Gary and Kim Webb
Name: Gary Webb
Born: 28th May 1958
Date Joined 1971
Personal Bests:
400 54.5
800 1.59.4
1500 3.59.4
3000 8.33
5000 14.44
10,000 30:02
10 mile 50.02
H.Marathon 66.37
Marathon 2.22.21
20mile 1.46
First Club Race: Club colts x-country
Favourite Race: Cambridge 10
Notable Performances:
63rd in National x-country Newark 198?
London Marathon 1985 2.22.21
Essex 10,000 Champion Harlow 198?
Biggest Disappointment:
Training for the Harlow Marathon for 6 months only to get a chest infection a few days before and couldn’t run
Typical Weeks Training at your peak .
Mon 8 mile easy AM 6 mile easy PM
Tues Track 24*400 metres with 200 jog recovery ave 67.
Weds 8 mile easy am 5 mile easy PM
Thurs Tomswood 10 with group normally ended up with a burn up
Fri 4/5 miles easy or fast if no race.
Sat Race or hill session or x-country run
Sun 15/20 mile cross country or road
Favourite Sessions:
Group Paulauf 20 x 200 jog across recovery
Favourite race distance 10 mile
Favourite event – Track, Road or Cross Country road and country (when drier conditions)
What advice would you give our current crop of youngsters? Make sure you are always having fun and enjoying what you do. Always have aspirations, some people will have better natural abilities but if you train hard you will succeed
Who is the most Famous Athlete you Trained with or would like to train with:
Andy Catton but would have loved to train with Brendan Foster
How would you improve the sport?
Provide better training facilities outside of the track & field environment. Cross country facilities in nice locations
Favourite Athlete or Sportsman: Steve Ovett – He raced in style
What other sports do you follow: Golf, Football & Rugby
Best Country Visited Thailand
Favourite Food & Drink : Chicken Dansak and Landlord Beer
Favourite TV Shows: Only Fools and Horses
Last Film Seen : Once upon a time in Hollywood
Last Book Read John Grisham – The Reckoning
Favourite Band Singer: Freddie Mercury
Last Album Bought or Downloaded Gigaton, Pearl Jam
Last Concert Attended: Ghost, Wembley 2019
Any Pets: None apart from Kim ?
What are your aims for next season Get my golf handicap down and stay healthy
Tell us a Joke: My wife asked if she could have a little peace and quiet while cooking dinner…….So I took the battery out of the smoke alarm ?
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Name: Kim Webb
Born: 1 Sept 1959
Date Joined 1971
Personal Bests:
400 59.3 01/06/1976 Ilford Club Champs
800 2.11.3 19/05/1985 Harlow Essex Champs
1500m 4.26.2 06/07/1985 Crystal Palace Southern Inter Counties CR (Club Record)
Mile 4.53.2 18/07/1984 Parliament Hill Open Meeting CR
3000m 9.20.5 02/07/1983 Hendon Southern Counties CR
5000m 17.15.6 29/07/1983 Crystal Palace WAAA CR
10,000m 36.36.3 14/07/1984 Hendon Evian WAAA Track Series CR
Road
5k 17.10 22/09/1985 Finsbury Park, Finsbury Park 5k CR
5m 26.39 07/04/1984 Hackney Victoria Park 5 CR
10k 35.13 16/06/1985 Dublin 10k
10m 55.47 06/04/1986 Cambridge Cambridge 10 CR
HM 75.11 01/04/1984 Woodford, Roding Valley HM CR
20M 1 hour 59m 59s 29/03/1986 Chelmsford Essex Champs CR
M 2hours 39 mins 52 scs 21/04/1985 London Marathon CR
First Club Race: club track champs
Favourite Race: Essex X-Country
Notable Performances:
English Schools 1500 and x-Country.
Essex county champion at 1500, 3000, x-country and road.
Various international vests for England and GB
Biggest Disappointment:
Fell in National x-country and failed to finish
Typical Weeks Training at your peak .
3 track 4 road sessions. Trained twice a day 3 days a week.
Favourite Sessions: cross country hill runs.
Favourite race distance Cross country. 1500m track.
Favourite event – Track, Road or Cross Country.
What advice would you give our current crop of youngsters Enjoy your running.
Who is the most Famous Athlete you Trained with or would like to train with:
Trained squad Steve cram.
How would you improve the sport
More athletics in schools.
Favourite Athlete or Sportsman: Ingrid Christiansen.
What other sports do you follow: Football.
Best Country Visited Thailand.
Favourite Food & Drink : White wine, Beer.
Favourite TV Shows: Match of the day. Made in Chelsea.
Last Film Seen : Grease.
