KFL 2023/24 Match 3 - Knole Park

The third race in the 2023/24 Kent Fitness League series took place in Knole Park on Sunday November 26th, writes Jim Knight.

In cold and frosty conditions, a team of 15 organisers from the club set up the course markings very early in the morning and were joined by a further 15 marshals who would guide the 500 runners from the town car park to the start on Broad Walk and around the hilly 5-mile course. 

Conditions for the runners were excellent – clear and bright, with the ground hard from the frost. It was a cold morning for the marshals, though.

At 9 am the race started, and 27 minutes 52 seconds later, 21-year-old Alexander Donnelly from Maidstone & Medway AC crossed the line to win the race by 7 second from Robert Jakaman from Dartford Harriers.

James Mason, once again, led the Sevenoaks AC team home in 7th position (and 1st M40), followed by Jamie Philip (13th and 2nd M40), Guilaume Nineven (34th) and Ed Saunders (37th). The other members of the scoring team were William Palmer (60th and 1st M50), Darius Sarchar (75th and 2nd M50), Harvey Taylor (80th), and Chris Desmond (116th and 1st M60)

The men’s team came 3rd, behind Maidstone & Medway (1st) and Petts Wood (2nd)

In the women’s race, Andrea Berquez had another brilliant run to finish in 2nd place, behind the winner - Charlotte Johnson of Maidstone & Medway. She was closely followed by team-mates Joanna Rodda (8th and 1st W45), and Caroline Fenwick (9th.and 2nd W45). The other scoring runners were Nicola Glover (21st) and Pauline Dalton (57th and 1st W55).

The women’s team came 3rd, behind strong teams from Paddock Wood AC (1st) and Canterbury Harriers (2nd)

In the combined team competition, Sevenoaks AC were 2nd and are now lying 2nd in the series.

The SAC results were:

Ov Pos	Lg Pos	Bib	Runner	Age	Time	Club	Score	Rtg	#
7	7	869	James Mason	40	28:39	Sevenoaks AC	V40:1	98.33	22
13	13	882	Jamie Philip	46	29:24	Sevenoaks AC	V40:2	96.67	3
34	34	879	Guillaume Nineven	38	30:58	Sevenoaks AC	M1	90.83	13
37	37	887	Edmund Saunders	41	31:15	Sevenoaks AC	M2	90.00	24
61	60	881	William Palmer	51	32:18	Sevenoaks AC	V50:1	83.61	9
63	2	836	Andrea Berquez	38	32:23	Sevenoaks AC	V35	99.51	9
79	75	886	Darius Sarshar	54	33:03	Sevenoaks AC	V50:2	79.44	14
84	80	893	Harvey Taylor	19	33:29	Sevenoaks AC	M3	78.06	12
102	96	830	Richard Alford-Smith	47	34:10	Sevenoaks AC	NSBLS	73.61	17
108	8	1022	Joanne Rodda	47	34:17	Sevenoaks AC	V45	96.60	2
109	9	852	Caroline Fenwick	46	34:21	Sevenoaks AC	F1	96.12	10
112	103	855	David Hale	56	34:26	Sevenoaks AC	NSBLS	71.67	Debut
117	107	888	Paul Shelley	49	34:47	Sevenoaks AC	NSBLS	70.56	9
128	116	846	Chris Desmond	60	35:20	Sevenoaks AC	V60	68.06	87
129	117	874	Andrew Monk	47	35:29	Sevenoaks AC	NS	67.78	7
130	118	871	Michael McCarthy	58	35:29	Sevenoaks AC	NS	67.50	26
136	123	873	Andrew Milne	41	35:39	Sevenoaks AC	NS	66.11	37
141	127	878	Sebastian Naughton	49	35:43	Sevenoaks AC	NS	65.00	13
144	128	831	Brian Allen	51	35:49	Sevenoaks AC	NS	64.72	3
148	131	834	James Baker	59	35:53	Sevenoaks AC	NS	63.89	27
155	21	854	Nicola Glover	35	36:03	Sevenoaks AC	F2	90.29	11
156	135	870	Jonathan Maxim	45	36:08	Sevenoaks AC	NS	62.78	Debut
170	145	859	David Killpack	38	36:46	Sevenoaks AC	NS	60.00	6
180	153	832	Andrew Ashlee	54	37:06	Sevenoaks AC	NS	57.78	30
187	159	835	Adam Bates	40	37:17	Sevenoaks AC	NS	56.11	3
201	169	849	Graham Dwyer	51	37:34	Sevenoaks AC	NS	53.33	23
207	174	868	Jonathan Marsh	63	37:40	Sevenoaks AC	NS	51.94	8
216	180	896	Anthony Waldron	56	37:52	Sevenoaks AC	NS	50.28	37
223	186	850	Andrew Evans	53	38:05	Sevenoaks AC	NS	48.61	55
225	188	862	Leonard Lai King	44	38:11	Sevenoaks AC	NS	48.06	13
236	198	872	Nicholas Mileham	43	38:28	Sevenoaks AC	NS	45.28	6
238	200	877	James Nash	32	38:31	Sevenoaks AC	NS	44.72	16
260	215	900	Daniel Witt	48	39:18	Sevenoaks AC	NS	40.56	69
271	219	866	Alan Male	53	39:37	Sevenoaks AC	NS	39.44	7
283	55	845	Julia Davis	26	40:10	Sevenoaks AC	NSBLS	73.79	13
287	57	844	Pauline Dalton	59	40:15	Sevenoaks AC	V55	72.82	61
329	77	883	Sarah Philpott	45	41:29	Sevenoaks AC	NS	63.11	3
330	78	898	Bridgit Weekes	65	41:30	Sevenoaks AC	NS	62.62	23
356	269	856	Simon Hallpike	70	42:23	Sevenoaks AC	NS	25.56	61
360	89	901	Samantha Znetyniak	48	42:30	Sevenoaks AC	NS	57.28	15
386	103	876	Jane Morgan	46	43:23	Sevenoaks AC	NS	50.49	8
396	289	867	Simon Mann	43	43:43	Sevenoaks AC	NS	20.00	2
437	128	889	Sarah Shewell	64	45:49	Sevenoaks AC	NS	38.35	126
445	132	843	Becca Crowe	63	46:40	Sevenoaks AC	NS	36.41	13
526	354	892	Lionel Stielow	74	53:27	Sevenoaks AC	NS	1.94	26
543	184	857	Anna Humphrey-Taylor	54	56:57	Sevenoaks AC	NS	11.17	7
549	190	833	Maria Ashlee	52	59:02	Sevenoaks AC	NS	8.25	3

