hut. I immediately jog the 450m down to the Finish Control to get the keys, only to get a call on my mobile from my son James telling me that one of the outer doors is open and so is the inner one. This is alarming because there are 35 boxes inside the hut containing our uniform Track Suit tops. I get the keys and a 2-way radio & headset and jog back. 08:15 I hold a quick Team Briefing because about Half my team have not been with me before and there are some new issues I have to tell them about. 08:30 Someone suggests McDonalds breakfast so 4 people are dispatched with the order. As our hut has mains power and a telephone we quickly get the kettle on and await the arrival of breakfast and the first of the Baggage Truck team rosters. I radio through to Finish Control to query the delivery food packs, which I am assured, will be delivered soon. (We have to not only deliver the clothing to 34 Truck Teams but the food packs as well.) 09:30 After a cuppa we have received all the team rosters so the sorting out of boxes of clothing the correct sizes and packs of food can continue and deliveries can commence very soon. 10:45 The first 3 trucks arrive from the start loaded with kit bags that have to be sorted into numerical order (some 1700 on each truck). This cannot commence until all the trucks arrive. 11:00 The remaining 31 trucks arrive like a military convoy and line up in 2 parallel rows along the centre of The Mall. Once in position, barriers are erected across the front of each truck near the kerb and 2 deep away from the trucks. The curtains are pulled back and the sort begins. If you have never seen this operation it is truly remarkable to witness, because there are very few mis-sorted bags to begin with and we have to get them to the correct trucks. 11:15 Three vehicles arrive with the late kitbags these are the ones left at the side of the road where runners may have got to the start area late, or just been too lazy to get their bags to a truck. There are around 1500 of these bags and we have to sort them into numerical order and get them to the correct trucks. There is a surprise. On one of these late trucks is a young lady who has put her bag into the van but forgotten to pin her number on her vest. She wants us to find it and she can t remember her number, but her bag was definitely on the van she arrived in! We eventually find it, she pine her number on and gets a taxi back to the start. She is already 100 minutes late starting and by the time she gets to Greenwich she will be about 2hrs 30min late. 11:45 Paula has finished and so has the men s winner. The first of the Elite and the AAA Championship runners are also arriving. Soon there is a constant stream of runners coming in and many cannot find their kitbags. They come to us and we rush off to see if we can find the bags for them. Sometimes we find a bag within seconds, sometimes it can take as many as 7 attempts. After a while the truck teams become number blind and the bag may be right in front of them but they just can t see it. We go into their area and search. Sometimes we get number stuck on upside down so the 6616 can be read as 9199 and will be on the wrong truck. Sometimes there will not be a number at all and I have to open the bag to find some identification, hopefully the white Registration Envelope will be inside on which is the runner s number. I stick a label on the bag and write the number

6 on it with a permanent marker and get it to the correct truck. The day flies by and we then gradually get the fancy dress runners fairies with hairy chests and beards, rhino s, mobile phones, beef burgers and so on. You would be amazed at what people decide to wear to run the longest race of their lives. Still the runners come flooding in and by late afternoon The Mall resembles a battlefield with exhausted runners laying flat out on the gravel or the pavement having a quick nap. This makes it very difficult for us to negotiate our way to the trucks when carrying out a search, but we manage. 4:30pm We get the signal to build a compound by our hut where all the remaining kitbags on the trucks can be brought in sequence. We sort them out as quickly as we can and have to contend with runners asking for their bags while they are being carried up to us. Some of these bags are very heavy and it is a struggle. Eventually we have all the kitbags and the trucks can the Finish Line by golf buggy and trailer. Once this has been done I can get rid of my radio, headset and the keys to the hut, load all our gear back onto the coach and make our way back to Hildenborough. 