On Sunday 11th
January 2009, twelve Sevenoaks AC members
travelled to Minnis Bay for
the penultimate
match in the 2008/2009 Kent Fitness League Series, writes
Rob Carr.
Minnis Bay is one of many
runner’s
favourite races in the Kent Fitness league, and much of this is down to
the
five “much dreaded” waterlogged and smelly ditches
which have to be
negotiated - often with hilarious results. In past years it has been
difficult
to recognize club mates after they have arrived at the finish line
covered in
mud from head to toe! Unfortunately the fun was spoiled by
the weather this
year as the ditches had frozen over and deemed unsafe. The race however
went
ahead on a slightly altered course in otherwise good conditions, apart
from the
frozen ground and iced-over puddles. There were sections of the course
where I
regretted wearing spikes in favour of ice skates!
As a Sevenoaks AC team we were slightly under strength on
the day. This is mainly due to most of our top XC runners not being
available
due to competing in the Kent
champs the day before.
Despite this there were some exceptional performances - most
notably Rob
Murray who finished the
race in 4th place. Rob is having a fantastic
season and is lying 4th
in the Men’s Division.
Other
individual achievements include:
Chris
Desmond, having
competed in the Kent XC Champs the day before, had a strong run and
finished the
race 15th and was the 1st
placed M40. Chris is now in 9th
place in the Male standings and 2nd in the M40
category.
John
Denyer was the 43rd
male to finish and was the 1st placed M60. John
is 2nd in
the M60 category standings.
Geoff
Vine was the 3rd
placed M60 on the day and is now placed 3rd in
the M60 category.
Heather
Fitzmaurice, was the 5th
female finisher and the 1st placed F35. Heather
is now placed 11th
in the female standings and 6th in the F35
category.
As a team, Sevenoaks AC finished 8th and have
slipped to 6th in the league, with only one race
to go. The last
race of the series on 1 February 2009 is on our home turf of Knole
Park,
so hopefully we will be able to take advantage by entering a team
capable of
improving our league position.
In addition to runners, it would also be appreciated if we could
have as many non-running volunteers as possible to help me with staging
this event!
So if you’re not able to run - come along and help
with marshalling and cheering on your team mates!
Hope to see you
in three weeks time!