Gravesend Road Runners and Athletics Club

Lesnes Abbey 5 Mile - Ray Marshall Memorial Race

Posted on 30 January 2023

​

There were 4 GRRs who attended the inaugural Ray Marshall Memorial Race organised by Plumstead Runners at Lesnes Abbey in Abbey Wood.  For those of you who thought that Abbey Wood was just a train station in the midst of a concrete jungle then think again.  The ruin of Lesnes Abbey is set in beautiful but brutally hilly woodland.  The start of the race was delayed because some of the marshals got lost.  Now this was going to be a theme for the race.  

​

The race begun and even within the first mile there

was a massive steep uphill section which most

ordinary mortals couldn't run.  This was a recurring

theme during the supposed 5 miles.  Now to the

distance the faster runners (including our own

Kevin Crockford) appear to have done a course

which is pretty much spot on 5 miles.  Whilst the

slower runners including the 3 other GRRs ended

up doing nearly half a mile more!  

​

Nonetheless we all had a great time and said that it is definitely worth a go especially with a very cheap entry fee.  And it is good to support a fellow club in a race in honour of their founding member.

 

 

Announcement on Club Fees for 2023/24

Posted on 30 January 2023

​

Following the AGM meeting here is the latest update regarding membership fees. From now on the memberships will be running from April to March in line with England Athletics. 

 

For those members who do not wish to be England Athletics affiliated the fee for the year is £24.  For those members who do wish to be affiliated to England Athletics the membership fee will be £40 (including £17 for EA).

 

Can all members please pay the fees before the end of March so prompt payment can be made to England Athletics.  Please pay into the club account as per details below:-

​

Account number 42031583

Sort code 60-09-10

​

 

 

Club AGM

Posted on 30 January 2023

​

The Club AGM was held on Tuesday 24 January 2023 at Nurstead Court.  Despite the low turnout we were just able to muster a quorum.  An enjoyable evening with some lively discussion followed by drinks and sandwiches  (thanks to Annabelle for organising).

​

The following were elected to the committee

​

John Crockford - President

Annabelle Stearns - Club Secretary

Francis Mahon - Treasurer

Robin Heel - Membership Secretary

Kevin Crockford - Club Captain

​

Many thanks  to James Gostick (better known as Warsmith Gos) for his three years service as club captain.  He has stepped aside for Kevin Crockford to take over.

​

 

 

​

​

​

Kent Fitness League Update

Posted on 23 January 2023

​

Two fixtures came up on consecutive weeks early in the New Year.  Fixture 4 was  at Minnis Bay where once again Warsmith Gos stole the show ably supported by Rachel Dellafera.  Both making good use of the muddy dykes.  With the latest fixture at Betteshanger Park, Deal where we had quite a good turnout especially given the distance involved.  Full results of both fixtures are in the race results section.

​

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Latest race results

Posted on 28 December 2022

 

December has been a a very lean month for race results.  The snow

and ice caused the postponement of the new KFL fixture at Allhallows

(now re-arranged for Sunday 12 February 2023) and there have been

no other race results under post Christmas.

​

Kevin and John Crockford took part in the Saltwood Boxing Day fun

run  and then Kevin was joined the following day by Sally Kyle at the

Cambridge Harriers Joydens Wood 7.5 mile cross country race.

​

Results are up in the race results section.  A reminder for anyone

who takes part in races to share their race results with John Crockford

and/or Annabelle Stearns.  Some of the annual awards given are

based on race times so it is in your interests to share.

​

​

 

 

 

Kent Fitness League Update

Posted on 24 November 2022

​

The first 3 fixtures of the season have come and gone in the last month.  With probably the favourite one - Oxleas Wood - last weekend.  The usual suspects have turned out for cross country and there have been some good performances.  So much so, in fact, that we're not bottom of the ladies league table.  Last weekend for Oxleas Wood there was early torrential rain and accidents on A2 but by race time it was bright blue sky and very shiny - as you can see from team photo below.  Swanley, on the other hand, was very misty and murky.

​

The next race is a new course at Allhallows.  The race is to be held on Sunday 18 December on the morning after the club Christmas dinner and prize giving at Darnley Arms - could be interesting!   

