Sevenoaks Athletics Club

Staplehurst End-of-Year 10 31 December 2017

Four SAC runners took part in the Staplehurst 10 miler on 31st December in wet and windy conditions, writes James Graham. Just to make it more interesting there was the addition of an unintentional water splash just before the long climb.

Nick Humphrey-Taylor was 11th (4th M40) in 1:04:43, James Graham 18th (1st M60) in 1:07:51, Anna Humphrey-Taylor 165th in 1:31:47 and Neil Haggertay 225th in 1:42:44.

The full results are here.
 

Reigate Priory Holly Runs 2017

Jim, Heather, Maddy and Teddy Fitzmaurice all ran in the Reigate Priory Holly Cross Country runs on 17 December, with Jim and Heather taking age-group golds in the Southern Counties Vets championships incorporated in the senior races.

Maddy competed in the U11 girls race over approximately one mile finishing in 9:48, followed by Teddy finishing in 8:48 in the U11 boys race over the same course.

Heather was sixth overall in the women's race over four miles, winning the SCVAC W45 title, while Jim had to battle in the six mile men's race for his SCVAC M75 win. The results are here.

Kent Masters XC Champs - 2 December 2017

Darrell Smith was the star claiming a silver medal as 16 SAC runners contested the Kent Veterans Cross country Championships at Dartford on 2nd December.

Sevenoaks fielded full teams in the M40, M50, M60 and W45 categories as well as two runners in the M70 event, which did not include a team race. The M50s were first up, running 9k, and after Tonbridge's Ben Reynolds separated early from the field, Darrell moved into second place and gradually consolidated his place until he had a gap of a minute over third place at the end. Darrell was backed up by Keith Dowson in 22nd and Tony Waldron in 49th to place SAC 6th in the team race.

The M60s, M70s and all the women's categories ran together in the second race over 5k. For the first time anyone can remember, Sevenoaks had a team in the W45s and they finished 7th, led by Heather Fitzmaurice in 13th, supported by Pauline Dalton in 19th and Grace Manzotti in 38th. The M60 team did slightly better with 4th place, thanks largely to James Graham finishing 6th, with Duncan Cochrane 24th, Simon Hallpike 32nd and Geoff Kitchener 34th. Both Jim Fitzmaurice and Richard Pitcairn-Knowles placed in the M70 category, with Jim 6th (2nd M75), and Richard 10th (1st M80).

The final race of the day was the 9k M40 event, in which Matthew Walker (43rd), Darius Sarshar (49th), Andrew Mead (51st) and Dan Witt (54th) packed impressively for 11th team. The full results are here.

KFL Oxleas Woods - 26th November 2017

Sevenoaks AC women repeated their brilliant performance from the first match with second place in the third match of the 2017/18 Kent Fitness League at Oxleas Woods on 26th November. Once again the scorers were Heather Fitzmaurice, Vanessa Gilmartin and Pauline Dalton, with Jacqui O'Reilly back to lead them home in eighth place, despite a hard run in the Kent League the previous day.

The morning started less well for the men as Allan Lee arrived to be given the news that he is now considered an elite athlete and could not score for the team. With top ten finishers from the previous race James Mason and Darrell Smith and fourth scorer John Witton all unavailable on the day, it was fortunate that a big turnout and some excellent packing kept up the men's challenge. Led by a superb run by 54-year-old Keith Dowson, closely followed by Lee Lintern, the men finished fifth on the day so that the combined team was fourth.

The great news is that, after three races, the women, combined and men's teams are all 2nd in the standings. There was no junior race, but fine veteran performances by Heather (2nd W45), Jim Fitzmaurice (2nd M75), James Graham (2nd M60) and Pauline (3rd W50). In all, 29 SAC runners turned out. The full SAC results were:

The full results are here.