Fifteen runners from Sevenoaks AC had a busy weekend, with ten contesting the Kent County 10 kilometre Grand Prix race at Whitstable and another five competing in the Ted Pepper Memorial 10 kilometre race at West Wickham.

Chief of Sevenoaks’ high achievers at Whitstable was Chris Desmond, who won the men’s over-45 category running all the way at sub six-minute-mile pace for a time of 37:02. Adding to the club’s success on the day, the Sevenoaks women, with an all-veteran line-up, were third in the women’s team race. Only just back from injury, Carol Beadle led the way with 45:16, and she was ably backed up by excellent performances from Sally Shewell (46:01) and Debbie Munton (48:59).

The Sevenoaks  men  were led home at the sharp end by David Ives in a superb 5th place overall in 35:04, and there were also notable performances from Erik Folkesson and Andrew Rackham who were barely separable in 43:43 and 43:45 respectively. Peter Dillon (57:39), Peter Ash (58:05), and Simon Lewis (64:54) also ran well for the club.
Full results HERE. Photos HERE.

The race at West Wickham also doubled as the Southern Counties Veterans AC championship and, not to be completely outdone by their clubmates at Whitstable, the five-man Sevenoaks team at West Wickham were also able to claim a win on the day. In a team with a combined age of 296, the oldest member, Jim Fitzmaurice, triumphed in the M65 Category of the Southern Counties Veterans championship race. Fitzmaurice displayed his legendary endurance with a fine run in scorching heat for a time of 49:40.

John Denyer was the first Sevenoaks finisher in 42:05, just ahead of Lyndon Collins in 42:15, with Simon Hallpike (45:17) and Geoff Kitchener (47:11) also in the running
Full results HERE. 

With many of the club’s members involved in the organisation of the Sevenoaks Seven race, the next competitive outing for most of Sevenoaks AC’s distance runners is likely to be the next Kent Grand Prix event: the Larkfield 10k on Sunday 18 May.