Latest / The Folkestone & Hythe Sports Podcast / RAY JOHNSON AND TOM ASPINALL TALK FOLKESTONE ROTARY HALF MARATHON PLUS REPORTS ON FOOTBALL AND HOCKEY

Transcript

RAY JOHNSON AND TOM ASPINALL TALK FOLKESTONE ROTARY HALF MARATHON PLUS REPORTS ON FOOTBALL AND HOCKEY · The Folkestone & Hythe Sports Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Okay, a year on one five point nine Radio, Folkston.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Now with the folks the Rotary Half American happening this Sunday,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: of two guests in today we would be playing a
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: major part in the race. First of all, I would
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: be joined via race director Ray Johnson, and then I'll
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: be chatting to Tom Aspinall, who is part of the
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: South Kent Mind team and he's actually running the race.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: So I'm looking forward to chating to these two. Also
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: on the show, I have some local football reports and
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: the scores from listening to this all thirteen of Folkston
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Optimist Hockey Club first game of the season, and if
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: I get time, it's going to be a busy show.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: I've got a few other sporty snippets to throw in.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: But as usual on the show, we start with the belt.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: When was the last time you heard this one? From
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: nineteen eighty three? Buckle up? This is Owner of a
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Lonely Heart? But yes, what a great track. That's Owner
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: of a Lonely Heart from Yes, I love that one
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: and I always like to start the show with a belter.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: Now at Sunday seas the half Marathon, and I've got
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: my two guests in the show so we can say
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: hello to them both. So, first of all, would like
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: to introduce you to a race director, Ray Johnson Halla,
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: Ray Radio. Yeah, yeah, okay, good, good right, and Tom
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: the first time for you. But welcome to Radio Folkston.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: And you're actually running the race, aren't you on Sunday?
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: That's the plan? Yeah?
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: Good, I'm hoping to finish. Yeah, I've done it a
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: couple of times, so go easy with.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: Oh you fit and really to go, that's the thing.
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I usually wait till the starting line. That's when
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: I figure it out.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's when you make your mind up.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly right.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: Well, we're gonna have a chat with Ray first and
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: then we'll come back to you later on in the show. Tom.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: But Ray, okay, so twenty years how can that be?
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: That means that we must have managed it through COVID.
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: Absolutely. Yeah. That was crazy times, but we pulled it
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: off and it was if you remember, it was quite
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: a challenge. We did waves and stuff. One of the
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: very few in the Southeast that actually pulled off races
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: during that period. So the runners loved it, and of
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: course they keep coming back for more. They really appreciate
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: and remember that time.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: I do remember that race exactly because it was off
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: in waves, but it was also a filthy, wet, soaking day,
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: you remember, and these poor runners had come out because
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: they hadn't run in a competitive race, and because it
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: was waves, you had to wait like two minutes before
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: you could let them go. But yeah, that was certainly was,
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: but they didn't care. It was once I remember. So
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: we've done twenty years and I mean, how's it going
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: this year for runners? Are you nearly near the limit?
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: Here?
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: We are?
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: I mean, it's amazing. So the last record we had
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: of entries was seven hundred and eighty back in or
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: a few years ago now I can't remember for sure,
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: but that was when the foot and mouth outbreak in Windsor,
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: so we had loads of people come down from Windsor
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: Oh yeah, they had to run for charity.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: So yeah, we're just over seven hundred and eighty plus
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: thirty kids. So we really pleased and it's gone well.
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: It was the best on record, and I think it'd
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: be sold out maybe later today.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, excellent. Of course, we mustn't forget the children's race actually,
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: because that's that's normally will attended, isn't it so.
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: And of course it's a family event, you know, with
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: a lot of races, but we try to pull things
• 3:59
  Speaker 4: in a way that we do get the community involved.
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: As you know, we've got all the marshals out there,
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: we've got police cadets coming, we've got a few display
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: stands and things like that. But it is a family thing,
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: so maybe bring you a little and then let them
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: have a go and then mum or dad or both
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: go out later and then go and hit the road.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: So the young ones they can turn up and enter
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: on the day. You do have to enter, don't you.
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: You do have to enter. So the children's race, yeah,
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: I mean we will have spaces on the day, but
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: try and book an advance if they can.
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: So it's the best thing to do.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: And how far do the children run?
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: So it's only about six hundred meters so it's not
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: a major. It's just a bit of the leaves and back.
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: But it's good fun and it's great for the kids
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: just to say look I've done my first ever. You know,
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: the feedback we get and the kids is wonderful. They
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: get a little goodie bag and stuff and things going.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: On all right. Now, it's a celebration for a certain
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: marshal that has been volunteering for a very long time.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: So tell us a bit about that.
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: Yeah, So a guy called Christopher thing Kelsey. He lives
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: down in New Romney's a farmer, so he's literally up
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: at the cracker dawn every day. I think he gets
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: up at three am and then he does the sheep
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: and he does the farming as you would expect, and
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: then sometimes he would go out for a run. But
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: this year he's going to join us for the half marathon.
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: He's been a fantastic marshal as they all are, but
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: he's done the nineteen years, yes, but he thought he'll
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: have a year off this year and he's decided to run.
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: So he's eighty years old. We've given him the best
• 5:23
  Speaker 4: number eighty if anyone's going to be down there, you know,
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: the spectators and everyone given back, right, So Chrius, he's
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: raising money for the Guide Dogs and he's already raised
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: two and a half thousand. You know, it really motivates
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: him and he's really looking forward to it.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: Oh great, we'll definitely give him a big shout out
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: rial to start there, certainly. Yeah, Okay, we're talking of
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: raising money. You've done a little bit of yourself, haven't you.
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I've been a busy chappie. So I did my
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: twenty fifth London Marathon this year, booked in for next year.