6:40pm We leave The Mall and make our way back through the South Bank area, but there are diversions due to the roads that have not yet been re-opened after the Marathon runners have passed by. Eventually, after many diversions and detours we arrive back at Hildenborough at around 8:00pm. 8:20pm I am home, in the shower, scoff my dinner (not at the same time) get ready to go out and just make it to The Foresters before they call last orders. I manage to get 3 pints of real ale down the inside of my neck in a very short space of time. A 14 hour day all for 10 and a tracksuit top! Next year my team is going to increase to 36 but places are virtually all taken already. For some reason everyone wants to come back for another go. There s no accounting for taste! LEAGUE COMPETITIONS 1. As one of the Team Managers for the leagues that cater for the younger members of our club, I wonder where all the U/13, U/15, U/17 and U/20 athletes are? According to our membership list we have quite a lot of you, with many more coming along to training but not yet having joined or rejoined. The first Kent Young Athletes League match saw NO Paddock Wood AC competitors at all. The first National Young Athletes League saw about 4 of you, and the first 2 National Junior League matches have seen 4 girls and a boy at the first one and 3 girls and 2 boys at the second one, which was the match we were hosting. This is disgraceful, particularly as the club is paying a lot of money in affiliation fees to these leagues to provide you with competition. The Team managers do a lot of hard work to get a team together and I for one am getting fed up with athletes not ringing me when they have promised faithfully to do so, or just leaving a match without giving me a reason why they are not waiting for the next event which is just 5 minutes after they leave, or simply not turning up at the match without ringing me to tell me why. What is the point of turning up for training, getting better at your events because of it and then not competing? This sort of attitude is not going to do our track bid much good. We are striving to get you all a facility we can train on all year round and you cannot be bothered to turn out for your club. If that s the way you want it, so be it. I may well recommend to the committee that we withdraw from these leagues unless we get the support we deserve. Can I remind the various age groups of the reasons we enter these junior leagues? Firstly, the Kent Young Athletes League is designed for U/13 and U/15 Boys and Girls to have their first crack at league competition within Kent and you may be noticed by the Kent County AA Team Selectors to represent your County in Athletics. Secondly, the National Yong Athletes League is for U/13 & U/15 Boys and Girls as well as U/17 Men & Women. The competing clubs come from Kent, Surrey and Sussex so the athletes may not be familiar to you and will give you a more competitive edge. Thirdly, the National Junior Athletics League is designed specifically for the U/17 & U/20 Men & Women as the natural progression from the Young Athletes League, not straight into Senior Competition. I am not saying you MUST NOT compete in the Senior Leagues, but you SHOULD consider the National Junior League as your prime progression from Young Athletes Leagues. By a similar token, don t just think of yourself as a one event athlete until you have proved to yourself that you are physically incapable of doing any other event. All the 3 three leagues mentioned above have our male and female athletes competing at the same place at the same time, which promotes a good club atmosphere. We used to pride ourselves that other clubs envied us for the atmosphere we created among ourselves at matches. Let s revive it by turning out. All Team Managers would rather have too many athletes wanting to compete rather than not enough.

7 LEAGUE COMPETITIONS 2. Whilst on the subject of League Competition, can I first of all congratulate the Senior Men s Team for their winning performance at Crawley, where they won by 23 points. They were at a joint match with the Southern Women s League. Our Southern Women s League team that day was sent to compete at the Barn Elms track at Richmond, where we competed in a TRIPLE MATCH, 2 Southern Women s League matches and a single Southern Men s League match. Those of us who went to Richmond were appalled at the facilities there. The only covered accommodation was a converted army Nissen Hut (from World War 2 days) that had cover for about 50 people at the most. With 12 clubs competing it was too much for the club or the facilities to cope with. I took the precaution of taking a small tent with me. The track was a Mondo track, which is basically a carpet, and it does not drain. In other words it is not porous and following some extremely heavy rain, lane 1 and parts of lane 2 quickly became flooded which resulted in the hurdles in lane 1 being moved to lane 5. The High Jump fan was also under almost 2cm of water and had to be brushed clear because the sponge roller was not working (the bung could not be tightened). To