Sally Shewell was first W55 and John Stevens third M50 as Andy Ashlee led 16 SAC runners home in the Tonbridge Half on 4th October. Grace Manzotti writes:
"I have run all the 5 Tonbridge half marathons, but today due to a hip injury I thought I was not going to be able to run. I woke up saw the beautiful weather and decided I couldn’t miss one of them and headed for the race, just 2 minutes from my house. Beautiful weather, great support at Leigh as usual church bell ringing and lots of people cheering the runners, it seemed the whole village got out for us, beautiful course. Hilly though, but I guess what goes up always comes down…..still the hills on the way back are a killer and my first half of the race was much faster than the second half so need to get stronger. Towards the end I saw a guy who had collapsed and suddenly my hip problem became totally insignificant. My hip was kind of ok till the end. I did finish in 1h53.58 not a PB for me, but did manage a sprint finish. There is always next year for a PB."
The SAC results were as follows:
| Pos | Time | Name | Club | Cat | Num | Chip | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | 01:22:19 | Andrew Ashlee | Sevenoaks AC | Male Vet 40-49 | 1311 | 01:22:15 | 77.65 |
| 44 | 01:28:45 | John Stevens | Sevenoaks AC | Male Vet 50-59 | 1078 | 01:28:41 | 76.75 |
| 67 | 01:31:26 | Joe Parsons | Sevenoaks AC | Male Senior | 862 | 01:31:22 | 65.23 |
| 85 | 01:33:13 | Nick Humphrey-Taylor | Sevenoaks AC | Male Vet 40-49 | 1376 | 01:32:59 | 66.56 |
| 117 | 01:36:54 | James Baker | Sevenoaks AC | Male Vet 50-59 | 1314 | 01:36:39 | 68.02 |
| 122 | 01:37:29 | John O'Callaghan | Sevenoaks AC | Male Senior | 832 | 01:37:23 | 61.19 |
| 123 | 01:37:32 | Heather Fitzmaurice | Sevenoaks AC | Female Vet 45-54 | 1361 | 01:37:23 | 72.83 |
| 179 | 01:41:41 | Suzy Claridge | Sevenoaks AC | Female Vet 35-44 | 192 | 01:41:09 | 68.69 |
| 305 | 01:49:53 | Sarah Shewell | Sevenoaks AC | Female Vet 55-64 | 1028 | 01:49:43 | 71.59 |
| 405 | 01:54:24 | Grazia Manzotti | Sevenoaks AC | Female Vet 45-54 | 717 | 01:53:58 | 62.63 |
| 421 | 01:55:21 | Clair Thornton | Sevenoaks AC | Female Vet 35-44 | 1131 | 01:54:53 | 59.07 |
| 492 | 01:58:47 | Simon David Lewis | Sevenoaks AC | Male Vet 50-59 | 683 | 01:58:14 | 58.85 |
| 654 | 02:07:34 | Maria Ashlee | Sevenoaks AC | Female Vet 35-44 | 26 | 02:06:08 | 55.21 |
| 687 | 02:09:23 | Anton Mauve | Sevenoaks AC | Male Vet 40-49 | 1400 | 02:07:33 | 50.16 |
| 718 | 02:11:24 | Sylvia Lewis | Sevenoaks AC | Female Vet 55-64 | 685 | 02:09:45 | 63.85 |
| 736 | 02:12:23 | Richard Thomas | Sevenoaks AC | Male Vet 50-59 | 1124 | 02:10:41 | 53.28 |
The full results are here.
And in the Kent GP ten mile race at Sittingbourne the same day, Dan Witt was 42nd in 1:07:30 and Chris Desmond 128th in 1:17:38.The full results are here.
Following cancellation of the Maidstone Half, the final race of the GP series will now be the A20 Path and Downs Half on 15th November.
James Graham contested the Folkestone Half on 27th September, from which he reports as follows: "I ran the Folkestone half marathon yesterday on a gloriously sunny but very breezy day. The route is a mainly flat out and back between Folkestone and Hythe along the sea wall, with great views of the English Channel as far as France. The outward leg was fast as it was ‘wind assisted’ but the pay back was on the return leg which was a real grind, only to be compounded by a steep climb back to the top of the Leas up the Road of Remembrance. Not a road that I will forget in a hurry.
I came 15th overall and managed to win the M60 in a PB time of 1:27:31."
The full results are here.
Jim and Heather Fitzmaurice were also busy at the weekend, running the famous Half at Barns Green. Jim says: "...won silver medal at barns green heather was 4 th 1 40." Their results were:
| 188 | 1:40:04 | Heather Fitzmaurice | Sevenoaks AC | Vet Ladies 45-49 | 1272 | 1:39:03 | 70.99 |
| 661 | 2:02:06 | James Fitzmaurice | Sevenoaks AC | Vet Men 70+ | 1273 | 2:01:05 | 67.96 |
The full results are here.
Four Sevenoaks AC runners tackled the Eridge 10 on 13th September, including Dan Witt, who reported: "As you'd expect from this race it was really muddy and wet challenge, a good warm up for the upcoming XC season. With the added bonus of a pint of Larkins 3.4% abv as a reward for all finishers!"
Dan was 29th in 01:20:55, followed by Clair Thornton 244th in 01:46:18, Jane Morgan 246th in 01:46:28, and Simon Lewis 295th in 01:54:15. The full results are here.
Sam Znetyniak won the September handicap and now leads the series. The details are here.