The full results are here.

It was a great effort by everyone in the club, especially Race Director Richard Thomas who, after 5 years as Race Director for this Kent Fitness League event and also the Sevenoaks 7 is retiring from the role. A big thank-you to Richard and his team of 30 marshals and officials, and the 47 Sevenoaks AC runners who competed for the club.

The Kent Fitness League is a series of cross-country races between the 18 registered Athletics Clubs in Kent. Any number of club members can compete, but 13 are needed to score in the team competition – 8 men (of whom one must be aged 60+, two must be 50+ and two 40+) and 5 women (of whom one must be aged 55+ one 45+ and one 35+). 
The next race in the series will be in Minnis Bay, Birchington on January 7th 2024.

KFL 2023/24 Match 2 - Oxleas Wood

The second race in the Kent Fitness League 2023/24 season took place in Eltham on Sunday Nov 19th, writes Jim Knight. 545 runners from18 Kent Athletics Clubs, including a strong team of 41 from Sevenoaks, tackled the hilly course through Oxleas Woods in bright sunny, but cold conditions.

After coming 3rd in the first race in Swanley on Nov 12th, Sevenoaks ladies ran even better in Eltham to win the race and improve to 2nd in the series.

Star runner Andrea Berquez led throughout the race to secure a comfortable win in 35 minutes 38 seconds. The other scoring team members all ran brilliantly – Caroline Fenwick (11th &1st W45), Joanne Rodda in her first KFL race (14th), Cath Linney (16th) and Pauline Dalton (54th) – to score a comfortable win over Canterbury Harriers in 2nd position.

In the men’s race, Allan Lee 50 year-old was a brilliant 3rd (& 1st M50) just 17 seconds behind the winner, having missed the Swanley race through injury. James Mason was 6th again (&1st M40), followed by Ed Saunders (36th), Guillaume Nineven (41st), Luke Green (78th), Harvey Taylor (84th), William Palmer (64th), and Keith Dowson (110th). 

