Monday, March 31st, 2008 (9:00pm)

A full list of the summer's competitive fixtures is now available - please click here for them.

Sunday, March 30th, 2008 (8:30pm)

We start training on both Tuesday and Thursday evenings from this week - and this will continue through to the end of the summer. For the younger athletes both sessions will run from 7 to 8 and for older athletes from 7.30 to 8.45.

Membership fees are due on April 1st. £26 if you are still in full-time education and £31 otherwise - this includes £5 that we have to pay to UK Athletics.

Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 (9:30pm)

On a very cold Easter Monday at the Tonbridge open Laura McGarty and Tessa Martin found themselves triple-jumping as the snow was falling, a new experience for both of them. They managed to get a warm cup of tea before they did the long jump - but the cold was the real winner. Laura's best jumps were 10.39 and 4.68 metres while Tessa's best were 9.66 and 4.37 metres.

In the later part of the afternoon the sun came out once or twice and this was fitting company for Hannah McGarty in the hammer. Hannah's best from last year was just over 24 metres, but she improved by just over 6 metres to record a best of 30.19 metres - which is a new club record. Well done Hannah - when the weather turns warmer let's hope we can find a few more metres.

Just a reminder that the club's Annual General Meeting is being held this Wednesday, March 26th at Imberhorne School starting at 7.30.

And Tuesday evening training at Imberhorne School starts on April 1st. Juniors from 7 to 8 and older athletes from 7.30 to 8.45.

Sunday, March 2nd, 2008 (6:00pm)

Four first place medals from the Sussex Indoor Championships over the weekend plus one third place medal was a good return for our athletes. Laura McGarty got things under way in the senior ladies triple jump (which she won in 2007) with a best jump of 10.63 metres to give her another first place. Later she won the long jump with 4.65 metres.

Tessa Martin earned her first Sussex County Championship medal when she won the under 17 triple jump with 9.86 metres (with a later fourth place in the long jump with 4.58 metres - an event that finished just before 7 pm !!) The third place medal also came in the triple jump when James Brown jumped a personal best of 11.15 metres in the under 17 mens event - he later jumped over 5 metres for the first time in the long jump.

The fourth gold medal was rather an unexpected one. Graham Taylor (who is now over 55) has, at some stage in his career, run in just about every distance possible for the club up to and including the marathon. However he had never run in an event as short as the 60 metres hurdles. So he entered the senior mens 60 metres hurdles and, when he arrived, found that only two athletes had entered. When the time for the race came the other entrant was nowhere to be seen. So Graham ran all on his own to win the gold medal.

Amy Hewitt, Lucy Steel and Ryan Spivey also entered a number of events between them, but weren't able to pick up any more medals.

A reminder to all athletes that the first local open meeting of the season is now only three weeks ago. The Easter Monday Tonbridge Open meeting is on Easter Monday, March 24th. Details will soon be available.

And the Sunday training group will now meet at Imberhorne School for the rest of March and the whole of April.

Sunday, February 26th, 2008 (7:30pm)

Four of our athletes ran in the fourth and last match of the Sussex Cross-Country league two weeks ago at Plumpton Agricultural College, hoping to gain a place or two in the division 2 league table.

While the course was fairly flat the mud and wind made the race more difficult than was expected. First of our athletes to finish was Lance Quirico (59th) followed by Tony Crossley (61st), Ben Ivorson (76th) and Graham Taylor (90th). These results meant that the team kept in 6th place (out of 8) in division 2 and avoided threats of relegation.

Indoors Laura McGarty and Jo Lister have both been active for Cambridge University. In a recent match against Oxford Laura jumped close to her outdoor personal bests with 10.56 in the triple and 4.84 in the long. Jo competed in the 4 x 200 metres and 4 x 400 metres relays and in the longer relay her strong last leg enabled Cambridge to win the race by a few inches.

This coming weekend sees the Sussex Indoor Championships at Sutton and I'll bring you the results next week of course.

Sunday, February 17th, 2008 (7:30pm)

Last week we told you that the Young Athletes team had won the East Grinstead Courier Award for the young sports team of the year for 2007. This wasn't the only success as one of those young athletes, Tom Porter, is also a national standard athlete in rifle target shooting - and Tom won the young athlete of the year award in the same competition. Well done Tom.

The awards will be given at a lunch in the next few weeks. (I hope you will remember that last year John Rogers won the 2006 unsung hero award in the same East Grinstead Courier awards).

A reminder to all athletes, and especially the younger athletes. It may be half-term week, but we will still be training on Thursday evening at Imberhorne School. And the weights group will still meet at Sackville School on Tuesday evening.

