Gravesend Road Runners

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Welcome

About Gravesend Road Runners and Athletics Club

Welcome to the Gravesend Road Runners and Athletics Club website.

We are a friendly running club based in Gravesend, Kent and we are proud to say that the club has been running since 1983. We meet on Tuesday evenings at Cyclopark, Wrotham Road, Gravesend, DA11 7NP from October to April. The exception to this is the 1st Tuesday of each month when we meet at the George P.H. at Singlewell on Hever Court Road DA12 5UQ. During Summer months from April to September we meet at Meadow Room, The Street, Cobham DA12 3BZ. We meet from 6.45pm to start running promptly at 7pm.

New members are always welcome.

We usually run in three different groups of runners on club runs to ensure that as a club we can support all club members over different paces and distances.

These include a beginners 5k (3 miles) group, an intermediate 10k (6 miles) group and a faster 12-13k group. Club runs are usually between 30 minutes to an hour.

All Gravesend Road Runners enjoy the benefits of weekly training runs, cross-country runs, road racing, trail racing and a social club.

We are affiliated with UK Athletics.

Club Membership Form

Please find below a copy of our club membership form that can be printed off and completed and should be returned to our club Membership Secretary Robin Heel.

Our club membership prices are as follows for competing or non-competing club members:

New members just £10 for 2021/22

Existing competing members £15 for 2021/22

Existing non-competing members FREE for 2021/22 due to Covid-19 pandemic

Latest News

Kent Fitness League - season opener + Lydd 10k

Posted on 16 November 2021

Sunday 14 November marked the opening fixture of the Kent Fitness League at Swanley Park. A healthy number of GRRs turned up and all ran well. Unfortunately Julie Turk rolled her ankle and was unable to complete the race. Below are the results for GRRs

Big congratulations in order to Ben Thompson who had a fabulous running weekend. He was 1st GRR finisher at Swanley and the day before he achieved a sub 40 min time at the Lydd 10k. Finishing in a great time of 39:28. Photos of the GRR runners at Swanley and Ben with his 10k medal below.

President's 10 Mile

Posted on 16 November 2021

Well what a wonderful morning we chose for the annual President's 10 mile race on Sunday 31 October 2021. Torrential rain, strong winds and flooded roads. But how great it was that everyone who said that they would take part turned up in the inclement conditions.

The results are as follows:-

1st Oliver Northern 1:40:52 (1:16:52)

2nd Ben Thompson 1:42:08 (1:13:08)

3rd Warsmith Gos 1:42:55 (1:31:55)

4th Phil Garrod 1:43:25 (1:13:25)

5th Alex Crockford 1:43:51 (1:21:51)

6th Kevin Crockford 1:43:52 (1:21:52)

7th Anna Dower 1:45:03 (1:45:03)

8th Zara Williamson 1:45:05 (1:45:05)

9th John Crockford 1:45:19 (1:36:19)

10th Julie Turk 1:46:52 (1:33:52)

11th Robin Heel 1:47:52 (1:34:52)

12th Paul Moss 1:53:26 (1:27:33)

13th George Whittaker 2:25 (2:05) (but ran further than everyone else)

Congratulations to Oliver Northern and Anna Dower on winning the trophies.

Rock n Roll Liverpool Marathon

Posted on 29 October 2021

Many congratulations to Paul Moss on completing his

first marathon at the Rock n Roll Liverpool Marathon.

Paul finished his debut marathon in a time of 4:07:31

On the way Paul found time to run through the famous

Kop in the Liverpool's football ground to see the

Champions League trophy. He then completed his LFC

weekend with a tour of the ground.

Beachy Head and Oxford Halves

Posted on 18 October 2021

Good performances from two old stagers at the

Oxford Half Marathon on Sunday 17 October.

David Wright and Robin Heel finished in 1:52:11

and 1:53:29 at the well attended Oxford Half

Marathon. On the same day Gavin Terry tackled

the Seven Sisters at the Beachy Head Half

Marathon. Gavin finishing in a creditable 2:54:02

in what is one of the most challenging

half marathon races.

London Marathon 2021

Posted on 4 October 2021

The long awaited (2.5 years) London Marathon finally took place on Sunday 3 October 2021. GRRAC had 3 representatives running Zara Williamson, James Gostick (Gos) and

David Wright. Finish times have been uploaded to the race results section but suffice

to say that they all did rather well. A debut marathon for Gos who we somehow managed to miss on the course altogether. But as you'll see from screenshots below Gos never misses a photo opportunity. Did manage to catch Zara and David on two separate occasions.

Busy weekend of races

Posted on 7 September 2021

Well after 18 months of very few races last weekend saw two local events well attended by GRRs. Firstly, on the Saturday was the ever popular and unique Harvel 5. Always a fun event hosted by Harvel Hash Harriers. Then, on the Sunday it was the Paddock Wood Half Marathon which is always a precursor to London Marathon. A number of GRRs ran in both events.

Special mention should be given to Robin Heel who not only ran in both of these races but also did parkrun on the Saturday morning before H5. A further extra special mention goes to his son Daniel who is not actually a runner but has made a habit of doing these two races year on year. Normally one is in March and other in June. But this year they were on the same weekend so Daniel (who does no other running year round) made the supreme effort to complete both races.

Full results are on the website.

Summer Club Runs from Cobham

Posted on 21 July 2021

If a straw poll was taken amongst Gravesend Road Runners as to

whether they prefer running on roads or trails, there is little doubt

that trails would win out. Here are a small selection of photos

from recent club runs on Tuesday evenings. As you can see there

really is a lot of beautiful, scenic countryside to explore so close

to Gravesend. Runs from Meadow Room, Cobham DA12 3BZ

start at 7pm on Tuesday evenings and will continue at least

until the end of August whilst there is still sufficient daylight.

North Downs Run 30k

Posted on 3 July 2021

The 37th running of the North Downs Run (NDR) took place on Sunday 27 June 2021. There was a new start/finish location at the Cyclopark and a changed route to accommodate that. As ever the NDR produced a considerable amount of interest and, given that many people hadn't run in a race for such a long time, it was with eager anticipation that a band of GRRAC brothers were at the start line.

The race itself was won by Darren Deed of Bedord AC in 1:51:57 with Ed Bovingdon of Istead & Ifield Harriers 2nd in 1:54:01 and Andrea Fraquelli of Serpentine RC 3rd in 1:56:50

There were creditable GRR/NDR debut performances from the likes of Ben Thompson, Paul Moss and Kevin Crockford. Indeed it was Kevin's first ever race. The first GRR finisher was the reliable Phil Garrod in a great time of 2:25:09 finishing 43rd out of the 509 finishers. Full details of the finishing times are available in the race results section.

Thank you to Dawn Granger and others for some wonderful photos from the event. A selection are shown below with the inimitable Gos taking centre stage.

Hudsons Back Racing

Posted on 17 May 2021

Well done to Eileen and Richard Hudson for doing races on consecutive weekends. Just this weekend gone they did the Air 10k at Kew Gardens and the previous weekend it was the Maidstone Riverside 10k. Also well done to George Whittaker who ran in the Royal Windsor Trail Half Marathon yesterday. See the race results section for times.

Announcement on Club Fees for 2021/22

Posted on 14 April 2021

The club has decided that last year’s membership fees will also cover 2021 so if you were a member last year you do not need to pay the club subs of £21.00.

If you would like to be registered with England Athletics please pay the registration fee of £15 into the club account by the end of April and we will make sure that you are registered.

For any new members the club subs for this year will be just £10.00 (or £25.00 with England Athletics registration).

The reduced fees are just for this year due to the disruption to training caused by the Covid pandemic.