All Club News
Summer BBQ and 800m Grand Prix, 27 August
Our annual Summer Barbecue is coming up on Tuesday, 27 August!
This year, as last year, we'll be welcoming back Mike and his food truck. He's asked that we give him an idea of the number of people to expect, so if you haven't already done so, please fill out this Google form as soon as you can. We won't hold you to your menu choices, but it would help to give Mike a sense of what to bring. And, just as last year, we'll be subsidising your dinner with £5 vouchers for club members!
But it's not all food - we'll also be holding our 800m Grand Prix race for Seniors and our mixed Juniors and Seniors 400m relay. Get ready to run!
Run Reigate volunteers needed
Run Reigate is coming up on Sunday, 22 September. We know that many of you will be running the race but please consider volunteering if you can - they're particularly looking for energetic team leaders! If you can volunteer, follow this link to sign up. And if you haven't already registered to run, you can do so here.
Update to the SportsShoes discount
You can now link your England Athletics membership with your SportsShoes ULTRA account to receive discount automatically at checkout. This prevents the need to enter a code at checkout, making receiving discount from us a lot quicker and easier. You can also find out more here. The discount on offer has also changed - you will now get 15% off in season products. Some exclusions apply to this promotion, including Coros, Garmin, Shokz, Maurten products and a few shoes. For the next couple of months there will still be the option to use the existing offer whilst we transition to the new method of redeeming your running club discount.
Couch to 5K Programme starts 28th September
Our next Couch to 5K Programme starts on Saturday 28th September, with optional but recommended lead-in sessions on Saturday 14th September and Saturday 21st September. Participation is free for members, but if you know someone outside the club who might benefit from the programme, please let them know about it. The cost of the 12-week programme, including the optional sessions and parkrun graduation, is £17 all inclusive - an absolute bargain, but it gets even better: Graduates who go on to join our club will see that cost deducted from their joining fee. Of course, our main aim is to get people off the couch and running for health and welfare - joining our club is icing on the cake!
The full details of the programmecan be seen here.
Sendus your results, please!
If youparticipate in an event,email
to let us know your results. Pleasesubmit by Sunday evening at the latest to allow us to meet the deadline for the Surrey Mirror sports pages.
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If you don't already, please follow us onFacebookandInstagram - we're growing, but we need all the support we can get! And, of course, we'd love to get your photos and stories up there, so please, share on the WhatsApp social group when you can. Thanks!
Ebbisham Boys' League
The final match in this years Ebbisham Boys' Athletics League took place at Coulsdon on Sunday 28 July.
There were some great performances from the nine strong team of Reigate Priory athletes with almost all achieving at least one PB. Keagan Stricker Timmermans and Rafi Varah both ran PBs in the 100m in very fast times that place them respectively second and fifth on the RPAC U13 Junior records list. Rafi shares fifth place with Ryan Longman who now plays upfront for Hull City in the Championship.
Keagan also improved his 800m PB in finishing second overall. Isaac Armitage achieved PBs in both the 200m and 1500m. James De'Ath finished second in the 1500m, taking ten seconds off his PB and also improved his long jump PB, as did Raphael Watkins and Piers Matthews. In the U11s Josh Barrett and Harry De'Ath both ran strongly in their first competitive event for the Club and it was great to have Pete Littlemore back competing for the first time this season after injury. Pete ran a very impressive 1500m time, particularly given his lack of training.
Park Run PBs
It is good to see the RPAC juniors have not all put their feet up over the summer. Four juniors recorded PBs at the Reigate Park Run on Saturday. Charlotte Randall took almost a minute off her PB in recording a new best of 22:23. Olivia Aries improved her best by ten seconds and Vivvy and Isabelle Loynes both also improved their bests. The event was won by a second claim junior, Euan Willis, in a very impressive time of 16:43, coming home a full three minutes ahead of the second placed runner.
Surrey representation
Keagan Stricker Timmermans made a very impressive debut for Surrey in the U13 South East intercounties match held at Walton on Sunday. He came second in the B string 200m with a new PB of 26:7 and then won the non scoring 800m.
Local Open meetings with junior events
If you're looking for competitive opportunities over the summer holidays, here are a number of good local Open Meetings:
Tonbridge Open Tuesday, 6 August
Aldershot Open Thursday, 15 August
Blackheath and Bromley Open Monday, 19 August
Crawley Open Monday, 26 August
Tonbridge Open Monday, 26 August
You will need to register via the local athletics clubs hosting the events, and each will have slightly different selections of events and age groups, so please check this carefully.
