Joe Parsons led a big contingent of SAC runners in the PW half on Sunday 30 March (photo courtesy of Sevenoaks Chronicle). The SAC results (with the usual caveat that Sports Systems gradings are incorrect) were as follows (click blue article title above if chip time not visible):

Full results are here.

Tony Horlock won the March handicap by nearly two minutes. Details here.

The Sevenoaks Seven returned to its traditional HQ at the Sevenoaks Rugby Club for the 2014 event on 31 August at 10:30.

The full results of the 2014 race are here.

For the home club, Chris Desmond was first SAC runner home in 12th place (2nd M50) in 44:46. Cath Linney was our first woman in 38th (1st W35) in 49:18, just ahead of Heather Fitzmaurice, 43rd (2nd W35) in 49:29. Apart from Cath, the other SAC prizewinner was Sally Shewell, 1st W55 in 60:12. The SAC results were:

Pos-

ition

Bib-

No.

Finish

Time

Chip

Time

Name

Gen-

der

Cat-

egory

Club

Rank

Sevenoaks AC pipped at the post

Since last October eighteen teams from across the County have been contesting the Kent Fitness League  - a series of 7 gruelling cross Country races with 10 runners to score in each race.

After 6 races, Sevenoaks AC were in the lead  - just ahead of Dartford Harriers. Everything hinged on the 7th race, held last Sunday, March 16th.

Thirty-seven Sevenoaks AC runners travelled to Swanley for the race, which was held in glorious sunny conditions around the picturesque Swanley Park.

We knew that Dartford would field a strong team and that some of our top runners  - David Lee and David Ives - couldn't be there.

The Dartford team set off fast in a big group, but gradually our top runners, Allan Lee and Mike Fanning began to break through.

Allan Lee had a great run to finish second in 28.33, beaten only by Chris Wyles of New Eltham joggers who recorded an impressive 5th win of the series.

Then came the first of the Dartford runners, Andrew Pickett in 3rd, closely followed by three other Dartford runners in 5th, 6th, and 7th.

With a massive sprint finish, Mike Fanning came in 10th, and our other scorers not far behind - Andy Nicoll in 16th, Andy Ashlee in 23rd, Ben Bridges in 30th and Andrew Linney in 33rd,

It looks as though Dartford would win. However it wasn't over yet.
Each men's team must have one over-50 runner and Sevenoaks' Chris Desmond and John Stevens were well ahead of Dartford's leading M50.  John eventually beat Chris by one place to be our M50 scorer in 50th place, with Dartford's M50 in 99th place.

In the women's race Sevenoaks and Dartford were also head-to-head. Clare Reeves of Dartford was the winner in 32.22 mins followed by her team-mate 14 year old Chloe Sharp.
For Sevenoaks, Cath Linney came 4th, Heather Fitzmaurice 7th and Pauline Dalton 11th. With Dartford's 3rd runner placing 21st, Sevenoaks won the women's race.

Adding up all the points from the scoring runners, Dartford won the men's race with Sevenoaks 2nd. Sevenoaks won the women's race with Dartford 2nd.

In the series, it couldn't have been closer. With the best 6 races to count for the series, Dartford won by 104 points to 103.

However Sevenoaks AC can be very proud to be runners-up in such a tough competition. In each race the club has fielded between 30 and 40 runners – an impressive turnout for a small club – and has performed consistently well, placing in the top 3 combined teams in every race.

There have also been some outstanding individual performances: -

Chris Desmond  - M50 champion
Jim Fitzmaurice  - M70 champion
Heather Fitzmaurice – W40 - runner up

This is the club's best performance ever in the Kent fitness League.

Thanks go to Geoff Vine and Happy Fisher, our club cross-country captains for inspiring the team and to everyone who ran for the club.

The next task will be to beat Dartford in the 2014/15 season, which starts in October.


Jim Knight

The SAC results were:

Ov Pos

Lg Pos

Runner

Age

Time

Club

Rating

The full results are here.