attempt to jump with standing water would have been dangerous as the carpet becomes slippery. The Steeplechase water jump was full of water when we arrived but even despite the rain it was quickly emptying. It turned out there was a hole in the base of it and it had to be refilled 3 times during the afternoon. In addition the cage was worse than the one at Dartford it had wire mesh instead of proper netting and the doors could not be moved. Also, it was only 5 metres high and should have been at least 7 metres with 9 metre doors. It should have been condemned. But that s not all we had been given 2 field events to judge. Nothing wrong with that, I hear you say, only they were at the same time! But we fared better than East Grinstead though. They had 3 events to judge at the same time! The meeting organisation went from bad to worse. There were only 2 legal specification Javelins for the ladies to use and when I took Elizabeth s Javelins to the Field Referee to verify them she took one look at them and said (and I quote) Don t they look lovely. They really are nice. Yes, they will do! She did not weigh them or measure them at all! She later told me that she was only told on the Friday that she was Field Ref and that her son had had to fly her over that morning from Jersey in his plane so she could be at the match. How the other half live! Still, at least Richmond & Twickenham AC have a track, which is more than we have. I will write to the League about the Richmond match and its facilities, as well as mentioning that to hold a 3 match event there was obviously too much for the Richmond club to organise. They did their best but the meeting ran hopelessly over time and we eventually left there about 7:00pm when the last event was scheduled to start at 5:30pm. Some teams had a long way to go to get home Brighton for one, and Paddock Wood for another. POLE VAULT We hope to be coaching this event at Tonbridge Track on Wednesday evenings while we can. If you are interested please just turn up at the track from 6:30pm. The coaching is pretty basic, but you must be 14 years old or more, please. This is not an event for really young members. OLD AGE Old Age is upon us! Well at least it seems to be upon me. I recently signed papers for my State Pension, which I shall be entitled to from July 22 nd this year. Just think if I lived in London, or mostly any large city I d get a bus pass! Perhaps I can turn into Victor Meldrew overnight and have a moan about and at everything and everybody that doesn t fit the norm or something. It s amazing what you can get free when you re 65 senile dementia (I think I got that years ago!), arthritis, incontinence (I don t have either of those yet!), free prescriptions, discount on Thursdays or Fridays at Homebase, and a host of other things. At Beefeater Pub/Restaurants I can get 10% off my bill, except at weekends or Bank Holidays. I must say that sex at 65 is wonderful I live at 89 so it s not far to go! Age is all relative I suppose. I don t feel old, except when I realise that some of the young people I coach are more than 5 times younger than me. It just gets a little more tiring doing all the things you used to have time to do and suddenly the day seems to fly by and you wonder where all the time has gone and you ve only done half of what you set out to do. One of these days some young upstart will come along and volunteer to take over as Race Director of the Paddock Wood Half Marathon, or organise Startrack! I hope I live long enough to see that happen Oh look! There goes another fat pink thing flying past! I can have dreams I suppose. Today I got my official letter at work from the HR department telling me that my official retirement day is 22 nd July 2005 so that s it! But hang on a minute, there s another one in the pipeline offering me a 6- monthly rolling contract from September, so perhaps I haven t really got to retire at all. We shall see. I might just want to become one of the old gits stuffing things on shelves at B & Q or something, but then the orange uniform shirts don t really match my complexion. Decisions, decisions.

8 HALF MARATHON MUSINGS Life s strange isn t it. During our Half Marathon the police and many of our race marshals suffered verbal abuse from motorists who had been held up due to the large number of runners taking part. There were letters in the press as well, especially one from an irate resident in Chaffinch Way, Paddock Wood who, whilst saying he had immense admiration for those who organised and took part in the race, it would have been a good idea to let people know what time the race actually started. This is strange because I know that this person had a letter put through his letterbox on which it stated exactly what times the Fun Run and the Half Marathon started. Perhaps he doesn t read anything that comes through