Invicta East Kent Athletics Club - Canterbury

Invicta East Kent AC caters for athletes of all ages and abilities. We have both indoor and outdoor athletics facilities, including an all weather floodlit athletics track and dedicated club room. Please find out more about joining, or contact us.

Invicta Featured Event

Barretts Canterbury 10 Mile Road Race
25-Jan-2009

Next years race is on Sunday 25th January 2009 and starts at 11.00 am. Almost 900 runners competed in the 2008 Barretts Canterbury 10 Mile Road Race. Our thanks to our sponsors Barretts of Canterbury. Read more >

News

Latest from Senior and Vet Track & Field Leagues -

Latest reports from Invicta East Kent AC Senior and Vet Track & Field Team Manager

SOUTHERN MENS LEAGUE- DIVISION 4 SOUTH - ASHFORD

Invicta hosted this match at the Julie Rose Stadium in Ashford and were confident that their small but versatile team could do well even though in some cases athletes were contesting events which they had never done in competition before.

Particularly successful in this respect was Terry Hawkins who won the ‘B’ string pole vault (2m) having only tried it for the first time a week earlier. Terry then surprised even himself by winning the ‘A’ shot (9.20m) the ‘B’ discus (22.24m) and hammer (20.82m) after only one previous coaching session. He then returned to more familiar territory on the track and in the jumps and came 3rd in the ‘B’ 100m (13.7) and the ‘A’ long jump (4.84m) and triple jump (9.42m) whilst also running both the 4x100m (59.2) and 4x400m (4:55.7) relays and collecting further points in the javelin.

Tom Sutton also had a very busy afternoon coming 4th in the ‘A’ 100m (13.3) and 200m (26.4) and 2nd in the ‘A’ 800m (2:15.0) and gaining points in the ‘A’ 400m (63.8) and running in both relays. Tony Weston could only contest a limited number of events before rushing off for a family function but as always he gave 101% and won the ‘A’ pole vault (3m) and came 2nd in the ‘B’ long jump (4.29m).

Peter Bowell came 3rd in the ‘A’ 3km S/C (12:14.7) and also ran in both relays. Mike Gore has still not recovered from injury but very bravely competed in the ‘B’ 3km S/C and placed 3rd (12:50.8). Team Manager John Gilbert came 2nd in the ‘A’ hammer (26.98m) and discus (23.41m), 4th in the ‘A’ javelin (26.41m) and won the ‘B’ shot (8.30m) and gained some additional points in the ‘B’ triple jump (6.33m).

Invicta were a comfortable 3rd place in the match and with one remaining fixture at Hastings in early August can expect to finish mid-table in the division. For a team often comprised mainly of age 40+ veterans this is a real achievement in open age competition.

SOUTHERN COUNTIES VETERANS AC- KENT LEAGUE-ERITH
INVICTA SO NEAR

Invicta East Kent travelled to Erith for their final fixture in the Kent Veterans Athletics Track & Field League knowing that they had to stay in 2nd position to gain promotion from the 2nd to the 1st division. As in most of their previous matches this season, they were placed at a considerable disadvantage by having only 6 athletes to compete in the range of events and age groups being contested. The team behind Invicta in 3rd place, Medway & Maidstone, fielded a much larger squad and it was clear that Invicta would have to struggle for every available point if they were to clinch promotion.

In the 50+ age group, Tony Weston won the 400m (62.2) and triple jump (8.99m) before collecting valuable points in the 3km (14:24.4) and hammer (11.50m). In the 35+ ‘A’ string Peter Bowell ran 64.5 in the 400m and 10:54.6 in the 3km. Richard Hudson
contested the same events in the ‘B’ string and recorded 75.2 in the 400m and 14:30.5 in the 3km. Mick Rendell placed 3rd in the 35+ triple jump (8.08m) and 4th in the hammer (16.57m). Eddie Broad ran strongly for 3rd in the 60+ 3km (12:06.9) and in the same age category John Gilbert won the hammer (33.67m).

Despite the efforts of all the Invicta team members, at the end of the match Medway & Maidstone finished in 2nd place just 1 point ahead of Invicta in 3rd. This moved them up to joint 2nd place with Invicta on league points and because they had accumulated more match points than Invicta over the 6 fixtures they gained promotion. Invicta’s natural disappointment was tempered by the knowledge they have competed with distinction during the season and will re-double their efforts to gain promotion next season through an emphasis on getting more veterans in the club to support the team.

Dartford Half Marathon -

VETS STAR AS INVICTA MEN CLOSE IN ON KENT GRAND PRIX LEADERS!