  

See link at top of page for results and further KFL information

​

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

​

 

 

 

Beachy Head Tour 22 Oct 2022

Posted on 29 October 2022

 

A group of GRRs made the trip to Eastbourne with an

overnight stay for the popular events at Beachy Head. 

There were five runners doing the marathon and two

who had sensibly chosen the 10k option.  Great weekend

with special mentions to Katie Walker and Kevin Crockford.

Katie took part  in her first competitive race. and

completed the challenging 10k course in a time of 56:12

and finished 63rd out of a field of 359.  Kevin completed his first marathon in 5hrs 4 mins and was 316th out of 1192 finishers.  As the pictures show we were blessed with fabulous weather for late October.  The weather really makes such a difference to the experience at this event.  Yet it still doesn't make the relentless ups and downs any easier!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

​

Great South Run 16 Oct 2022

Posted on 29 October 2022

 

Congratulations to Lisa and Chris Chiswell who

made the trip to Portsmouth for the Great South

10 Mile run.  Both finishing in highly commendable

times.  Pictured here together post race.

 

 

 

 

President's 10 Mile 16 Oct 2022

Posted on 29 October 2022

 

Many thanks once again to Annabelle Stearns for organising the annual club handicap race.  Unfortunately we didn't have any female runners this year.  In the men's race, Warsmith Gos came home in 1st place.  Having started first with the President, he hung on comfortably to win followed by James Mullan.  The times are shown below with the gap between each runner and the individual's running time in brackets.

​

1st Warsmith Gos: 1:33:01:72 (1:33:01.72)

2nd James Mullan: +1:46:37 (1:22:48.09)

3rd John Crockford: +1:49:19 (1:36:37.28)

4th Oliver Northern: +4:05:42 (1:18:42.70)

5th Ben Thompson: +0.:20:48 (1:15:03.18)

6th Kevin Crockford: +2:03:53 (1:21:06.71)

7th Robin Heel: +3:52:33 (1:38:59.04)

​

 

​

Chelmsford Marathon 16 Oct 2022

Posted on 17 October 2022

​

Massive congratulations to George Whittaker on a huge

PB in completing the Chelmsford Marathon in 3:19:21

George finished in 54th place overall out of a field of 450. 

​

George's PB before was from the London Marathon in 2016 

which he completed in 3:38.  So a whopping 19 minutes 

taken off that time.

 

 

 

London Marathon 2 Oct 2022

Posted on 17 October 2022

​

The club had 3 members taking part this year.  Ben Thompson,

James Mullan and Andy Cobb.  With minimal training due to

injury Andy finished in a creditable 4:43 with James and Ben

finishing 4:30 and  3:47 respectively.  James and Ben both hit

the wall at around 20 miles suffered with quad pain for last

few miles.  Great effort all round.

 

Ballot is already closed for next London Marathon in April 2023.

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

​

Mob Match

Posted on 1 July 2022

​

Well done to the small but quality GRR team that turned up for the annual mob bash match against Larkfield AC and Istead & Ifield.  As ever GRR won the bronze medal but great running from all.  Special mention to Katie Walker who came 1st in her (young) age category

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

North Downs Run 30k 

Posted on 1 July 2022

 

The 38th running of the North Downs Run (NDR) took place on Sunday 26 June 2021.  The route was slightly changed/improved from last year without the need for a lap of the Cyclopark track at the end - thankfully! 

 

Unfortunately numbers were down considerably on last year with only 388 finishers.  But GRR had a dozen runners plus two former members (Will Relf and Phil Garrod).  Will and Phil were the quickest GRRs back finishing in  2:22 and 2:36 respectively.  All the current GRR member results are shown in the race results section.  Unfortunately, Julie Turk had to pull out as she was suffering with breathing diffculties.  But she had got to halfway point by then and had a long walk back for transport back to the Cyclopark.

 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Harvel 5 and Kempton Park Marathon

Posted on 1 June 2022

​

Massive congratulations to Annabelle Stearns who showed that the injury plagued 2021 has not affected her pace.  Finishing the Kempton Park Marathon as 2nd female in a great time of 3:03:18.

