A team of 20 runners from Sevenoaks Athletics Club braved the elements to run in the 4th race of the KFL series, in Minnis Bay, Birchington on Sunday January 7th, writes Jim Knight.
It was wet, windy and very cold, but despite the weather 473 runners from across Kent took part in the race. Following the recent heavy rain, the course was modified as some of the dykes were judged to be too dangerous to cross, but it was still a tough 5 mile course with waist deep water in some of the dykes.
The SAC team was missing several star runners, but still performed really well, with the women’s team coming 2nd and the men 6th. The combined team came 5th.
Joanna Rodda led the SAC women’s team home in 5th place, closely followed by Nicola Glover (6th) and Cath Linney (16th). The other scoring members of the SAC women’s team were Sarah Philpott (36th) and Pauline Dalton (50th ).
In the men’s race, Sevenoaks’ fastest runner was Ed Saunders in 19th place, followed by Guillaume Nineven (21st) and Andrew Hutchinson (23rd). The other scoring members were Seb Naughton (77th), James Baker (105th), Andy Ashlee (93rd), Mike McCarthy (98th) and Simon Bishop (166th).
The full SAC results were:
| Ov Pos | Lg Pos | Bib | Runner | Age | Time | Club | Score | Rtg | # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 | 19 | 887 | Edmund Saunders | 41 | 39:48 | Sevenoaks AC | V40:1 | 94.12 | 25 |
| 21 | 21 | 879 | Guillaume Nineven | 38 | 40:00 | Sevenoaks AC | M1 | 93.46 | 14 |
| 23 | 23 | 858 | Andrew Hutchinson | 44 | 40:16 | Sevenoaks AC | V40:2 | 92.81 | 22 |
| 78 | 5 | 1022 | Joanne Rodda | 47 | 44:23 | Sevenoaks AC | V45 | 97.60 | 3 |
| 80 | 6 | 854 | Nicola Glover | 36 | 44:26 | Sevenoaks AC | V35 | 97.01 | 12 |
| 83 | 77 | 878 | Sebastian Naughton | 49 | 44:36 | Sevenoaks AC | M2 | 75.16 | 14 |
| 103 | 93 | 832 | Andrew Ashlee | 54 | 46:31 | Sevenoaks AC | V50:1 | 69.93 | 31 |
| 109 | 98 | 871 | Michael McCarthy | 58 | 46:48 | Sevenoaks AC | V50:2 | 68.30 | 27 |
| 119 | 105 | 834 | James Baker | 59 | 47:39 | Sevenoaks AC | M3 | 66.01 | 28 |
| 120 | 106 | 859 | David Killpack | 38 | 47:43 | Sevenoaks AC | NSBLS | 65.69 | 7 |
| 127 | 16 | 865 | Catherine Linney | 54 | 47:54 | Sevenoaks AC | F1 | 91.02 | 46 |
| 139 | 118 | 831 | Brian Allen | 52 | 48:35 | Sevenoaks AC | NSBLS | 61.76 | 4 |
| 142 | 121 | 850 | Andrew Evans | 53 | 48:40 | Sevenoaks AC | NSBLS | 60.78 | 56 |
| 144 | 122 | 835 | Adam Bates | 40 | 48:43 | Sevenoaks AC | NSBLS | 60.46 | 4 |
| 152 | 129 | 874 | Andrew Monk | 47 | 49:03 | Sevenoaks AC | NSBLS | 58.17 | 8 |
| 160 | 135 | 862 | Leonard Lai King | 44 | 49:37 | Sevenoaks AC | NSBLS | 56.21 | 14 |
| 201 | 166 | 837 | Simon Bishop | 60 | 51:41 | Sevenoaks AC | V60 | 46.08 | 8 |
| 202 | 36 | 883 | Sarah Philpott | 45 | 51:44 | Sevenoaks AC | F2 | 79.04 | 4 |
| 246 | 50 | 844 | Pauline Dalton | 59 | 53:45 | Sevenoaks AC | V55 | 70.66 | 62 |
| 272 | 211 | 897 | Duncan Warwick-Champion | 59 | 54:54 | Sevenoaks AC | NS | 31.37 | 24 |
| 291 | 66 | 853 | Vanessa Gilmartin | 48 | 56:22 | Sevenoaks AC | NS | 61.08 | 31 |
| 356 | 99 | 843 | Becca Crowe | 63 | 1:00:59 | Sevenoaks AC | NS | 41.32 | 14 |
| 421 | 135 | 889 | Sarah Shewell | 64 | 1:08:17 | Sevenoaks AC | NS | 19.76 | 127 |
| 450 | 150 | 1076 | Maria Ashlee | 52 | 1:17:32 | Sevenoaks AC | NS | 10.78 | 4 |
After 4 races, the men’s team is in 4th place, the women 2nd, and the combined team 3rd.
The next race is in Betteshanger Park, Deal on January 14th.
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 one must be aged 60+, two must be 50+ and two 40+) and 4 women (of whom one must be aged 55+, one 45+ and one 35+).
As heralded by Jim Knight in SAC Update No.180
, SAC legend Richard Pitcairn Knowles - 91 later this month - completed his 500th parkrun at Tonbridge on 2nd December.
This is how RunABC reported the event.
For Richard's views on retiring from running, and his over-80 challenges for the rest of us, please see this article here.
Nicola Glover won the final handicap race of the 2023 series, just ahead of Andrew Mead, ensuring Jim Knight remained on top of the series table to win the trophy by one point from David Hale.
David was fastest on the day in fifth place, just behind Caroline Fenwick who was the fastest woman.
In third place, Sam Znetyniak drew level with Lucy Wilkes on points for third in the series but narrowly missed out on the minor placing on tiebreak.
With the 2023 series settled, the 2024 version begins on Sunday 28th January with a five-miler from the track starting at 08:30.
All the details are here.
Allan Lee won M50 gold and Joanne Rodda W45 silver at the Kent Masters Cross Country Championships in Central Park, Dartford on 2nd December.
Other SAC runners were Caroline Fenwick, 4th W45, Chris Desmond, 35th M60 and M70s Simon Hallpike and Geoffrey Kitchener 8th and 11th.
The full results are here.