It’s with great sadness that Tony Piersall a long standing coach at
Invicta East Kent passed away on the Sunday 26th July. Our deepest
condolences to all of Tony’s family. Tony was passionate about athletics
and inspirational to those he coached, we at Invicta East Kent will miss
him very much.
Tony was an enthusiastic and dedicated Invicta coach having coached many
athletes over the years to different levels. Tony regularly travelled to
Lee Valley for workshops, training and competitions with his athletes on
Saturday’s.
As a runner, Tony himself trained on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Canterbury
High School, and he coached multi-events on Mondays and Wednesdays
He was an active multi-events coach in the mid-1990s when we were based at
the University cinder track
As a runner his membership goes back to the 1980s - he was a veteran in
his 60s when we moved to Canterbury HS and he liked long road races...
Tony ran the London Marathon in 2012 as well as the New York marathon in
2006 when he was chuffed to break 5 hours by some 5 minutes
His last ever 10 Mile race was as a 74 yr-old on home turf at Canterbury
in January 2019 on the same course for his best 10mile in 2012
Many of Tony’s athletes and friends at Invicta payed their condolences on
social media -
Emily Higham – Tony was my very first athletics coach and was such an
inspirational guy. He is the reason I fell in love with the sport and I
will be forever grateful for that. He always used to drive us to workshops
at Lee Valley and back on Saturdays.
Lauren Macey– Tony will be missed by us all at Invicta, he coached me
for almost 12 years and got me to where I am today.
Kirsten Griffiths - Tony ignited a love of hurdles for Charlotte and
she blossomed under his coaching. He will be greatly missed
Thank you Tony for many great years and for getting so many youngest into
athletics.
