KFL 2023/24 Match 6 - Allhallows

SAC runners at Allhallows

The penultimate race of this year’s Kent Fitness League took place in Allhallows Holiday Park near Rochester on Sunday February 4th.

This year’s Kent Fitness League has been hard fought between the leading contenders, Sevenoaks AC, Petts Wood Runners, Canterbury Harriers, Maidstone & Medway AC, Paddock Wood AC and Dartford Harriers, with record numbers of competitors.

The series comprises 7 gruelling cross-country races starting in Swanley in October, and touring the county with races in Knole Park, Eltham, Minnis Bay, Deal, Allhallows Park, and finishing in 3 weeks’ time in Rough Common on February 25th.

The women’s team competition has been particularly close, with Sevenoaks AC (champions in 2020, 21, and 2022) trying to catch last year’s champions, Canterbury Harriers, and stay ahead of Paddock Wood AC. The Sevenoaks team was reduced to 22 runners through injuries to several key runners and the team feared that they might not have enough women for a full scoring team.

On a wet and windy day the 447 runners set off on 6 mile two-lap course. From the start field, they ran down to the beach for a long technical section along the shoreline where they faced gravel, mud, seaweed and ditches. Then back up to the start field to do it all again.

Once again, Sevenoaks’ Andrea Berquez ran brilliantly to finish in 2nd place, closely followed by Nicola Glover (6th), Caroline Fenwick (9th), and Cath Linney (11th). The club’s top W55 runners were absent through injury, but 63 year old Becca Crowe ran the race of her life, achieving a rating 10 percentage points higher than she had previously achieved in KFL, coming home in 78th position. This pulled the women’s team up by 3 places to 2nd place on the day, and better still, by helping the SAC women to finished above Paddock Wood AC ensures that Sevenoaks women will finish in 2nd place in the league, irrespective of the results of the final race in 3 weeks’ time.

The SAC men’s team was also lacking several runners through injury, but once again, Guillaume Nineven ran well to finish in 17th place. The other scoring members of the men’s team were Stephen Hough (52nd in his debut race), Harvey Taylor (62nd), Seb Naughton (79th), James Baker (84th), David Kilpack (86th ), and Andrew Monk (91st).

The men’s team came 5th on the day and remain in 5th place in the series. The combined team came 5th on the day and remain in 4th place in the series. The full SAC results were as follows:

Ov Pos	Lg Pos	Bib	Runner	Age	Time	Club	Score	Rtg	#
17	17	879	Guillaume Nineven	38	35:24	Sevenoaks AC	M1	94.75	16
50	2	836	Andrea Berquez	38	37:47	Sevenoaks AC	V35	99.30	11
54	52	1083	Steven Hough	50	38:06	Sevenoaks AC	V50:1	83.28	Debut
68	62	893	Harvey Taylor	19	38:59	Sevenoaks AC	M2	80.00	14
73	7	854	Nicola Glover	36	39:18	Sevenoaks AC	F1	95.80	14
87	79	878	Sebastian Naughton	49	40:32	Sevenoaks AC	V40:1	74.43	16
92	84	834	James Baker	59	40:57	Sevenoaks AC	V50:2	72.79	30
93	9	852	Caroline Fenwick	46	40:57	Sevenoaks AC	V45	94.41	11
95	86	859	David Killpack	38	41:05	Sevenoaks AC	M3	72.13	9
101	91	874	Andrew Monk	47	41:44	Sevenoaks AC	V40:2	70.49	10
102	11	865	Catherine Linney	54	41:52	Sevenoaks AC	F2	93.01	48
110	98	871	Michael McCarthy	58	42:24	Sevenoaks AC	NSBLS	68.20	29
111	99	846	Chris Desmond	60	42:27	Sevenoaks AC	V60	67.87	88
121	106	900	Daniel Witt	49	42:49	Sevenoaks AC	NS	65.57	71
139	122	835	Adam Bates	40	43:41	Sevenoaks AC	NS	60.33	6
155	134	831	Brian Allen	52	44:22	Sevenoaks AC	NS	56.39	6
158	137	862	Leonard Lai King	44	44:30	Sevenoaks AC	NS	55.41	16
178	153	868	Jonathan Marsh	64	45:11	Sevenoaks AC	NS	50.16	10
192	164	897	Duncan Warwick-Champion	59	46:05	Sevenoaks AC	NS	46.56	25
199	30	853	Vanessa Gilmartin	48	46:29	Sevenoaks AC	NSBLS	79.72	32
203	173	866	Alan Male	54	46:39	Sevenoaks AC	NS	43.61	8
330	78	843	Becca Crowe	63	54:09	Sevenoaks AC	V55	46.15	16

Andrea, Harvey, Nicola & Guillaume

The full results are here.