Mostly in freezing fog, Nicolene Hanekom was the women's winner of the Dartford Half Marathon and the incorporated Kent Long Course Road Race Championship at Central Park, Dartford on 2nd March. Of course, Nicolene was also first W45.

Keith Dowson was also a Kent champion, finishing first M60, while adding to the defence of his Kent GP M60 title after a win at the Deal Half and second place in the Canterbury 10.

Three other SAC runners contested the championships, with Chris Desmond 11th M60, and Simon Hallpike (2nd M70) and Sam Znetyniak (9th W45) just a stride apart further back down the field. The full SAC results were:

The full results are here.

The final race in the Kent Fitness League 24/25 series took place at Blean Woods, Rough Common near Canterbury on Sunday Feb 23rd with 361 runners taking part, writes Jim Knight.

Only twenty-one Sevenoaks AC runners made the journey, but it was a powerful team, and they all excelled on the day. The men’s team scored a historic victory over Petts Wood (who fielded a team of 45 runners), the women’s team were narrowly beaten into second place by Canterbury Harriers and the combined team secured their third win in the series.

After 6 gruelling races over the 4-month season, Sevenoaks are runners-up in the men’s competition, the women’s competition, and the combined team competition. It was so close - just one point separating Sevenoaks from Petts Wood, the winners of the combined team series and Sevenoaks women just 2 points behind Canterbury Harriers, winners of the women’s series.

Outstanding individual performances gave Sevenoaks 4 series champions: -

Andrea Berquez – Overall Women’s champion and W35 champion.
Sally Shewell – W65 champion
Jamie Philip – M45 champion
Keith Dowson – M60 champion

Dan Witt receives the trophy for the most improved runner in the series. A worthy winner as he has recently undergone cancer treatment.

Other outstanding SAC achievements in the series were: -
Nicola Glover – 3rd W35
Jo Rodda – 3rd W45
Cath Linney – 3rd W55
Paul Fanti – 4th M50
Steven Hough – 6th M50
Jeremy Winter – 2nd M70

In the final race, the men’s team was led home by 51-year-old Allan Lee in 2nd place, Jamie Philip in 4th place (1st M45), and Jake Mears in 9th place,  followed by Ed Saunders (15th & 4th M40), Paul Fanti (25th & 3rd M50), Steven Hough (30th  & 4th M50), Keith Dowson (49th & 1st M60), and Seb Naughton (58th). In the women’s race, Andrea Berquez scored an impressive fifth win in the series, with Nicola Glover (10th), Cath Linney (14th & 3rd W55), Sophie Day (23rd) and Vanessa Gilmartin (29th).

The full SAC results were:

The full results are here.

Kent Fitness league is one of the highlights of SAC’s season, thanks to the energetic team captains, Nicola Glover (standing in for the injured Caroline Fenwick) and Dan Witt, the active team supporters and the home-made cookies at the finish. 

Dan Witt said, “It’s the sort of day that makes you proud to be a part of this amazing club. The men’s team beat Petts Wood to win the final race. In addition to all those mentioned above, I should like to commend Ed Saunders who has performed well throughout the series, Jake Mears for several top 10 performances in his first season, Steven Hough in his first season, and finally the incredible Andrea Berquez for 5 wins in 5 races.” Caroline Fenwick added, “Huge congratulations to the strong SAC ladies team this year. All who ran provided a great contribution to the fantastic end result and helped SAC to the podium. Well done!”

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+).

If non-members are interested in taking part, there is a reduced SAC membership rate for the KFL season only. No requirement to train with the team, you can join and race with us and gain excellent winter race training. Many triathlon club members run KFL with us. Summer road runners or runners wanting to start competing may find it useful and enjoyable. Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Sam Znetyniak won the second race of the 2025 handicap series and was fastest woman in cold and wet conditions.

Chris Desmond was second and ran the fastest time of the day.

No handicaps were beaten by a small field, although Sam was only a few seconds shy after stopping to assist a fallen runner.

The next race is on Sunday 16th March at 08:30 from the track.

The details are here.

The penultimate race of this year’s Kent Fitness League took place in Allhallows Holiday Park near Rochester on Sunday February 2nd, writes Jim Knight.

Allhalows is one of the toughest courses in the 7-race series - nearly 6 miles long with sections on sand and seaweed, in mud, over ditches and with slippery wooden sections in-between. Several runners fell on the slippery surfaces, and everyone found it a really gruelling course.  

26 Sevenoaks AC athletes were amongst the 443 runners who took part in cold but bright and sunny conditions.

Once again, Sevenoaks’ Andrea Berquez ran brilliantly to win the women’s race and, after 4 wins confirms her place as women’s series champion. She was closely followed in Allhallows by Nicola glover (6th and 3rd F35), with Jo Rodda (11th and 2nd F45), Cath Linney (18thand 1st F55), and Sophie Day (21st) as the other members of the scoring team.

The women’s team were beaten into second place by a strong team from Canterbury Harriers who have just ousted Sevenoaks from the top of the leaderboard in the series.

In the men’s race Sevenoaks had one of their best races of the season, coming 2nd behind a very strong team from Petts Wood. Jamie Philip had another outstanding run to place 5th (1st M45), with Jake Mears (15th), Ed Saunders (21st), Steven Hough (27th), Michael Lochead (44th), Andrew Hutchinson (46th), Keith Dowson (61st and 1st M60), and Paul Shelley (64th). Jeremy Winter had another good run to place 2nd M70.

The Sevenoaks AC results were:

The full results are here.

Petts Wood’s win ensures that they will win the men’s series, but the women’s series and the combined team positions will be decided following the final race in Rough Common, Canterbury on February 23rd.

In the combined team competition, Sevenoaks are just one point behind Petts Wood and in the women’s competition, Sevenoaks are just one point behind Canterbury Harriers. To win the series, Sevenoaks women need to beat Canterbury in the final race and the combined team needs to finish ahead of Petts Wood. It all depends on fielding a strong fit team for the final show-down.