Sevenoaks AC athlete James Mason won the Kent Fitness League race in Knole Park on Sunday October 25th, having won the Sevenoaks 7, also in Knole Park, at the end of August, writes Jim Knight.
A total of 461 athletes from 18 clubs throughout Kent lined up for the start of the hilly 9 km race. Conditions were good with fine sunshine and firm ground underfoot.
Mason who led the 40-strong Sevenoaks AC team home, finished the 2 lap course just 2 seconds ahead of his nearest rival.
32-year-old Mason from Otford said: “it was a great race, a tough course and some tough competition. A Dartford athlete led on the first lap. I overtook him on the long hill on lap 2, but was caught by a third runner. I managed to keep with him until the final sprint and overtook him with about 100 metres to go. It was certainly very tough, but I’m delighted with the win.”
Other great Sevenoaks AC performances came from Darrell Smith (a previous winner of the Sevenoaks 7) in 8th place (1st M40) and Joao Braquinho in 10th.
In addition to these 3, the SAC scoring team comprised; Andy Nicol in 26th place, Andrew Mead (M40) in 37th place, Chris Desmond (3rd M50) in 42nd, and Steve Searby (4th M50) in 49th place.
Also running well in their age groups were James Graham, first M60 in a very creditable 62nd overall, and Jim Fitzmaurice 2nd M70.
This was good enough for first for the men’s team.
The women’s team was an excellent fourth despite missing several key runners. There were good performances by Cath Linney (2nd W45) in 8th place, Sally Mortleman in 25th, and Pauline Dalton in 35th place just overtaking Sally Shewell (2nd W55 - 36th) with a late surge.
Overall the combined Sevenoaks AC team finished in first position.
The race was hosted by Sevenoaks AC, but there was a minor panic when Race Director Rob Carr suffered a serious ankle injury whilst competing in a 100-mile race the previous weekend. However, club-mates Andy Ashlee and Duncan Warwick-Champion stepped in to set out the course markers and Rob directed the start & finish on crutches.
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 in the series will be in Swanley Park on Sunday Nov 8th, starting at 11.00.
The SAC results were as follows:
Ov Pos | Lg Pos | Runner | Age | Time | Club | Rating |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | James Mason | 32 | 31:44 | Sevenoaks AC | 100.00 |
8 | 8 | Darrell Smith | 48 | 33:05 | Sevenoaks AC | 97.71 |
10 | 10 | Joao Branguinho | 34 | 33:43 | Sevenoaks AC | 97.06 |
26 | 26 | Andy Nicoll | 35 | 35:34 | Sevenoaks AC | 91.83 |
37 | 35 | Andrew Mead | 46 | 36:21 | Sevenoaks AC | 88.89 |
42 | 40 | Chris Desmond | 52 | 36:38 | Sevenoaks AC | 87.25 |
43 | 41 | Edmund Saunders | 33 | 36:40 | Sevenoaks AC | 86.93 |
47 | 45 | James Beeston | 44 | 37:00 | Sevenoaks AC | 85.62 |
49 | 46 | Stephen Searby | 52 | 37:03 | Sevenoaks AC | 85.29 |
50 | 47 | Lee Lintern | 35 | 37:04 | Sevenoaks AC | 84.97 |
51 | 48 | Joe Parsons | 25 | 37:09 | Sevenoaks AC | 84.64 |
52 | 49 | James Wright | 47 | 37:10 | Sevenoaks AC | 84.31 |
59 | 56 | Andrew Milne | 33 | 37:27 | Sevenoaks AC | 82.03 |
62 | 58 | James Graham | 62 | 37:30 | Sevenoaks AC | 81.37 |
71 | 66 | Daniel Witt | 40 | 38:02 | Sevenoaks AC | 78.76 |
75 | 69 | Keith Brown | 44 | 38:10 | Sevenoaks AC | 77.78 |
89 | 80 | John Stevens | 54 | 38:49 | Sevenoaks AC | 74.18 |
95 | 86 | John O'Callaghan | 31 | 38:58 | Sevenoaks AC | 72.22 |
107 | 97 | James Baker | 50 | 39:34 | Sevenoaks AC | 68.63 |