his door, or perhaps he just wanted to get his name in the press. The criticisms we got were despite the fact that I personally erected advance warning signs on the approaches to Paddock Wood, as well as at some of the major junctions in Paddock Wood some 2 weeks before the race, as well as putting letters through every door on the route as well as many houses just off it, like Chaffinch Way. Imagine my surprise then that last weekend I was going to Erith track where we were hosting a match with Janet and we got held up at the Hop Farm Roundabout due to traffic coming from all directions for the Tesco Race For Life at the Hop Farm. Now I have no objections to any race being held anywhere, but there were NO advance warning signs, there were NO police directing or controlling traffic. Strangely there was nothing in the local press this week in the way of complaints about the traffic congestion because the race was for a good cause. Obviously our race doesn t qualify even though it s also for a good cause. Just one police officer at the Hop Farm Roundabout would have worked wonders. Come back Clive Bryant! Paddock Wood residents may have a shock next year. The police want us to close Maidstone Road to ALL traffic entering the town at the Hop Farm Roundabout as well as closing Warrington Road! I am negotiating with them on this one because they will have to come up with extra manpower as well as sign the diversions. Watch this space. The other track we got planning permission for was a 6-lane one in the field at the back of Mascalls School behind where the new Arts block is being built. There was an objection to those plans from a resident on Gedges Hill who complained that the floodlights on any track built in the bomb crater would intrude upon his view across the Medway Valley. I wonder how they feel now about the steel skeleton of the 3 storey block intruding on their view? Or how they will feel when the steel skeleton is clad in brick or blocks? Good luck to Mascalls. They are getting a lot of Lottery funding. There is more in the pipeline too, with a refurbishment of the Sports hall and changing room s area. This will provide a new floor and disabled access to both the hall and the toilets and changing rooms. Let s hope that when they get it, they look after it. The floor in the Sports hall has never been sealed properly as far as I can remember. Getting back to our new track at Putlands, we need your support for this project. You could show it by turning up at Tonbridge track on Wednesdays to learn some track discipline, so that when we get our own facility we will know what to do on training nights when we are all close together, instead of spread apart like we are now. MICK DUFFIN LARKFIELD TEN K RESULTS FROM 389 FINISHERS Pos Time Pete Buckingham Tina Oldershaw Lionel Stielow Adam Feakins Robert Adams Fiona Buckingham Harry Abraham Penny Roberts Colin Robilliard AND FINALLY Thank Heavens for that someone said. Doesn t he go on! Well, yes I do go on a bit, especially about things I care about. Today our application for an athletics track at Putlands was listed as being before the Tunbridge Wells Planning Committee. This is our second application for a track in Paddock Wood. Let s hope this one is successful and that we are able to raise the funds to build it. We need over 250,000 just to get a track that we have been told by UKA is all we can expect.

9 "FAMOUS FIVE MASTER THE ALGARVE" Five members of PWAC travelled to Monte Gordo / Vila Real de Santo Antonio in the beautiful Portuguese Algarve for the 9th European Non-Stadia Championships and returned with a brace of bronze medals. Sue James struck bronze in the W50 team events in the 10k road race and cross country relay representing GB Masters against the cream of European age-group competition. Des and Alison White travelled with Sportsresort from Gatwick together with experienced "internationals" Alan Newman and Sue James, while Peter Mander travelled independently accompanied by his wife. The race HQ and main PWAC party accommodation was the very comfortable Iberotel Praia Monte Gordo which was soon renamed the "free beer hotel" as all drinks with meals were included in the package and taken full advantage of by the athletes due to the need to rehydrate in the hot and humid conditions. An early alarm call at 0200 hours on Thursday 12th May was followed by an uneventful journey and check in at the hotel before lunch was enjoyed on the beach in the form of tasty Bifana hot pork sandwiches (a steal at just 2.50 Euros). The hotel had obviously been advised of the Very Important Person in our party as the PWAC Chairman had been allocated an 11th floor executive suite complete with separate lounge, two TVs and massive balcony with panoramic vista. The White suite was visited by the poor people in the party who had been more