Invicta East Kent veterans came to the club's aid in the Dartford Half Marathon on 20 July. With our Senior men depleted by injury and outside commitments, our Vets turned on the heat and helped gain ground on championship leaders Tunbridge Wells Harriers.

First home for Invicta was Tim Sutton who put in a strong performance to clock 19th overall with a time of 1:23.16.
Next was fellow V40, Adam Cowper-Smith who had a brilliant race to finish 37th in 1:25.54.
Newboy Tom Purnell (senior) only recently joined Invicta and has been improving every race and every training session he does - he stormed to a new PB of 1:27.12 and 42nd overall - Tom is certainly one to watch for the future and has a sprint finish, which you have to see to believe !!!
Trevor Edgley won the V60 race outright, finishing strongly in 1:28.10, just in front of Invicta's first female Sharon Hawkins who finished in 1:28.30.
Peter Bowell (65th) showed true grit by hanging on and finishing the race in 1:31.20 after a strong first half of the race when he picked up a knee injury. Mike Conway was the final scorer for the men with a time of 1:33.55.
Vicky Talbot-Rosner won her age category with a time of 1:37.23 to complete Invicta's finishers on the day.

With three Kent Grand Prix races remaining, we hope more Senior Men will be able to participate in the final rounds to boost the club's chances of staying in the hunt for the title!

English Schools Championships -

BETH BOUNCES BACK TO FORM AT THE ENGLISH SCHOOLS!

Beth Carter gained an excellent silver medal in the Intermediate Gilrs' 3000m at the English Schools Championships in a rainy and windswept Gateshead in mid-July
Beth overcame a few recent niggling injuries, to go one better than last year in Birmingham : in a fine tactical race, Beth pushed Cumbria's Laura Park all the way to the final straight, Park winning in 9:45.41 with Beth posting 9:51.13, her best this season.

Elsewhere....

Aaron Murray (Canterbury High School) made his debut at the English Schools Champs, having joined the club less than 2 months ago and has already impressed with sound performances in the Men's Southern League.
In Gateshead, Aaron was 13th in the Shot Putt Final with 11.91m - his best of 13.16m (done at the Kent Schools in June to qualify for Gateshead) would have taken Aaron up to 11th, while our u-17 club record of 15.01m would have been 5th at Gateshead.

Although Jake Rogers is only a few weeks older than the u-13s he marked his debut at this level, against boys 2 years older, by making the semi-final of the Junior Boys 800m. Jake finished 3rd in his heat with his best time, so far, of 2:07.61. The occasion got to him and he was 8th in the semi-final which turned out to be the fastest junior Boys 800m of the championship.

Alex Newson went out in the heats after finishing 10th in the Junior Boys 1500m, with a time of 4:24.94, well outside either time which earned him both the Kent AA and the Kent Schools county titles this year.

Although Rebecca Weston beat last year's bronze medallist in this year's heats, she narrowly missed making the final of the Junior girls 1500m for the 2nd year in row, finishing 5th in the third heat with a time of 4:47.85.

Summer Road Relays -

SUMMER ROAD RELAYS, CANTERBURY

Just like to say a big thank you to all the marshals who helped last night July 8th, at the Summer road relays.
Despite a last minute panic, we all pulled together and put on a good event - I've had no bad comments from clubs so far, so it seems we pleased most people.

On the night... Invicta East Kent AC had a successful evening. Our Senior Men won the relays outright! yes that's first place! we also had a B-team and even a C-team.

Just goes to show what talent this club has when people actually turn up and compete. Let's hope next season we can build on this for the senior squad and win the championship, we have the talent that's clear to see!

Well done also to our Vet40 men's team, who for the 2nd year running scooped their championship - the team, led by Peter Bowell, with Simon Kendall, Tim Sutton and Adam Cowper-Smith all being a big part of their success.

Our vet-45 women also won their championship, thanks largely to Annie Ross, who stepped in at the last minute so we could field a team in this last round, and so win the championship.

Very very big thanks to the following people, for without their very hard work and commitment on the night this would never have taken place.

Peter Mullervy - timekeeper many thanks for stepping in at the very last minute to organise and put on the junior race, with very very short notice!
Gilien Davison - Recorder/offical for her hardwork in recording results on the day, no easy task.
Mick Rendell - Timekeeper saving my bacon (literally) when I got stuck at Canterbury railway level crossing (good old Network rail) and was late back, Mick pulled out all the stops and actually gave course directions and also started the race!

Look forward to the 2009 East Kent Road Relays.

Michael Gore
Road relays Team manager

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