Medway & Maidstone AC won the men’s race with Sevenoaks in 2nd, just ahead of Dartford Harriers.

In the series, Petts Wood Runners still lead the combined team event with Medway & Maidstone 2nd and SAC 3rd. However the Sevenoaks women’ team, in 2nd place, is only one point behind leaders Canterbury Harriers.

The SAC results were as follows:

Ov Pos	Lg Pos	Bib	Runner	Age	Time	Club	Score	Rtg	#
3	3	863	Allan Lee	50	30:43	Sevenoaks AC	V50:1	99.45	16
6	6	869	James Mason	40	31:16	Sevenoaks AC	V40:1	98.61	21
36	36	887	Edmund Saunders	41	34:31	Sevenoaks AC	V40:2	90.30	23
41	41	879	Guillaume Nineven	38	34:52	Sevenoaks AC	M1	88.92	12
60	1	836	Andrea Berquez	38	35:58	Sevenoaks AC	V35	100.00	8
66	64	881	William Palmer	51	36:20	Sevenoaks AC	V50:2	82.55	8
84	78	1021	Luke Green	32	37:29	Sevenoaks AC	M2	78.67	Debut
93	84	893	Harvey Taylor	19	38:07	Sevenoaks AC	M3	77.01	11
96	86	878	Sebastian Naughton	49	38:14	Sevenoaks AC	NSBLS	76.45	12
99	89	830	Richard Alford-Smith	47	38:27	Sevenoaks AC	NSBLS	75.62	16
100	11	852	Caroline Fenwick	45	38:29	Sevenoaks AC	V45	94.57	9
104	92	834	James Baker	59	38:40	Sevenoaks AC	NSBLS	74.79	26
116	14	1022	Joanne Rodda	47	39:14	Sevenoaks AC	F1	92.93	Debut
120	106	1044	Nick Humphrey-Taylor	51	39:29	Sevenoaks AC	NSBLS	70.91	8
124	110	848	Keith Dowson	60	39:38	Sevenoaks AC	V60	69.81	17
130	16	865	Catherine Linney	54	40:00	Sevenoaks AC	F2	91.85	45
132	116	874	Andrew Monk	47	40:04	Sevenoaks AC	NS	68.14	6
133	117	832	Andrew Ashlee	54	40:08	Sevenoaks AC	NS	67.87	29
138	120	846	Chris Desmond	60	40:20	Sevenoaks AC	NS	67.04	86
145	21	854	Nicola Glover	35	40:45	Sevenoaks AC	NSBLS	89.13	10
154	133	831	Brian Allen	51	41:02	Sevenoaks AC	NS	63.43	2
158	136	896	Anthony Waldron	56	41:20	Sevenoaks AC	NS	62.60	36
160	138	868	Jonathan Marsh	63	41:27	Sevenoaks AC	NS	62.05	7
162	140	872	Nicholas Mileham	43	41:33	Sevenoaks AC	NS	61.50	5
164	142	835	Adam Bates	40	41:33	Sevenoaks AC	NS	60.94	2
170	147	859	David Killpack	38	41:41	Sevenoaks AC	NS	59.56	5
173	149	849	Graham Dwyer	51	41:51	Sevenoaks AC	NS	59.00	22
227	37	853	Vanessa Gilmartin	48	43:42	Sevenoaks AC	NSBLS	80.43	30
228	191	862	Leonard Lai King	44	43:44	Sevenoaks AC	NS	47.37	12
250	205	850	Andrew Evans	53	44:39	Sevenoaks AC	NS	43.49	54
256	209	900	Daniel Witt	48	44:52	Sevenoaks AC	NS	42.38	68
260	211	866	Alan Male	53	45:09	Sevenoaks AC	NS	41.83	6
266	51	883	Sarah Philpott	45	45:29	Sevenoaks AC	NSBLS	72.83	2
275	54	844	Pauline Dalton	59	45:53	Sevenoaks AC	V55	71.20	60
302	63	898	Bridgit Weekes	65	47:01	Sevenoaks AC	NS	66.30	22
345	264	856	Simon Hallpike	70	48:22	Sevenoaks AC	NS	27.15	60
349	84	901	Samantha Znetyniak	48	48:40	Sevenoaks AC	NS	54.89	14
354	86	889	Sarah Shewell	64	49:05	Sevenoaks AC	NS	53.80	125
458	132	843	Becca Crowe	63	55:28	Sevenoaks AC	NS	28.80	12
482	340	892	Lionel Stielow	74	58:09	Sevenoaks AC	NS	6.09	25
517	162	857	Anna Humphrey-Taylor	54	1:02:58	Sevenoaks AC	NS	12.50	6

The full results are here.

