Welcome to our newsletter
IMPORTANT CHANGES TO PARKING
We have been informed that with immediate effect we will no longer be able to park inside of the track arena.
We have been advised to use are the Bishops Road/Lido car park, or the car park at the side of the old Regional Swimming Pool.
Bishops Road/Lido car park; chargeable.
Old Regional Swimming Pool car park; free after 4pm, but there is no lighting on the road to/ from the track.
If you use the ORSP car park, we strongly advice that you wear light clothing and carry a torch. You can consider walking back to the main road and use the public footpath which is lit. We also urge you to consider not walking along the unlit road alone.
We urge everyone to drive slowly and be aware of pedestrians along this road section.
We understand that the council are cutting back the trees and will install lighting, but this work is not likely to be completed until the New Year.
We appreciate your understanding and co-operation during this transition. Thank you for helping to keep everyone safe.
CONGRATULATIONS
To our medallist from the Eastern Cross Country Championships last weekend. Everyone competed really well despite the hills and soggy footing.
GOOD LUCK WISHES
We are wishing all our youngsters the best of luck as they compete in the Cambridgeshire Sportshall event at Bushfield Sports Centre on Saturday.
EARLY WARNING - KEITH HALL 10km
We have been given notice that entries for the ever-popular Keith Hall 10km, which will include the BMAF Championships, will open on December 1st and are expected to be filled within 2 days. If you are thinking of competing in this event you need to keep your eyes open for any further notices as this race does tend to fill up very quickly.
Here’s a link to more details - https://thorneyrunningclub.com/exciting-news-about-the-keith-hallmemorial-10k-2025/
LONDON MARATHON 2026
The club have been given one place in next year’s Lond Marathon, if you have not been successful in the ballot and would still like to compete please email panvacgeneral@btinternet.com before December 1st, with your rejection letter and your name will be added to the hat.
ADVANCE NOTICE - WINTER FIXTURES
The Cambs Cross Country Championships will take place on Sunday 4th January in St Neots. This year it will be chip timing.
As soon as we have the entry details, we will let you all know.
* The Keith Ward Indoor meeting will be held at King’s Lynn on Sunday 29th March. We understand that there will be an outdoor hammer as well as some 5km races held on the same day.
As soon as we know more details, we will let you know.
SPORTSHALL EVENTS
We have been invited to compete in the Cambs Sportshall events again this year. The dates and venues are:
Saturday 22nd November @ Bushfield Leisure Centre starting at 12.30pm
Saturday 6th December @ One Leisure, St Ives Indoor Sports Centre starting at 12.30pm
The age groups are U11, U13 & U15 boys and girls.
It is £4 per athlete to compete.
These competitions are a great introduction to Sportshall Athletics and athletes of all abilities are welcome to take part.
For anyone wishing to compete in any of these events please speak to your coach or Kay, Brenda and we will get the teams entered.
SUMMER 2026 LEAGUE DATES
We can now inform you that following a national fixtures conference the dates and venues for the Southern Athletics League (SAL) for 2026, have been confirmed as:
Saturday 16th May @ PETERBOROUGH
Sunday 21st June @ Luton
Sunday 19th July @ St Albans
Saturday 8th August @ Dartford or Peterborough
If you are in the U17 + age groups, please put these dates in your diary and if you are an official, it would be great if you can make yourself available to help at these matches.
5KM ROAD RACE SERIES 2026
The proposed dates for the 2026 5km road series are:
10th June @ Eye
24th June @ Ferry Meadows
8th July @ Werrington 22nd July @ Stamford
5th August @ Ferry Meadows
There will be chip timing again, and it is likely that the courses at Werrington and Stamford will be slightly changed to have a Start/Finish closer to each other.
Currently we anticipate a change in the younger age groups to align with the proposed England Athletics age groups. As soon as this is clarified we will let you all know.
NEW AGE GROUP CHANGES
Many of you will have heard that the age groups are changing from April 1st 2026, that is only eight months away. The new age categories will be Under 12, Under 14, Under 16, and Under 18.What this means to the younger age groups in the EAL isn’t fully clear now but as soon as we hear anything we will inform everyone.
