The weather was freezing. The ground was very mixed - in some parts frozen while in otthers very muddy. Paul put in another terrific performance with dad and the other men supporting ably. The women did very well too finishing a very creditable 12th, pushing our overall combined position to 15th. Well done all.
KFL Race Report - Rob Bright
For the first time in 20 years of running this league we had to reschedule an event due to heavy snow before Christmas. So it was a welcome sight to see a cloudless sky and sunshine on the first Sunday of the new year, despite the temperature being around freezing point. A healthy looking field of 350 runners were attracted to the slopes of Shooters Hill and found snow free conditions, plenty of mud and just a little frozen ground.
Two guest runners – James Cotton and Abdi Madar led the field around the 5 ½ mile undulating route , but the race proper shaped up into a battle between Andrew Pickett (Dartford Harriers) and Ben Louch (Dartford Roadrunners). Pickett finished much the stronger and Louch was almost caught on the line by Medway’s Clayton Barrett continuing his rapid recovery from injury to finish 5th with his signature “body surf” across the line.
Simon Hesketh was the leading Larkfield runner in 6th place and the first over 40 male; he was joined by clubmate Ashley Howes in the top 10. Phil Wallace (Medway and Maidstone ) was the leading over 60 runner in 49th place overall, beating the leading over 50 (Steve Clark) who was 55th.
Tina Oldershaw was untroubled in the ladies’ event leading from start to finish to win by over a minute from clubmate Vicky MacGregor. Laura Burton came in shortly after to make it three finishers in the top 5 for Paddock Wood AC. Larkfield had Nicola Groom in third place and the much improved Liz Berns finishing 9th. Dartford Roadrunners also had three girls in amongst the top 10.
The combined team race resulted in a close contest between three clubs – reigning champions Larkfield AC getting the verdict, 10 points clear of Paddock Wood AC with Dartford Roadrunners a further 20 points behind in third place. Larkfield thus maintain a lead of two points at the top of the table ahead of Paddock Wood with three races still to come.
My thanks to all the Plumstead Runners who turned out to put on a really good race in cold conditions. Several runners managed to take a tumble in the mud, but I did not hear of any casualties on the route which had some pretty steep inclines and descents.