James Graham was first M60 at the Givauden Ashford 10k on 9 October 2016, which was also the final Kent Grand Prix race of 2016. After his M60 win the previous weekend at the Tonbridge Half, James finished the series with an almost-perfect 59 points from his six best GP races to retain the title he won last year.

In another repeat performance, Sally Shewell was first W55 at Ashford and will retain her Kent GP second place from 2015 when the final results are consolidated by KCAA.

SAC's top performer in the 2016 GP series, Dan Witt, also ran well on the day and should be well up in the M40 category as well as the overall positions when the Tonbridge and Ashford outcomes are digested.

The Sevenoaks AC results were:

 The full results are here.

And in a massive field of well over 800 at the Petts Wood 10k on the same day, Steve Nicholson was 197th in 48:07 - results here.

James Graham took the M60 Kent Championship at the Tonbridge Half Marathon on Sunday 2nd October in fine conditions. Jacqui O'Reilly was a brilliant sixth in a field of over 360 women and Sally Shewell was W55 runner-up with yet another excellent performance on the roads. Keith Dowson led the nineteen-strong Sevenoaks AC contingent home, narrowly ahead of James Graham.

Tonbridge Half expert Grace Manzotti writes:

"A PB today!! i have done all 6 of them since the first one. I just live 5 minutes from so no excuses! I was really worried about this race as it was my first Half Marathon after getting  an injury last year and I did run this race  last year with an injury, which wasn’t fun and not a good idea at the time. I had not run a half marathon since last October.

"And even though I have been running regularly I felt I hadn’t done enough distance for it. To be honest I was happy to be at the starting line injury free, was good to see all the Sevenoaks AC friends and I started with Lionel and Anna and that helped with my nerves about my hip falling off or something like that!

"It is  a hard course, undulating they call it,  but I think I found the hills slightly easier than  the previous times, maybe it is all the Tuesdays runs in Knole park with the crazy hills there and the handicap races which helped me with the hills.  I enjoyed it especially when I realised I was fine and was going to finish it OK! I enjoyed  going through Leigh,  so much crowd support. The last 4 miles where hard as it is when the hills start again, and the last stretch in Lower Haydsen lasts forever but crossing the finish line was amazing I am still buzzing. Thanks to everybody at Sevenoaks AC for all the encouragement I get all the time!"

The SAC results were:

The full results are here.

Hospice in the Weald 10k, Tunbridge Wells

A few of the club members did the Hospice In The Weald run on Sunday - somewhat hilly 10K, writes Andrew Mead. There were 6 SAC runners in the top 30 and although pretty competitive at the front (winning time just over 35 minutes), there was also a real friends and family atmosphere with over 570 finishing and Dame Kelly Holmes at the start and finish. I ran in memory of my late wife and either the additional emotional energy or the fact that I had no idea how fast I was going (as my Garmin watch lost its GPS signal half way around) led me to do my fastest 10K time in several years. However, of special note perhaps is Daniel Witt and John Stevens who ran the race and then ran home from Tunbridge Wells to Sevenoaks - all as part of their prep for the Athens marathon in November.

The SAC runners were:

7    307    Andrew Mead    00:40:06
13    570    Daniel Witt    00:41:07
15    219    Nick Humphrey-Taylor    00:41:44
16    564    John Stevens    00:41:48
19    548    Chris Desmond    00:42:21
21    569    Anthony Waldon    00:43:11
154    449    Lionel Stielow    00:52:15

The full results are here.

High Weald Half Marathon and 50k

Matthew Walker was sixth in 1:39:34 in the half marathon a little way ahead of Lesley and Jim Knight, 171st and 172nd in 3:20:00. Claiir Thornton and Mike Allen completed the 50k ultra in 69th and 70th in 7:02:55.

The results are here.

Highway 10k

And at the Highway 10k near Orpington, new member John Witton was seventh, Heather Fitzmaurice was 4th woman and first W45, and 74-year-old Jim Fitzmaurice was also in the field, albeit in a rather challenging category!

7      126    John    Witton              M    M Senior        6 M  1-39    40:32
32    133    heather    fitzmaurice      F    F 45 to 54     1 F 45-54    48:26
83    134    james    fitzmaurice        M    M 50 to 59   13 M 50-59   58:03

The full results are here.

Nick Humphrey-Taylor was our only representative at the Kent Coyote Marathon on Sunday 18th September, run over twenty plus laps of the Cyclopark at Gravesend. Nick was 15th overall and 5th M40 with 3:21:25. The results are here.

And some SAC performances from earlier in the month...

Dan Witt writes: "Last Sunday (11/9/16) I was racing again, this time a marathon as sole SAC competitor down in the New Forest.

"Amazingly, considering it's a multi-terrain course, I achieved a PB of 3hrs 12 minutes and in the process managed to attain a London GFA qualifying time for a vet 40 by coming in under 3 and a quarter hours (17th in 3:12:36), assuming MT marathons are eligible!

"Overall there were around 600 finishers in the well organised marathon and 6500 overall including the other events which included a half marathon, 10k and 5k races. All the routes took in some of the most scenic and notable parts of the forest which also includes some forest road sections around Brockenhurst and Sway village."

The results are here.

And Cath Linney was 23rd overall and second woman at the Beckenham Half on 11 September in 95:53 - results here.

Lastly Andrew Milne was 5th overall at the Shoreham Woods 10k on Saturday 3rd September, where Heather Fitzmaurice and Nicki Thompson were 1st and 2nd W40 and Jim Fitzmaurice 3rd M60(!). The SAC results were:

The full results are here.