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: He's six consecutive, always done it for Kent Blind and
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: now I'm over one hundred and fifty five thousand over years.
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: So that's what motivates me to do it. Just raising funds.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: And good And are you getting slower every year?
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: Yeah, pretty much, But I must say in the last
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: couple of weeks I've picked up. Yeah, because I've been
• 6:11
  Speaker 4: doing the regular not training for the event, but i've
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: been running the actual course in fact, because I live
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: on the route. Yes, so I've been out and about
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: and I see you sometimes in the mornings. It's all good. Yeah,
• 6:20
  Speaker 4: of course, a lot of people from the folks and
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: running club, a few people. We wave at each other
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: and yeah it's great.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: Oh good. Okay. Now the course now it's on the
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: top of the lees to start with, and it gets
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: down to the promenade. So we've got this issue of
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: what goes down must come up all the other way around.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: So run us through the course because we used to
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: go down the road of Remembrance has everybody new and
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: it was a thing in the tail. But have you
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: still got a hill for them?
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: Yeah, we have so effectively. It starts outside the Grand
• 6:47
  Speaker 4: Hotel on the Lees, so it's at the top just
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: to be clear, and then we head up around the
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: block type thing to get back on the leaves, go
• 6:54
  Speaker 4: down to the town, so we'll be going past the
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: Lee's Lift which is all boarded up as if is
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: most of the town, so just for runners or spectators
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: to be aware the area could be quite congested, but
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: that's fine. They then go round the town, come back
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: up the Lees to avoid the Road of Remembrance, as
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: you know, So we pulled them back up to the
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: lees and then named meander down from what's called Dixwell
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: Road down the A two five nine a little bit
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: meander down and they go down the Radnecliff Hill and
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: then they get to the Riviera, get onto the seafront
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: as you say, head over to hythe little turn around
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: and then they go right round to Hive and come
• 7:32
  Speaker 4: back and then they come up the Radna Hill, which
• 7:36
  Speaker 4: is a nice little sting in the term.
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think the folks and runners know that. I
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: think Radner Hill. Use that as a time trial, don't you.
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: Tom reluctantly, Yes, yeah, we have to do well.
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: You tell us about it, you'll be used to the
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: course anyway. So right, okay, right now, what about races
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: like this need a lot of people behind the scenes,
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: so yeah, tell us about the sponsors and the helpers.
• 8:01
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so sponsors, we've got Alkaline Transport is the main sponsor,
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: second year going. We've also got KAP so probably most
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: of your listeners will know about KP Motors and they're
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: going to bring a couple of cars down so you
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: see them on the leaves, have a chance to have
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: a look at those. And then we've also got the
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: Folks and District Hotel Catering Association, so they are main supporters,
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: but also McDonald's and we've got you know, the Marshals
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: are fantastic as you know every year you do the
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: commentating for us, which is brilliant. But of course you know,
• 8:31
  Speaker 4: we had people from all different places that assist us.
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: It could be from the Running Club, it could be
• 8:36
  Speaker 4: from charities, the Rotary Club of course, High Rotary Channel, Rotary.
• 8:41
  Speaker 4: We've just got a load of marshals in from South
• 8:44
  Speaker 4: Kent College or rather it's called Folkston College now, I
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: should say, and a few people from opis care. So
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: really nice that the community come out and support us.
• 8:55
  Speaker 4: About ten days ago are starting to have kittens and
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: not having enough marshals. But now I've got loads police
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: cadets come out as well, and we've got thirty five
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: police cadets coming with helpers, so it's really lovely. It's
• 9:05
  Speaker 4: a great event, as you know, the community event, and.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: It's good for the police cadets actually because I speak
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: to some of the sergeants or what they are, the
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: guys in charge, and it's part of their training, isn't
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: it too. It's a bit like Duke of Edinburgh. They
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: have to go out in the community and tip boxes
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: to say they've done an outside event and marshaled controlled people.
• 9:23
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean some of your listeners won't be familiar.
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: The runners will. But of course we have water stations,
• 9:28
  Speaker 4: we have the start finished where we give out the medals,
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: give out water again and so on. So all of
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: that activity goes on and they really enjoy it and
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: it's really nice to see that. And of course yes
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: you say, they get a certificate and then they can
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: use that for their further career.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: I think that's great to just say, look I've come
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: out on a Sunday instead of on the xbox. That's nice.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: Now, another thing that you do sometimes get is you
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: get teams of people, different companies or anything like that
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: going on.
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: So we've got a couple. I mean, obviously we've got
• 9:57
  Speaker 4: the charity, which is the South Kent Mind that Tom
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: talk about. So we've got a couple of companies. I
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: think metro Line Security have got one. Saga are coming
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: out to play, and I think we've got a couple
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: from Church and Dwight. Not as much as the ten k, no,
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: but they're certainly getting traction onto this because a half marathon,
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: as you know, is not an easy distance to do. No,
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: it's a serious thing.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: Ten k is much more doable if you liked, if
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: you've just come from a couch to five k and
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: you're just up in the race and you want to
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: ever crack at it.
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: Yeah, because as you know, we're the ten k and
• 10:28
  Speaker 4: the old school is like six miles. Yeah, of course,
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: the half marathon is thirteen point one, so it's a
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: bit further.
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: Well, now you've mentioned the ten k I know it's
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: a long way off, but I suppose it takes months
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: to prepare these things. Have you started preparing for that?
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: Absolutely, it's kind of weird to think. You know, we've
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: got the half marathon on Sunday, and I've spent a
• 10:47
  Speaker 4: lot of my time obviously dealing with that, as you
• 10:48
  Speaker 4: would expect, But in the last couple of weeks I've
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: been in an awful lot for the ten k so
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: that sponsors, looking at the venue, dealing with some of
• 10:56
  Speaker 4: the logistics and things like that that are going on,
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: dealing with the local authority and things like that. So yeah,
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: it's been quite a lot of work, but it's all good, excellent.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: I mean, do you have any not targets that's not
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: the right word, but the actual half marathon? I mean
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: how much money do you tend to raise them? Where
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: does it go to?