The entry forms for the Sussex Indoors have to be in the post by this Friday, February 22nd. Get them in the post now. Click here for a form.

Sunday, February 10th, 2008 (7:00pm)

Congratulations to the Young Athletes team from last year on winning the East Grinstead Courier Award for the young sports team of the year for 2007. The team finished just behind Horsham in the Young Athletes League last year. Let's hope for a successful 2008.

We have now got the listings of 2007's best performances and you can see them by clicking on here. And the latest details of the summer fixtures can be obtained by looking here.

And don't forget those entry forms for the Sussex Indoor Championships on March 1st and 2nd at Sutton.

Sunday, February 3rd, 2008 (7:00pm)

An enjoyable evening last Wednesday at Imberhorne School saw medals and trophies for last summer presented to a large number of members, especially among the under 13 and under 15 age groups. Look here to find a full list of the winners.

A reminder that the entry forms for the Sussex Indoor Championships on March 1st and 2nd are available by clicking on here.

Sunday, January 27th, 2008 (7:00pm)

A reminder that this Wednesday, January 30th we have our 2007 Presentation Night at Imberhorne School, starting at 7.30 pm. Medals will be presented to under 13 and under 15 athletes plus a number of cups and trophies which are mostly for senior athletes.

We will be using the main hall at Imberhorne School, which means entry will be through the school's main reception area.

Details of the Sussex Indoor Championships on March 1st and 2nd are now available and you can download an entry form and timetable from the Sussex AAA website by clicking on here. Let's have a good turn-out, especially among our younger athletes.

Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008 (8:30pm)

At the South of England Indoor Championships over this last weekend at the new Lee Valley indoor track Tom Gardner produced our best performance. In the under 17 high jump he came 4th with a height of 1.85 metres - Joe Kent from Horsham produced an impressive 2.00 metres for second place.

Otherwise Laura McGarty jumped 4.63 metres in the long jump and 9.96 in the triple, with Tessa Martin jumping 9.70 metres in the under 17 triple jump. Jo Lister was our only athlete on the track and she ran 63.47 seconds in her heat of the under 20 ladies 400 metres. Unfortunately she didn't get through to the next round.

The Sussex Indoor Championships have been confirmed for the weekend of March 1st and 2nd at the Sutton Indoor track. We'll give more details next week, including a link to the entry forms.

Sunday, January 13th, 2008 (7:45pm)

We had 5 senior athletes for yesterday's Sussex Cross-Country league match at Stanmer Park in Brighton - the most for a long long time. In a field of 130 finishers Simon Moore was our first runner home in 47th (31 minutes and 31 seconds), Tony Crossley 54th (32:06), Lance Quirico 69th (32:51), Steve Warner 113th (37:32) and Graham Taylor 123rd (40:50). Well done to all of them.

Izzy Turnbull again ran in the under 13 girls race and did well to come 29th. Again well done Izzy.

I also have news of some outdoor field events - probably the earliest in the year we have ever had outdoor field events. Hannah McGarty took part in a hammer throwing competition last Sunday (January 6th) when she got back to Birmingham University. The meeting was held at the Birmingham Alexander Stadium and many of UK's top throwers were there. Hannah's best throw was just over 23 metres (with her new yellow hammer).

This coming weekend 4 of our athletes will take part in the South of England Indoor Championships at Lee Valley in North London. Laura McGarty in the senior triple and long jumps, Jo Lister in the under 20 ladies 400 metres, Tessa Martin in the under 17 triple jump and Tom Gardner in the under 17 high jump.

Sunday, January 6th, 2008 (8:00pm)

So Christmas has gone, the New Year is with us and it's about time we got back to training. Our regular training sessions kick off again this week. The weight training group re-start on Tuesday evening at Sackville School aiming for a prompt start at 7.30 - so please arrive by 7.25.

And we are back at Imberhorne School on Thursday evenings. The juniors start at 7 and finish at 8, while the seniors start at 7.30 and finish at 8.45.

The Sunday morning group kept going through the holiday period and continue to meet at East Court from 10.30 to 11.45 or so.

All this means that the summer season begins to creep ever closer. With Easter very early this year the early season Open Meeting at Tonbridge is only 10 or 11 weeks away.

Before we get there we will hold our 2007 presentation evening on Wednesday, January 30th. Details are being sent out in the next few days, either by e-mail or by old-fashioned Royal Mail but a copy of the letter can be found by clicking on here.

And with the summer season in mind we have some provisional dates for many of our league matches. We don't have venues yet. The dates will go out with the letter about the presentation night but again you can find the details here. As the note says please put the dates in your diaries and don't let anything over-ride them.