The new age groups are:
Under 10s: Athletes who are 8 or 9 on 31st August 2026
Under 12s: Athletes who are under 12 but older than 9 on 31st August 2026
Under 14s: Athletes who are under14 but older than 11 on 31st August 2026
Under 16s: Athletes who are under 16 but older than 13 on 31st August 2026
Under 18s: Athletes who are under 18 but older than 15 on 31st August 2026
There is a lot of technical information about the new age groups that is available on the England
Athletics website on this link https://www.englandathletics.org/about-us/age-group-changes/
MEMBERSHIP FEES 2026/27
Following the AGM earlier in the month we can report that as from 1st March 2026 the membership structure will be as follows:
Adults (Over 18) £100; Under 18, Over 60, Full time education, second claim members (those who belong to another club), track only use £90; Under 11 £50; Associate members £20.
Those members who train at Boston will receive a £20 discount to reflect the extra charges incurred there.
We still have a few committee vacancies, mainly for admin roles. If you can help in any way no matter how small, please let us know. The more people who help, the lighter the load for everyone.
WINTER CROSS COUNTY, INDOOR AND ROAD FIXTURES
CROSS COUNTRY
NORTH MIDS CROSS COUNTRY LEAGUE
Saturday 6th December @ Heanor
Saturday 10th January @ Nottingham
FROSTBITE FRIENDLY LEAGUE
Sunday 7th December @ Ben’s Yard, Stuntney Estate, Ely CB7 5TR
Sunday 11th January 2026 @ March
Sunday 1st February @ Bewsey Park
Sunday 1st March @ Huntingdon
CAMBS CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
Sunday 4th January @ St Neots
LINCS CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
Sunday 4th January @ Biscathorpe
LINCS CROSS COUNTRY SERIES
Sunday 23rd November @ Stroxton, near Grantham
Sunday 7th December @ London Road, Louth
Sunday 18th January @ Doddington Hall (provisional) U11, U13 & U15s enter here: https://www.raceresults.co.uk/onlineentries/user/login.php?raceid=59180 U17, U20, Sen & Vets enter here: https://www.raceresults.co.uk/onlineentries/user/login.php?raceid=5979
ENGLISH NATIONAL CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPS
Saturday 21st February 2026, Sedgefield, County Durham
CAU INTER-COUNTIES
Saturday 7th March 2026 @ Wollaton Park, Nottingham
INDOOR
CAMBRIDGESHIRE SPORTSHALL
Saturday 22nd November @ Bushfield Leisure Centre, PE2 5RQ
Saturday 6th December @ One Leisure, St Ives Sports Centre PE27 6WU
Sunday 1st February 2026 @ UAE Sports Park, Norwich NR4 7TJ
SOUTH OF ENGLAND CHAMPIONSHIPS Combined Events
Saturday 13th & Sunday 14th December @ Lee Valley Stadium, Edmonton, N9 0AR
Saturday - U15B & U17W Pentathlon; Sunday - U15G, U20W & SW Pentathlon
Saturday & Sunday - U17 M, U20M & SM Heptathlon
Entry on line at www.seaa.org.uk. Entries close 2nd December
SOUTH OF ENGLAND MIDDLE DISTANCE CHAMPIONSHIPSNew event
Saturday 13th & Sunday 14th December @ Lee Valley Stadium, Edmonton, N9 0AR
Saturday – U15/U17/U20/ Senior 1500m heat (Finals on Sunday)
Sunday – U15/U17/U20/Senior 1500m Finals & U15/U17/U20/Senior 3000m Finals Entry on line at www.seaa.org.uk. Entries close 2nd December
SOUTH OF ENGLAND U13 / U15 / U17 CHAMPIONSHIPS
Saturday 10th & Sunday 11th January @ Lee Valley Stadium, Edmonton, N9 0AR
