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SAC team at Minnis Bay

Mason beats Sutton over the Dykes

The sixth race in the Kent Fitness League Cross Country series took place in Minnis Bay on Sunday January 10th, over a very challenging and muddy 6-mile course along the seafront towards Reculver Towers and back through deep water-filled dykes, writes Jim Knight.

Sevenoaks AC athlete James Mason had a brilliant run to win by 20 metres from Thanet Road Runner's Noel Sutton.James Mason

Mason summed up the race; "The first half was flat and fast and I had difficulty keeping up. In fact at halfway I was lying 3rd, about 70 metres behind Sutton. However it was much tougher on the second half, jumping over the dykes. At one dyke, the marshal said "this one's a bit deep", and next thing I knew I was chest deep in cold water. But Sutton was having even more trouble and I finished that section only about 10 metres behind him. With the finish in sight I sprinted and fortunately he had nothing left as I stormed past"

This was Mason's 3rd win in the series, to draw level with Sutton. Each has 3 wins and two 2nd places in the series. The individual championship will be settled at the next, and final, race of the series on Feb 7th in Rough Common, Canterbury.

Despite injuries to several of the club's top runners, Sevenoaks AC managed to field a team of 22 athletes who made the long journey to Minnis Bay.

There were excellent scoring performances from Andy Ashlee (20th), Joe Parsons (30th), Andrew Milne (34th), and Edmund Saunders (37th). In the absence of Chris Desmond, Stephen Searby and James Graham with injuries, the M50 scorers were John Stevens who ran well to come 62nd and Duncan Cochrane in 179th. Other great performances came from Dan Witt (47th) and Tony Waldron (63rd).

Cath LinneyOnce again Cath Linney led the women's team home with an excellent run to finish in 4th place (1st W45). The club's other scorers were Annabelle Milne in 19th and Sally Mortleman in 27th.

Both Dartford Harriers and Dartford Road Runners were out in force, but the strong performances by the Sevenoaks team keeps the club in 3rd position in the series, still ahead of Canterbury Harriers despite their second place on the day. In detail, SAC women were fifth and the men and combined team fourth in the match, leaving the men and women both fourth in the series but the combined team third.

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 10 are needed to score in the team competition – 7 men (of whom two must be V50 and one V40) and 3 women (of whom one must be V45 and one V35).

The next race, the final match in the series, will be on Sunday Feb 7th in Blean Woods, Rough Common, Canterbury, starting at 11 am.

The SAC results were as follows:

Ov PosLg PosRunnerAgeTimeClubRating
1 1 James Mason 32 36:14 Sevenoaks AC 100.00
20 20 Andy Ashlee 46 41:05 Sevenoaks AC 92.64
30 30 Joe Parsons 25 41:55 Sevenoaks AC 88.76
34 34 Andrew Milne 33 42:17 Sevenoaks AC 87.21
37 37 Edmund Saunders 33 42:30 Sevenoaks AC 86.05
47 46 Daniel Witt 40 43:19 Sevenoaks AC 82.56
62 60 John Stevens 54 44:44 Sevenoaks AC 77.13
63 61 Tony Waldron 48 44:47 Sevenoaks AC 76.74
77 75 Tex Ryan 25 45:36 Sevenoaks AC 71.32
85 4 Cath Linney 46 46:16 Sevenoaks AC 97.39
90 84 Allan McPherson 29 46:34 Sevenoaks AC 67.83
116 101 Stuart Thompson 41 47:36 Sevenoaks AC 61.24
135 119 Mike Allen 48 48:31 Sevenoaks AC 54.26
145 19 Annabelle Milne 36 49:25 Sevenoaks AC 84.35
146 127 Andy Evans 45 49:35 Sevenoaks AC 51.16
170 27 Sally Mortleman 50 50:28 Sevenoaks AC 77.39
179 150 Duncan Cochrane 58 50:45 Sevenoaks AC 42.25
211 180 Geoff Vine 68 52:43 Sevenoaks AC 30.62
215 32 Sarah Shewell 56 53:16 Sevenoaks AC 73.04
257 49 Clair Thornton 40 56:37 Sevenoaks AC 58.26
285 61 Happy Fisher 39 58:29 Sevenoaks AC 47.83
323 238 James Fitzmaurice 73 1:02:33 Sevenoaks AC 8.14

The full results are here.

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