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: Good one. So this year the main charity is the
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: Sports Trust, so I think most people would be aware
• 11:22
  Speaker 4: that Three Hills and the work that the Sports Trust do.
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: I mean, they do some fantastic work. One of the
• 11:26
  Speaker 4: things I really like is during the summer they pay
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: for the kids to come along and do some sport activity,
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: feed them, and things like that.
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: It's wonderful.
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: So it's really nice the way they connect and everything
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: that they do. So they're a registered charity, so we
• 11:38
  Speaker 4: are going to split the funds between the Rotary Club,
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: which would distribute moneies to good causes locally, and then
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: fifty percent would go to the Sports Trust. So runners
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: have been invited to run for them if they want to,
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: and we've actually got thirty eight people that are running
• 11:52
  Speaker 4: for that charity, which is really really.
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: Nice, brilliant.
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: So yeah, and the amount last year, I think the event, well,
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: I say a thing, I don't know for sure because
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: some people don't report back, but overall the event raised
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: about sixty thousand. Because of course, some runners are running
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: for their own charity, so anyone can run for like
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: you know, cancer research or any charity, pilgrims whoever. You know,
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: that's what we encourage them to do. So, you know,
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: it's really really.
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: Good, excellent. So what about time is then? What times
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: the kids race? What times the main race?
• 12:21
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so the children's race is at nine thirty prompt
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: and then the main race will be at ten, So
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: hopefully you'll be there in time time. I'm sure you will.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: You and you and I are normally the first ones
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: there in the dark. Where does this finish line? Usually
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: up at four thirty.
• 12:37
  Speaker 4: Yeah, but yeah, so it's great to be there, and
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: it's a good buzz when it all kicks off. Yeah,
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: it's really really good, excellent.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: Okay, Well, well, I think we've covered most things from
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: my point of view, Is anything else you want to add?
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: Run?
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: Just to say thank you to your listeners and everyone
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: that's supporting the event. Good luck to all the runners.
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: Thank you to you Kevin and Radio Focused them for
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: what you guys do, because you're a charity as well.
• 12:59
  Speaker 4: And I mean, if you're not running or you haven't
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: entered fair enough, just come along and enjoy it and clap,
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: clap along the runners, get them, encourage them to step up.
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: Have you checked the weather?
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: I never do. I always look out and I always
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: look out look at the window. Some people say about this,
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: but I always look out in the window in the morning.
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: But whatever happens, I'll be there.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: You'll be there, Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, Well, it's been
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: a great journey, Ray and I can't believe it's this
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: is the twentieth time. One of the few events that's
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: been consecutive because we managed to do it through COVID
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: and it's a great achievement and you need to give
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: yourself and your team a massive pat on the back.
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: We do and just want to thank you all for
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: coming in.
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: Thank you very much.
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: Excellent. Okay, So there you go. That was Ray Johnson
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: and Ray and I will be up on the leaves
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: at the Cracker Dawn on Sunday. So why did you
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: come along? Even if you're not running, just come along
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: and support us. Okay. So time from a bit of
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: more music. Now we're going to the nineties, now ninety
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: six and this is republica Republica and baby, she's ready
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: to go. Okay. So that was one interview at Donna Dusted.
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: That was Ray Johnson, the race director for Sunday. And
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: very shortly we're going to be joined by someone who's
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: actually running the race. But in between I'm just going
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: to squeeze in some sports. After all, it's a sports show,
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: isn't it. Okay, let's start with football. Last Saturday, folks
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: in Victor had what looked like the toughest test in
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: the league when they faced Burgess Hill with the score
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: to one two in Victor at halftime. Burger's Hill then
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: pulled one back and made it to all, but Donald
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: Thomas scored the winner in the seventy second minute, final
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: score three to two to Invictor. Now Tuesday evening saw
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: an away game in the Kent Senior Cup to VCD.
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: Jay Saunders rested a lot of his first teamers, as
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: managers do in this competition. Final score was one all
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: after ninety minutes. However, in Victor lost five to four
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: on penalties. Next up on Saturday is FA Cup time
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: with an away fixture away against National League South team
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: last year's Isthmian champions Horsham. Now this game is worth
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: five six hundred and twenty five pounds to the winners
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: and one eight hundred and seventy five pounds to the losers.
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: Now switching to Hive in the second qualifying round of
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: the Favars Iver in the seven goal thriller, beating Athletic
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: new from the Essex Senior League by four goals to three.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: It was three all with ten minutes to go when
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: Richie Keeld scored his second goal to finish the game
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: at four to three to Hive, and Hive was seven
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: hundred and twenty five five pound better off thanks to
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: the FA on the eighteenth of all lewa excuse me
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: on the eighteenth of October. In the next round they've
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: been drawn at home against peace Haven and Telscombe, who
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: are currently tenth in the Sussex County Premier League. Meanwhile,
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: they were back in league action on Tuesday evening at
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: Richfield and they welcomed a beasted but unfortunately they lost
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: three too goals coming from Key and Scott and Richie Keel.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: So moving on to Saturday is an away fixture against
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: Phoenix Sports which means a trip to Bexley Heath. Now
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: our local teams from the NLG Kent County League turn
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: their attentions to the Interregional Challenge Cup. Last Saturday with
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: some poor results. Hawkinstown were at home to a c
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: Ashford from the division below, but they were beaten four
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: to one, and Low Romney welcomed at Sporting Club Attendsme
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: reserves to the Maude Pavilion, both playing in the Premier Division,
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: but they also lost, this time by three goals to nil.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: The Saturday is back to league action. Hawkins were away
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: to stand Field which means a trip to Elton and
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: New Romney are at home to Meridian VP, who traveled
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: down from Greenwich. Now do you remember I mentioned last
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: week Lyd Town They were due to play in the
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: second qualifying round of the FA Bars in Brighton at
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: the famous with Dean Stadium. Now with Dean Stadium was
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: the home of Steve Ovett believe it or not, and
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: Brighton and Hove Albion did share the ground for many
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: years whilst their stadium was being built. Anyway, sorry Lydd
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: we played AFC of Von Denian's.
