Grab some gels and water because this is a marathon sized report, from Cross Country to Cross-Pond running, PBs left, right and centre in Ashford to some successful trips to London and Essex.
Plus we hear from a familiar face who isn’t living over here anymore, but still proudly wears his FRAC vest, and speaks highly of his time with us.
Saturday 4th October (Late Addition) – Vietnam TMA Sports Day 10k
Last Saturday Adam Hughes who some may have met took part in a hot and humid 10k race, and he had the following to say:
I am not sure if you like to hear news from old members. Even though I now live in New Zealand, I still like to fly the FRAC flag when I get an opportunity. I have not found a club as nice as FRAC yet.
I am in Vietnam and had an opportunity to run a 10km race on Saturday as part of the sports day of the company I do business with here. Even though it was a 6:30am start, the sun was up and it was getting hot and humid. Hard to run a fast race in those conditions!Also, just to pay your club a compliment. I was finding life hard when I moved the Folkestone and I found the warm and friendliness of your great club a real tonic. Thank you.
Thursday 9th October – Secondary Schools District Cross Country Championships
On Thursday a few of our younger runners displayed their best Novak Djokovic impressions by showing that they can put in quality performances on any surface, this was by way of competing in the Cross Country Championships, hosted by Brockhill Park School.
Below is a summary by Patricia Hanys:
They all ran brilliantly, some running in their first ever cross country.
There were medals won by Jacob Gillet 2nd in the year 8 & 9 boys, Poppy Duncan 2nd in the year 8 & 9 girls and Guy Slingsby 3rd in the year 10 & 11 boys.
All 3 had only Ashford runners ahead of them, so this makes Jacob, Poppy and Guy Folkestone (Shepway) District Champions! Well done! They will now go forward to the Kent school’s cross country championships.
And a special well done to those running their very first cross country, we are waiting to see who else has achieved a place in the Kent School’s Championships.
Saturday 11th October – Parkrun
Folkestone Parkrun
Beginning a weekend of ideal running conditions was Folkestone parkrun, asides from a minor dog lead issue it went ahead smoothly with a great PB from Vicky Scott and an impressive 50th Parkrun from Madison Hart at only 8 years old.
Prakash GURUNG 00:17:12,Thomas MURRAY 00:19:11,David GILLETT 00:19:37,Manda GURUNG 00:19:57,Vicky SCOTT 00:20:28,Tristan BRUCE 00:22:19,Jake BRAZIER 00:24:08,Jake HARVEY 00:24:13,Lana WRIGHT 00:24:14,Ron BELL 00:24:41,Jacob HENWOOD 00:24:50,James SPRINGETT 00:24:50,Stuart ERSKINE 00:24:56,Jonathan ARANA-MORTON 00:24:59,David BOTTING 00:25:13,John O’HARA 00:25:20,Ian VOUSDEN 00:25:35,Phil HAINES 00:25:35,Louisa EEDE 00:25:35,Miles GAWTHORP 00:26:06,Jason KING 00:26:20,Brian AUSTIN 00:26:28,Deirdre COOMBS 00:27:04,Anthony SCOTT 00:27:26,Richard FOWLES 00:27:58,Lara PARSONS 00:28:06,Diane PARSONS 00:28:06,Christopher WOOLGAR 00:28:18,Debbie FOWLES 00:28:44,Neil ADAMS 00:29:40,Kevin WHITBY 00:29:41,Marie BRAZIER 00:30:41,Jane WREN 00:31:12,Trudi CURD 00:31:12,Roy ATKINS 00:31:56,Jason CROCKFORD 00:31:56,Madison HART 00:32:28,Lauren HART 00:32:46,Kate LANCEFIELD 00:34:49
Orpington Parkrun
Beth GOODCHILD 00:35:45
Swansea Bay Parkrun
Elizabeth TEW 00:29:25
Sittingbourne Parkrun
Martin SALMON 00:26:20
Walmer and Deal Seafront Parkrun
Clive ALLON 00:26:51
Chicago – Cornerstone Lakes Parkrun
Henry AXON 00:23:38,Amy AXON 00:29:13
Dover Waterfront Parkrun
Deborah JEFFERY 00:19:50 – First Lady, Well done Debbie!
Fuglsang Sø parkrun
Anna THOMSEN 00:19:55
Saturday 11th October – Kent Cross Country League 2025
Later that day, FRAC travelled over to Foot’s Cray to attend the opening fixture of the Kent XC League, kicking off a season of mud, water, rain and mess, so it was quite a surprise to hear the course description from Catherine saying that it was ‘Super hot and sunny, with no mud!’.
One of our members, Beth the Brave even did the previously mentioned parkrun as a warm up for the event.
The opener brought a great turnout and strong results across the board, with our 3 junior members mentioned above attending their second cross country event in a few days, I hope they can agree with my summary of Cross Country last year that although it’s tough it’s so worth it and makes you want to do more and improve.
