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:
| Ov Pos | Lg Pos | Bib | Runner | Age | Time | Club | Score | Rtg | # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 2 | 879 | Allan Lee | 51 | 29:46 | Sevenoaks AC | V50:1 | 99.58 | 17 |
| 4 | 4 | 894 | Jamie Philip | 47 | 30:50 | Sevenoaks AC | V40:1 | 98.75 | 8 |
| 9 | 9 | 1140 | Jake Mears | 20 | 31:59 | Sevenoaks AC | M1 | 96.67 | 4 |
| 15 | 15 | 899 | Edmund Saunders | 42 | 32:33 | Sevenoaks AC | V40:2 | 94.17 | 32 |
| 25 | 25 | 860 | Paul Fanti | 51 | 33:48 | Sevenoaks AC | V50:2 | 90.00 | 7 |
| 30 | 30 | 873 | Steven Hough | 51 | 34:04 | Sevenoaks AC | M2 | 87.92 | 6 |
| 35 | 1 | 1176 | Andrea Berquez | 39 | 34:28 | Sevenoaks AC | V35 | 100.00 | 17 |
| 53 | 49 | 857 | Keith Dowson | 62 | 36:07 | Sevenoaks AC | V60 | 80.00 | 23 |
| 63 | 58 | 890 | Sebastian Naughton | 50 | 37:04 | Sevenoaks AC | M3 | 76.25 | 21 |
| 74 | 67 | 907 | Daniel Witt | 50 | 37:44 | Sevenoaks AC | NS | 72.50 | 78 |
| 75 | 68 | 1175 | Shaun Mullen | 48 | 37:49 | Sevenoaks AC | NS | 72.08 | 14 |
| 83 | 10 | 864 | Nicola Glover | 37 | 38:12 | Sevenoaks AC | F1 | 92.56 | 21 |
| 105 | 14 | 880 | Catherine Linney | 55 | 39:39 | Sevenoaks AC | V55 | 89.26 | 54 |
| 123 | 105 | 884 | Jonathan Marsh | 65 | 40:18 | Sevenoaks AC | NS | 56.67 | 14 |
| 130 | 110 | 847 | Adam Bates | 41 | 40:50 | Sevenoaks AC | NS | 54.58 | 12 |
| 134 | 114 | 878 | Leonard Lai King | 45 | 41:06 | Sevenoaks AC | NS | 52.92 | 21 |
| 139 | 23 | 1078 | Sophie Day | 36 | 41:09 | Sevenoaks AC | F2 | 81.82 | 4 |
| 167 | 29 | 863 | Vanessa Gilmartin | 49 | 42:49 | Sevenoaks AC | V45 | 76.86 | 38 |
| 183 | 38 | 862 | Heather Fitzmaurice | 55 | 43:40 | Sevenoaks AC | NS | 69.42 | 84 |
| 195 | 153 | 906 | Jeremy Winter | 71 | 44:21 | Sevenoaks AC | NS | 36.67 | 15 |
| 277 | 79 | 900 | Sarah Shewell | 65 | 49:51 | Sevenoaks AC | NS | 35.54 | 132 |
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