Sevenoaks AC

Looking for a friendly local running club? We welcome runners of all ages and abilities, more here.

For Young Athletes (9 – 17 years of age - please note there is currently a waiting list) learn more here.
(Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with any junior membership queries)

We offer training sessions weekdays and at weekends, more here.

Try our three free sessions offer with no obligation to join, good value annual membership subscription includes all training sessions, more here.

SAC at KFL 2025/26 Match 7 Mote Park

423 runners from the 18 registered cross-country Clubs in Kent arrived for an early morning start in Mote Park for the final race in the 2025/26 season, writes Jim Knight.

It was an emotional start with a one-minute applause for Sevenoaks AC athlete Pauline Dalton who passed away on Thursday February 12th at the age of 61. Pauline was one of the club’s star athletes – a 5 times winner of her class in the Kent Fitness League. As captain of the SAC women’s team, she led the team to league victories in 2019-20, 2021-22 and twice more to runner's up positions.

She will be sadly missed by all her friends in Kent Fitness League, and in Sevenoaks AC.

After weeks of rain, the park was super-muddy. It was a day for Walsh studs or Mudclaws. Runners with road shoes or light trail shoes skated and slithered around the course. At 9 am we started, but after about 2km a marshal misdirected the leaders. Some followed them and some took the correct route. The organisers stopped the race and we all went back to the start for a re-start.
 
Despite the course being slightly shortened for the second start, it was a long tiring route through the incessant mud. There were tired legs and muddy bodies by the time we reached the finish.

The race was won by 25-year-old James Rolls from Dartford Harriers, 15 seconds ahead of Kieran O’Doherty of Petts Wood Runners. With several of the SAC men missing through illness and injury, it was, once again the SAC women who excelled. 

Women’s team captain Caroline Fenwick placed 7th (2nd W45), Nicola Glover 10th (2nd W35-39) and Sophie Day 15th (3rd W35-39). The other members of the scoring team were Heather Fitzmaurice in 22nd (2nd W55) and Anna O’Donovan (28th). Sally Shewell ran well again to come 3rd in W65. The women’s team came 2nd and secured runner’s up position in the series. Another outstanding performance from a team heavily out-numbered by some of the bigger clubs.

In the 7-race series, Caroline Fenwick was 2nd W45, Nicola Glover 3rd W35–39, Sophie Day 4th W35–39, Heather Fitzmaurice 3rd W55, Jane Wiley was 2nd W65 and Sally Shewell 3rd W65.

In the men’s race, the fastest SAC athlete was Andrew Hutchinson in 28th place just 4 minutes adrift of the leader, followed by Dan Witt in 38th, Seb Naughton in 51st and Brian Allen (66th). The other members of the scoring team were Yon Marsh (75th), Graham Dwyer (84th), Adam Bates (87th) and Andrew Bradley(98th). Once again there were some fine performances from our vets, with Jeremy Winter 3rd M70 and Yon Marsh 3rd M65.

In the series, Keith Dowson was placed 2nd M60, Neil Colvin 3rd M65, and Jeremy Winter 3rd M70. On the day, the men’s team came 8th but remained 5th in the series. The combined team remained in 3rd place in the series.

The full SAC results were:

