Fourteen Athletes signed up for the 2023 Kent Track and Field Champs at Norman Park, Bromley. We had some talented Athletes on show and I was hoping for good performances and lots of pbs, writes Darrell Smith.

Day 1
A great start to the Weekend. A Bronze for Brianna Kuranga in the U15G Shot. Was this the Club's first Throws medal?

Later, Toby Vagg was 7th in the U17M Kent 100m champs. A pb of 11.8 in his Heat and 11.9 in the Final


Day 2
Sophia Stewart was 6th in her 300m Heat in pb of 48.74. Running the distance for the second time she judged her effort well, especially as she was running in the outside lane.

Probably the best performance of the weekend was Holly Diprose's 4th in the U17W 1500m in a Club Record of 4.54.31. This despite a tactical first half and boxed most of the Race.

In the U15G 100m Heats, Sophia Stewart was 6th in her Heat in 14.5 and Liv Mtungwazi 4th in hers in 13.48. Liv progressed to the Semi Final placing 5th in a Pb of 13.26 missing the Final by one spot.

In the 800m U15B Lucky Hayes ran a pb 2.25.44 to place 5th in his Heat and Andrew Simmons was also fifth in his U17M Heat, again in a pb of 2.19.21. Both will be in their same respective age group next summer.

Eliza Nicholson placed 5th at the British Schools (SIAB) Cross Country Championships (U16 Girls) at Sefton Park, Liverpool on 25th March 2023, writes head coach Darrell Smith.

Representing England for the first time, the Sevenoaks AC Athlete held back in the first kilometre of the 4K race but started to catch runners as she neared the finish. Just passing an Irish athlete in the last few strides she secured 5th, part of an England Team victory. The results are here.

Eliza had only been running competitively for 2 years and is part of a successful group of runners who were 2022 Kent Cross Country Champions.

January saw the start of a whole series of Championship events in the UK cross country calendar, writes head coach Darrell Smith.

First, the Southern XC Champs held on 28th Jan at Beckenham Place Park. In the U15Bs, first home was Ryan Alford Smith in 114th. Next Andrew Simmons in 150th and then new addition to the Club, Luke Bridges in 154th. With just 2 of our medal winning U15Gs team from the Kent Champs we did not have a team, but Ella Baker was 37th and Amelie Jones 161st. In the U17W Eliza Nicholson was 4th, a precursor for what was to come later.

Then came the South East Schools XC on 4th Feb in Ardingly. Following her run in the Kent Schools where she placed 8th,Holly Diprose (pictured) had to go to the SE Schools at Ardingly and “get something” to defend her place in the Kent Team for the English Schools XC Champs on March 18th. Holly showed real grit to do just that placing 29th. She now joins Ella Baker (SAC) in the Kent Team for the biggest race of the year. Add to this Eliza’s run at the London Schools we now have 3 competing at the English Schools.

The biggest Club race in England, the National XC Champs in Chester on Feb 25th saw 3 of our most committed runners make the trip. Eliza Nicholson’s 8th place was the standout performance as she continues to improve. A 95th by Holly Diprose and 114th for Ella Baker (coming back from injury) were good runs at this level and good preparation for the last few races of the season. Ryan Alford-Smith ran a well-judged race placing 213th.

In the Regional U11 Sportshall Athletics on 26th Feb, Harper Williams and Nicholas Waldock represented Kent at the above event. Congrats to them on their first Kent vests.

Our 3 top Female Juniors were performing again on March 11th at the UK inter-Counties in Loughborough. Ella Baker improved on her 114th at the National with a 69th in the UK Champs. She seems to be coming back after injury and Holly Diprose fought bravely to come in 198th. Both Girls compete for Kent next week and I believe both will finish on a high.

Finally, just when we thought Eliza Nicholson couldn’t improve on her 8th place run at Nationals she did just that with a 6th place. This despite, by her own admission, having a pretty bad start. In the 50s after 200m she had moved up to 20th by halfway. Then seemed to go into another gear and was in 12th with a mile to go. Moving up to 6th up the final hill to the finish.

Eliza Nicholson (U17) and Ella Baker(U15) won Silver and Bronze at the Kent Cross Country Championships held at Brands Hatch on 7th January 2023, writes head coach Darrell Smith.

In very windy conditions, Ella Baker went straight to the lead and was leading until 300m to go of the 3K course. Passed by 2 runners she held on for Sevenoaks ACs first ever Medal at this level. Ella headed the U15 team which came home second placed Team.

Later in the U17 Women’s Race, Eliza Nicholson ran a measured Race catching the leading group with a kilometre left of the 6K course. Passing two runners in the last 500m she finished 2nd.

Sevenoaks AC also completed teams in the senior women's and under-13 girls categories, in both cases finishing sixth. The full SAC results were as follows:

Senior women
23 819 Caroline Fenwick (W45) SEV 38:01
34 821 Hannah Sangan SEV 39:04
36 820 Rebecca Pickard (W45) SEV 39:22
42 817 Laura Bestow (W35) SEV 39:54
6 Sevenoaks AC 93

u17w
2 296 Eliza Nicholson SEV 23:48

u15g
3 179 Ella Baker SEV 18:02
6 180 Holly Diprose SEV 18:17
15 182 Isabel Morris SEV 19:33
29 181 Amelie Jones SEV 20:52
37 183 Lucy Oberman SEV 21:27
2 Sevenoaks AC 24

u13g
25 39 Lauren Copp SEV 14:47
32 42 Lydia Wilson-Beales SEV 15:49
38 40 Ella Mackay-Bayliss SEV 17:20
6 Sevenoaks AC 95

Senior men
176 622 David Hale (M55) SEV 60:50

u15b
23 239 Aidan Moore SEV 17:20
24 238 Ryan Alford-Smith SEV 17:22

u13b
37 102 James Ross SEV 13:13
67 101 Fraser Reid SEV 15:29

The full results are here.