SAC at KFL 2025/26 Match 2 Oxleas Woods

pic of Team

The second race in the Kent Fitness League 2026/26 season took place in Eltham on Sunday Nov 23rd, writes Jim Knight. 558 runners from 18 Kent Athletics Clubs, including a team of 30 from Sevenoaks, tackled the hilly course through Oxleas Woods in cold but clear and sunny conditions. The Sevenoaks team was missing some key runners through illness and injury but still produced some great performances with the women’s team placing 2nd and the men 5th.

Hannah Sangan led the women’s team home in 10th position, followed by women’s captain, Caroline Fenwick in 15th (2nd W45) and Pippa Whewell in 20th. The other scoring team members were Sophie Day (26th) and Heather Fitzmaurice (28th). Having won this race last year, the team Sevenoaks was narrowly beaten into 2nd by a strong team from Canterbury Harriers. There were great performances by some of the club’s older runners with Jane Wiley 1st and Sally Shewell 3rd in W65.

In the men’s race, Guillaume Nineven ran well to finish 10th with Andrew Hutchinson (43rd), Keith Dowson (47th and 2nd M60) and Harvey Taylor (67th). This was an impressive performance from 61-year-old Keith Dowson who won a bronze medal in the Kent County Masters Cross Country Championships the day before.

The other members of the scoring team were Dan Chaplin (84th), Club Captain, Dan Witt (90th), Shaun Mullen (94th), and Seb Naughton (116th).
There was another great performance from Jeremy Winter who placed 3rd in M70.

Sevenoaks AC men were 5th – a slightly disappointing result after their win in 2024, but after 2 races the men are lying 4th, the women 2nd and the combined team 2nd. An encouraging start to the season.

Men’s team captain Dan Witt said; “Considering that our two fastest runners from Swanley didn’t score (Liam McLauchlin retired injured and Jake Mears was unavailable) the men's team put in a very credible performance with Gui Nineven almost in the top 10, Keith Dowson running brilliantly after his Kent Championships medal the day before, and club treasurer, Dan Chaplin, having a very strong debut.

Women’s team captain, Caroline Fenwick added; 'It was a perfect day for XC. Heavy rain early in the morning cleared for blue skies, which meant mud underfoot and sunshine overhead. The slippery paths were challenging at times and a couple of people around me took tumbles. The SAC Ladies' team did exceptionally well. The 10 ladies who raced put in a determined effort and together they helped bring the team home in 2nd place with a special mention to Hannah Sangan for an excellent performance.'

The full SAC results were:

Ov Pos	Lg Pos	Bib	Runner	Age	Time	Club	Score	Rtg	#
12	12	788	Guillaume Nineven	40	31:55	Sevenoaks AC	V40:1	97.10	21
45	43	775	Andrew Hutchinson	46	34:25	Sevenoaks AC	V40:2	88.92	29
48	46	764	Keith Dowson	62	34:30	Sevenoaks AC	V60	88.13	25
75	67	795	Harvey Taylor	21	35:58	Sevenoaks AC	M1	82.59	19
93	10	1066	Hannah Sangan	31	36:36	Sevenoaks AC	F1	94.97	9
95	84	760	Daniel Chaplin	42	36:37	Sevenoaks AC	M2	78.10	Debut
103	90	801	Daniel Witt	50	37:09	Sevenoaks AC	V50:1	76.52	80
107	94	1065	Shaun Mullen	49	37:19	Sevenoaks AC	M3	75.46	16
115	101	763	Christopher Dick	34	37:31	Sevenoaks AC	NSBLS	73.61	2
116	15	768	Caroline Fenwick	48	37:33	Sevenoaks AC	V45	92.18	15
135	116	787	Sebastian Naughton	51	38:24	Sevenoaks AC	V50:2	69.66	22
141	20	1036	Pippa Whewell	26	38:39	Sevenoaks AC	F2	89.39	2
145	124	752	Brian Allen	53	38:52	Sevenoaks AC	NS	67.55	13
152	131	757	Adam Bates	42	39:19	Sevenoaks AC	NS	65.70	14
153	132	761	Neil Colvin	69	39:19	Sevenoaks AC	NS	65.44	2
162	139	1074	Yon Marsh	65	39:40	Sevenoaks AC	NS	63.59	16
166	143	772	Rob Hadden	57	39:52	Sevenoaks AC	NS	62.53	5
171	148	756	James Baker	61	40:09	Sevenoaks AC	NS	61.21	35
178	26	762	Sophie Day	37	40:23	Sevenoaks AC	V35	86.03	6
187	28	769	Heather Fitzmaurice	56	40:35	Sevenoaks AC	V55	84.92	86
200	169	5143	Andrew Bradley	61	40:58	Sevenoaks AC	NS	55.67	Debut
207	173	754	Andrew Ashlee	56	41:22	Sevenoaks AC	NS	54.62	35
228	38	789	Anna O'Donovan	25	42:02	Sevenoaks AC	NS	79.33	5
296	243	766	Andrew Evans	55	45:18	Sevenoaks AC	NS	36.15	62
311	253	800	Jeremy Winter	71	45:44	Sevenoaks AC	NS	33.51	17
333	66	792	Sarah Philpott	47	46:34	Sevenoaks AC	NS	63.69	9
340	72	5152	Clare Ambrose	57	46:57	Sevenoaks AC	NS	60.34	6
383	92	798	Jane Wiley	67	48:49	Sevenoaks AC	NS	49.16	2
412	106	793	Sarah Shewell	66	50:19	Sevenoaks AC	NS	41.34	134
498	353	776	Achin Joshi	38	55:59	Sevenoaks AC	NS	7.12	Debut

The full results are here.

pic of race with Gui prominent

The next race in the series will take place in Knole Park, Sevenoaks, on December 1st when SAC will have the difficult task of organising the race and also fielding a strong team of runners. The race starts at 9 am.

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+).