Podium Performance Athletics Academy
Podium Performance Athletics Academy is hosting sessions in August - see the poster below for details.
Dates for the Juniors diary
Saturday, 24 AugustLily B Girls Track and Field League, Kingston
Saturday, 14 SeptemberRescheduled National Cross Country event, Weston Park Shropshire
Saturday, 21 SeptemberSouthern Road Relays, Aldershot
Saturday, 5 OctoberBruce Judd (Surrey County) Cross Country relays, West Horsley Place
MABAC Wimbledon Common Tomorrow (Tuesday 6 August)
The next MABAC race will be held tomorrow evening (Tuesday, 6th August) at Wimbledon Common at 19:30. As a consequence the normal Battlebridge session will be uncoached to encourage as many of you as possible to turn out for the MABAC.
In past seasons we have enjoyed our best turnouts at Wimbledon; it would be great if this year was no different. There will be a few changes this year: we'll have a brand new course, starting from the far corner of the car park by Wimbledon Windmill, at the end of Windmill Road and, sadly, the Wimbledon Windmilers will NOT be providing a buffet after the run. Luckily, the London Scottish Golf Club, next to the Windmill, are ready to help us rehydrate after the run, so there is no need to dash straight off afterwards.
Details about the venue are on the MABAC website.
Please note that the venue is within the ULEZ zone so car sharing is probably even more important than usual. For anyone travelling from Reigate, we'll be leaving Bell St car park at 18:10 if you want to car share. If you haven't done so already please let me know ASAP if you need a lift or can help with transport (email 
). If you are going directly there, the postcode is SW19 5NQ or the What3Words reference is chest.chains.swift.
I have received this additional information from Windmilers about parking and toilets:
"Please use the car park by the Windmill. It is not massive, so if you can car share that would be appreciated. If it gets full, there is on street parking in Queensmere Rd (from 4pm) and Inner Park Rd (from 7pm). At the moment, the car park is open until 9.30pm. However, even after that time one side of the gates is left open to allow cars to exit. Even if the car park gates are locked, the London Scottish Golf Club, where you are able to enjoy a drink after the race, has a key so cars can exit
We have also asked that the toilets by the Windmill are left open until 7.30. Normally they are locked by 6.00 or 6.30. After the race, I suggest you have a drink at the Golf Club and use their facilities"
Jimmy James Handicap Race 3 This Thursday, 8th August
If you want to run you have until 23:59 tomorrow (Tuesday 6th April) to let me know so that I can calculate your handicap and start time. You need to do this even if you have run previous races please. If you haven't run one of these before you need to let me have a recent 5K or 10K time so that I can work out a handicap time for you. Emails to 
MABAC Pairs Relays, 18 August
The MABAC Pairs Relay will be held on Sunday, 18 August at Matthew Arnold School, Kingston Road, Staines-upon-Thames, TW18 1PF. Two runners alternate round a flat 1K grass circuit five times. The relays start at 11 am, but registration of the pair must be by 10.30 am. This is a free event open only to MABAC league clubs with no points or medals, but fantastic bragging rights for several categories. Participants are encouraged to bring a picnic and maybe a gazebo, MABAC will supply soft drinks.
Wednesday S&C session resumes 14 August
There will be no strength and conditioning class with Alex from Rugged Fit Outdoors this week or next, but we'll be back at Mercers Lake on Wednesday, 14 August, at 7:15 pm. If you're interested in attending - it's a terrific class - please join the WhatsApp group, linked in the emailed version of this newsletter.
Run Reigate Thursday Session
Last Thursday, 1st August it was our turn to host the the Run Reigate training session. The session was led by Ellis Cain-Jones and he was supported by a good selection of RPAC coaches and runners. The session was progressive loops of a 700m course, the idea being to hold your pace despite increasing the number of loops. Despite thunder and lightning and a cloudburst everyone seemed to enjoy the session and thanked RPAC members for helping them (or was it cajoling them?) through the session.
Parkruns a Plenty
With many people away on holiday RPAC members took part in a number of Parkruns spread far and wide across the country. Pictured above are Paul and Sarah who ran what is reputedly Britain's loveliest Parkrun course at Bryn Bach near Tredegar in South Wales.
Nick Wade was undoubtedly the furthest from home when he came second in the Terry Hershey Parkrun in Houston, Texas. Well done Nick, I expect it was pretty warm!
Closer to home Euan Willis finished in first place in the Reigate Priory Parkrun in a new PB of 16:43, beating the second placed runner by over three minutes. I know Parkrun isn't a race, but..... Astonishingly quick Euan, very well done.
