The penultimate race of this year’s Kent Fitness League took place in Allhallows Holiday Park near Rochester on Sunday February 8th, writes Jim Knight.
This year’s Kent Fitness League has been hard fought between the leading contenders, Sevenoaks AC, Petts Wood Runners, Thanet Road Runners, Canterbury Harriers, Maidstone & Medway AC, and Paddock Wood AC, with record numbers of competitors. The series comprises 7 gruelling cross-country races starting in Swanley in October, and touring the County with races in Knole Park, Eltham, Minnis Bay, Deal, Allhallows Park, and finishing on Sunday 22nd February in Mote Park Maidstone. The women’s team competition has been particularly close, with Sevenoaks AC (champions in 2020, 21, and 2022) trying to catch last year’s champions, Canterbury Harriers, and stay ahead of Petts Wood Runners.
The weather was absolutely beautiful! A relatively warm day with no wind as the 387 runners set off. The course was as technical as ever – gravel, mud, seaweed and ditches. The new one-lap course now incorporates a slippery hill and the gully has widened and so that runners had to drop into it and climb out via a short ladder. This was fine at the front of the race, but the runners at the rear of the race had to queue for the ladder. There had been many other good improvements though, with the new 200m 'no overtaking zone' between barbed wire fences and padded gates, but it is still one of the toughest courses in the series.
The Sevenoaks team was reduced to 23 runners through injuries to several key runners and the team feared that they might not have enough runners to maintain their 3rd place in the combined rankings. However, they need not have feared. Another outstanding performance from the women’s team saw them score a convincing victory, well ahead of Canterbury Harriers and Thanet Road Runners.
Sevenoaks’ Andrea Berquez ran brilliantly to win the women’s race, closely followed by Caroline Fenwick (5th and 2nd W45), Nicola Glover (7th and 2nd W35), Heather Fitzmaurice (14th and 1st W55), and Anna O’Donovan (17th). Caroline, Nicola and Heather all had their best performances of the series. The women’s team, winners on the day, remain in second place in the series.
The SAC men’s team was also lacking several runners through injury, but once again, Andrew Hutchinson ran well to finish in 23rd place followed by Keith Dowson (37th & 2nd M60), Dan Witt (53rd), Seb Naughton (59th) and Andy Ashlee (78th). The other scoring members of the men’s team were Brian Allen (80th), Andrew Bradley (85th) and Adan Bates (87th). The men’s team came 5th on the day and remain in 5th place in the series.
The combined team came 3rd on the day and remain in 3rd place in the series. Once again there were great performances from some of Sevenoaks’ veteran runners with Neil Colvin 2nd M65, Jeremy Winter 3rd M70 and Sally Shewell 3rd W65. The full SAC results were:
| Ov Pos | Lg Pos | Bib | Runner | Age | Time | Club | Score | Rtg | # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 | 23 | 775 | Andrew Hutchinson | 46 | 38:00 | Sevenoaks AC | V40:1 | 91.27 | 33 |
| 32 | 1 | 1146 | Andrea Berquez | 40 | 38:34 | Sevenoaks AC | V35 | 100.00 | 19 |
| 39 | 37 | 764 | Keith Dowson | 62 | 39:11 | Sevenoaks AC | V60 | 85.71 | 29 |
| 54 | 5 | 768 | Caroline Fenwick | 48 | 41:16 | Sevenoaks AC | V45 | 97.04 | 19 |
| 58 | 7 | 771 | Nicola Glover | 38 | 41:25 | Sevenoaks AC | F1 | 95.56 | 25 |
| 60 | 53 | 801 | Daniel Witt | 51 | 41:38 | Sevenoaks AC | V50:1 | 79.37 | 84 |
| 66 | 59 | 787 | Sebastian Naughton | 51 | 42:10 | Sevenoaks AC | V50:2 | 76.98 | 24 |
| 89 | 78 | 754 | Andrew Ashlee | 56 | 45:02 | Sevenoaks AC | V40:2 | 69.44 | 39 |
| 93 | 80 | 752 | Brian Allen | 54 | 45:16 | Sevenoaks AC | M1 | 68.65 | 17 |
| 98 | 85 | 1103 | Andrew Bradley | 61 | 45:43 | Sevenoaks AC | M2 | 66.67 | 4 |
| 99 | 14 | 769 | Heather Fitzmaurice | 56 | 45:44 | Sevenoaks AC | V55 | 90.37 | 90 |
| 101 | 87 | 757 | Adam Bates | 42 | 46:12 | Sevenoaks AC | M3 | 65.87 | 17 |
| 109 | 95 | 761 | Neil Colvin | 69 | 46:46 | Sevenoaks AC | NS | 62.70 | 5 |
| 121 | 106 | 756 | James Baker | 61 | 47:44 | Sevenoaks AC | NS | 58.33 | 38 |
| 131 | 17 | 789 | Anna O'Donovan | 25 | 48:45 | Sevenoaks AC | F2 | 88.15 | 7 |
| 135 | 117 | 766 | Andrew Evans | 55 | 49:05 | Sevenoaks AC | NS | 53.97 | 65 |
| 176 | 150 | 800 | Jeremy Winter | 72 | 53:49 | Sevenoaks AC | NS | 40.87 | 21 |
| 186 | 29 | 799 | Rosie Williams | 57 | 54:48 | Sevenoaks AC | NS | 79.26 | 5 |
| 190 | 160 | 780 | Leonard Lai King | 46 | 56:09 | Sevenoaks AC | NS | 36.90 | 25 |
| 192 | 161 | 784 | Simon Mann | 45 | 56:30 | Sevenoaks AC | NS | 36.51 | 9 |
| 279 | 69 | 793 | Sarah Shewell | 66 | 1:06:40 | Sevenoaks AC | NS | 49.63 | 138 |
| 283 | 72 | 798 | Jane Wiley | 68 | 1:07:28 | Sevenoaks AC | NS | 47.41 | 4 |
| 355 | 114 | 755 | Maria Ashlee | 54 | 1:22:10 | Sevenoaks AC | NS | 16.30 | 8 |
The full results are here.
“Great credit to all our runners who tackled this tricky and in places treacherous course” said Dan Witt, SAC men’s captain. Caroline Fenwick, SAC ladies’ captain said, “The women's team did exceptionally well. Once again, they all pulled together to bring home the win for SAC. Andrea Berquez ran a fabulous race especially as she has been injured for the last 2 weeks. We were grateful to her to come along and support the ladies. We're hoping to get a strong team together for the final race at Mote Park.”