The fifth race in the Kent Fitness League Cross Country series took place in Meopham on Sunday January 29th, on a 5-mile course around the paddocks and woodlands of Nurstead Court, writes Jim Knight.
Running conditions were good, except for the notorious water-splash, a 10 metre long pond that had ice floating on the surface. The competitors had to negotiate this twice on the two-lap course. Ouch!
With some of our fastest runners busy elsewhere, Sevenoaks AC fielded a slightly depleted team of 24 athletes, but with a strong women's team of 10.
The men's race was won by Ed Bovingdon of Istead & Ifield Harriers, his third win in the series, and the women's race by Hazel Behagg of Dartford Road Runners, who has been unbeaten in the series so far.
Andrew Milne led the SAC team home with his best performance of the season, coming 16th out of the 356 runners.
Chris Desmond had a great run, finishing in 33rd place, a top 5 performance in M50.
63 year-old James Graham had another outstanding run to finish in 57th position, once again the fastest M60 to retain his lead in the series.
There were excellent scoring performances from Dan Witt (36th), James Baker (52nd), Mike McCarthy (60th), Peter Ash (116th) and John Denyer (135th).
In the women's race, Jacqui O'Reilly had a fantastic run in her first KFL race, finishing 9th. The club's other scorers were Heather Fitzmaurice (20th), Pauline Dalton (27th), and Annabelle Milne (38th).
As well as James Graham, other Sevenoaks veterans to do well individually were Jim Fitzmaurice, 1st M70, Sally Shewell, 3rd W55, Pauline Dalton, 3rd W50 and John Denyer, 3rd M65.
Dartford Harriers retained their lead in the series, ahead of Petts Wood Runners and Dartford Road Runners, but the strong performances by the Sevenoaks teams, with both the men and women fourth on the day and the combined team fifth, keeps the club in fourth place in the standings. Separately, the Sevenoaks men are third and the women fourth after five of the seven races.
The Sevenoaks AC results were as follows:
| Ov Pos | Lg Pos | Runner | Age | Time | Club | Rating | # Races |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | 15 | Andrew Milne | 34 | 33:24 | Sevenoaks AC | 94.31 | 10 |
| 33 | 32 | Chris Desmond | 53 | 35:17 | Sevenoaks AC | 87.40 | 77 |
| 36 | 35 | Daniel Witt | 42 | 35:29 | Sevenoaks AC | 86.18 | 38 |
| 52 | 49 | James Baker | 52 | 36:21 | Sevenoaks AC | 80.49 | 14 |
| 57 | 53 | James Graham | 63 | 36:38 | Sevenoaks AC | 78.86 | 16 |
| 60 | 55 | Michael McCarthy | 51 | 36:44 | Sevenoaks AC | 78.05 | 19 |
| 77 | 9 | Jacqui O'Reilly | 32 | 37:49 | Sevenoaks AC | 92.73 | Debut |
| 116 | 97 | Peter Ash | 47 | 39:54 | Sevenoaks AC | 60.98 | 7 |
| 122 | 20 | Heather Fitzmaurice | 47 | 40:13 | Sevenoaks AC | 82.73 | 62 |
| 136 | 111 | John Denyer | 68 | 41:07 | Sevenoaks AC | 55.28 | 43 |
| 148 | 27 | Pauline Dalton | 52 | 41:47 | Sevenoaks AC | 76.36 | 36 |
| 149 | 122 | Duncan Cochrane | 59 | 41:52 | Sevenoaks AC | 50.81 | 23 |
| 150 | 123 | Simon Hallpike | 63 | 41:52 | Sevenoaks AC | 50.41 | 42 |
| 183 | 38 | Annabelle Milne | 37 | 43:20 | Sevenoaks AC | 66.36 | 7 |
| 187 | 39 | Nicki Thompson | 40 | 43:34 | Sevenoaks AC | 65.45 | 18 |
| 191 | 41 | Sarah Shewell | 57 | 43:46 | Sevenoaks AC | 63.64 | 94 |
| 215 | 172 | Lyndon Collins | 67 | 45:19 | Sevenoaks AC | 30.49 | 60 |
| 235 | 53 | Kim Pegg | 34 | 46:25 | Sevenoaks AC | 52.73 | 2 |
| 272 | 65 | Becca Crowe | 56 | 48:35 | Sevenoaks AC | 41.82 | 5 |
| 275 | 66 | Grazia Manzotti | 47 | 48:49 | Sevenoaks AC | 40.91 | 2 |
| 277 | 68 | Happy Fisher | 40 | 49:08 | Sevenoaks AC | 39.09 | 44 |
| 282 | 211 | James Fitzmaurice | 74 | 49:32 | Sevenoaks AC | 14.63 | 59 |
| 309 | 223 | Peter Nuttall | 44 | 52:44 | Sevenoaks AC | 9.76 | 21 |
| 342 | 238 | Maurice Marchant | 68 | 58:31 | Sevenoaks AC | 3.66 | 30 |
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 12 are needed to score in the team competition – 8 men (of whom two must be V50 and one V40) and 4 women (of whom one must be V45 and one V35).
The next race will be on Sunday February 5th in Blean Woods, Rough Common, Canterbury, starting at 11 am.
NB. Some of the statistics in Jim's report above for the Sevenoaks Chronicle have been adjusted in the light of the subsequent official results.