115 | 105 | Tex Ryan | 25 | 39:43 | Sevenoaks AC | 66.01 |
116 | 8 | Cath Linney | 46 | 39:45 | Sevenoaks AC | 95.33 |
159 | 138 | Andy Evans | 45 | 41:34 | Sevenoaks AC | 55.23 |
163 | 142 | David Lobley | 50 | 41:40 | Sevenoaks AC | 53.92 |
164 | 143 | Andrew Rackham | 42 | 41:44 | Sevenoaks AC | 53.59 |
194 | 25 | Sally Mortleman | 49 | 43:10 | Sevenoaks AC | 84.00 |
204 | 175 | Duncan Cochrane | 58 | 43:19 | Sevenoaks AC | 43.14 |
206 | 177 | Geoff Vine | 68 | 43:26 | Sevenoaks AC | 42.48 |
222 | 187 | Simon Bishop | 51 | 44:06 | Sevenoaks AC | 39.22 |
236 | 35 | Pauline Dalton | 51 | 44:49 | Sevenoaks AC | 77.33 |
238 | 36 | Sarah Shewell | 56 | 44:56 | Sevenoaks AC | 76.67 |
239 | 200 | Simon Hallpike | 62 | 44:56 | Sevenoaks AC | 34.97 |
251 | 41 | Nicki Thompson | 39 | 45:36 | Sevenoaks AC | 73.33 |
275 | 49 | Sophie Lamb | 24 | 46:58 | Sevenoaks AC | 68.00 |
309 | 243 | Lyndon Collins | 65 | 48:14 | Sevenoaks AC | 20.92 |
311 | 65 | Clair Thornton | 40 | 48:16 | Sevenoaks AC | 57.33 |
317 | 247 | Maurice Marchant | 67 | 48:50 | Sevenoaks AC | 19.61 |
331 | 257 | Lionel Stielow | 66 | 49:46 | Sevenoaks AC | 16.34 |
350 | 269 | James Fitzmaurice | 73 | 51:33 | Sevenoaks AC | 12.42 |
362 | 85 | Jenny Austin | 38 | 52:43 | Sevenoaks AC | 44.00 |
406 | 111 | Debbie Mosley | 37 | 57:00 | Sevenoaks AC | 26.67 |
The full results are here.
And three of the above SAC runners were active the previous day at the second Kent League XC match of the season at Somerhill:
93 00:42:52 JAMES GRAHAM S'oaks AC M V60 848
102 00:43:38 DANIEL WITT S'oaks AC M V40 847
105 00:44:03 CHRIS DESMOND S'oaks AC M V50 5270
As in the first match, James Graham was first M60. The full results are here.
The cross-country season has started - at least for our keenest trio of runners who contested the first Kent League match at the new course of Stanhill Farm at Wilmington on Saturday 10th October. James Graham was first M60 and led the other two home in 94th place with 39:40. Dan Witt was just a few strides behind in 39:55 for 98th, with Chris Desmond 111th in 40:51. The full results are here.
A few Sevenoaks AC athletes usually travel down to Ashford to take advantage of a fast course at the Givauden 10k. Jenny Austin, Happy Fisher and Rob Johnson made the trip on Sunday 11 October with Rob finishing 157th in 44:59, Happy 395th in 52:40, and Jenny 487th in 55:47. The full results are here.
And Grace Manzotti provides this brief description of her experience of the Royal Parks Half Marathon on the same day:
"The start of this race was very stressful. Trains were delayed so myself and other runners had to sprint from Victoria Station to Hyde Park, where I queued 30 minutes for the loos and 20 minutes for the bag drop and I missed the green start which was where I was meant and ended up towards the end so started the race stressed out! Having raced Tonbrige half last week with a hip injury I was worried about my hip so decided that my aim was going to be to get round in one piece! And I did with a time of 1h55.05, again not a PB, but on this occasion I wanted to finish in one piece! Glorious sunny morning, very nice course with amazing crowd support. Even though I was struggling towards the end I managed a sprint finish as I saw a man dressed up as Peppa pig with a wonderful costume try to overtake me and I thought, no I am not going to be overtaken by Peppa Pig and sprinted!"
The full results are here.
