Tuesday 27th August - Summer BBQ and Grand Prix
We're holding our annual Summer Barbecue on Tuesday, 27th August - please come!
This year, as last year, we'll be welcoming back Mike and his food truck. He's asked that we give him an idea of the number of people to expect,so if you haven't already done so, please fill outthis Google formas soon as you can.We won't hold you to your menu choices, but it would help to give Mike a sense of what to bring. And, just as last year, we'll be subsidising your dinner with £5 vouchers for club members!
But it's not all food - we'll also be holding our 800m Grand Prix race for Seniors and our always brilliant mixed Juniors and Seniors 400m relay. Get ready to run!
Wednesday 28th August - Ed Prickett 5000m Club Championship
The club 5000m track championships, in memory of Ed Prickett, will be held this Wednesday, 28th August at 8:20 pm at K2 Crawley. Registration will be open from 7 pm and close at 7:45 pm.
Ed Prickett was a former member of the club who was sadly killed at the age of 21, whilst competing in the annual British Universities track and field championships in 2004. Ed was one of Britain's most promising young runners, having been the second British runner to cross the finishing line at the European Juniors Cross Country Championships. He continues to be fondly remembered by club members from Reigate Priory AC, Crawley AC, and Nottingham University.
The race is open to all seniors, including veterans, and U20’s; a 3000m race will take place at the same time for U15/U17 athletes.The results will be recorded on the Power of 10.Please wear your club vest. There is no need to inform anyone if you are taking part and there is no charge. Note that shoes with a stack height greater than 25mm are illegal on the track, including Vaporflys and equivalent. Contact
if you have any questions.
Saturday 7th September - Final parkrun tourism, Seaford Beach
Our final parkrun tourism event is on Saturday, 7th September at lovely Seaford Beach parkrun, a fast out-and-back course. These events are always great fun and are typically followed by an optional breakfast. You can see the full details of our parkrun tourismhere, and the current standings of our competitionhere.
It'd be great to see you there!
Saturday 28th September - Spread the word! Couch to 5K Programme starts
Our next Couch to 5K Programme starts on Saturday 28th September, with optional but recommended lead-in sessions on Saturday 14th September and Saturday 21st September. Participation is free for members, but if you know someone outside the club who might benefit from the programme, please let them know about it. The cost of the 12-week programme, including the optional sessions and parkrun graduation, is £17 - an absolute bargain, but it gets even better: Graduates who go on to join our club will see that cost deducted from their joining fee.
The full details of the programmecan be seen here.
Run Reigate volunteers needed
Run Reigate is coming up on Sunday, 22nd September. We know that many of you will be running the race but please consider volunteering if you can - they're particularly looking for energetic team leaders! If you can volunteer, follow this link to sign up. And if you haven't already registered to run, youcan do so here.
Update to the SportsShoes discount
You can now link your England Athletics membership with your SportsShoes ULTRA account to receive discount automatically at checkout. This prevents the need to enter a code at checkout, making receiving discount from us a lot quicker and easier. You can also find outmore here. The discount on offer has also changed - you will now get 15% off in season products. Some exclusions apply to this promotion, including Coros, Garmin, Shokz, Maurten products and a few shoes. For the next couple of months there will still be the option to use the existing offer whilst we transition to the new method of redeeming your running club discount.
Sendus your results, please!
If youparticipate in an event,email
to let us know your results. Please submit by Sunday evening at the latest to allow us to meet the deadline for the Surrey Mirror sports pages.
Follow us on social media
If you don't already, please follow us onFacebookandInstagram- we're growing, but we need all the support we can get! And, of course, we'd love to get your photos and stories up there, so please, share on the WhatsApp social group when you can. Thanks!
Parkrun news
Eleven year old Isaac Armitage ran a fantastic time in the Reigate senior parkrun on Saturday finishing eighth in a time of 20:11, a PB by over two minutes, and most importantly beating his dad.
Saturday August 24th - Final Lily B match - Kingston
The final girls track event of the season was held at Kingston on Saturday. Coming at the end of the long summer holidays this match is notoriously not a great opportunity for PBs. On top of this athletes had to contend with torrential rain for much of the day. Notwithstanding this there were some very creditable performances from the small RPAC team. We were in the plate final. In that match Olivia Aries won the High Jump, Lara Tombleson was second in the sprint hurdles and Florence Tombleson was second in the 300 metres. Emma Aries did very well to finish second out of roughly twenty five U11 long jumpers, Eleni Harvey had the only PB of the day with a strong run in the 75m sprint and Imogen Leung was very close to her PBs in both the 75m and the long jump.
Monday 26th August - Crawley Open
Weather conditions were much more favourable for the Crawley Open on Bank Holiday Monday. This was reflected in the results.
Rafi Varah, James De’Ath and Harry De’Ath all ran very strongly to record PBs in the 800 metres.
Rafi also ran very close to his PBs in both the 100m and 200m as did Keagan Stricker Timmermans.
Keagan showed his versatility by “having a go” at the shot put and recording a very impressive distance of 8.65m, which is the best ever distance by an RPAC under 13.
