On a very chilly Saturday in Dartford nine hardy club runners took part in the annual Kent Vets Cross Country Championships. First to race over the 8400 metre course was the Mens Vet 50 team of Stephen Male, Krzysztof Klidzia, Rob Collier, Tristan Bruce and Paul Bartlett. In a very competitive field, Stephen Male finished in a fantastic 3rdplace, followed closely behind by Krzysztof in 6th, then Rob in 13th, Tristan in 17th and Paul in 31st place. The first four finishing positions resulted in the mens team winning their age category and picking up county gold medals for the first time in the clubs recent history with Stephen also picking up an individual bronze!
Next to race were the Folkestone women of Ivana Collier, Louisa Eede and Catherine O’Connor and the clubs sole Vet 70 entrant Grahame Eke. They ran a shorter course of 5200 with Ivana leading the team home strongly in 12thplace followed by Louisa in 28th and Catherine in 43rd. The team finished in 8th place. Grahame finished in 15th place in the Vet 70 competition. A great day’s racing and well done to all of those that took part!
A bitterly cold Saturday night saw the Christmas at the Castle 5k. Several Folkestone runners took part with Kevin Whitby first home for the club in 23:41, 16th overall and 2nd Vet 50. Karla Lardner finished in 23rd place, 3rd woman and 2nd female Vet 40 in 24:28. Anthony Scott was next back in 30th place 26:18 and 7th Male Vet 50. Neil Sutcliffe-Adams finished in 43rd and 7th Male Vet 40 in 28:27 Paul Henwood was 59th overall and 9th Male Vet 40 in 31:25 Jason Crockford finished in 64th in a time of 32:28, 11th Male Vet 50. Julia Henwood came home in 74th place 11th Vet 40 in 36:20 . Congratulations to all!
On Sunday, Phil Maull and Linnaea Stockall took on the very hilly Hurtwood 50km Ultra in the Surrey Hills. They ran the race last year, as first ever ultra for both. It turns out a year’s practice running several 50km and longer races makes a difference, as they both improved on last years’ time. First in was Phil in a time of 5:43:37, a whopping 1hr and 32min faster than last year! Just a few minutes behind was Linnaea in 5:46:25 a 14min improvement on last year, and fast enough to place her 9th lady. Fantastic results.
Closer to home Karla Lardner took part in Thanet 10- and 5-mile Alan Green Memorial Race. She finished in a personal best time for the distance of 1:22:51 for the 10-mile event.
This week’s parkrun results are as follows:
Folkestone: Joe BRUCE 00:16:13 PB Simon RAMSAY 00:18:37 Ian MERRICK 00:18:45 Prakash GURUNG 00:19:17 Nick STEELE 00:19:20 Nicholas BRYANT 00:19:22 Jacob HENWOOD 00:19:37 Nikki GOODWIN 00:21:30 Jody STOAKES 00:21:57 PB Vicky SCOTT 00:22:35 Darren PHILIP 00:23:15 Kevin WHITBY 00:23:17 Anh-Van WHITBY 00:23:45 Darren CREW 00:23:46 Stuart ERSKINE 00:23:47 Jason O’CALLAGHAN 00:23:52 Ron BELL 00:24:16 Alan RANDALL 00:24:29 David BOTTING 00:24:35 Simon COFFEY 00:25:39 Jonathan DRINKWATER 00:25:40 Deirdre COOMBS 00:26:46 Richard DYER 00:26:56 Gary BRAZIER 00:27:04 Diane PARSONS 00:28:11 Malcolm GIBBS 00:28:13 Rebekah NEWTON 00:28:21 Marie BRAZIER 00:28:22 Jane WREN 00:28:24 Julie GIBBS 00:29:40 Sylwia TOKARSKA 00:31:33 Margaret WHITHAM 00:33:00 Kate LANCEFIELD 00:36:55 Catherine-Anne CURTIS 00:36:56
Mote Park: Henry AXON 00:17:52 Amy OWEN 00:30:17
Dicot: Thomas MURRAY 00:23:31
Whitstable: Karla LARNDER 00:23:13 Will JARVIS 00:27:41