Six Sevenoaks AC runners competed at the Kent County AA Cross Country Championships at Brands Hatch on 9 January 2016, the county's top XC competition of the season.
In the senior men's race over 12k, Andrew Mead finished in 94th position, closely followed by four clubmates as follows:
94 651 Andrew Mead 00:53:49 Male M45 Sevenoaks AC
98 652 Edmund Saunders 00:54:29 Male SM Sevenoaks AC
148 650 Nick Humphrey-Taylor 01:00:17 Male M40 Sevenoaks AC
157 649 Andrew Evans 01:01:46 Male M45 Sevenoaks AC
168 653 Marc Thatcher 01:03:22 Male M40 Sevenoaks AC
The race was won by John Gilbert of Kent AC, while the six-to-score men's team race was won by Tonbridge AC.
The other Sevenoaks AC runner contested the senior women's race over 8k. Anna Humphrey-Taylor was 79th in a race won by Tonbridge AC's Ashley Gibson. Anna's result was:
79 846 Anna Humphrey-Taylor 00:48:29 Female W45 Sevenoaks AC
Tonbridge won the three-to-score team race ahead of Paddock Wood.
The full results can be found here.
Lyndon Collins won the January handicap having last won one in January 2003. Details are here.
David Lee was the fastest runner as Simon Hallpike won the final race and the 2015 series. The details are here.
The fifth race in the Kent Fitness League Cross Country series took place in Meopham on Sunday December 20th, with a field of over 400 runners, writes Jim Knight.
Another fine run from Sevenoaks AC athlete James Mason saw him home in 2nd place behind Thanet Road Runners' Noel Sutton. "I could beat him on the twisty sections through the woods," said Mason, "but he was very fast on the flat open section. He pulled away on the second lap and I couldn't catch him"
With 5 races of the 7 completed, Sutton has three wins and Mason two, so we are guaranteed and exciting finish to the series.
Sevenoaks AC managed to field a strong team of 36 runners to take on the muddy two lap 5 mile course cross-country course, which features the famous "water splash" – especially deep this year after the recent rain.
There were excellent scoring performances from Darrell Smith (13th), Andy Ashlee (39th), Edmund Saunders (41st), and Andrew Mead (42nd). The club's top two M50s, Chris Desmond and Steve Searby, lying 3rd and 4th in their category in the series, were both unavailable. However their replacements, James Graham, the leading M60 ran well to come 87th, and John Stevens came a creditable 108th.
Once again Cath Linney led the women's team home with a storming finish, overtaking two other women in the final stage to finish in 10th place (2nd W45, and another top 10 finish in the women's category). The club's other scorers were Annabelle Milne in 20th and Sally Mortleman (30th), who was unable to wear spikes due to a slight niggle and had to contend with very slippery conditions with less than ideal footwear, but ran brilliantly in the circumstances to keep the team's chances alive in the competition.
Both Dartford Harriers and Dartford Road Runners were out in force, but the strong performances by the Sevenoaks team keep the club in 3rd position in the series. On the day, the Sevenoaks AC men and women were both fifth with the combined team fourth. After five races the men are fourth, the women fifth and the combined team third.
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 10 are needed to score in the team competition – 7 men (of whom two must be V50 and one V40) and 3 women (of whom one must be V45 and one V35).
The next race will be in Minnis Bay on January 10th, starting at 11 am.
The full Sevenoaks AC results were:
Ov Pos | Lg Pos | Runner | Age | Time | Club | Rating |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2 | 2 | James Mason | 32 | 29:39 | Sevenoaks AC | 99.67 |
13 | 13 | Darrell Smith | 48 | 31:20 | Sevenoaks AC | 96.09 |
39 | 39 | Andy Ashlee | 46 | 33:34 | Sevenoaks AC | 87.62 |
41 | 41 | Edmund Saunders | 33 | 33:41 | Sevenoaks AC | 86.97 |
42 | 42 | Andrew Mead | 47 | 33:47 | Sevenoaks AC | 86.64 |
47 | 46 | Joe Parsons | 25 | 34:03 | Sevenoaks AC | 85.34 |
50 | 49 | Andrew Milne | 33 | 34:07 | Sevenoaks AC | 84.36 |
70 | 65 | Daniel Witt | 40 | 34:50 | Sevenoaks AC | 79.15 |
87 | 82 | James Graham | 62 | 35:54 | Sevenoaks AC | 73.62 |
108 | 100 | John Stevens | 54 | 37:10 | Sevenoaks AC | 67.75 |
111 | 102 | Tex Ryan | 25 | 37:16 | Sevenoaks AC | 67.10 |
114 | 10 | Cath Linney | 46 | 37:22 | Sevenoaks AC | 93.28 |
130 | 117 | Tony Waldron | 48 | 38:01 | Sevenoaks AC | 62.21 |
133 | 118 | Ted Scott | 56 | 38:06 | Sevenoaks AC | 61.89 |
140 | 125 | James Baker | 51 | 38:14 | Sevenoaks AC | 59.61 |
169 | 20 | Annabelle Milne | 36 | 39:10 | Sevenoaks AC | 85.82 |
182 | 158 | Allan McPherson | 29 | 39:40 | Sevenoaks AC | 48.86 |
201 | 171 | Alan Lewis | 49 | 40:54 | Sevenoaks AC | 44.63 |
203 | 173 | Andy Evans | 45 | 40:56 | Sevenoaks AC | 43.97 |
207 | 177 | John Denyer | 67 | 41:01 | Sevenoaks AC | 42.67 |
209 | 179 | Tony Horlock | 55 | 41:03 | Sevenoaks AC | 42.02 |
210 | 180 | Duncan Cochrane | 58 | 41:04 | Sevenoaks AC | 41.69 |
215 | 30 | Sally Mortleman | 50 | 41:18 | Sevenoaks AC | 78.36 |
225 | 193 | Simon Hallpike | 62 | 41:38 | Sevenoaks AC | 37.46 |
233 | 200 | Robert Evans | 41 | 42:10 | Sevenoaks AC | 35.18 |
237 | 34 | Katie Wills | 27 | 42:27 | Sevenoaks AC | 75.37 |
299 | 241 | Lyndon Collins | 65 | 45:21 | Sevenoaks AC | 21.82 |
303 | 59 | Sophie Lamb | 24 | 45:31 | Sevenoaks AC | 56.72 |
309 | 246 | Maurice Marchant | 67 | 45:50 | Sevenoaks AC | 20.20 |
347 | 267 | Lionel Stielow | 67 | 48:25 | Sevenoaks AC | 13.36 |
359 | 84 | Happy Fisher | 39 | 49:25 | Sevenoaks AC | 38.06 |
367 | 89 | Sam Znetyniak | 40 | 50:00 | Sevenoaks AC | 34.33 |
369 | 90 | Becca Smithers | 55 | 50:09 | Sevenoaks AC | 33.58 |
382 | 283 | James Fitzmaurice | 73 | 51:03 | Sevenoaks AC | 8.14 |
389 | 103 | Jenny Austin | 38 | 51:50 | Sevenoaks AC | 23.88 |
404 | 294 | Peter Nuttall | 43 | 53:39 | Sevenoaks AC | 4.56 |
The full results are here.