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: Well.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: This must have been an extremely exciting afternoon as the
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: final score was two all, but unfortunately Lydd lost the
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: penalty shootout also five goals to four. And well done
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: to folks and new Victor Ladies team who beat Ramsgate
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: three to two in a league game this Sunday They
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: travel away to Herne Bay for a three point thirty kickoff.
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: The Winnergates Ramsgate puts them in a second position in
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: the league. Top club Park Reaches are only ahead having
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: e all points but superior goal difference. Okay, so we're
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: going to crack on to a bit of hockey news now.
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: Weren't going to do? Is get as much sporting as
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: I can so we've got plenty of time to have
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: a chat with Tom. So we're going to turn our
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: attentions to the Folkston Optimus Hockey Club. Well, it was
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: the first game of the new season on Saturday and
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: they fielded eight and five is thirteen thirteen teams, so
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: we started the men's team who'd been promoted, so you know,
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: it was a good test for them to see how
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: they got on. Unfortunately, they lost four to one, the
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: goal coming from Josh Clifford. But Joe Tolhurst, who's our
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: South Kent mind contact, also plays hockey for the first
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: team and he was telling me that woke in. We're
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: really really well drilled team and they did notice to
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: step up in the standard if you like. But they
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: reckon they learned a lot although they got beat but
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: they reckon that they can cope with it, so good
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: luck to them for the rest of the season. The
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: men's second eleven they beat Canterbury Pilgrims two to one.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: Goals come in, both of them come in from Mike Hopkin.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: The third team they beat Mardin Russets three to two,
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: goals coming from Harry Rowe, Phil King and Jack Timmins.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: The men's fourth team were they lost four to one
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: two Gravesham and Welcome Charlie Pepper getting the lone goal.
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: Mardin Russets against the fifth team where they drew two all,
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: Ross Dreiber and Paul Andrews getting the goals. The men's
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: sixth team they beat Herne Bay five to one. This
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: is a great day for a Jake Davison he got
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: a hat trick, Matt Carter got one and Steve Roe
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: got one. The men's seventh team where they were supposed
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: to play Blackheath Outlaws. Now this is what they call
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: a walkover win. Basically, when it's a walkover win, it
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: means that someis happened to the opposition. They can't get
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: a team out. They might be illness or injuries and
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: they just can't get a field a team. So what
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: happens is the opposition get a five nil of a
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: victory that goes down on paper. And the men's eighth
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: team they drew a one all with Sutton Valance Wererick
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: wait to get in the goal ladies team, well, they
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: didn't fare too well either. They were beaten four to
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: two by Mardon Russett's Meg Scott and Iszy Prout getting
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: the goals. The Ladies' second team they drew one all
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: with Ashford Christy Lawrence getting the goal. The Ladies thirteen
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: they drew a Neil neil with burnt ash The Ladies
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: fourteen they beat Tunbridge Wells too, Nil Empulan and Danny
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: Hopkin got the goal. And finally the Ladies fifteen Gillingham
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: and Courion's they beat. They won two to one, the
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: Ladies fifteen one two to one, the goals coming from
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: Hillary Mercer and another guest of the show, Julie Griffin.
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: And believe it or not, they've got a six team
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: tucked away, but they didn't have a game last week.
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: Well anyway, so we're going to keep an eye on
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: what goes on at the hockey and next week we
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: are hoping to get Amy Bumpsteady and she's a Folkston
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: goalkeeper with the hockey club and she's also my media
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: guru contact. She is great. She always gets all the
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: results there on my inbook, sometimes on a Sunday night,
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: but always on a Monday morning, right time for a
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: bit of music, and then we're going to come back
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: and have a chat with Tom aspinall this is Brian
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: Adams and Melanie Croud Melanie see I love that song
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: Brian Adams from nineteen ninety eight. Okay, so we're back
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: in the studio now and we're joined by Tom's been
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: all hello Tom, how are you hello, Kevin?
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: I'm all right, yeah, right, yeah, Sunday.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: Day, right, brilliant right now, Tom, you're actually we've been
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: speaking about a half marathon and you're actually running it
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: on Sunday. But before before we do that, tell us
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: a little bit of about yourself for me, your local
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: lad was you born locally?
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah, grew up in Hith living in folks and now
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: so pretty much yeah folks.
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: So did you go to school in Hive yes, brock
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: Hill brock Hill, Oh dear. That brings back memories actually,
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: having said that, I had two children that went to
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: brock Hill. But for a period of time now I
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: know you remember the folks and running an athletics club.
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: It used to be just the folks and running club.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: But we used to used to there used to be
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: a grass track as you come in through the gates.
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: I do believe it was just on the right there,
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: and for quite a while we used to go up
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: there and use the grass track for a bit of training.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: And there's a gentleman called Dave Smith used to take
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: us and he's actually Nicky Goodwin's dad, and he was
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: a good trainer and we used to have some great times.
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: I think that the top right end corner it was
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: a bit bumpy on the old grass. Not a lot
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: used for it on the track now.
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I wish I could say I run on that.
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: I probably bunked off a couple of times on the
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: on the track.
