A bare minimum in terms of mens and ladies teams this time out. Still some excellent performances with BVAC runners certainly spurring each other on. Chris just pipped son, Paul, while Phil won the tight finish between himself Adrian and Jim. Anne, Chris and Val did a sterling job for the ladies, particularly since Val stopped to help a friend and then accompanied her most of the way home.
Watch the video of the watersplash: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpatH_Lth9E
KFL Race Report - Rob Bright
Paddock Wood go marching on ! Another convincing team performance, despite the absence of James Ridger, has put them 5 points clear at the top of the table and it will take a major upset for them now to lose the Championship from the remaining three races. Only Larkfield AC remain in touch, but with three key runners missing on Sunday, they had to settle for second place on a crisp, sunny morning at Nurstead Court.
Nearly 300 runners set off around the undulating 5.3 mile course. At the halfway point, six runners were closely grouped together at the front of the field with previous champion Allan Lee and vets champion Mike Baron prominent. On the second lap, Lee started to show the form which earned him the championship title back in 2001 and eased ahead to cross the line in 33.39, nearly a minute clear of the field. Regular guest runner Mark Penny hung on in second with veteran Mike Baron crossing the line in third place.
Stuart Nicholson had his best ever run to finish 4th for Swanley while Paddock Woodwere led in by their newly crowned Kent o50 champion Mick Martin who finished 9th. Larkfield AC had 3 finishers in the top 20 – SteveThrossell was best placed in 5th with Chris Neale and Iain Morris some 10 places further back. Leading o60 finisher was Bromley’s Chris Marshall in 67th place, also a Kent Champion in that age group.
The ladies’ race was more of a procession than the mens’ race. Annabelle Stearns has won every race held at her home ground since we brought the league there in 2003. On this occasion, a close tussle was expected with Tina Oldershaw who had beaten her in the Vets Championship the previous weekend. However Annabelle ran out the stronger on this occasion and crossed the finish line in 27th place overall, some 50 seconds clear of Tina to maintain her unbeaten record at Nurstead. Nicola Susans was the third placed finisher on this occasion. Janet Cobby (5th) and Sue James (8th) were by far the best in their respective age categories of over 45 and over 55.
So thanks once again to all the competitors who turned up on Sunday, also to the marshals and officials supplied by Gravesend Roadrunners who put on an excellent race in superb surroundings. They were required to break the ice on the watersplash early in the morning to make it navigable, but there were still some icebergs lurking under the surface as the runners passed through ! Senior runners have another opportunity to sample a variation of this course in February when the Kent League has its final fixture there – the men run 10K and the women 5K.