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.
James Baker won the penultimate handicap race of the 2023 series by five seconds after Jim Knight led for almost the whole race.
David Hale in third was fastest overall and Caroline Fenwick in fifth the fastest woman.
If Jim had won, he would almost certainly have taken the series trophy but he does now lead the series by one point ahead of David Hale.
Lucy Wilkes stays in third, after sixth place on the day.
Only Jim or David can now win the trophy, with David needing to win the final race and hope for a better tiebreak. That could depend on how many people turn up for the final race on 3rd December.
That starts as usual at 08:30 from Sevenoaks School track and is over the longer seven mile course.
The details are here.
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.
Caroline Fenwick won the October handicap by more than six minutes ahead of series leader David Hale.
Caroline was the fastest woman and David the fastest overall.
With fourth place in his fourth handicap race of the year, Jim Knight moved into second place in the series, one point behind David and one point ahead of Lucy Wilkes in third.
The next race, over five miles, starts from the track at 08:30 on Sunday 5th November.
The details are here.