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: So right, So, so was you did you like sports
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: school or is it something that you know?
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, not really And it's kind of weird
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: I'm here talking about running in general really, so I
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: mean I think my parents would probably agree. I sort
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: of run a bit like a div growing up, sort
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: of arms flailing, legs not really working in the right direction.
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: So I think like a future and running really wasn't
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: heard everything about it, you know, running marathons, all that
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: sort of stuff.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: Right, So I mean what turned it around for you?
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah? Well, I mean touch five k was how I
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: had sort of my introduction to get into running, like
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: really actually working the mechanics of how to move your body,
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: getting like comfortable with being outside and you know, getting
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: hot and sweaty, moving about.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: How when people actually watch you work out, it's quite
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: for you know me now obviously you know I don't
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: mind wearing vests in shorts and things, but it's.
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: Early on you feel a bit conscious.
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah, one hundred Yeah, And I think a lot of
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: people do getting into it. How could you know, because
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: when you think runners, you think, you know, slim.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: Beal All stereotype, he's champions.
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, yeah, and you know I'm the stereotype now
• 24:03
  Speaker 3: with the long flowing hair. But it's it wasn't quite
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: like that when I started. So it was kind of
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: getting my head in the right place as well as
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: my body. Yeah, and then from there it's sort of
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: just kept growing and growing further distances, feeling more comfortable
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: and then meeting other runners as well.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: So you couch to five K. Was it something you
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: did off the internet or did you join a group?
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: It was the official NHS five K one.
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah, but there's obviously loads going around, you know, and
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: there's once you can do. We've got one with the
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: Running Club as well that we've supported.
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, let's talk about that. That's another initiative with
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: self kent mind, but were you part of that?
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: I helped promote and do socials, so I did a
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: lot of the filming and that, and it's it was
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: nice to see them on their journey as well. So
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: I running coaches and Soufthfolk mine obviously collaborated on that
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: twelve week course which is now completed and say they're
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: all run a five k. Yeah, yeah, so it was
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: kind of brilliant to see. It was kind of like,
• 24:56
  Speaker 3: you know, proud dad in a way, and we've had
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: you've had Joe on here and who's sort of brain
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: child behind all these amazing activities South Camp might do.
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: But yeah, no, that was definitely kind of a full
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: circle moment.
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I just hope really, I mean it was like,
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: I don't know what you did after you you hit
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: your five k? Did you think a weird or go now?
• 25:15
  Speaker 3: Oh yeah, yeah, you do the plan and you kind
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: of like left a drift because it's a massive achievement
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: you should never forget. Like obviously when you run half
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: a marathing we've spoken about that's four four of them.
• 25:28
  Speaker 3: You know that in one go it's a lot, but
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: five k alone is a fantastic to you and but
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: then you kind of want to do more and I
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: have that energy to then go, well, what's next?
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: What next? Was the folks in ten mile the running
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: club run.
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: That's a big jump in it.
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: It is quite but I did say.
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: I was a div and I'm still a little bit
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: of div So that was kind of like, let's do that.
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: I think once you've built like a once you've done something,
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: once you know you can achieve something that you thought
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: was impossible, actually like well what what else could be?
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: So yeah, that was the next one.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: So was that tough? I mean, did you do the
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: train in or did you just think, yeah, it was
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: done five, I could do ten miles.
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: It was a little bit of that.
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: I think with only a bit of running, there is
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: a bit of you know, i'll just give it a
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: go attitude, not.
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: Really not much sense behind it.
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: But there was training, you know, I I up the distances,
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: you know, followed advice online and this is before I
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: joined the club, so it was still.
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: Kind of on my own working it out.
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: There's a lot of runners do, and I think it's
• 26:23
  Speaker 3: it's nice to do that because I think you've got
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: to be confident in your own abilities and what you
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: can bring before you sort of feel comfortable to them
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: to it.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: So what was it like on the day. I mean
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: that's like if you like, was it your first race?
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: Right, how are you feeling?
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: Quite nervous?
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I just got back from Copenhagen the night before,
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: so like a little bit I sort.
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: Of play it. Yeah, really close to the best.
• 26:45
  Speaker 3: But yeah, all my all my family and my sisters,
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: my parents came out and watched, and I think that
• 26:50
  Speaker 3: just helped because it's sort of, yeah, everything I've been
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: doing on my own into sort of the real world
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: and oh my got everyone's.
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: Here support for it.
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: A bit of pressure.
• 26:59
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a long our co from hive to folks
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: and them back again. So it was all you know,
• 27:02
  Speaker 3: I went up my childhood road as well, so it
• 27:05
  Speaker 3: was kind of weird looking at that and thinking, yeah.
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: Down Albert Road.
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: Oh I used to live there, not ever thinking i'd
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: you know, yeah, be able to run at all sort
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: of that distance.
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: It was pretty Yeah. I was so chuffed.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: All right. Yeah, so okay, so you've done ten miles.
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: I mean I know the answer to this one, but
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: have you done a marathon?
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: Well that yeah, that kind of was the next I
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: mean then my first half marathon was the Folks and
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: Rotary Half Marathon later later that year, and then a group.
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: Of my guys were from the running club, phil Ian
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: and Jay. We all sort of got together and we're like,
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: let's do a marathon. I think it was all of
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: our first time Jay who was the crazy guy behind it,
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: got us hooked us into it.
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: But we yeah, it was. It was a massive thing.
• 27:55
  Speaker 3: We did Manchester in twenty twenty four, so from twenty
• 27:59
  Speaker 3: twenty two, forshing catch.
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: Five k at the end of that and they doing
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: some marathon my first wife and it was like I
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: couldn't even imagine. It was wild wildest dreams.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: So I'm in Manchester, I think I'm not sure. I
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: think it might have been a year before soon and
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: I went up there, and so, I mean, I'd done
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: some couple of big city marathons, so it was at
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: your first big city.