Darrell Smith was fourth overall as eight Sevenoaks AC runners eschewed the Tonbridge Half and Sittingbourne 10 and sneaked over the county border to contest the Titsey Trail 10k run near Oxted. Despite the terrain, decent times were achieved as the following Sevenoaks AC results demonstrate:
Pos | Time | Num | Forename | Surname | Club | Cat |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
4 | 39:04 | 374 | DARRELL | SMITH | SEVENOAKS AC | M40 |
31 | 43:16 | 214 | JOHN | WALLACE | SEVENOAKS AC | M40 |
53 | 45:58 | 381 | ALISTAIR | WRIGHT | SEVENOAKS AC | SM |
56 | 46:19 | 389 | SIMON | BISHOP | SEVENOAKS AC | M50 |
64 | 46:54 | 350 | STUART | THOMPSON | SEVENOAKS AC | M40 |
74 | 47:38 | 352 | MARC | THATCHER | SEVENOAKS AC | M40 |
80 | 47:53 | 353 | TONY | HORLOCK | SEVENOAKS AC | M50 |
112 | 51:42 | 111 | NICOLA | THOMPSON | SEVENOAKS AC | F35 |
The full results are here.
Sally Shewell was first W55 and John Stevens third M50 as Andy Ashlee led 16 SAC runners home in the Tonbridge Half on 4th October. Grace Manzotti writes:
"I have run all the 5 Tonbridge half marathons, but today due to a hip injury I thought I was not going to be able to run. I woke up saw the beautiful weather and decided I couldn’t miss one of them and headed for the race, just 2 minutes from my house. Beautiful weather, great support at Leigh as usual church bell ringing and lots of people cheering the runners, it seemed the whole village got out for us, beautiful course. Hilly though, but I guess what goes up always comes down…..still the hills on the way back are a killer and my first half of the race was much faster than the second half so need to get stronger. Towards the end I saw a guy who had collapsed and suddenly my hip problem became totally insignificant. My hip was kind of ok till the end. I did finish in 1h53.58 not a PB for me, but did manage a sprint finish. There is always next year for a PB."
The SAC results were as follows:
Pos | Time | Name | Club | Cat | Num | Chip | Grade |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
16 | 01:22:19 | Andrew Ashlee | Sevenoaks AC | Male Vet 40-49 | 1311 | 01:22:15 | 77.65 |
44 | 01:28:45 | John Stevens | Sevenoaks AC | Male Vet 50-59 | 1078 | 01:28:41 | 76.75 |
67 | 01:31:26 | Joe Parsons | Sevenoaks AC | Male Senior | 862 | 01:31:22 | 65.23 |
85 | 01:33:13 | Nick Humphrey-Taylor | Sevenoaks AC | Male Vet 40-49 | 1376 | 01:32:59 | 66.56 |
117 | 01:36:54 | James Baker | Sevenoaks AC | Male Vet 50-59 | 1314 | 01:36:39 | 68.02 |
122 | 01:37:29 | John O'Callaghan | Sevenoaks AC | Male Senior | 832 | 01:37:23 | 61.19 |
123 | 01:37:32 | Heather Fitzmaurice | Sevenoaks AC | Female Vet 45-54 | 1361 | 01:37:23 | 72.83 |
179 | 01:41:41 | Suzy Claridge | Sevenoaks AC | Female Vet 35-44 | 192 | 01:41:09 | 68.69 |
305 | 01:49:53 | Sarah Shewell | Sevenoaks AC | Female Vet 55-64 | 1028 | 01:49:43 | 71.59 |
405 | 01:54:24 | Grazia Manzotti | Sevenoaks AC | Female Vet 45-54 | 717 | 01:53:58 | 62.63 |
421 | 01:55:21 | Clair Thornton | Sevenoaks AC | Female Vet 35-44 | 1131 | 01:54:53 | 59.07 |
492 | 01:58:47 | Simon David Lewis | Sevenoaks AC | Male Vet 50-59 | 683 | 01:58:14 | 58.85 |
654 | 02:07:34 | Maria Ashlee | Sevenoaks AC | Female Vet 35-44 | 26 | 02:06:08 | 55.21 |
687 | 02:09:23 | Anton Mauve | Sevenoaks AC | Male Vet 40-49 | 1400 | 02:07:33 | 50.16 |
718 | 02:11:24 | Sylvia Lewis | Sevenoaks AC | Female Vet 55-64 | 685 | 02:09:45 | 63.85 |
736 | 02:12:23 | Richard Thomas | Sevenoaks AC | Male Vet 50-59 | 1124 | 02:10:41 | 53.28 |
The full results are here.
And in the Kent GP ten mile race at Sittingbourne the same day, Dan Witt was 42nd in 1:07:30 and Chris Desmond 128th in 1:17:38.The full results are here.
Following cancellation of the Maidstone Half, the final race of the GP series will now be the A20 Path and Downs Half on 15th November.