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.

The third race in the 2023/24 Kent Fitness League series took place in Knole Park on Sunday November 26th, writes Jim Knight.

In cold and frosty conditions, a team of 15 organisers from the club set up the course markings very early in the morning and were joined by a further 15 marshals who would guide the 500 runners from the town car park to the start on Broad Walk and around the hilly 5-mile course. 

Conditions for the runners were excellent – clear and bright, with the ground hard from the frost. It was a cold morning for the marshals, though.

At 9 am the race started, and 27 minutes 52 seconds later, 21-year-old Alexander Donnelly from Maidstone & Medway AC crossed the line to win the race by 7 second from Robert Jakaman from Dartford Harriers.

James Mason, once again, led the Sevenoaks AC team home in 7th position (and 1st M40), followed by Jamie Philip (13th and 2nd M40), Guilaume Nineven (34th) and Ed Saunders (37th). The other members of the scoring team were William Palmer (60th and 1st M50), Darius Sarchar (75th and 2nd M50), Harvey Taylor (80th), and Chris Desmond (116th and 1st M60)

The men’s team came 3rd, behind Maidstone & Medway (1st) and Petts Wood (2nd)

In the women’s race, Andrea Berquez had another brilliant run to finish in 2nd place, behind the winner - Charlotte Johnson of Maidstone & Medway. She was closely followed by team-mates Joanna Rodda (8th and 1st W45), and Caroline Fenwick (9th.and 2nd W45). The other scoring runners were Nicola Glover (21st) and Pauline Dalton (57th and 1st W55).

The women’s team came 3rd, behind strong teams from Paddock Wood AC (1st) and Canterbury Harriers (2nd)

In the combined team competition, Sevenoaks AC were 2nd and are now lying 2nd in the series.

The SAC results were:

The full results are here.

It was a great effort by everyone in the club, especially Race Director Richard Thomas who, after 5 years as Race Director for this Kent Fitness League event and also the Sevenoaks 7 is retiring from the role. A big thank-you to Richard and his team of 30 marshals and officials, and the 47 Sevenoaks AC runners who competed for the club.

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 one must be aged 60+, two must be 50+ and two 40+) and 5 women (of whom one must be aged 55+ one 45+ and one 35+). 
The next race in the series will be in Minnis Bay, Birchington on January 7th 2024.