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: Marathons, big city, first time in Manchester, first time up north,
• 28:21
  Speaker 3: so it was kind of just it was loads of
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: new stuff, so it was you kind of want to
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: feel the moment.
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: It definitely felt like how it would run in London.
• 28:28
  Speaker 3: I imagine that you've been there a few times. It's
• 28:30
  Speaker 3: the support was crazy, and you have your name on
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: the front of your bib, so people are calling your names.
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: I don't have any family out there up there, but
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: you know, everyone, all the everyone in Manchester.
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: We're out on force. It was amazing.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: We had a great weekend actually well, to be honest,
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: I remember Sue said to me, are going to watching
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: Manchester Marathon. I said, no, no, I don't know, so
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: I thought that's a bit selfish. I should think about it.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: So what we did we played a holiday in the
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: Peak district from like Wednesday to and then we got
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: the train into Manchester. And I'm so glad that I
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: went along, you know, because we we had the You
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: might have done the same with Gary Brazier. We had
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: the pizzas afterwards at some pizza place, and so it
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: was nice that everybody got together. And although my running
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: days are over, but it's good to see all the runners,
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: the camaraderie and that.
• 29:19
  Speaker 3: Well. I thought I only did it because I thought,
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: you know, the pizzas were free, but apparently we had
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: to pay for it, and then I had to run
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: the marathon next day, so it was a bit of
• 29:28
  Speaker 3: a shock. But they're definitely worth it and it was brilliant.
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: And then did Brighton this year?
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: I did you?
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: So that was the second marathon. I think you just
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: get I mean, you finished your first one.
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: You never again in a week later.
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: Honestly, it's I think everyone has that. Yeah, but yeah, no,
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: I'm and then I'm doing my third next year. So
• 29:46
  Speaker 3: oh you, where's there Geneva Geneva. Oh well you've gone
• 29:50
  Speaker 3: from couch to five gay to Geneva. Yeah that's awesome. Well,
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: well I'll tell you what we can do.
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: We're gonna have a little music break and I've got
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: this lovely little song here that I've dug out. And
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: when after we've played this song, I don't think it's
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: ever been played on this radio station before. But we're
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: going to play this song and then you are going
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: to tell me all about it. The giant's cloudy and great,
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: it's only the beginning of the wombling.
• 30:30
  Speaker 4: Day and you've got to do the washing up.
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: Well, what a first for radio focus and a womble song.
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: How cool was that? But there is a story to it,
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: isn't there that Tom tell us about the wombles of Folkston.
• 31:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah, well it's I'm a big Wombles fan, so it's
• 31:05
  Speaker 3: not just that, but I am. So we actually have
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: a folks in Wombles little Picking group in town which
• 31:11
  Speaker 3: I sort of spearheaded early on the Wombles charity, which
• 31:15
  Speaker 3: I think people will remember you.
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I remember growing up with the Wombles here. We
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: were just talking off here and I wish I was
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: going to google the names. The only one I can
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: remember was Madame Chalais and they mentioned in the song there.
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: But I mean this Wombles group, if you like, was it?
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: Is it a nationwide thing and that's got splinter groups?
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: Have you with, Well, it's little Pickings been obviously around
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: for so long.
• 31:35
  Speaker 3: There's a lot of homegrown groups that just go out
• 31:38
  Speaker 3: and clean their area and want obviously show pride in
• 31:40
  Speaker 3: where they live, and Folks and Wombles sort of prime
• 31:44
  Speaker 3: wanted to sort of bring some of this together. And
• 31:46
  Speaker 3: it's a charity that supports supports groups like us. And
• 31:50
  Speaker 3: I was, you know, as a fan, I was tuned
• 31:52
  Speaker 3: into the Wombles and I thought, well, folks and would
• 31:54
  Speaker 3: be a brilliant area because I know we've got so
• 31:55
  Speaker 3: many community groups and charities that do such amazing things.
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: I thought, well, who else I've got a tattoo of
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: a womble.
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: I thought, yeah, I know, good jobs radio. You don't
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: have to show us, don't worry.
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, see behind the scenes. But yeah, we've done.
• 32:10
  Speaker 3: I think we're in our twelfth thirteenth litter pick now
• 32:14
  Speaker 3: every week we just get about thirty LITLEPI has come
• 32:17
  Speaker 3: along all different ages as well, and Litlan's love It
• 32:21
  Speaker 3: who never grew up with the wombles, so they don't
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: have that touch point. But I think it's that message
• 32:25
  Speaker 3: sort of looking after your environment, cleaning up where you live,
• 32:28
  Speaker 3: and actually just like getting to know new people as well.
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's just been brilliant.
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: And do you pick the venues. We have a little group,
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: little team that.
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we ran out the equipment, We've got high visits.
• 32:39
  Speaker 3: We meet up at a sort of central point and
• 32:41
  Speaker 3: we sort of split them off into the Lee's town center.
• 32:43
  Speaker 3: We've gone into Chariton, We've recently gone down to the
• 32:47
  Speaker 3: beach which during the summer, which can see a lot
• 32:50
  Speaker 3: of litter, and then up the folks in Warrant as well,
• 32:53
  Speaker 3: is a really important country area that we want to
• 32:56
  Speaker 3: do more of and I want to sort of build
• 32:58
  Speaker 3: the Wombles as much as I can, hopefully during this
• 33:01
  Speaker 3: winter as well organizing food pantries and things like that, which.
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: Would be really And when's your next one?
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: This Saturday, eleven am. Meeting at the Civic Center.
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: Oh okay, and is it like, come along, come along.
• 33:14
  Speaker 3: We got your equipment, wear some gloves, sturdy shoes. Obviously
• 33:18
  Speaker 3: if the weather's doing, if it's raining, prepare yourself.