The next race in the series will take place in Knole Park, Sevenoaks, on  Nov 26th when SAC will have the difficult task of organising the race and also fielding a strong team of runners. The race starts at 9 am.

The Kent Fitness League is a series of cross-country races between the 18 registered Athletics Clubs in Kent. Any number of club members can compete, but 13 are needed to score in the team competition – 8 men (of whom one must be aged 60+, two must be 50+ and two 40+) and 5 women (of whom one must be aged 55+,one 45+ and one 35+).

KFL 2023/24 Match 1 - Swanley

The first race of the 2023/24 Kent Fitness League took place in Swanley Park on Sunday November 11th, writes Jim Knight.

A record 618 runners, including 38 from Sevenoaks AC, lined up for the start at 11 a.m. After 2 minutes silence to contemplate the horrors of war and pay respects to those who fought for our freedom in the two world wars, the whistle blew, and the race started.

Three laps of the park – undulating, grassy, muddy in places, but overall a fast 5.5-mile course. The rain held off and the runners enjoyed pleasant cool conditions.

29 minutes and 47 seconds later, 18 year old Callum Featherstone from Maidstone and Medway AC crossed the line to win by 11 seconds from his brother, Cameron.

Just 11 seconds later, 40 year-old James Mason from Sevenoaks AC had an outstanding run to finish in 6th place. He was followed by Jamie Philip (20th), Andrew Hutchinson (34th), and Guillaume Nineven (38th). The other scorers in the men’s team were Darius Sarshar (63rd), 19-year-old Harvey Taylor (74th), Chris Desmond (109th), and Mike McCarthy (125th). There was also an excellent performance from Dan Witt, the club Chairman, who finished in 43 minutes in his first race since undergoing cancer treatment.

In the women’s race, Sevenoaks’ Andrea Berquez led for the first 2 laps but faded on the final lap and came 3rd in a time of 34.47 - an outstanding performance as she had competed in a long trail race in the South Downs the day before. The other scorers in the SAC women’s team were Caroline Fenwick (14th), Cath Linney (23rd), Nicola Glover (30th), and Pauline Dalton (71st).

The women’s team came 3rd, the men’s team 5th, and the combined team 5th overall. A very encouraging start to the season. The SAC results were:

Ov Pos	Lg Pos	Bib	Runner	Age	Time	Club	Score	Rtg	#
6	6	869	James Mason	40	30:09	Sevenoaks AC	V40:1	98.73	20
20	20	882	Jamie Philip	46	32:13	Sevenoaks AC	V40:2	95.17	2
34	34	858	Andrew Hutchinson	44	32:55	Sevenoaks AC	M1	91.60	21
48	48	879	Guillaume Nineven	38	33:35	Sevenoaks AC	M2	88.04	11
65	63	886	Darius Sarshar	54	34:37	Sevenoaks AC	V50:1	84.22	13
71	3	836	Andrea Berquez	38	34:47	Sevenoaks AC	V35	99.11	7
78	74	893	Harvey Taylor	19	35:11	Sevenoaks AC	M3	81.42	10
99	92	830	Richard Alford-Smith	47	36:09	Sevenoaks AC	NSBLS	76.84	15
104	96	878	Sebastian Naughton	49	36:23	Sevenoaks AC	NSBLS	75.83	11
108	100	888	Paul Shelley	49	36:34	Sevenoaks AC	NSBLS	74.81	8
119	109	846	Chris Desmond	60	36:54	Sevenoaks AC	V60	72.52	85
129	14	852	Caroline Fenwick	45	37:20	Sevenoaks AC	V45	94.22	8
139	123	874	Andrew Monk	47	37:54	Sevenoaks AC	NSBLS	68.96	5
141	125	871	Michael McCarthy	58	37:56	Sevenoaks AC	V50:2	68.45	25
151	133	834	James Baker	58	38:10	Sevenoaks AC	NS	66.41	25
158	23	865	Catherine Linney	54	38:27	Sevenoaks AC	F1	90.22	44
173	30	854	Nicola Glover	35	38:52	Sevenoaks AC	F2	87.11	9
181	149	849	Graham Dwyer	51	38:57	Sevenoaks AC	NS	62.34	21
199	166	896	Anthony Waldron	56	39:41	Sevenoaks AC	NS	58.02	35
201	35	840	Lucy Ching	42	39:47	Sevenoaks AC	NSBLS	84.89	Debut
210	173	831	Brian Allen	51	40:08	Sevenoaks AC	NS	56.23	Debut
214	177	859	David Killpack	38	40:13	Sevenoaks AC	NS	55.22	4
228	188	837	Simon Bishop	59	40:46	Sevenoaks AC	NS	52.42	7
242	199	835	Adam Bates	40	41:00	Sevenoaks AC	NS	49.62	Debut
249	205	850	Andrew Evans	53	41:05	Sevenoaks AC	NS	48.09	53
255	210	862	Leonard Lai King	44	41:13	Sevenoaks AC	NS	46.82	11
276	54	853	Vanessa Gilmartin	48	41:51	Sevenoaks AC	NSBLS	76.44	29
285	229	866	Alan Male	53	42:06	Sevenoaks AC	NS	41.98	5
301	62	883	Sarah Philpott	45	42:45	Sevenoaks AC	NSBLS	72.89	Debut
314	247	900	Daniel Witt	48	43:17	Sevenoaks AC	NS	37.40	67
328	71	844	Pauline Dalton	59	43:36	Sevenoaks AC	V55	68.89	59
376	288	856	Simon Hallpike	70	45:05	Sevenoaks AC	NS	26.97	59
383	294	867	Simon Mann	43	45:18	Sevenoaks AC	NS	25.45	Debut
423	107	889	Sarah Shewell	64	47:08	Sevenoaks AC	NS	52.89	124
504	355	860	Jim Knight	72	51:24	Sevenoaks AC	NS	9.92	6
544	371	892	Lionel Stielow	74	54:40	Sevenoaks AC	NS	5.85	24
580	383	872	Nicholas Mileham	43	58:46	Sevenoaks AC	NS	2.80	4
582	199	857	Anna Humphrey-Taylor	54	59:08	Sevenoaks AC	NS	12.00	5

The full results are here.

The Kent Fitness League is a series of cross-country races between the 18 registered Athletics Clubs in Kent. Any number of club members can compete, but 13 are needed to score in the team competition – 8 men (of whom two must be V40 and two V50 and one V60) and 5 women (of whom one must be V35 and one V45 and one V55).

The next race is on Sunday Nov 19th in Oxleas Wood, Eltham.

KXCL 2023/24 Match 2 - Somerhill

Allan Lee was first M50, James Graham fourth M70, Holly Diprose sixth U17W, Rebecca Picard seventh W45 and James Ross tenth U13B, while both the boys and girls under-13 teams were sixth in their races at the second Kent Cross Country League match of the 2023/24 season at Somerhill School in Tonbridge on 28th October. The SAC results were:

U17M
28 518 Luke Bridges Sevenoaks AC 22:00

U15M
31 329 Arthur Patten Sevenoaks AC 15:42
64 327 George Fricker Sevenoaks AC 20:27

U13M
10 154 James Ross Sevenoaks AC 11:19
16 1344 Gabriel Mauduit Sevenoaks AC 11:38
40 152 Zack Beckett Sevenoaks AC 12:29
41 156 Dominic Whitworth Sevenoaks AC 12:34

6 Sevenoaks AC 10,16,40 66 5

U13W
18 65 Lauren Copp Sevenoaks AC 13:21
36 68 Sophie Robinson Sevenoaks AC 14:49
45 1343 Abigail Frake Sevenoaks AC 16:58

6 Sevenoaks AC 18,36,45 99 1

U17W
6 405 Holly Diprose Sevenoaks AC 20:54

W45
7 783 Rebecca Pickard (W45) Sevenoaks AC 38:26

M50
1 1200 Allan Lee (M50) Sevenoaks AC 30:07
14 1203 Oloff Van Zyl (M50) Sevenoaks AC 34:22

M70
4 472 James Graham (M70) Sevenoaks AC 27:44

The full results are here.