Last Book Read About a boy.
Favourite Band Singer: Gary Barlow
Last Album Bought or Downloaded Take That
Last Concert Attended: Gypsy Kings
Any Pets: none
What are your aims for next season run every day injury free
Tell us a Joke: How do you make a snooker table laugh? Tickle it’s balls
GARY AND KIM ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS –
You have both been very modest about your race achievements, can you provide some more of your favourite race results and what were your best ever victories.
Gary – enjoyed the Cambridge 10. Vicky Park 5 and Great North Run. Best wins were the Essex 10,000 track, Club 10 Cross Country (my breakthrough into the seniors) , 67th in National X-Country in 1987 at Newark and the Roding Valley 1/2 Marathon.
Kim – London Marathon and English Schools 1,500 win in Durham.
What made you both join Ilford AC initially ?
Local club, nice people
When did you last run a competitive race as nothing on Power of Ten on you guys for years ? Are you going to make a competitive comeback in the veteran ranks ?
Gary is fully retired. Last race was probably a Met league about 20 years ago. Kim, London marathon in 2008
Have you still got the London Marathon Bed ?
We eventually gave it to one of our children
Greatest Memories from Running ?
Gary – Club runs on Thursday evenings, followed by beer in the Joker.
Kim – trips to the Philippines, Rome, Florida, Milan and New Zealand
Worst Injuries ?
Gary – Upper right thigh and hernia caused during the 1986 London Marathon.
Kim – Continual throat infections that delayed her progress, but no serious running injuries.
How did that advert for the T-Shirts come about ?
Andy Etchells , another club member, was the CEO for the magazine and asked us to have the pictures done. Payment was that we kept the tee shirts :o)
Do you both still run and train ?
Kim still runs but Gary now plays golf. During lockdown we have averaged 45/50 miles per week walking though
Greatest Rivals at the club ?
Gary – Andy Catton, Derek Coates, Brian Meadows, Andy Nichol, John Mackenzie, Karl Hick, Adrian Gilham, Bill Fothergill, John Batchelor
Kim- Mainly Essex rivals
Hardest race you have ever run ?
Gary – Intercounties 20 in Doncaster – 90 degree heat in unsheltered countryside, just about broke 2 hours!
Kim – Philippines marathon that started at 5:00am and the heat went up to 100 degrees
This question for Kim : I think I vaguely remember you from Warren Comprehensive School in Chadwell Heath and the infamous Ilford AC discos and you being good friends with Geoff Stentiford and Grant Haywood whom we used to get the tickets off via you ?
Do you remember these guys and those days and your recollection ?
Kim vaguely remembers them
Did you both meet at the club?
Yes, we knew each other from track nights at the club and met romantically at a club disco at Ilford Rugby Club.
Did you train together?
Not on the track but often did road runs together as a part of the group.
Considering the size of your wonderful family, how difficult have you all found the lockdown period and how do you rate your beloved Hammers chances of staying up. Gary – working from home has been difficult but lockdown hasn’t been too bad as we have got quite fit. Massively missed our children and grandchildren in the early stages.
Looking through some old photos recently I realised what a fantastic group of runners the Club had at mens and womens, who were your greatest rivals, what was Gary’s time representing England in the Aberdeen marathon. Congratulations to you both on glittering careers but mostly for your greatest achievement, YOUR FAMILY (from Ernie)
2 Hours 30 mins in the Aberdeen marathon, it was won in 2.27, with the elite runners all running at least 10 mins slower due to gale force winds.
Do you have a Trophy room at home?
No longer, the cups and medals are probably in the loft
Any idea of the combined medals and Trophies you have both won?
250-500?
Do either of you get involved in parkruns, and what is your opinion of them?
No our children do but Kim says she is going to sign up after Covid-19
Today’s runners have so much ‘technology’ to assist them but don’t seem to be anywhere near as good as your generation. Why do you think this is?
Desire to compete against the best. We were lucky that our careers occured in a golden period in the UK (Foster, Moorcroft, Cram, Ovett, Coe etc.) but both Essex county and the club just had a fantastic range of runners. We trained hard but enjoyed every minute of it due to the great teams we had in Ilford AC
Without GPS watches would it be true to say that most of your off road training would be ‘timed runs’ rather than going out and running a certain distance?
We knew the distances by the pace we were running. Hainault Forest had a 5 mile perimeter that we ran time and time again.
Name your top 5 all time favourite West Ham players.
Gary – I’ll leave that to Kim as I’m a Spurs fan. (Editors note – “Boooo”)
Kim – Di Canio, Ferdinand, Day, Noble and Antonio
Cheers Kim & Gary