KFL 2023/24 Match 1

Team

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.

KFL 2023/24 Match 1 - Swanley