Weekly Update - 3rd June 2026

Joydens Wood 5k Summer Series #1, Bexley (Wed. 27th May)

It is a shame that our friends at Dartford Road Runners don't do team prizes for these races: with James Macdonald, Brett Baker and Liam Carr all in the top five we would have cleaned up (and had it been four to score we would still have been easy winners with Mark Penny in 10th), reports Clem Dixon. As it was our prize haul consisted of two bottles of plonk for James (2nd overall and first M40) and one each for Hannah Capey (3rd female) and Julie Backley (1st F45).

Liam Carr - James Macdonald - Brett Baker

It was great to see so many light blue vests in the field, 24 of us in total I think, with the Wednesday night Clubhouse group particularly well represented. If you have not done one of these before they are nice low key races run in the same woods that we use for our winter cross country races, less mud but the same hills! Remaining dates are 24 June and 29 July. Our Clubhouse is usually open for post race debrief. 

Sutcliffe Summer Open #1, Eltham (Wed. 27th May)

A superb entry of more than 200 athletes, combined with excellent organisation from the club's officials and administrators, helped make for an enjoyable and successful evening.

On the track, Charlotte Foster smashed her 1500m personal best with a time of 4:27.10. The performance moves her into the UK Under-15 top 10 rankings and places her second among Junior Girls in the English Schools rankings.

Ayotunde Dauda (pictured) also enjoyed an excellent run, leading from the front in his 1500m race to record a new personal best of 4:16.24.

Southern Counties Veterans League (Kent), Bromley (Fri. 29th May)

The second Southern Counties Veterans League match took place at Bromley on a warm, calm evening, providing ideal conditions for a number of excellent performances.

The men recorded five victories, highlighted by Chris Loudon’s dominant win in the highly competitive M40 1500m. He crossed the line in 4:08.2, finishing 14 seconds clear of the field. Edmund Adigwe produced a strong finishing kick to take victory in the M50 1500m in 4:32.9, while Alan Porter won the M50 javelin by almost eight metres with a throw of 46.23m. Wole Odele completed a double success in the M60 age group, winning both the 200m in 27.2 seconds and the high jump with a clearance of 1.40m.

The women also enjoyed success, with Rose Baker claiming the W60 1500m win in 6:26.1, winning by more than a minute. Christine Bond added another victory in the W60 javelin with a throw of 14.32m.

There were also impressive performances in the 1500m from Katie Sanders (W40) and Julie Backley (W50).

Julie Backley - Katie Sanders - Rose Baker

At the end of the evening, the men’s team finished third overall, while the women’s team placed fourth.

Drenthe Loopfestijn (Drenthe Running Festival), Klazienaveen (NED) (Sat. 30th May)

The Netherlands is made up of twelve provinces (only two of which properly count as Holland) and for Dutch marathon geeks doing a marathon in all twelve provinces is a thing, writes Clem Dixon. Drenthe is one of the twelve provinces and at the Drenthe Loopfestijn I would have taken my tally of provinces to seven were it not for the marathon to be cancelled on account of the heatwave. A transfer to the half marathon was offered and duly accepted (1:52:15).

Bruce Longden Hurdle Fest, Chelmsford (Sun. 31st May)

Elijah Olaleye broke both the Under 20 and Senior Men’s club records for the 400 hurdles when winning his race at the annual Bruce Longden Hurdle Fest with a time of 53.27, reports Mick Bond.

There was also PB and English Schools qualifying time for Gabby Noyce in the U20 women’s 400 hurdles (64.88).

UK Youth Development League (Lower), Eltham (Sun. 31st May)

Another solid third-place finish for the team, with a number of outstanding individual performances across both track and field, reports Mick Bond.

Thirteen-year-old Oladesire Ayinla continued his remarkable progress in the high jump, clearing 1.93m to improve on last week's performance. The mark extends his lead at the top of the UK rankings to 10cm. He then went on to claim victory in the hurdles, completing an impressive double.  

Elsewhere in the field Miya Cook improved her javelin PB to 39.36m and has her eyes on hitting 40m shortly whilst Kendrick Onolememen equalled his indoor PB of 17.86m and like Miya is looking for the next target of 18m. Isaac Ajao won the long jump with 5.21m alongside a B string 300m win in 39.84.

On the track there were good wins for Lizzie Sanders in the 800m in a personal best 2:21.97, Austin Richards (800m in 2:09.97) and Jovani Lyndsey (200m in 23.40). Ayotunde Dauda more or less equalled his 1500m PB from Wednesday night but this time it was 30 minutes after a 300m hurdles debut where he ran 45.09.