​

The day before a good number of GRRs took part in the ever popular annual Harvel 5 Mile.  This is always more of an event than a race with beer provided at halfway as well as water.  Thank you to Richard Hart who gave up his place due to injury but still took the photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hackney and Saxon Shore Halves & Bedgebury 5 Miler

Posted on 23 May 2022

​

Another very warm day for GRRs taking part in races on Sunday 22 May.  Eileen Hudson ran in the Bedgebury 5 Miler in the beautiful forestry surroundings.  Finishing in a very creditable 48:39 to finish 44th out of nearly 100 entrants.

​

George Whittaker was another solo GRR entrant in the busy

Hackney half marathon with over 13,000 competitors.  The heat

rather beat George who finished in 1:54 outside his PB by some

margin.

​

Whilst Eileen and George were running events as lone GRRs, a small

team took on the Saxon Shore Half Marathon.  A new start/finish

venue of Whitstable Castle hosted the race another one of Sporting

Events UK well run events.  Even with the early start time of 9.30am

the weather from the off was exceptionally warm.  GRR had 4 finishers Kevin Crockford 1:43, James Mullan 1:51, Zara Williamson 2:07 and John Crockford 2:11.  It was also good to join up (in the car on the way down) with former member, Carrie Boyle, who now runs with

Sittingbourne Striders having moved down that way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Darent Valley 10k & Gatwick Running Festival

Posted on 9 May 2022

 

A lovely sunny Sunday early morning for the Crockford brothers in the local Darent Valley 10k run over beautiful countryside.  Another great performance from Kevin Crockford in his first ever 10k race finishing in a time of 45:15.  Given that is  a very hilly course it's quite a PB to target in future.

​

Also running at the weekend were Eileen and Richard Hudson who took part in the 5k at the Gatwick Running Festival where you could also had the option to run a 10k or half marathon.  The Hudsons highly recommend the event.  Thankfully the routes avoid the live runway!

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Folkestone + Victoria Park + Chatham Maritme

Posted on 24 April 2022

 

Many congratulations to Annabelle Stearns who finished 1st in her age category at 38th running of Folkestone 10 Mile on Good Friday in warm and windy conditions.   Annabelle finished 44th overall out of a field of 560 in a time of 1:05:25.  Also running on that day was Kevin Crockford who managed to produce new PBs at 5k, 10k and 10 mile all in one race!

​

Well done to Eileen & Richard Hudson who went up to London to run the Victoria Park 5k over the Easter weekend.  Also to James Mullan who ran the Chatham Maritime 10k within his target time of 48 mins.  Added congratulations to James as he has bagged the sought after club place in the London Marathon later this year.

​

​

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

London Landmarks Half & Goodwood 20 Mile

Posted on 2 April

 

It has been nearly 3 years since Annabelle Stearns has been racing (due mainly to Covid pandemic but also due to injury) but she returned to complete 20 miles of the Goodwood racing circuit in a very creditable 2:19:59 to finish 4th overall and 1st female.

​

In equally sunny but chilly conditions in London massive congratulations to Kevin Crockford who achieved another PB to complete the London Landmarks Half Marathon in 1:34:37.  To become the fastest GRR Crockford - easily surpassing John but almost nipping below Alexandra's half marathon PB!

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Final KFL fixture of 2021-22

Posted on 25 March 2022

​

Having been postponed the previous month due to Storm Eunice the last KFL fixture of the season took place on Sunday 20 March 2022.  In what was described as near Spring like conditions with virtually no mud, a team of 7 GRRs ran.  A good turnout considering the total number of runners was quite low at 326.  Pictured are the motley crew.  Congratulations to Julie Turk on completing her first KFL cross country.  Julie had to pull out injured during the 1st race of the season.  So good to see her back.  Results are available in the race results section.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Parkrun milestones

Posted on 8 March 2022

​

There was a double celebration at Shorne Woods parkrun last weekend.  James Mullan ran his 250th parkrun and Peter Granger ran his 100th parkrun (having volunteered many more times that that!)

 

 

​