Following the recent period of unpredictable weather last weekend brought warm and breezy weather to the Kent coast just in time for the 10^th anniversary of the Folkestone Coastal 10k. And when the sun shone, so did Ashford & District’s finest! The fast, flat course made for excellent times heading away from Folkestone but upon turning to make their way back runners were met by a challenging zephyr.

Fastest over the distance was club whippet Aiden Gorham in a blistering time of 35:55 who wasn’t to see another member until the marathoner duo of Paul Ridley and James Booth finished only 18 seconds apart in their respective times of 38:40 and 38:58. Paul Moses ran at his usual impressive pace and clocked 40:08 with Daniel Head hot on his trail, fighting through the wind in 41:57. Richard Boakes ran a solid 42:27 and was followed in by Keith Haynes whose 42:40 left him in 93^rd place overall. Next home and feeling the heat was men’s captain Adrian Beresford in 45:09. Enjoying the tailwind on his way to the 5k point Adam Clegg finished in 46:44 with Stuart Nunn continuing his journey back to form with 48:33. Competing well despite the summer temperature was Matt Hardwick who ran 48:56, shortly followed over the crowded finish line by Emma Hanna whose time of 50:03 made her first female for the club. A mere 20 seconds later Ailis Goddard crossed the line after 50 minutes and 23 seconds of quality running. Sophie Edmonds produced another consistent performance with her time of 51:36 before Trevor Sparkes annihilated his previous best by 24 seconds to set a new official PB of 56:25. Peter Buckley and Sophie Cooper arrived just ten seconds apart in 57:35 and 57:45 respectively and Lesley Moody clocked 1:00:58 on the out-and-back course. Sandra Gooding completed her 10k in 1:03:55 with Sarah Taylor rounding the club’s entries off with a solid 1:04:38.

On the same day the Fidges competed in the Isle Of Wight Running Festival Duver Dash, finishing the fun run-style undulating 5k route in their incredibly exact times of 29:00 for John and 31:00 for Ann. Earlier in the week Cris Francis and Alison Waters tackled Race 2 of the floodlit 5k series at Gravesend with Alison finishing in 22:17 and Cris snapping at her heels in a crisp 22:27.

A full on weekend of racing saw the A&D members proudly sporting their club colours and taking part in some local races.

Rik Holden and Linda-Jean Delport kicked the weekend off at the Kent Spring Marathon.  Holden set the bar as he blazed around the 26.2 mile undulating, mixed terrain, two lap course in an amazing 3.27.07.  This placed him 15^th overall and 2^nd in age category.  A fantastic result.  Delport followed  and crossed the line in a respectable 3.46.11.

Completing the Kent Spring Half Marathon distance and first home for the club was Keith Haynes who posted a speedy 1.36.46 in his first race back in 14months.  Not far behind, and running a PB was Hugh Scarlin (1.45.54).  Alison Waters led it home for the ladies in a PB time of 1.48.07 and Emma Hanna showcased an amazing time of 1.50.14 in her first ever half marathon.   Keeping up the PB trend over the gruelling 13.1 miles, Ailis Goddard (1.55.24) and Sarah Taylor (2.21.23) were next to cross the line.  Rachel Jenkins (2.23.27) followed with Lesley Moody close behind in a PB time of 2.23.34.  An absolutely impressive A&D representation with amazing performances all round.

Down in Headcorn, Keith Lynn bravely tackled the half marathon, and stormed across the finish line with a PB time of 2.00.17.

And so concludes another successful weekend of racing with loads of team spirit and excitement to be had.

Happy running everyone.

As racing slowly begins to emerge like a daffodil at the first hint of spring, so did 4 of A&D’s hardy runners emerge from their training cocoons.

Kicking off the task at the Dorney Lakes Marathon, and following months of hard work and a rigorous training schedule, were the marathon training twosome of Paul Ridley and James Booth.  Not deterred by this looping course which was rather exposed to the wind, they showed amazing determination and both posted sub 3 hour PB times over the 26.2 mile distance.    Ridley crossed the finish line in an amazing 2.53.51 with fellow teammate James Booth not far behind in an equally impressive 2.59.35.

Down on the coast and showing how it is done over the 10k distance,  Tracey Calnan and Simon Jackson both laced up their running shoes and battled the winds at the Smugglers 10k in Minnis Bay.  Calnan sailed across the line in a 48.24, with Jackson (50.51) storming close behind.

It was a truly impressive start to this years racing calendar with a special thanks going to the hard work of the race organisers who have been going above and beyond to put on these COVID friendly running events.

Happy running all.

On a day when racing came closer to home, the club’s athletes turned out plenty of impressive results for observers to admire. Twelve runners tackled the exposed Romney Marsh 10K route, producing a good turnout for the club in Covid times. The race started dry but conditions soon turned wet and windy for the later starters.

Dan Green, who has clearly lost none of his pace, brought things home first for the club and won the V50 category in a scorching time of 38:35. Paul Moses finished his outing just under a minute later in 39:32 for the club’s second sub-40 finisher of the day. Next home was the duo of Adrian Beresford and the recently injury-free John Beale crossing the line together in 42:57. First finisher for the women was Rhian Shrimplin with a tremendous PB of 42.17. Linda Delport’s Wave 1 start also helped her to make the best of the early weather and finish after 43:12. Alison Waters produced a PB performance, finishing in 45:11 and slashing over a minute off her best time set in Canterbury two months prior. Next to finish were Jayne Fryer and Tracy Calnan taking just 46:22 and 47:14 respectively. Hugh Scarlin continued his excellent regular race entry habit by running 48:44. Stu Nunn, completing the distance despite not feeling well, tail-gunned his way under the 50-minute barrier in 49:26 to round out the club’s entrants.

In the world of marathoning, Rik Holden fired out yet another edition of the full distance, this time at Betteshanger in 3 hours 40 minutes on the nose. He has one more to go to make it…well…a load of marathons this year.