SAC team

Kent Fitness League Feb 2014 – Sevenoaks AC still in the lead

Thirty-four Sevenoaks AC runners made the journey to Rough Common near Canterbury on Sunday Feb 2nd for the 6th race in the Kent Fitness League series.

contemplating mudAlthough the weather was dry and sunny, Rough Common truly lived up to its name. After several weeks of non-stop rain, the mud was ankle deep in the start field but knee deep on the trails through the woods. Many runners fell and returned wet and muddy from head to toe.

Sevenoaks AC started well. Allan Lee lead the race for the first half but unfortunately was forced to retire with a calf injury ….. and had to walk 2 miles through the mud to get back to the finish!

The race was won by Chris Wyles from New Eltham Joggers who completed the tough 8.5 km course in 30.52 mins. This was Chris’ 4th win in the series.

Allan’s Lee’s brother David was the fastest Sevenoaks finisher, coming in 7th, with David Ives close behind in 13th.
50-year-old Chris Desmond had another great run to come 18th, the fastest over-50 runner.

SAC’s close rivals, Dartford Harriers fielded a strong team to win the men’s race.

The SAC men’s team of David Lee, David Ives, Chris Desmond, plus Andrew Mead (33rd), Ben Bridges (35th), Lee Lintern (44th), and Joe Parsons (52nd), came in 2nd position.

In the women’s race, Holly Page from Dartford Harriers ran well to win in 34.38mins, well clear of the rest of the field.
Sevenoaks AC’s fastest woman was Cath Linney in 11th place, closely followed by Pauline Dalton in 14th, with Nicky Thompson in 31st place.

The SAC women’s team was missing this year’s star runner Heather Fitzmaurice through illness, and came 5th behind very strong teams from Canterbury and Dartford.

With just one race to go Sevenoaks are still winning the series.

Happy and Nicki plus mud
In the men’s series Sevenoaks are lying second, just one point behind Dartford., and in the women’s series Sevenoaks are third behind Canterbury and Dartford. Combined, Sevenoaks is still in the lead.

However the championship will be decided on each team’s best 6 races from the 7 – each team being allowed to ditch their worst race. Sevenoaks have been remarkably consistent all season, never coming lower than 3rd place. Dartford, on the other hand, came 6th in the first race on the series in Knole in October. So on the basis of the best 5 races so far, Sevenoaks and Dartford are exactly even.

It all hinges on the seventh, and final race in Meopham on Sunday Feb 16th.

With Allan Lee injured, Sevenoaks will need Mike Fanning to recover from his tendon injury, Heather Fitzmaurice to recover from illness, and every member of the team to compete and run well.

If we beat Dartford on Feb 16th we will win the championship. If Dartford beat us, they will win the championship. It couldn’t be closer.

[Report by Jim Knight, Sevenoaks AC Feb 2014.]

The full SAC results were as follows:

Ov Pos
Lg Pos
Runner
Age
Time
Club
Rating
7 7 David Lee 35 32:10 Sevenoaks AC 97.49
13 13 David Ives 38 32:49 Sevenoaks AC 94.98
18 18 Chris Desmond 50 33:39 Sevenoaks AC 92.89
33 33 Andrew Mead 45 34:26 Sevenoaks AC 86.61
35 35 Ben Bridges 34 34:31 Sevenoaks AC 85.77
44 42 Lee Lintern 33 35:00 Sevenoaks AC 82.85
52 49 Joe Parsons 23 35:31 Sevenoaks AC 79.92
53 50 Andrew Linney 46 35:33 Sevenoaks AC 79.50
54 51 Keith Brown 42 35:34 Sevenoaks AC 79.08
55 52 Andy Ashlee 44 35:37 Sevenoaks AC 78.66
56 53 James Wright 45 35:38 Sevenoaks AC 78.24
74 69 Adam Lesley 42 36:59 Sevenoaks AC 71.55
85 78 John Stevens 52 37:26 Sevenoaks AC 67.78
86 79 Daniel Witt 39 37:27 Sevenoaks AC 67.36
94 86 James Baker 49 38:02 Sevenoaks AC 64.44
120 108 Anthony Waldron 46 38:58 Sevenoaks AC 55.23
142 129 Andy Evans 43 39:52 Sevenoaks AC 46.44
143 11 Cath Linney 44 39:53 Sevenoaks AC 89.13
147 132 Stuart Thompson 39 40:00 Sevenoaks AC 45.19
152 14 Pauline Dalton 49 40:13 Sevenoaks AC 85.87
168 147 Geoff Kitchener 64 41:11 Sevenoaks AC 38.91
177 155 Andy Nicoll 33 41:56 Sevenoaks AC 35.56
180 158 Sam Bennett 40 42:02 Sevenoaks AC 34.31
190 166 Duncan Cochrane 56 42:34 Sevenoaks AC 30.96
213 178 Martin White 46 43:54 Sevenoaks AC 25.94
216 31 Nicki Thompson 37 44:03 Sevenoaks AC 67.39
217 179 Uri Margot 37 44:07 Sevenoaks AC 25.52
220 33 Happy Fisher 37 44:17 Sevenoaks AC 65.22
233 191 Maurice Marchant 65 44:43 Sevenoaks AC 20.50
253 202 James Fitzmaurice 71 45:45 Sevenoaks AC 15.90
264 52 Silvia Forcat 37 46:35 Sevenoaks AC 44.57
280 215 Hugh Shewell 24 48:28 Sevenoaks AC 10.46
282 59 Sarah Shewell 54 48:44 Sevenoaks AC 36.96
294 220 Fay Margot 35 49:46 Sevenoaks AC 8.37

The full results are here.