WITH Arena Essex's closure fast approaching, there was another significant moment in the tracks history on Sunday as the final ever Terry Skeef memorial meeting at the venue drew a massive entry of cars, on the 18th anniversary of the Banger racing legends death.
Paul brings with him a wealth of knowledge and experience and is armed with excellent coaching achievements including producing 50 County swimmers and in excess of 30 Regional swimmers annually; developing over 25 individual national qualifiers, national finalists and semi-finalists and developed squad swimmers who have qualified at the British Championships in 2009 to 2014 including Olympic and Commonwealth Trials.
TABLE Tennis has always been popular in Aveley. They have a regular club every Saturday for adults in the morning and for young people in the afternoon.
The afternoon members wanted to play competitively and, as they say, practice makes perfect but they needed some help. As part of the S106 funding given to Aveley Village Community Forum they were able to start professional coaching for the young people.
SWIMMERS from Thurrock Swimming Club showed their determination to compete at the recent Essex County Junior/Senior Long Course Championships following the sad death of their Head Coach, Alan Mitchell but did him proud by returning home with a bag full of medals.
IF YOU WANT to learn karate with a smile on your face, then The Thurrock School of Karate is the place for you. Rex Ovire is a charismatic practitioner of the art. Then again, we would say that, he is well over six feet and is a black belt!
SHIHAN Mark Adams started teaching karate 23 years ago and now has 150 students who train across eight locations in the Thurrock area, including at local schools. With a focus on competing from an early age, Mark has trained local, national and even world champions.
The first heat set the tone of the day with a packed grid of cars whittled down in just a handful of laps. The race was brought to a halt with a rollover at each end of the track, Jimmy Andrews doing a spectacular barrel roll on turn one whilst for the second time this season, Sharon Worthington did a lazy roll onto her roof on turn three. At the restart Craig Hook took his first win in the formula.
TWELVE swimmers from Thurrock Swimming Club took part in the first ever Speedo Open Water National Relay event held at INTU Lakeside on 22nd September 2013 with fantastic results. The Thurrock Teams competed in the 4x200m and 4x800m relay events, with the majority of TSC swimming without wetsuits in less than 16 degree water and thoroughly enjoying the event.
THE THURROCK Tennis club enjoyed a great summer as a host of youngsters came to learn how to play and how to enjoy tennis. They had 65 youngsters over three weeks with ages ranging from 4 to 16.
INTU Lakeside in Essex hosted the first Speedo Open Water National Relays on Sunday 22nd September and judging by the fantastic response to the innovative concept it is a team event which is likely to grow in popularity in years to come.
COULD THE next Andy Murray be in Stifford Clays or Purfleet? Why not go down to Thurrock Lawn Tennis Club to develop your cross court lob or your backhand smash!
ARENA Essex Lightning Rod regular, Chris Reeves has just completed the most successful weekend of his career. Off the back of a win and a second place finish at the long track championships at Lydden Hill on Saturday, Chris won the heat and final at his more regular Thurrock stomping ground on Sunday.
The journey was definitely well worth it for the talented 11 year old who not only claimed two Gold medals in the 50m and 100m freestyle long course events, but also broke and recorded National records for his age group. Historical record times were 44.06 and 1.57.52 until Kieron broke them both with 39.32 and 1.28.49 respectively.
The final saw a full contact win from Darren Mouser, who despatched several along the way, including David Newman who had a torrid time along the home straight, getting hit several times as he spun in traffic. Jamie Webb lead for much of the distance but eventually went out with a big bang on turn one along with a handful of other cars. As Mouser took the flag his front tyre shredded, with pieces of rubber getting flung into the air. If the race was a lap longer, Grant Underhill would have had the win, as it was he had to settle for second with Paul Harrison third.
THURROCK Swimming Club held their yearly Regional Qualifier recently with over 40 of their squad swimmers taking part. What a difference a year makes from the last Regional Qualifier in May 2012, seeing swimmers step up to the mark with an abundance of PB's and medal podium places.
