KFL 2023/24 Match 3 - Knole Park

Team at Knole

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.