Graham Kent is probably the most successful coach on the Central Coast NSW.

He recently coached Barry Willis for 4 or 5 years, and during that time Graham took Barry from a beginning track runner to being NSW champion for 10k. They also won many Half Marathon and XC titles and it seemed for a while there that every time Barry stepped on the track he ran PB after PB. He also coached Barry to run around 48-49 mins in the City to Surf when Barry was aged 47-48 years of age.

A remarkable coaching achievement.

Graham prepared Frank Callaghan to run the Sydney Marathon a short while back. After many months of hard training under Graham's supervision, Frank ran 2:48 to be the fastest marathoner in his club.

I think Graham is possibly the most successful coach on the Central Coast in recent years.

I believe he coaches by correspondence also and is a fully qualified member of the Australian Track and Field Coaches Association.

He has over 30 years experience and is a Master Coach.

I have observed Graham and his athletes over the past 5 years and I have been amazed at what they have achieved. He caters to all levles and abilities and he does it for the love of being around distance runners.

If you want 2007 to be a good running year for you, why not give Graham a ring on 4390 0311.

Happy New Year.

Mars 2

wouldn't this glowing review (advertisement?) have been more appropriate in the thread....

http://www.coolrunning.com.au/forums/index...w=&st=&

rather than as a stand alone topic?

I wouldn't say it is an advertisement. Graham gives of his time and knowledge freely because he loves the sport.

I would say an advertisement is when someone is trying to sell you something. Graham gives, he's not a salesman and nor am I obviously. The only kickback we get is when you run a pb and we all smile.

Thanks for your link but I clicked on it and my computer froze. What is that link for? Is it the link where you talk about outstanding coaches?

My laptop thawed out now and I wish you the best of the season.

Mars 2

it was a thread started mid this year entitled" Do You Have A Running Coach?, A couple of questions..."

a lot of people stated their opinions about various coaches in it.

GK (Graham Kent) was well-credentialled as a coach of good runners before he moved to the Central Coast. He was coach for many years at Bankstown Sports and was coach of a number of fine athletes. He is well remembered at BKS through our major annual competition, the GK Cup, and in the memory of longer term athletes. Graham also usually spends some time with us when he is present at ANSW winter events. Graham is a fine ambassador for our sport.

I also know GK and he is a true gentleman and I have the utmost respect for his committment to his athletes.

Having said that I would have to add that there are many quality or successful coaches on the Coast.
One would have to put Kevin Wills (Gosford Athletics) among the top coaches in NSW if not Australia with the results he is having with his fine young charges ie: Cameron Page recent state records and numerous state and national titles, Kevin Batt state and national titles both these athletes excel in track and cross country. He has also 3 fine juniors making the transition to the open ranks in Ben Guest who has many State and National Titles over the past 3 to 4 years in Track and Cross Country he was also the #1 ranked U/20 over 5k and 3k last year i believe, Matt Rando again with State and National Titles to his name and Tim Page who over the past 2 yrs had had remarkable improvements and successes at State Level.

This in no way was meant to downgrade what great results Graham has had, just putting things into perspective I would hope.

We have some very talented athletes on the Central Coast as well as Good Coaches good luck to all.

Happy New Year

I've known Graham since 1980 when I was transferred to the Bankstown area with the RAAF. I first met him that year while running the Lake Gillawarna Marathon and although I didn't know him from Adam he came along on his bike and gave me encouragement to finish. This sums him up in that he will always freely give his time and help to anyone regardless of standard, plus he's a bloody good coach, there are plenty out there past and present who can testify to that. At Banktown Sports he's a legend and sounds like he's becoming that way on the Central Coast.

Now living in Port Macquarie I still keep in touch with Graham and at 55yo (me not Graham) and running 37 minutes for 10km at the Gold Coast and Striders runs (and this year hopefully sub 37) put a lot of this down to his encouragement and wise words over the years.

This may read like a paid avertisement but it's not and like his time and help is totally voluntary (although I will expect a few beers from him next time I see him).

Ian,
Good to hear you are keeping fit and can crank out a 37 min 10k still.
I joined Western Suburbs Athletics Club as a teenager in 1971 to train for the first City to Surf. The club distance training group included a very fit Graham Kent, Adolf Blonner, Werner Gross and the late Frank McCaffrey. They gave me heaps of encouragement and the incentive to look forward to turning up at the twice weekly mid-week club training sessions. In interclub competition I progressed from H grade 800m in my first year to A grade 5000m after 3 years.
Graham Kent had to stop running because of an injury quite a few years ago and then devoted his energies to coaching. It is great to see he is still involved and encouraging and guiding people in the same way he did to me all those years ago.