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: We have been wet a couple of times. Yeah, but
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: it's a lot of fun. Obviously. You can come along
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: for as long as you like.
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: Okay, right, Okay, Well, good luck to the Wombles. And
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: it's nice to give them a bit of a promotion
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: because the other thing was we won't go into this,
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: but unfortunately some time ago we lost the town sprucer
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: and his team that did a great job, and it's
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: nice to know that there's someone else that can step
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: in those shoes and look after our town. We are
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: we're all to blame. We chuck things out of the
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: car and that, so let's stop doing it doing that
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: and make the wombles job a lot easier. Right, So
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: we're going to get back to running now. You've got
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: a job to do on Sunday morning. So tell us
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: about I can't know you know, your journey to this,
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: to this half marathon with South Kent Mind, and you know,
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: does it mean anything special to you? Is there any
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: particular reason why you're running for Self Kent Mind. Yeah.
• 34:13
  Speaker 3: So I've had difficulties with mental health for parts of
• 34:18
  Speaker 3: my life. I had I've had depression before. So it's
• 34:22
  Speaker 3: quite close to my home, close to my heart. Really
• 34:25
  Speaker 3: a lot of this and like charities like South Kent
• 34:28
  Speaker 3: Mind obviously support people who have gone through hard times
• 34:31
  Speaker 3: and are currently still going through hard times and offer
• 34:33
  Speaker 3: them a bit of a lifeline, you know, with whether
• 34:36
  Speaker 3: it's outreach and support, guidance, signage and even just like
• 34:39
  Speaker 3: activities and things like that. So I thought it was
• 34:41
  Speaker 3: a brilliant sort of charity to run with help because
• 34:46
  Speaker 3: it helped me.
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: So when you had these, if you like lots of
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: good times, were you running at the time.
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: No, So this was prior to me sort of running.
• 34:56
  Speaker 3: I was mentally physically just not not really looking after
• 34:59
  Speaker 3: my I had a bit of a sort of concentrated
• 35:04
  Speaker 3: negative on my life where I really just didn't like
• 35:07
  Speaker 3: how I was sort of issues of work, you know,
• 35:10
  Speaker 3: I had sort of imposter syndrome and even looking in.
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: The mirror sometimes it's hard, and it was.
• 35:15
  Speaker 3: It was a really difficult time because I just felt
• 35:18
  Speaker 3: really alone in that and I had such an amazing
• 35:20
  Speaker 3: support network. But I think there's something with mental health
• 35:23
  Speaker 3: and with maybe men in general, that you can't let
• 35:26
  Speaker 3: there's a bit of an ego. It's a bit of
• 35:27
  Speaker 3: a prideful feeling that you just don't want to open
• 35:30
  Speaker 3: up and see him weak.
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: And it sort of came to a head where I
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: was like, there's it's sort of this or nothing. I
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: need to talk to someone.
• 35:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah, And it really just it was sort of the
• 35:39
  Speaker 3: step just talk to my friends, and you know, especially
• 35:41
  Speaker 3: male friends, female friends, anyone. I think just taking those
• 35:44
  Speaker 3: small steps and just revealing a little bit of yourself
• 35:46
  Speaker 3: and going, oh.
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: I'm all right, you know, it's not the end of
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: the world. And my family all came around and supported
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: and from then, I you know, I had you spoke
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: to charities and had therapy as well, which is I
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: would definitely recommend to anyone who's having a low point
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: of their life. Yeah, it's just I think building that
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: cadence of talking and just being open about how you're
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: feeling and not being judged for it.
• 36:12
  Speaker 3: I think finding a safe space to do that is
• 36:14
  Speaker 3: really important. It's hard to do for a lot of people.
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: So did you find that when you started speaking to
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: people and if you like, in your own little way,
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: you've come into terms with it, that started the road
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: upwards to do.
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, totally.
• 36:25
  Speaker 3: I think bringing it out you out of your mind
• 36:28
  Speaker 3: and then into reality you can actually tackle those issues
• 36:31
  Speaker 3: that you'd be feeling.
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: So for me, it was like self confidence. It was
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: sort of a lack of sort of respect I had
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: for myself and actually speak to others.
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: So you had like a low esteem of yourself. You didn't.
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: You just thought it was kind of not worthless if you.
• 36:44
  Speaker 3: Like, and you you lit your own worst enemy, really
• 36:49
  Speaker 3: and so I would listen to that as gospel and
• 36:51
  Speaker 3: actually speak to many of my friends were like that's wrong,
• 36:55
  Speaker 3: or see you like that?
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: And then sort of readjusting my brain. It was it
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: was kind of a reset.
• 36:59
  Speaker 3: So once I did think of myself differently, I was
• 37:02
  Speaker 3: able to then well, how would I want myself to
• 37:04
  Speaker 3: look like? And what sort of person do I want
• 37:06
  Speaker 3: to be? Because the one I think of obviously is
• 37:08
  Speaker 3: not you.
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: Know, it's not there, not there anymore? Good and I mean, yeah,
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: it's okay. So you joined the running club. Was that
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: a tough thing to do? Perhaps she was feeling a
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: bit insecure at the time.
• 37:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, it could be a lot, you know, a
• 37:22
  Speaker 3: group of you know, very fit people. But I think
• 37:25
  Speaker 3: when you realize you you join a club that is
• 37:27
  Speaker 3: every day normal people like yourself. You know, it's it's running.
• 37:31
  Speaker 3: It's not like an elite.
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: Sort of subscription that you have to join. And folks
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: run a club especially, it's all different shape, sizes, ages.
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: It's really welcoming, I think. And actually we have so
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: much in common as much as me, maybe different inability
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: and skills. Sometimes actually we all go through our own challenges.
