Kent Fitness League – Race 4 – Minnis Bay. Jan 8th 2023.

The cross-country course at Minnis Bay is unique. Runners start at the end of Marine Parade and follow the coastal footpath towards Reculver Towers, writes Jim Knight. After 3 miles, they turn inland, across the fields, over the railway embankment and then they have to jump over five deep mud-filled dykes before returning to the embankment for the final two miles to the finish. The dykes get progressively deeper and wider. The first is jumpable, but the 3rd is virtually impossible to cross without falling into waist-deep mud. A real cross-country course – and this year it was wetter than ever.

25 Sevenoaks AC athletes joined the 474 runners taking part in the race. By the finish their pristine white SAC vests were various shades of grey and brown.

SAC’s Andrea Berquez had an outstanding run to win the women’s race and bring the team home in second place, just behind Canterbury Harriers.

The other scoring members of the SAC  women’s team were Caroline Fenwick (9th), Nicola Glover (15th) and Pauline Dalton  (30th).

After 4 races, the women’s team still leads the series.

In the men’s race, James Mason led the team home with an impressive 5th place overall , with the team in 6th place. The other scoring members were Ed Saunders (16 ), Michael Lockhead (30th), William Palmer (43rd), Andrew Monk (78th), Sebastian Naughton (81st)
Simon Bishop (110th), and Jeremy Winter (164th)

After 4 races, the men’s team is in 5th place, the women 1st, and the combined team 3rd.

The full SAC results were:

The full results are here.

The next race is in Betteshanger Park, Deal on January 15th.

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 12 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 4 women (of whom one must be aged 55+, one 45+ and one 35+).

In the coldest conditions ever in the 35-year history of the current format of the club handicap race, Jane Morgan won the final race of the 2022 handicap series and just pipped Andrew Mead for the series trophy on tiebreak.

Both runners finished with six points but Jane's four scoring races were slightly better attended.

None of the other runners on the day were able to improve their scores sufficiently to contest the top three series placings, so Andrew finishes second and Lucy Wilkes held on to third.

Congratulations to Jane who, faced with the task of winning the final race to take the series trophy, ran her fastest time for five years in very cold conditions to win by ten seconds from Sam Znetyniak.

As night follows day, so the 2023 series will follow the conclusion of the 2022 series, and the first race will be on Sunday 29th January at 08:30 from the track. All are welcome.

The full details are here.

Laura Bestow was 7th W35 and Rebecca Pickard 9th W45 as just five SAC runners contested the county veterans championships at Dartford's Central Park. In the biggest field of the day, Oloff Van Zyl was 10th M50 and Chris Desmond 40th. Track and field specialist Geoff Kitchener was SAC's oldest competitor finishing 12th in the M70s.

The full results are here.

Sevenoaks AC women retained their series lead despite finishing third at the third match of the 2022/23 Kent Fitness League at Oxleas Wood on 20th November.

Bridgit Weekes, Suzy Claridge, Vanessa Gilmartin and Nicola Glover were the scorers in another fine performance by the team.

The SAC men improved to 4th place from fifth at the first two matches with John Stevens, William Palmer, Sean Leith, Ed Saunders, Allan Lee, Javier Montoya Montero, Hugh Brennan and Andrew Hutchinson the scorers. The combined team was fourth.

In all, 40 SAC runners ran, as follows:

In the standings, the women still lead, the men are still fifth and the combined team is now third. The full results are here. The next race in the series is at Allhallows near Rochester on 18th December.