Ov Pos	Lg Pos	Bib	Runner	Age	Time	Club	Score	Rtg	#
28	28	775	Andrew Hutchinson	46	34:39	Sevenoaks AC	V40:1	89.96	34
40	38	801	Daniel Witt	51	36:06	Sevenoaks AC	V50:1	86.25	85
57	7	768	Caroline Fenwick	48	37:17	Sevenoaks AC	V45	96.13	20
58	51	787	Sebastian Naughton	51	37:21	Sevenoaks AC	V50:2	81.41	25
68	10	771	Nicola Glover	38	38:27	Sevenoaks AC	V35	94.19	26
78	66	752	Brian Allen	54	39:14	Sevenoaks AC	V40:2	75.84	18
88	15	762	Sophie Day	37	39:45	Sevenoaks AC	F1	90.97	10
91	75	1074	Yon Marsh	66	39:57	Sevenoaks AC	V60	72.49	17
103	84	1035	Graham Dwyer	53	40:35	Sevenoaks AC	M1	69.14	27
106	87	757	Adam Bates	42	40:40	Sevenoaks AC	M2	68.03	18
112	22	769	Heather Fitzmaurice	56	41:00	Sevenoaks AC	V55	86.45	91
121	98	1103	Andrew Bradley	61	41:37	Sevenoaks AC	M3	63.94	5
142	118	754	Andrew Ashlee	56	42:32	Sevenoaks AC	NS	56.51	40
161	135	780	Leonard Lai King	46	43:41	Sevenoaks AC	NS	50.19	26
166	28	789	Anna O'Donovan	25	44:01	Sevenoaks AC	F2	82.58	8
191	156	800	Jeremy Winter	72	45:46	Sevenoaks AC	NS	42.38	22
194	159	774	Simon Hallpike	72	46:02	Sevenoaks AC	NS	41.26	65
204	168	784	Simon Mann	45	46:26	Sevenoaks AC	NS	37.92	10
249	60	793	Sarah Shewell	66	49:16	Sevenoaks AC	NS	61.94	139
260	66	798	Jane Wiley	68	49:50	Sevenoaks AC	NS	58.06	5
281	76	5152	Clare Ambrose	57	51:24	Sevenoaks AC	NS	51.61	7
282	77	792	Sarah Philpott	47	51:26	Sevenoaks AC	NS	50.97	13
317	231	778	Jim Knight	74	54:06	Sevenoaks AC	NS	14.50	9
377	122	755	Maria Ashlee	54	1:02:49	Sevenoaks AC	NS	21.94	9
390	263	1149	James Graham	72	1:05:23	Sevenoaks AC	NS	2.60	27
423	268	770	James Fitzmaurice	83	1:20:00	Sevenoaks AC	NS	0.74	74

The full results are here.

At the end of the race, SAC runners were greeted with a veritable feast of cakes – a club tradition – as members vied for the coveted “silver whisk” for the best cakes at the finish. A great reward for a long hard slog through the mud.

Dan Witt, men’s team captain said “Today was a poignant day to remember Pauline and we all raced in her memory. We also marked the occasion with a fantastic array of cakes that Caroline will have the unenviable task of judging the best. My vote goes to Duncan's famous brownies! Congratulations to the women's team retaining their "perennial runner's up" prize and to everyone who took part in any or all of the races and a massive thank you to everyone who helped organise our race in Knole.”
 
Caroline Fenwick, women’s team captain added “Today the team came together to remember and celebrate our wonderful team captain Pauline; her warmth, supportive nature, positive mindset and team spirit will be greatly missed by all. The ladies enjoyed their final race of the season, their excellent effort and performance throughout the season resulting in 2nd place.”

SAC at KFL 2025/26 Match 6 Allhallows

The penultimate race of this year’s Kent Fitness League took place in Allhallows Holiday Park near Rochester on Sunday February 8th, writes Jim Knight.

This year’s Kent Fitness League has been hard fought between the leading contenders, Sevenoaks AC, Petts Wood Runners, Thanet Road Runners, Canterbury Harriers, Maidstone & Medway AC, and Paddock Wood AC, with record numbers of competitors. The series comprises 7 gruelling cross-country races starting in Swanley in October, and touring the County with races in Knole Park, Eltham, Minnis Bay, Deal, Allhallows Park, and finishing on Sunday 22nd February in Mote Park Maidstone. The women’s team competition has been particularly close, with Sevenoaks AC (champions in 2020, 21, and 2022) trying to catch last year’s champions, Canterbury Harriers, and stay ahead of Petts Wood Runners.

The weather was absolutely beautiful! A relatively warm day with no wind as the 387 runners set off. The course was as technical as ever – gravel, mud, seaweed and ditches. The new one-lap course now incorporates a slippery hill and the gully has widened and so that runners had to drop into it and climb out via a short ladder. This was fine at the front of the race, but the runners at the rear of the race had to queue for the ladder. There had been many other good improvements though, with the new 200m 'no overtaking zone' between barbed wire fences and padded gates, but it is still one of the toughest courses in the series.

The Sevenoaks team was reduced to 23 runners through injuries to several key runners and the team feared that they might not have enough runners to maintain their 3rd place in the combined rankings. However, they need not have feared. Another outstanding performance from the women’s team saw them score a convincing victory, well ahead of Canterbury Harriers and Thanet Road Runners.

Sevenoaks’ Andrea Berquez ran brilliantly to win the women’s race, closely followed by Caroline Fenwick (5th and 2nd W45), Nicola Glover (7th and 2nd W35), Heather Fitzmaurice (14th and 1st W55), and Anna O’Donovan (17th). Caroline, Nicola and Heather all had their best performances of the series. The women’s team, winners on the day, remain in second place in the series.

