Above: British National Bronze Medalists, Ronald Denney, Jim Fitzmaurice and Richard Pitcairn-Knowles.
Last Saturday (28thApril) when Sevenoaks Athletic Club fielded a team of three with an average age of 81 they became British National Road Relay Bronze Medalists when they competed on a cold, wet morning in the Men’s Over 75 age category, each completing a three mile lap of a hilly course in Sutton Park, near Birmingham. Competing teams came from the length and breadth of the country and the winners were Bingley Harriers followed by Exmouth Harriers, with the Sevenoaks team in third place in 1:36:05: Ron Denney (33:42), Richard Pitcairn-Knowles (34:32) and Jim Fitzmaurice (27:51).
The full results are here.
Paul Smith was second M55 and Lionel Stielow second M65 at the Goudhurst 10k on 29th April. Adam Westbrooke also had a good run. The full SAC results were:
| Pos | Gun | Chip | Name | Club | Sex | Cat | Num | Gpos | CPos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | 00:46:20 | 00:46:13 | Paul Smith | Sevenoaks AC | M | Male Vet 55 | 124 | 27 | 2 |
| 79 | 00:54:10 | 00:54:04 | Lionel Stielow | Sevenoaks AC | M | Male Vet 65 | 43 | 61 | 2 |
| 89 | 00:56:43 | 00:56:31 | Adam Westbrooke | Sevenoaks AC | M | Male Vet 45 | 96 | 70 | 15 |
The full results are here.
James Graham survived the heat best of all the SAC runners at the London Marathon on 22nd April. James was first of eleven SAC runners and third M60 overall. The Sevenoaks results were:
| Place overall | Place gender | Place cat. | Name | Club | Runner no | Category | Half | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1689 | 1607 | 3 | Graham, James (GBR) | Sevenoaks AC | 26633 | 60-64 | 01:31:42 | 03:07:40 |
| 1812 | 1718 | 220 | Ashlee, Andrew (GBR | Sevenoaks AC | 26290 | 45-49 | 01:28:49 | 03:08:58 |
| 1892 | 1791 | 232 | Humphrey-Taylor, Nick (GBR) | Sevenoaks AC | 26214 | 45-49 | 01:27:31 | 03:09:47 |
| 1929 | 1826 | 23 | Dowson, Keith (GBR) | Sevenoaks AC | 32538 | 55-59 | 01:28:09 | 03:10:10 |
| 1956 | 1848 | 376 | Brennan, Hugh (GBR) | Sevenoaks AC | 31969 | 40-44 | 01:29:12 | 03:10:33 |
| 1974 | 1864 | 379 | Witton, John (GBR) | Sevenoaks AC | 31668 | 40-44 | 01:22:05 | 03:10:42 |
| 2625 | 2450 | 345 | Brown, Keith (GBR) | Sevenoaks AC | 26943 | 45-49 | 01:33:12 | 03:16:56 |
| 2841 | 2625 | 61 | Stevens, John (GBR) | Sevenoaks AC | 26791 | 55-59 | 01:33:01 | 03:19:00 |
| 2931 | 2699 | 1437 | Nicoll, Andy (GBR) | Sevenoaks AC | 54808 | 18-39 | 01:32:22 | 03:19:44 |
| 4015 | 3593 | 794 | Witt, Daniel (GBR) | Sevenoaks AC | 26871 | 40-44 | 01:35:52 | 03:27:58 |
| 8792 | 6886 | 1132 | Beattie, Dave (GBR) | Sevenoaks AC | 20894 | 45-49 | 01:46:22 | 03:56:03 |
The full results are here.
And at the Southampton Marathon on the same day, Andrew Milne also had a good run:
| Pos | Bib | Name | Gun | Chip | Cat | C.Pos | Gender | Gender Pos | Club | Pace | Half | G/Pos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 | 8106 | Andrew MILNE | 3:08:10.1 | 3:08:06.3 | Sen | 19 | Male | 28 | SEVENOAKS AC | 8.4 m/hr | 1:29:57.9 | 31 |
The full results from Southampton are here.
Twelve Sevenoaks AC runners tackled the Paddock Wood Half on 8 April, led by Andy Ashlee. In light rain and light winds, both Andy and John Stevens (above) achieved excellent WMA scores, while further back, Simon Hallpike managed a club M65 second best. The SAC results were:
| Pos | Gun | Name | Club | Cat | Num | Chip | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 83 | 1:21:27 | Andy Ashlee | Sevenoaks AC | Vet Men 40-49 | 64 | 1:21:21 | 79.68 |
| 144 | 1:26:20 | Russell Crane | Sevenoaks AC | Senior Men | 425 | 1:26:07 | 69.09 |
| 173 | 1:27:54 | Daniel Witt | Sevenoaks AC | Vet Men 40-49 | 2188 | 1:27:49 | 71.10 |
| 176 | 1:28:01 | John Stevens | Sevenoaks AC | Vet Men 50-59 | 1744 | 1:27:56 | 78.72 |
| 389 | 1:38:06 | Stuart Thompson | Sevenoaks AC | Vet Men 40-49 | 1827 | 1:37:48 | 63.71 |
| 400 | 1:38:36 | James Nash | Sevenoaks AC | Senior Men | 2479 | 1:38:09 | 60.49 |
| 448 | 1:39:48 | Dave Beattie | Sevenoaks AC | Vet Men 40-49 | 2568 | 1:39:16 | 64.53 |
| 499 | 1:41:13 | Neil Haywood | Sevenoaks AC | Senior Men | 856 | 1:40:46 | 58.93 |
| 508 | 1:41:36 | Simon Hallpike | Sevenoaks AC | Vet Men 60-69 | 793 | 1:40:50 | 74.31 |
| 567 | 1:43:31 | Gabriela Mladenova | Sevenoaks AC | Vet Ladies 35-44 | 2498 | 1:43:21 | 63.56 |
| 896 | 1:53:52 | Paul Smith | Sevenoaks AC | Vet Men 50-59 | 2172 | 1:52:54 | 60.85 |
| 1144 | 1:59:32 | Lionel Stielow | Sevenoaks AC | Vet Men 60-69 | 1750 | 1:58:45 | 66.05 |
The full results are here.
There was also a sizeable SAC presence at the Rotary 10k in Knole Park on the same day, where Caroline Fenwick was 3rd woman. Andrew Mead reports:
"Several members of the club ran in the Sevenoaks Rotary Club 10K in Knole Park today. Conditions were damp and muddy but nearly 400 finished. The men’s team came second and runners included Lee Lintern (albeit now running under Guildford), Andrew Hutchinson, Marco Mion, Simon Rowe, Graham Dwyer, Neil Haggertay and myself. There maybe more but not everyone put down their club association. Overall a good family race (not too many club runners either) and well organised (apart from the prize giving which was somewhat haphazard with age group prizes being given out before the overall winners and therefore the winners sometimes only got their age group trophy and not their overall 1st, 2nd or 3rd prize!). I also have no idea which team members helped the team come second but I do have two bottles of bubbly which I am happy to donate to club (maybe for Christmas party?)."
Lee Lintern was fourth in 40:09, Andrew Mead fifth in 40:20, Andrew Hutchinson eighth in 40:42, Marco Mion 26th in 44:09, Caroline Fenwick 3rd woman in 45:38, Simon Rowe 87th 50:13, Graham Dwyer 132nd in 52:40 and Neil Haggertay 201st in 56:33. The full results are here.