GEORGIE GRGEC SETS NEW BEST TIME FOR HALF MARATHON.
Competing in the Berlin Half Marathon on 6th April 2025 Georgie Grgec (Herne Hill) set a new best time for a Surrey athlete of 1:09:12 when finishing 6th. This was an improvement on the previous best of 1:10:02 set by Rose Harvey (Claphan C) in 2023.
Competing in the Oklahoma Throws Series in Ramona OK, USA on 13th April 2025 where he finished in 5th place Lawrence Okoye (Croydon) with a throw of 70.76m set a new UK Record in what was the highest ever standard Discus event of all time where the winner, Mykolas Alekna from Lithuania set a new World Record of 75.56m. The previous Surrey record was 68.24m which Lawrence set in 2012.
SURREY MARATHON BEST PERFORMANCE, 13TH APRIL 2025.
Competing in the Marathon at the European Running Championships in Leuven, Belgium on 13th April 2025 where he finished in 5th place George James (Dorking & Mole Valley) set the fastest time by a Surrey athlete of 2:10:10. This beat the previous best time of 2:10:51 set by Bernie Ford (AFD) in 1979.
SURREY UNDER-15 BOYS 100M RECORD, 12TH APRIL 2025.
Competing in the Medway & Maidstone Open Meeting at Gillingham on 12th April 2025 Piers Spencer-Simms (Blackheath & Bromley) set a new record for U15B 100m of 10.87/+0.8. The previous Surrey record was 10.9 which was set by Farrell Fabusiwa (Croydon) in 2023.
The AGM confirmed Lesley and Graham Taylor as Presidents for the forthcoming year. All the Officers of the Association were re-elected.
KATIE SNOWDEN SETS NEW BEST TIME FOR ROAD 5K.
Competing in the Podium 5k in Leicester on 15th March 2025 Katie Snowden (Herne Hill) set a new best time for a Surrey athlete of 15:19 when winning the race. This was an improvement on the previous best of 15:23 which she set in 2023. Georgie Grgec (Herne Hill) was 3rd in the race with a time equalling the previous best performance.
With great sadness we must report the death of Don Turner. Don, A member of Epsom and Ewell Harriers for 70 years, dedicated most of his life to athletics in
Surrey, the southeast and beyond.
Don was an international standard distance runner. He ran 65 marathons in his
career, but his real talent was in longer races. He broke the World record for a 6-
hour track run in appalling conditions on the cinders at Stompond Lane. He twice
won the race around the Isle of Man TT course, and in the 1962 Comrades Marathon
in South Africa (54 miles and 4,000ft of ascent). He was part of a team of 3 Surrey
runners who finished in the first 4 places. Altogether he ran 135 races at distances
longer than 26.2 miles.
When he stopped running Don threw himself into athletics officiating and
administration. He has been president and/or secretary and/or treasurer and /or
Race Organizer, of his club, of Surrey Athletics, of SEAA, of South of the Thames
Cross Country Association and many more.
As an official his first love was timekeeping. He inspired all officials who worked with
him to appreciate the high standards of accuracy that are essential. He was also an
early master of photo finish. In the heyday of international competitions at Crystal
Palace Don Turner would be in the photo finish booth. In 1981 he worked with Chris
Brasher and John Disley to organise the first London marathon.
Don would be welcomed as an official at the highest level of Athletics competitions.
But probably his most endearing feature was that he was just as happy to work at
the grass roots of the sport. He was an ever present at local young athletes meetings
and mid-week fixtures.
Athletics in Surrey and the Southeast will miss Don Turner. As an official, but more
importantly as a friend, he is a great loss.
A memorial service was held on 10 April 2025 at St Johns Church, Stoneleigh KT19 0QZ.
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REQUESTS FOR PAYMENT FROM SURREY ATHLETICS OFFICIALS
If you are asked for an unexpected payment appearing to come from SCAA then please contact the Treasurer email: treasurer@surreyathletics.uk.
NATIONAL UNION OF TRACK STATISICIANS (NUTS)
The NUTS athletics archive/museum has been installed at Coombe Wood School, Melville Avenue, Croydon CR2 7NY. They are on the lookout for donations and or loans of the following:-
(1) Books; (2) Programmes; (3) Photos; (4) Trophies; (5) Medals; (6) Club Badges & Vests (including clubs that no longer exist); (7) Old or Olympic kit; (8) Unwanted stopwatches (Do not have to work); (9) Documents; (10) Old running shoes, any pre-war would be wonderful. especially Laws, Fosters etc; (11) Other relevant items suitable for display or reference. Should you have any of the above that you would like them to consider or if you wish to make an appointment to visit, please contact Mike Fleet 020 8647 1341 or email mike@mafleet.co.uk.
SURREY COUNTY ATHLETICS HISTORICAL INFORMATION - CAN YOU HELP?
Keith Burchell currently holds the archives for the Surrey County AAA and Surrey County WAAA. These are far from being complete. If you have any past information such as programmes, committee minutes, championship results etc that you are thinking of disposing then please contact Keith Burchell. In particular, sets of County Championship results prior to 1980 are sought.
RESPECT TO OUR TEAM MANAGERS
Surrey County Athletic Association does not accept or condone the use of offensive behaviour towards or abuse or bullying of team managers under any circumstances. Team managers are all volunteers and make their decisions on the basis of information available to them. While not everyone is likely to agree with all of their decisions they must respect them and all the hours of work and agonising that go into the difficult task these team managers carry out in the interests of encouraging athletics in the county.
CARDIAC RISK IN THE YOUNG
England Athletics is publicising this charity.
CRY is a charity that was established to raise awareness of conditions that can lead to the sudden cardiac death of young people. They operate a screening programme at a number of clinics around the UK and support this with mobile units that travel to other locations.
Full information about CRY and their services can be found on their website at www.c-r-y.org.uk. Young people between the age of 14 and 35 who would like to have cardiac testing can go to www.testmyheart.org.
You can also see www.uka.org.uk/governance/health-safety/cardiac-screening-for-athletes/ for information on work being done by UKA in this area.
Following the death of a young member of Croydon Harriers, Mike Fleet has been promoting this charity for several years and anyone wishing to have copies of his photographs has been asked to make a donation to CRY. Further, he has been exchanging for donations bookmarks signed by famous athletes to raise funds for this charity. We thank those of you who have shown your support in the past.
Mike Fleet has started an Olympians Charity "Art" project. His request is to Olympic athletes who would be willing to contribute a drawing, sketch or even a "work of art". The target is to obtain 100 items. Currently contributions include matchstick men and women, smiley faces, fine portraits, crayoned landscapes and water colours. Amongst the Surrey contributors are Shirley Cawley, Judy Vernon, Jack Parker and Martyn Rooney with promises from Shireen Bailey and Donna Fraser. Mike has also received pictures from Olympic Gold medallists, David Hemery, Kelly Holmes, Anne Packer and Tessa Sanderson. The plan is for a one-off book of the boldly signed originals to be publicly auctioned, and for the submitted art, to feature in a limited edition book of prints for general sale.
Contributions on A4 duplicating paper should be sent to Mike at 2 Ridge Park, Purley, Surrey, CR8 3PN. Any queries, please call 020 8647 1341.
BOOKING REQUEST
FORMS FOR PHOTO-FINISH, RACE CLOCK, RADIOS & FIELD COUNTDOWN CLOCKS
SCAA has photo finish, race clock, radios and field countdown clocks for hire. You can download forms to request a booking for any of these by clicking on the buttons below. The forms come in either MS
Word or Adobe PDF format.