The SAC men’s team was also lacking several runners through injury, but once again, Andrew Hutchinson ran well to finish in 23rd place followed by Keith Dowson (37th & 2nd M60), Dan Witt (53rd), Seb Naughton (59th) and Andy Ashlee (78th). The other scoring members of the men’s team were Brian Allen (80th), Andrew Bradley (85th) and Adan Bates (87th). The men’s team came 5th on the day and remain in 5th place in the series. 

The combined team came 3rd on the day and remain in 3rd place in the series. Once again there were great performances from some of Sevenoaks’ veteran runners with Neil Colvin 2nd M65, Jeremy Winter 3rd M70 and Sally Shewell 3rd W65. The full SAC results were:

Ov Pos	Lg Pos	Bib	Runner	Age	Time	Club	Score	Rtg	#
23	23	775	Andrew Hutchinson	46	38:00	Sevenoaks AC	V40:1	91.27	33
32	1	1146	Andrea Berquez	40	38:34	Sevenoaks AC	V35	100.00	19
39	37	764	Keith Dowson	62	39:11	Sevenoaks AC	V60	85.71	29
54	5	768	Caroline Fenwick	48	41:16	Sevenoaks AC	V45	97.04	19
58	7	771	Nicola Glover	38	41:25	Sevenoaks AC	F1	95.56	25
60	53	801	Daniel Witt	51	41:38	Sevenoaks AC	V50:1	79.37	84
66	59	787	Sebastian Naughton	51	42:10	Sevenoaks AC	V50:2	76.98	24
89	78	754	Andrew Ashlee	56	45:02	Sevenoaks AC	V40:2	69.44	39
93	80	752	Brian Allen	54	45:16	Sevenoaks AC	M1	68.65	17
98	85	1103	Andrew Bradley	61	45:43	Sevenoaks AC	M2	66.67	4
99	14	769	Heather Fitzmaurice	56	45:44	Sevenoaks AC	V55	90.37	90
101	87	757	Adam Bates	42	46:12	Sevenoaks AC	M3	65.87	17
109	95	761	Neil Colvin	69	46:46	Sevenoaks AC	NS	62.70	5
121	106	756	James Baker	61	47:44	Sevenoaks AC	NS	58.33	38
131	17	789	Anna O'Donovan	25	48:45	Sevenoaks AC	F2	88.15	7
135	117	766	Andrew Evans	55	49:05	Sevenoaks AC	NS	53.97	65
176	150	800	Jeremy Winter	72	53:49	Sevenoaks AC	NS	40.87	21
186	29	799	Rosie Williams	57	54:48	Sevenoaks AC	NS	79.26	5
190	160	780	Leonard Lai King	46	56:09	Sevenoaks AC	NS	36.90	25
192	161	784	Simon Mann	45	56:30	Sevenoaks AC	NS	36.51	9
279	69	793	Sarah Shewell	66	1:06:40	Sevenoaks AC	NS	49.63	138
283	72	798	Jane Wiley	68	1:07:28	Sevenoaks AC	NS	47.41	4
355	114	755	Maria Ashlee	54	1:22:10	Sevenoaks AC	NS	16.30	8

The full results are here.

“Great credit to all our runners who tackled this tricky and in places treacherous course” said Dan Witt, SAC men’s captain. Caroline Fenwick, SAC ladies’ captain said, “The women's team did exceptionally well. Once again, they all pulled together to bring home the win for SAC. Andrea Berquez ran a fabulous race especially as she has been injured for the last 2 weeks. We were grateful to her to come along and support the ladies. We're hoping to get a strong team together for the final race at Mote Park.”

SAC at KFL 2025/26 Match 5 Betteshanger Country Park

The 5th race in the 2025 / 26 Kent Fitness League series took place in Betteshanger Park, Deal on Sunday January 11th, writes Jim Knight. 447 runners, including 25 who had made the long journey from Sevenoaks, raced on the 5-mile course involving two laps of the perimeter of the Country Park. The course is flat and fast, favouring road and track runners although with some technical areas with short steep descents/ascents, narrow paths which caused a few bottlenecks and plenty of tree roots to navigate. It was considerably more muddy than last week’s race and still bitterly cold.  

The Sevenoaks team was missing several key members through injury and prior commitments, but the women’s team performed brilliantly again to secure second place behind a strong team from Canterbury Harriers. Sevenoaks’ Andrea Berquez ran exceptionally well to win the women’s race by 16 seconds from Dartford Harriers’ Kiera Pingo. She was followed by Caroline Fenwick (10th & 1st W45), Hannah Sangan (12th), Sophie Day (20th & 3rd W35), and Heather Fitzmaurice (30th & 2nd W55). 

