Kent GP
With the completion of the Sittingbourne 10 on 1st October, the final results are in from the Kent Road Race Grand Prix and, after some brilliant racing, Caroline Fenwick finished third woman overall and first W45.
Caroline led the Sevenoaks AC women to 8th place out of the 43 competing clubs, with points also contributed by Dawn Nunes, Julia Davis, Nicola Glover, Sally Shewell, Lucy Wilkes, Bridgit Weekes and Glenda Goscomb.
In the men's competition, SAC were 15th with points from Chris Desmond, Alan Male, Paul Fanti, Michael Lochead, Andy Nicoll, Andrew Hutchinson, Simon Hallpike, James Nash, Richard Alford-Smith, Sean Leith, Daniel Stewart, David Hale and Andrew Milne.
The full results are here.
The first four races of the 2024 GP are already selected:
21st January - Canterbury 10
18th February - Tunbridge Wells Half
3rd March - Paddock Wood Half (and the Kent Long Course Championships)
29th March - Folkestone 10 (the April event).
It is intended that the KGP 2023 awards will be after the Canterbury 10 race and those concerned will be notified in early January, with a complete list of all ten KGP events between January and October 2024 to be issued in a few weeks time. The details are here.
Lionel Stielow was confirmed as Kent M70 2022 Road Race Champion after completion of the final race of the 2022 Grand Prix series. Lionel was five points clear of his nearest rival with a further 23 would-be challengers also trailing in his wake.
Sevenoaks AC also had a medalist in the women's individual competition with Bridgit Weekes taking silver in the W55 category.
In all, 31 runners scored for SAC as follows:
Teams: Men 10th; Women 7th.
Individual
: All men - Andrew Mead 14th, Jamie Philip 42nd, Chris Desmond 87th (& 374th as Christopher Desmond), Paul Fanti 128th, Thomas Allen 134th, Ed Saunders 151st, Mike Lochead 165th, Alex Newby 171st, Darius Sarshar 177th, Johnny Mead 182nd, Harvey Taylor 190th, Gary Walsh 210th, Dan Witt 223rd, Richard Alford-Smith 275th, Seb Naughton 288th, Paul Elton 294th, Alan Male 346th, James Graham 385th, Simon Hallpike 413th.
: M40 - Jamie Philip 8th, Paul Fanti 23rd, Ed Saunders 44th, Mike Lochead 52nd, Alex Newby 59th, Dan Witt 77th, Paul Elton 84th, Robert Evans 93rd.
: M50 - Andrew Mead 4th, Darius Sarshar 30th.
: M60 - John Stevens 18th, James Graham 36th, Simon Hallpike 48th.
: M70 - Lionel Stielow 1st,
: All women - Rebecca Pickard 14th, Bridgit Weekes 29th, Caroline Fenwick 37th, Sally Shewell 39th, Jane Morgan 54th, Silvia Forcat 157th, Lucy Wilkes 160th.
: W35 - Caroline Fenwick 18th, Jane Morgan 38th.
: W45 - Rebecca Pickard 10th.
: W55 - Bridgit Weekes 2nd, Sally Shewell 5th.
: W65 - Sylvia Lewis 11th.
The full analysis is here.
KCAA have announced the eight races comprising the 2022 Kent Grand Prix which are:
March 13th - Paddock Wood Half
April 15th - Folkestone 10 miles
May 8th - Darent Valley 10k
June 5th - High Elms 10k
July 10th - The Sevenoaks 7
August 29th - Canterbury Half Marathon
September date TBA - Larkfield 10k
October 9th - Petts Wood 10k
Please check the dates before entering.
The details are here.
John Witton missed the 2019 Kent GP M40 title by just one point, the final tables have revealed. John had to settle for silver despite finishing ahead of the gold-winner in three of the five races they both contested. John was fourth overall in the men's rankings and contributed many of the points in SAC's team fourth place. The only other men's medallist from SAC was Lionel Stielow who was third in the M70 category.
For the Sevenoaks AC women, Sally Shewell was 2nd W55, after winning the category in 2018, and Sylvia Lewis was also a silver-medallist in her W65 category. The SAC women were ninth.
There were also individual medals for SAC runners in the Kent Long Course Championships, held in 2019 at the Paddock Wood Half. Mary Bridges took bronze at W35, Sally Shewell bronze at W55, Sylvia Lewis bronze at W65 and Lionel Stielow bronze at M70.
The final GP tables are here.
James Graham received this confirmation regarding the races that will be included for the Kent GP next year from Dave Behagg:
Canterbury 10 - 26th Jan
Tunbridge Wells Half – 16th Feb
Dartford Half – 15th Mar (Long Course Champs)
Ted Pepper 10k – 4th May
High Elms 10k – 14th June
Sevenoaks 7 – (date tbc - presumed 12th or 19th July)
Kent Coastal Marathon – (date tbc - presumed 6th Sept)
Larkfield 10k – (date tbc - presumed 13th or 20th Sept) (Short Course Champs)
Sittingbourne 10 – Oct 4th (date not yet posted, but always first Sunday in October)
Tonbridge Half – Oct 11th