than satisfied with their billet until opening the door to the grandiose accommodation allocated to the VIPs. Some people were here for serious competition (allegedly) and so it was that at 0930 hours the next day the group joined 450 other nervous athletes for the first event, a flat and fast (for some) 10k race. Our group all achieved their targets despite oppressive conditions and the VIP White gained a bonus 10 seconds off his perceived finishing time due to an inexplicable error in the results. The evening presentations brought the first pleasant surprise as Sue James was confirmed as a bronze medallist in the W50 team event. Saturday morning was even hotter and only Des White and Peter Mander were brave enough to tackle the half marathon championships held on a rather boring course up and down the main promenade road. There were 360 runners in this event and with support from the rest of the PWAC party both finished in fair shape and the VIP was rewarded by the arbitrary Portuguese timekeeping system with another 10 second bonus. Some excitement was generated that evening when Sue was confirmed in the GB Masters W50 team for the cross country relay with Des and Alan declared for the GB Masters M50 B team the following day. The relay was held in a beautiful pine wood adjacent to a stadium that would grace any major conurbation in UK. On the hottest day so far the athletes were relieved to find the course short of the advertised 2k (women) and 4k (men) - or perhaps the sunshine had turned us all into superstars overnight? Sue added a second team bronze, running the fastest leg for the GB W50 team on the first stage. Alan and Des ran legs two and three for the GB M50s and finished first B team in 13th overall without tangible reward. The rest of the week was spent as tourists and training in some of the best running country ever experienced with over 12 kilometres of sandy beach in front of the hotel and miles of well maintained paths in the woods. Training twice a day, even if only for minutes due to the heat, never felt so good and there was much talk about organising a return visit purely for the purpose of a training holiday in the near future. Results 10K Run - 13/05/05 M50 21st Alan Newman (5th GB) M50 24th Des White (6th GB) W50 8th Sue James (2nd GB) - Team Bronze W50 18th Alison White (4th GB) Half Marathon - 14/05/05 M50 35th Des White (5th GB) M65 18th Peter Mander (5th GB) Cross Country Relay - 15/05/05 M50 B Team 13th Alan Newman / Des White W50 3rd Team Sue James (No split times were taken) Alan Newman

10 CANCELLED THANET 20 RACE A voucher offering a free place into the Thanet Marathon or 1/2 Marathon on 4th Sept. will be in the post to all entrants soon. It will need to be sent back with entry forms to ensure free entry. FORTHCOMING EVENTS Sunday 12 th June 2005 LES GOLDING 10K, THE DOWNS, HERNE BAY, (KENT CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT) Eltham Park 5, Eltham Park South, Glenesk Road, Eltham, London SE9 Wednesday 15 th June 2005 TRACK & FIELD TRAINING SESSION, TONBRIDGE TRACK Saturday & Sunday 18 th / 19 th June 2005 SEAA Senior Championships, Ashford, Kent Sunday 19 th June 2005 NATIONAL JUNIOR LEAGUE, BEXLEY Race for Life 5K, Alexandra Park, Hastings, Sussex Mascalls Fun Run 10k & 5k, Mascalls School, Paddock Wood, Kent Wednesday 22 nd June 2005 TRACK & FIELD TRAINING SESSION, TONBRIDGE TRACK KCAA 3,000m and 10,000m Championships, Canterbury, Kent Friday 24 th June 2005 SOUTHERN VETERANS LEAGUE, CANTERBURY Brands Hatch Summer 10k Series, West Kingsdown, Kent Saturday 25 th June 2005 SOUTHERN MEN S TRACK & FIELD LEAGUE, DARTFORD Sunday 26 th June 2005 NATIONAL YOUNG ATHLETES LEAGUE, HORSHAM Midsummer 10k, Heathfield & Waldron Rugby Club, Cross-in Hand, Sussex Orpington 10k, Darrick Wood School, Orpington, Kent The North Downs Run 30k, Cascades Leisure Centre, Thong Lane, Gravesend, Kent Wednesday 29 th June 2005 TRACK & FIELD TRAINING SESSION, TONBRIDGE TRACK Crawley AC Track & Field Open Meeting, Crawley. Saturday 2 nd July 2005 Race for Life 5k, Stanmer Park, Brighton, Sussex Saturday & Sunday 2 nd / 3 rd July 2005 Norwich Union AAAE U20 / U23 Championships, Bedford, Bedfordshire Sunday 3 rd July 2005 KENT YOUNG ATHLETES LEAGUE, BEXLEY Race for Life 5K, Stanmer Park, Brighton, Sussex Bewl 15, Uplands Sports Centre, Wadhurst, Sussex Tuesday 5 th July 2005 Avril Bowring Memorial Series (Meeting 3), Tonbridge Track. Wednesday 6 th July 2005 TRACK & FIELD TRAINING SESSION, TONBRIDGE TRACK Saturday 9 th July 2005 SOUTHERN MEN S TRACK & FIELD LEAGUE, DARTFORD Sunday 10 th July 2005 Cliffe Woods 10k, Cliffe Woods, Rochester, Kent Race for Life 5k, The Lees, Folkestone, Kent Race for Life 5k, Blackheath, London For further details please contact JENNY PERMAN on Club Training Nights or Tel:

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