Below are the full results, including a first in age category by the Top Coach Catherine:
| Overall Pos. | Name | Category | Category Pos. | Chip Time |
| 18th | Jacob GILLETT | U13 M | 18th | 00:11:12 |
| 63rd | Samuel DEEMING | U13 M | 63rd | 00:12:50 |
| Overall Pos. | Name | Category | Category Pos. | Chip Time |
| 20th | Poppy DUNCAN | U15 F | 20th | 00:18:45 |
| Overall Pos. | Name | Category | Category Pos. | Chip Time |
| 3rd | David SMYTH | V70 M | 3rd | 00:25:09 |
| Overall Pos. | Name | Category | Category Pos. | Chip Time |
| 22nd | Guy SLINGSBY | U17 M | 17th | 00:17:37 |
| 36th | Oscar ROACH | U17 M | 30th | 00:19:03 |
| Overall Pos. | Name | Category | Category Pos. | Chip Time |
| 21st | Catherine O’CONNOR | V55 F | 1st | 00:38:28 |
| 24th | Rebecca POWNEY | V35 F | 7th | 00:38:37 |
| 54th | Carrie THOMAS | V45 F | 19th | 00:40:59 |
| 70th | Kate EVANS | V55 F | 10th | 00:42:50 |
| 74th | Caroline CURTIS | V55 F | 12th | 00:43:10 |
| 89th | Zoe NEALE | V45 F | 39th | 00:45:10 |
| 93rd | Belinda HITCHING | V55 F | 17th | 00:45:57 |
| 107th | Beth GOODCHILD | V55 F | 21st | 01:02:22 |
| Overall Pos. | Name | Category | Category Pos. | Chip Time |
| 120th | Andrew WRIGHT | V40 M | 39th | 00:34:06 |
| 129th | David HITCHING | V50 M | 21st | 00:34:26 |
| 149th | David WEEKES | V60 M | 6th | 00:35:33 |
| 177th | Darren PHILIP | V50 M | 40th | 00:37:19 |
| 207th | Stephen DEEMING | V50 M | 49th | 00:39:08 |
| 217th | Simon COFFEY | V40 M | 66th | 00:40:23 |
| 251st | Andrew John SMITH | V50 M | 71st | 00:51:52 |
Right, that’s Saturday, our warm up complete, quick refuel, watch check and onto Sunday’s events:
Sunday 12th October – Ashford Givaudan 10k
Starting off Super Sunday’s action is the ever popular, undulating but fast PB course race: The Givaudan 10k, alternatively known as the Givau 10k as there was sadly no Dan this year.
This race usually brings out a strong performance from it’s entrants, with slight inclines but complimentary downhills to follow, and of course the final ~200m finish on the track with a huge clock in front of you causing a frantic finish to take those last few seconds off at the end.
Below are the full results, with PBs coming for: Torben, Guy, Nick, Thierry, Kirsty, Joe, Helen, Louisa, Debbie, Rosie, Amie and Julie.
Joe Bruce 34:21,Guy Slingsby 35:10,Nick Steele 35:48,Torben Jessen 37:58,Thierry Bal 38:24,Jacob Henwood 39:32,James Barney 40:25,Kirsty Wilson 41:41,Nikki Goodwin 42:23,Joe Carroll 43:01,Helen Webb 44:31,Louisa Eede 44:40,Jase O’Callaghan 45:00,Bec Powney 45:16,Adam Ward 46:30,Matthew Webb 49:25,Clive Allon 50:00,Nicole Dodd 50:15,Debbie Parmenter 51:05,Rosie Smissen 51:08,Hilary Collins 52:53,Jenny Twiggy Heathfield 53:20,Brian Austin 54:58,Trudi Curd 56:29,Amie Howard 58:15,Maria Felicetti 01:01:21,Julie Slingsby 01:01:36,Rachel Thompson 01:02:06,Julie Gibbs 01:03:35,Malcolm Gibbs 01:07:38
FRAC managed to pick up some silverware along the way as well as all the PBs, with Kirsty, Nikki and Helen collectively taking home the 1st Female Team award, Louisa getting 2nd in age category and Kent Champs medals were awarded to: Thierry, Nikki and Hilary.
Sunday 12th October – London Royal Parks Half Marathon
Also on Sunday 3 of our members took a trip to London to see the sights and enjoy a walk, or in this case a run in the park.
David Tetlow had this to say:
Claire Tetlow and myself ran the London Royal Parks HM. A well organised half marathon taking in the sights of London from Buckingham Palace to Trafalgar Square, with fantastic support from the crowds. A first time for both of us and very much enjoyed it.
Claire completely smashed it with half marathon PB of 1:54:54 and I followed up with 1:58:37.
Also Anthony Leyton ran the half in 1:50:05, describing it as very ‘Twisty-turny’ which is shown in the map above, he got so focused on his run that he ended up missing views of Buckingham Palace and the Houses of Parliament.
Sunday 12th October – Chelmsford Marathon
Next up is a successful trip to Essex for club member Nick Bryant, who took part in Chelmsford Marathon, and in what he described as ‘pretty perfect running conditions’ he managed to pull a 9 minute PB out of the bag with a first sub-3 marathon.
I guess when it comes to getting big marathon PBs, as they say, the only way is Essex.
The race is described as being hugely popular amongst runners, with a few hills but a superb atmosphere, a lovely scenic route and an event village to explore, maybe one for FRAC to take over in the future.
Sunday 12th October – Chicago Marathon
Later in the day (for us) Henry and Amy Axon took part in the Bank of America Chicago Marathon over in the windy city, however the breeze wasn’t the most noticeable weather condition as it was 22 degrees out there.
Amy (4:19:27) got a 13 minute marathon PB and added a third star to her collection towards the holy grail of marathon medals: The Abbotts World Majors Medal, awarded to people who run Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York (Also Sydney was recently added).
Henry (3:15:41) had some foot trouble along way towards collecting his 5th major star, but still pulled out a great time, and we all know he’ll bounce back with an impressive result at whatever is next on the horizon.
And that’s it, the finish line, well done to so many of you this week/weekend, I hope to get back out there with you all soon as a runner and not a spectator.
Hopefully you’ve all enjoyed reading this as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it…