John Harding

Graham must be getting on a bit.
I remember the first time I met him was at the 1974 National Veterans Titles in Sydney 1974,held on the old Botany track.
To give you some measure of his capability as a runner,he had won the NSW M40-44 10K title a f/n before in 34.28 ahead of Tony Vissali's 35.15.
At the Nationals Tony reversed the placings to win gold with 35.09 to Graham's 35.32 for silver,in a howling gale and pouring rain.
Bad injury cut short his veteran/masters career but over the years I've had the pleasure of bumping into Graham around the traps.A fine gentleman and obviously great coach.
Jimboy

Ahh this is all music to my ears. It is so good to hear from athletes of all the great stuff they have experienced with Graham Kent over the years.

I had no idea that Bankstown named their major annual competition after Graham. The GK Cup that is fantastic !!!

I have observed Graham's athletes doing splendid things in the last 5 years. I met him in 2001 and thought ahh this guy is old school and the real deal.

He is a thorough gentleman and I feel lucky to know him.

It appears from the long list of responses above that indeed Graham's methods are superb and any club would be very foolish indeed to do anything which might jeopardise their relationship with him.

He was also a top athlete in his own rights it seems. I didn't know this - Graham is obviously very modest about his past achievements.

Bravo Super Coach Graham Kent. I wonder who the current holder of the GK Cup is? Congrats to you.

Graham had me started on 20x400 at 10k racing pace the other day. After 10 of them he had to go to a meeting so we pulled the pin. I wasn't complaining. It was quite a hot day.

Does anyone else that has posted to this thread have any experience at his famous 24x400 session?

I have always found Graham very honest, straight forward and his advice to be very realistic and based on common sense.

I also recently met Werner (referred to by somebody above) he is also a lovely guy.

After the 24x400 session, the next session that this Super Coach prescribed was a 12x800 at 10k racing pace.

Wow! I thought the 24x400 was pretty awesome, but 12x800?!?!? This guy sounds amazing! Where do I sign up?

Yeah one thing Graham always advises before getting into the strenuous stuff which I think is very sensible is to get a blood test and then re-test it every 3-6 months to see how your iron levels are going.

Does Graham have an email guys?

Not sure what his email is but his ph number is 4390 0311

In your opinion, what makes Graham a 'super coach'?

My experience with coaches is, a good coach is one that motivates, shares knowledge and, encourages the individual goals each each member of their squads have.

Anyone can take a talented runner and, coach them to success. But, it takes a true running coach to inspire an enthusiastic, not neccessaryly naturely talented runner to succeed & achieve all goals set.

good point ......plus i would like to see open results...not age group

I can't call NSW numbers from my phone, so yeh, i was wondering if he had an email, so i could do training by corrspondence.

Hi James,

I think he's a super coach for the following reason;

His athletes who run with him continually run pb's, no matter what their standard.

I think that says it all and is the measure of a great coach. I have seen athletes switch into being coached by him and run times faster than they have ever run.

I'm not going to give you a long list of examples of his success stories over the last 30 years (in both age group AND Open class) , but one is Adam Jordan, who after switching to training with Graham a while back, ran his best time in the City to Surf for years, 45 mins something from memory.

Another one of his athletes joined Graham and then 2 or 3 years later ran 48 for the City to Surf at age 48-49 years. This was a pb too.

If a coach can get his athletes to run pbs after they have matured (ie the pb is not due to natural growth as in juniors) then in my mind he is a pretty darn good coach.

I hope this clarifies James, and I hope you are well and running fast as usual.

John Stevens, he has had so much success in Open competition over the last 30 years it's not funny. Refer earlier posts on this thread re his exploits with the Bankstown Club in years gone by.

I don't know his email address.

Best regards.

Mars you are right on with your assessment, too often we have people who build their reputation on what their junior athletes are able to do. Quite often these really great results are not in the best interests of the athlete. How many times have we seen juniors get flogged to death either by Coaches or over zealous parents only for the kid to fall away into oblivion? Yes you can push harder but you need to ensure that the kid is enjoying what they are doing and looks forward to the next session not dreads.
We need more Kents, Arms etc to ensure that we have a good balance of up and coming juniors as well as Seniors and vets. If not then we will be left with massive voids in the running community.

mars

Thanks Mars, (when you see me next let me know who you are).

I'm an aspiring coach. Just started this year with the little A's club. So, it's good to get some insight into the methods of other well thought of coaches.

Graham rang me last night and gave me his email address. He said he is more than happy for people to email him.

He is at gken9898@bigpond.net.au

hard n fast,
if you are intending coaching little aths kids hold back on the 24 x 400 etc.

there are to many kids out there training like adults,let them work on there speed, i see far too many young kids who are being turned into plodders all for the sake of winning medals.

it's very sad seeing kids who have some ability being destroyed by coaches who are only interested on making there cv's look good.

anyway good luck.

Good advise Tim. I train the kids as kids not adults. For the very keen runners that come along I focus on quality rather than quantity.

Yes Tim.

I think James should also insist on a plant-powered diet for the ankle biters.