In the men’s race, the Sevenoaks team was weakened by the absence of some key runners but still secured 5th place. The team was led home by Andrew Hutchinson (23rd), closely followed by Keith Dowson (49th & 2nd M60), Christopher Dick (52nd), Dan Chaplin (56th), and Dan Witt (68th). The other scoring members of the team were Andy Ashlee (97th), Seb Naughton (107th), and Adam Bates (124th).

Once again, there were great performances by our older runners, with Sally Shewell 3rd W65 and Jeremy Winter 2nd M70.

The full SAC results were:

Ov Pos	Lg Pos	Bib	Runner	Age	Time	Club	Score	Rtg	#
23	23	775	Andrew Hutchinson	46	33:54	Sevenoaks AC	V40:1	92.33	32
31	1	1140	Andrea Berquez	40	34:32	Sevenoaks AC	V35	100.00	18
49	46	764	Keith Dowson	62	35:37	Sevenoaks AC	V60	84.32	28
52	49	763	Christopher Dick	34	35:41	Sevenoaks AC	M1	83.28	5
56	53	760	Daniel Chaplin	43	35:50	Sevenoaks AC	V40:2	81.88	3
68	62	801	Daniel Witt	50	36:54	Sevenoaks AC	V50:1	78.75	83
81	10	768	Caroline Fenwick	48	37:31	Sevenoaks AC	V45	94.38	18
89	12	1066	Hannah Sangan	31	38:02	Sevenoaks AC	F1	93.12	11
97	83	754	Andrew Ashlee	56	38:30	Sevenoaks AC	V50:2	71.43	38
107	90	787	Sebastian Naughton	51	39:13	Sevenoaks AC	M2	68.99	23
124	105	757	Adam Bates	42	40:14	Sevenoaks AC	M3	63.76	16
125	106	752	Brian Allen	54	40:21	Sevenoaks AC	NS	63.41	16
128	20	762	Sophie Day	37	40:26	Sevenoaks AC	F2	88.12	9
137	117	761	Neil Colvin	69	40:51	Sevenoaks AC	NS	59.58	4
142	120	1103	Andrew Bradley	61	41:03	Sevenoaks AC	NS	58.54	3
149	127	756	James Baker	61	41:19	Sevenoaks AC	NS	56.10	37
166	30	769	Heather Fitzmaurice	56	41:51	Sevenoaks AC	V55	81.88	89
167	137	777	David Killpack	40	42:06	Sevenoaks AC	NS	52.61	18
210	170	766	Andrew Evans	55	44:34	Sevenoaks AC	NS	41.11	64
243	192	780	Leonard Lai King	46	46:19	Sevenoaks AC	NS	33.45	24
248	54	792	Sarah Philpott	47	46:35	Sevenoaks AC	NS	66.88	12
249	195	784	Simon Mann	45	46:37	Sevenoaks AC	NS	32.40	8
260	202	800	Jeremy Winter	72	47:28	Sevenoaks AC	NS	29.97	20
348	98	793	Sarah Shewell	66	53:20	Sevenoaks AC	NS	39.38	137
404	133	755	Maria Ashlee	54	1:00:28	Sevenoaks AC	NS	17.50	7

The full results are here.

Women’s team Captain, Caroline Fenwick said 'On Friday it was looking like we might not have a women's team, and so a big thank you to all the ladies who came together to make the trip to Betteshanger. Andrea Berquez stepped in at the last minute to help, she then led a great battle with Kiera Pingo from Dartford Harriers to take the win, giving the results a great boost. Sophie Day took a tumble but carried on to come in the top 20. A special thank you to Maria Ashlee for her support with the team.'

Men’s team captain, Dan Witt said “Obviously the women's team performance eclipses the men's but I would just say that all the runners making the journey to get to Deal all put in a bit extra to try to make up for our lack in numbers. Andrew Hutchinson ran really well to lead the team home with one of his strongest runs in many years, despite being in marathon training mode, having completed a half marathon run only the day before.

The women’s team is still in 2nd place in the series behind Canterbury Harriers. The men’s team placed 6th on the day but remain in 5th place in the series. The combined team is now in 3rd place, only 2 points behind Thanet Road Runners. If all the team can be fit for the remaining two races, it should be possible to overtake Thanet and secure 2nd place. The runners now have a 4-week rest before the 6th race in the series in AllHallows near Rochester on February 8th.

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+).