Southern Road Relays
The winter season traditionally opens with the Southern Road Relays, this year again hosted by Aldershot at the Rushmoor Arena on Saturday, 21 September. There are races for U13s/U15s/U17s with teams comprising of three runners (U13s for these purposes are school years 7 and 8). It is a great opportunity to experience a big regional event supported by clubs from all over the South of England and have the fun of running as part of a team. Entries close on 5th September. Please let Mike Gent know if your child would like to compete by Monday, 2nd September.
Dates for the Juniors diary
Saturday 21st SeptemberSouthern Road Relays, Aldershot
Sunday 22nd September Run Reigate
Saturday 5th OctoberBruce Judd (Surrey County) Cross Country relays, West Horsley Place
Saturday 12th OctoberMatch 1, Surrey Cross Country League (U13s-U20s)
Saturday 9th November Match 2, Surrey Cross Country League
Sunday 10th November Match 1, Border League (U9s-U15s)
Wednesday 31st July - Brighton Open, by Andrew Pringle
It was a beautiful sunny evening with a big field in every event. Over the summer I think there are three Open events where they try to ensure every track and field event is run at least once.
There were lots of entries from clubs across the south coast – but I think only me from Reigate and one other from Dorking.
On ideal sprinting conditions, I managed a Season Best for 100m of 14.32s, so gradually sharpening up. The only way I could have gone faster was if it had been downhill.
The great thing about this performance is that it meant that not ALL the U-13 girls in the same heat beat me!
Parkrun news
Congratulations to Annette Morris for her Horsham parkrun effort on Saturday 17th August, where she finished in a time of 25:07 and with a huge age grading of 84.47% (although not her all time greatest parkrun age grading), which was the 2nd highest age grading on the day out of 593 participants. It is also worth noting that veteran elite athlete Dame Kelly Holmes (gold medals for 800m and 1500m at Athens in 2004) also ran at Horsham parkrun on 17th August, and Kelly achieved the 4th highest age grading of 79.07%. Unfortunately there is no photographic evidence! There are the results though here.
Also congrats to Sarah Walters who ran her fastest parkrun of 2024 so far at Preston Park, Brighton on Saturday 24th August. I think that the bucketing down rain probably made her run even faster. She's currently missing from the results though - there was an issue at the end relating to reading bar codes and lots of water! Hopefully this can be corrected.
Some photos of RPAC parkrunners from Saturday 24th August follow...
Above we have Rosenstein parkrun in Stuttgart, Germany. The photo appeared before 9AM UK time!
Thursday 5th September - Jimmy James Handicap Race 4
The final race of the Jimmy James series will be held in Priory Park on Thursday 5th September at 19:00.
Please register by 23:59 on Tuesday 3rd September by emailing . You need to do this even if you have run in any of the previous races. If you haven't run in any of the others please let me have a recent 5K or 10K time so that I can calculate your handicap and start time.
I will send out handicaps and start times on 4th September.
Saturday 21st September - Southern Road Relays @ Rushmoor Arena, Aldershot
The southern road relays take place at Rushmoor Arena, Aldershot on Saturday 21st September. The timetable is as follows...
12.32 p.m - Under 17 Women/Masters Women 40+, 50+ 3 stages of 4600m
1.35 p.m. - Senior Women 4 stages of 6000m
3.15 p.m - Senior Men 6 stages of 6000m/Masters Men 40+, 50+, 60+ 4 stages of 6000m
The first 25 Senior Men Teams to score will receive an invitation to the National Championships.
Any men or women wishing to take part should let me know by Friday 30th September on 
Up-Coming Races
As always, there are more than a few good races coming up: The Southeast of England Relays at Rushmoore Arena in Aldershot on Saturday, 21 September, Run Reigate on Sunday, 22 September, of course, through to theBrighton 10K on Sunday, 17 November.You can see a full list of other races and eventson our website here. Do get in touch with the appropriate league managers if you have any queries - see theWho's who pageto find out the contact details. All of these events should be onour calendar.
Nat Wilson.
Cross country season starting soon
It's getting to be that time of year again - time to start thinking about running around in a muddy field for fun!
This year, there's a newish fixture on the calendar: The Surrey EnduranceRelays,formerly known as The Surrey RoadRelays, to be held on Saturday, 5th October. For many years, the roadrelayswere held for senior and vet teams in Wimbledon Park in September. For several reasons, the Wimbledon course has been deemed no longer suitable and an alternative suitable course on tarmac could not be found. It has therefore been decided that this year's event will be a trail or cross-countryrelayinstead. With the help of Guildford & Godalming AC, the use of West Horsley Place has been confirmed. The course is about 5km, mostly paths and trails through the private estate. The plan is to avoid the toughest sections of the cross country course used for Surrey league in February. The event will follow the usual format of senior teams and 3 vet categories with 6, 4 or 3 per team all starting together.
More dates for the cross country calendar:
Saturday 12th OctoberMatch 1 Surrey Cross Country League
Saturday 26th OctoberSurrey Masters Cross Country Championships 2024, Nonsuch Park
Saturday 2nd NovemberRPAC PrioryRelaysin Priory Park (marshals from the club required, too)
Saturday 9th NovemberMatch 2 Surrey Cross Country League
Saturday 4th January 2025Surrey Cross Country Championships, Lloyd Park, Croydon
WhatsApp groups
The links to the main club WhatsApp groups are published in the email version of this newsletter. Make sure that you are added to the appropriate WhatsApp groups for any weekly sessions you may participate in.
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