Saturday 10th -
U13: 60M, LJ, HJ (start height 1.20m for girls, 1.25m for boys), SP
U13/U15: 800m Heats (Finals on Sunday)
U15/U17: 60m, 60m Hurdles
Sunday 11th –U13: 800m Final
U15/U17: 200m, 300m (U15B&G), 400 (U17M&W), 800m, LJ, SP
U15B: HJ (1.50m), PV (2.30m), TJ (9m/11m)
U15G: HJ (1.40m), PV (1.90m), TJ (7m/9m)
U17M: HJ (1.65m), PV (2.90m), TJ (11m/13m)
U17W: HJ (1.45m), PV (2.20m), TJ (9m /11m)
Entry on line at www.seaa.org.uk. Entries close 30th December
SOUTH OF ENGLAND U20 / SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
Saturday 31st January & Sunday 1st February @ Lee Valley Stadium, Edmonton, N9 0AR
Saturday - U20/Senior: 60m, 60m Hurdles, LJ, SP
Sunday - U20/Senior: 200m, 400m, 800m
U20W: HJ (1.50m), PV (2.30m), TJ (9m / 11m)
U20M: HJ (1.70m), PV (3.40m), TJ (11m / 13m)
SW: HJ (1.55m), PV (2.70m), TJ (11m)
SM: HJ (1.80m), PV (3.80m), TJ (13m)
Entry on line at www.seaa.org.uk. Entries close 20th January
KEITH WARD INDOOR
Sunday 29th March @ King’s Lynn.
RESULTS ROUND-UP
FULHAM 10km, London, 16th November Men
6 Alex Gibb 30:54 (PB)
ST NEOTS HALF-MARATHON, 16th November Women
292 Becky Witton (W45) 1:42:23
CORBY 10 MILE, 16th November Men
26 Brian Corleys (M50) 55:55 (PB)
EASTERN CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPS, Haverhill, Cambridge, 15th November
What a day we had – two team bronze medals and an individual bronze medal.
Our first team medal came in the U15 boys with Finlay Smith (6th), Monty Wood-Davis (17th) and Luke Royston (27th) all running brilliantly to secure the bronze medal by only 4 points from silver.In cross country scoring, every position counts, so finishing just 4 points behind the silver medallists shows how close the competition was.
Following Paul Larkins’ individual bronze medal, the U17 men’s team also made it onto the podium. The team – comprising Lewis Legge (9th), Luca Gaskell (14th) and Kendall Adam (20th) – secured a bronze medal in the team event, thanks to their strong individual finishes.
Overall everyone who competed ran really well despite the undulating course which included around 20m of standing water within the first 200m of the race.
Ruby Hynes could be considered the unluckiest athlete on the day when she finished 4th despite grappling with an over hanging tree part way around the course leaving her with a bloody leg. Amber Park miss-judged her final effort as she finished 5th only 40secs away from a medal.
Sen men (12,000m)
4 Daniel Evans 38:36; 5 Stuart Haw 39:05; 13 Jimmy Adams (M40) 41:03; 27 Oliver Mason (M40)
44:28
M60 (6000m)
3 Paul Larkins 22:46; 7 Sean Beard 23:59; 15 Paul Parkin 27:49
U17 men (6000m)
9 Lewis Legge 18:34; 14 Luca Gaskell 19:08; 20 Kendall Adam 20:06; 22 Toby Staines 20:48; 23
Noah Randall 21:40; 26 Finlay Overend 24:54; 27 Toby Whitehouse 27:35. TEAM: Bronze U15 boys (4000m)
6 Finlay Smith 12:31; 17 Monty Wood-Davis 13:44; 27 Luke Royston 14:05. TEAM: Bronze
U13 boys (3000m)
29 Solomon Stuart 12:20
Sen women (6000m)
5 Amber Park 21:25; 25 Alison Staines (W45) 25:23; 26 elisabeth Sennitt-Clough (W50) 25:45
U20 women (6000m)
4 Ruby Hynes 23:33
U15 girls (4000m)
10 Olivia Peach 14:28; 21 Beatrice Faith 15:08; 35 Sarah Clough 18:11
U13 girls (3000m)
22 Lillia Bellaboid 12:19; 24 Monica Stuart 12:29; 30 Isla-May Kenton 15:58