KFL 2018/19 Match 7, Blean Woods

team with medals

The seventh, and final race of the Kent Fitness League 2018/19 Cross Country series took place at a muddy Blean Woods, Rough Common, Canterbury, on Sunday February 3rd, writes Jim Knight.

Once again, Sevenoaks AC were out in force and the team of 30 seniors and 4 juniors came away with 30 trophies.

After 6 races, the senior team was guaranteed 2nd place behind league champions, Petts Wood, but having won the 6th race in Minnis Bay in January, the Sevenoaks runners were keen to finish with another win.

In the junior race, two laps of the playing fields, SAC athletes Ella Baker, William Hurst and Harvey Taylor performed with distinction. Ella had another excellent win to confirm her place as U13 girls champion. William Hurst received his trophy for 3rd U11 boys in the series, and Harvey Taylor 3rd U17 in the series. Led by head coach, Darrell Smith the SAC juniors are now looking forward to an equally successful summer season in the Kent Young Athletes League of track and field competitions.

Darrell and Juniors

In the senior race, 321 runners tackled the slippery footpaths of Blean Woods to complete the challenging 8 km course.

First home was Jay Smith of Dartford Road Runners, in 29.14 to complete his 6th win in the series and claim his prize as 2018/19 champion.

The fastest SAC runner was Darrell Smith in 10th position (2nd M50). However, with 4 M50 wins from earlier in the series, Darrell becomes 2018/19 M50 champion.

A fine run from Andrew Hutchinson brought him home in 20th position, closely followed by Andrew Milne (26th), Daruis Sarchar (29th), Mike Lochead (35th), Jimmy George (41st), and Dan Witt (49th). The team’s other M50 scorer was James Baker in 66th. This gave the men's team a convincing win over Petts Wood AC (2nd) and Dartford Road Runners (3rd).

In the women's race, Renata McDonnell of Deal Tri Club won in a time of 32.57, to record her third win in the series, but finishes the series in 2nd place behind champion Becky Morrish of Petts Wood AC.

The Sevenoaks team was led home by Vanessa Gilmartin (10th) followed by Cath Linney (11th), Heather Fitzmaurice (21st), and Pauline Dalton (22nd). This gave the women's team 2nd place behind Deal Tri Club, but importantly ahead of Petts Wood AC, in 3rd place.

The combined team had a convincing win on the day, to finish on a high; runners-up in the series but with wins in the final two races. The 30 runners who had completed more than 3 races and attended the final race were awarded with runners-up medals.

In addition to Darrell Smith securing 1st M50 in the series, Bridgit Weekes was 2nd W60, Pauline Dalton 3rd W50 and Heather Fitzmaurice 3rd W45.

Team Captain Dan Witt said "We had a great turnout all season with 65 SAC runners taking part this year and a great team spirit. It shows our strength in depth that we had two wins and 3 second places in the 7 races. I should like to thank all the runners who gave up their Sunday mornings to compete for us."

The SAC senior results were as follows:

Ov Pos	Lg Pos	Runner	Age	Time	Club	Rating	# Races
10	10	Darrell Smith	51	30:54	Sevenoaks AC	96.09	13
20	20	Andrew Hutchinson	39	31:55	Sevenoaks AC	91.74	8
26	26	Andrew Milne	36	32:34	Sevenoaks AC	89.13	22
29	29	Darius Sarshar	49	32:52	Sevenoaks AC	87.83	7
36	35	Mike Lochead	33	33:13	Sevenoaks AC	85.22	7
42	41	Jimmy George	37	33:36	Sevenoaks AC	82.61	8
51	49	Daniel Witt	44	34:12	Sevenoaks AC	79.13	52
69	66	James Baker	54	35:13	Sevenoaks AC	71.74	22
78	74	Jim Harness	51	35:59	Sevenoaks AC	68.26	10
80	76	Simon Truett	44	36:08	Sevenoaks AC	67.39	4
84	79	Jatinder Soomal	36	36:26	Sevenoaks AC	66.09	7
91	85	James Nash	27	36:46	Sevenoaks AC	63.48	3
102	95	Andy Evans	48	37:14	Sevenoaks AC	59.13	44
106	97	Stuart Thompson	44	37:27	Sevenoaks AC	58.26	8
108	99	Graham Dwyer	46	37:37	Sevenoaks AC	57.39	7
114	10	Vanesa Gilmartin	43	37:52	Sevenoaks AC	92.04	11
117	11	Catherine Linney	49	37:59	Sevenoaks AC	91.15	29
143	21	Heather Fitzmaurice	49	39:24	Sevenoaks AC	82.30	77
144	22	Pauline Dalton	54	39:27	Sevenoaks AC	81.42	45
156	132	Toby Fitzmaurice	18	40:08	Sevenoaks AC	43.04	4
186	150	Hugh Shewell	29	41:34	Sevenoaks AC	35.22	21
188	152	Duncan Cochrane	61	41:38	Sevenoaks AC	34.35	31
195	36	Nicki Thompson	42	41:47	Sevenoaks AC	69.03	23
210	167	Duncan Warwick-Champion	54	42:32	Sevenoaks AC	27.83	23
212	43	Sarah Shewell	59	42:35	Sevenoaks AC	62.83	109
239	51	Rhea Malkin	33	44:29	Sevenoaks AC	55.75	6
246	56	Paula George	54	45:02	Sevenoaks AC	51.33	5
249	58	Ella Pyman	52	45:09	Sevenoaks AC	49.56	11
286	204	Lionel Stielow	70	48:25	Sevenoaks AC	11.74	13
335	226	James Fitzmaurice	76	58:01	Sevenoaks AC	2.17	71

Congratulations to the 30 runners on the day and all the runners over the seven matches. The full results are here.