• 37:50
  Speaker 3: And running is something we all had in common that
• 37:53
  Speaker 3: helped us. And for me getting through Cauch five K,
• 37:55
  Speaker 3: you know, I started looking after myself. I was like,
• 37:59
  Speaker 3: oh wow, there's.
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: Others who have gone through similar Yeah, all right, And
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: I mean, sport, no matter what it is, it's not
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: just running. Is any sport, isn't it? Or just using
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: up excess energy that you've really got balled up inside.
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: You could be squashed rugby or anything isn't it.
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 38:15
  Speaker 3: I mean running is relatively simple for me, and I'm
• 38:17
  Speaker 3: very clumsy, so anything that involves balls or bats I
• 38:20
  Speaker 3: do struggle. So at least running I'm like straight, put
• 38:23
  Speaker 3: the arms up, legs up. I'm sortid, so I may
• 38:26
  Speaker 3: explore rugby at some point.
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: Okay, so you don't need a handbook for running. Then
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: there's like left right, left right, and well.
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: That's when you have good coaches.
• 38:35
  Speaker 3: And we've got an amazing head coach, Catherine who as
• 38:38
  Speaker 3: she supported me on many a couple of both of
• 38:40
  Speaker 3: my marathons.
• 38:41
  Speaker 2: So I think having a guiding light to help you
• 38:44
  Speaker 2: sort of hone in some of that. Those rough edges
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: definitely helped me.
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: I will say, because we were talking off here, but
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: I was a member of the running club for I
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: can't remember, but let's say twenty years. And when I joined,
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: I wanted to join because I like running. But the
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: structure of running was just get together on a Tuesday,
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: used to do no a mile run and that was it.
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: There was no we had nothing else we didn't do,
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: you know, like on a Thursday, do any reps or
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: anything like that, interval training or you know, little exercises
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: and that. So it's come on such a long way
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: and now you've got the luxury of the track of course,
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: and I've noticed since the track has been there, a
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: lot of the times of runners personal best have gone up.
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: You know, they've had structured training and which is all
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: good for your body and good for your mind, isn't it.
• 39:32
  Speaker 3: Having a schedule, having a routine, having someone to lead
• 39:35
  Speaker 3: it and show examples and if you've got questions, I
• 39:37
  Speaker 3: think it's brilliant for that.
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: Okay, so we are, believe it or not, we've running
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: out of time. We've got about another five minutes, so
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: we just want to talk about Sunday. Now you're running
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: for the South Kent mind but you're part of a team.
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: How many in the team approximately.
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: Numbers we're a full team, so what I know.
• 39:57
  Speaker 3: So we've got all the places of field and Joe's
• 40:00
  Speaker 3: the head sort of leader of that, and we're all
• 40:03
  Speaker 3: raising money for South Kent Minds, right, and a lot
• 40:06
  Speaker 3: of us at different times, different ages, some of us
• 40:08
  Speaker 3: from the running club as well, So it's sort of
• 40:10
  Speaker 3: nice to bring all of that.
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, great, So I mean you're obviously ready for
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: it because of your experience and now you've become a
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: runner with experience. It's funny when you're doing your ten
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: mile or your half marathon and it hurts, you know
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: that you're going to get through it. You know you're
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: going to finish, whereas perhaps when you're doing five couch
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: to five k, you think, oh, how much further is this?
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: You know, it's really so easy to give up on
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: those early days.
• 40:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I will say I've run two marathons and the
• 40:41
  Speaker 3: hardest thing I've done is do catch to o K.
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: That was the biggest challenge because you are doing something
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: you never yeah, you've never tried before. The marathon is
• 40:49
  Speaker 2: just you know, you're just building on what you've done before.
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: Whereas yeah, great, okay, So right Tom, before we go,
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: I think it's time to any hellos, any thank you
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: anything like that, because I think it's a really important
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: part of the show and so far away what you got.
• 41:09
  Speaker 3: Oh well, I've got three sisters who I have to
• 41:12
  Speaker 3: say thank you, especially touching on mental Having sort of
• 41:15
  Speaker 3: my experience of that, I think it's so important too.
• 41:18
  Speaker 3: So Katie, Charlotte and Jem aren't they like sort of
• 41:22
  Speaker 3: my Cheers squads in many ways, and I love them
• 41:25
  Speaker 3: dearly as well, So my mum and dad, Jenny and
• 41:28
  Speaker 3: Rodds they're all listening probably cringing right now. But then
• 41:33
  Speaker 3: everyone at the running club as well, like it's a
• 41:36
  Speaker 3: massive family as well. I get to help out on
• 41:40
  Speaker 3: volunteer on an occasion doing social media and stuff, so stuff.
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: And on a bit just a sick Tom of something's happened.
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: They have hit a butt. But okay, so right, we're
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: just running out of time. They've got fifty or seconds, Tom,
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: keep going.
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: Who else we've got, Well, just shout out to my
• 42:00
  Speaker 2: you know, I'll see you all there. And if you
• 42:03
  Speaker 2: if you're if you're a friend or family, you are
• 42:04
  Speaker 2: a womble. So I love you lot, so thank you.
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: Okay, well Tom, we've just got a few seconds left.
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: We've got the Kaiser Chiefs playing in the background. The
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: news are going to cut cut in soon. I want
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: to say a massive thank you, thank you for sitting
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: in the hot seat and if you like bearing your
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: soul a little bit. It's interesting to know that you've
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: turned your life around and you've you've got so many
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: positives going on. You started the Wombles and what a
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: great idea after losing the town sprucer and you are
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: a prime example of what people should look up to.
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: So you've come, you've turned your life around, and you're
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: a great example. Tom So, thank you so much for
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: coming it.
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: I appreciate it. Thank you for that