British Masters Champs (26-28 July) from Andrew Pringle
There was mixed weather at the British Masters T&F Champs in Derby last weekend (26-28th), with cool and blustery Saturday contrasting with a blistering hot, still Sunday.
There were some great performances and a few British records over the weekend, although there were a few disappointed athletes who missed their events after they got stuck when the M1 north got closed by police and diverted up the A45. Luckily I was on the Motorcycle and could filter past the long line of stationary cars and trucks on the A45, and when I got to the front of the queue, the reason for the delays were clear. There were police cars, vans and motorcycle outriders stopping the traffic for….and you could not make this up….a charity cycle ride by local police forces. So the Police diverted 4 lanes of M1 traffic which was all filtering up the single lane A45 at 12mph following 100 police cyclists.
Hats off to all the officials who managed to get through all the events across three days. Entries ballooned from 500 to over 850 on the last day of entries, so there was a fair bit of rescheduling as more track heats and different field timetables had to be drawn up.
I was waving the flag for Reigate Priory / Scottish Vets and managed to pick up a couple of Silver medals for the Triple Jump and High Jump in M60 category, and also happy to get PBs in both the Triple Jump (10.16) and 400m (65.5).
It was a bit of trek but it has been a good target in the diary to try to improve throughout the season for.
All ages and abilities compete, whether you are aiming for medals or just taking part, it is a competitive but fun competition.Everybody is just happy to be able to still compete with runners in their 70s and beyond, so why not keep it in mind for next summer season?
Although the Masters league is finished, there are still more events if you want to try something new or get a season best performance, with a few events still available for Masters (or younger) athletes
26 Aug Tonbridge Open (OpenTrack)
26 Aug Crawley Open K2 ( Roster?)
31 Aug Vets AC & London Masters Open – Tooting Bec (OpenTrack)
If you want something REALLY different, why not have a look at the Basingstoke AC Speed Decathlon/Heptathlon on 28th Sept. That is the entire 10/7 events all within 1 hour!! Implements and hurdles are at correct age specification for Masters too, so age is no bar to competing. So if you want to try a multi event but can’t spare 2 days to compete – have a look at their website.
Enjoy the sunny, warm fast dry track conditions while you can (it will be the cold, wet & muddy XC season before you know it).
Update on Kate
Kate Knight took part in the Great Barrow 10 in 10 Challenge in Suffolk. The idea was to run 10 events in 10 days (26th July - 4th August). Kate completed 8 races - 4 marathons, 3 half marathons and 32km. Here she is pictured with her husband, Jim.
Up-Coming Races from Nat
Please see dates of forthcoming team events to make a note of. Emails will be sent out when entries are open for anyone wishing to take part. Please note the change to the Surrey Road Relays, see information below
Saturday 21st September - South East of England Relays - Rushmoor Arena Aldershot
Saturday 5th October - Surrey Endurance Relays - West Horsley
Saturday 12th October - Match 1 Surrey Cross Country League
Saturday 26th October - Surrey Masters Cross Country Championships 2024 - Nonsuch Park
Saturday 2nd November - Priory Relays - Priory Park (Marshals
required too)
Saturday 9th November - Match 2 Surrey Cross Country League
Saturday 4th January 2025 - Surrey Cross Country Championships - Lloyd Park, Croydon
Surrey Endurance Relays formerly known as The Surrey Road Relays
For many years, the road relays were held for senior and vet teams in Wimbledon Park in September. For several reasons the Wimbledon course has been deemed no longer suitable. This is because it is felt on a fine day the park and it’s approach roads are too popular and too congested for fast runners to safely negotiate.
Several options have been looked at but an alternative suitable course on tarmac could not be found. It has therefore been decided that the 2024 event will be a trail or cross-country relay instead to be held on Saturday 5th October 2024
With the help of GGAC (Guildford & Godalming AC) the use of West Horsley Place has been confirmed. The course is about 5km which mostly sticks to paths and trails through the private estate. The plan is to avoid the toughest sections of the cross country course used for Surrey league in February.
The event will follow the usual format of senior teams and 3 vet categories with 6, 4 or 3 per team all starting together.
You can see a full list of other races and eventson our website here. Do get in touch with the appropriate league managers if you have any queries - see theWho's who pageto find out the contact details. All of these events should be onour calendar.
WhatsApp groups
The links to the main club WhatsApp groups are published in the email version of this newsletter. Make sure that you are added to the appropriate WhatsApp groups for any weekly sessions you may participate in.
If there is anything you'd like to see in the newsletter,get in touch - our email address is
.
