Warm spring like conditions on a bone hard course greeted the runners in the opening race of the season but it was business as usual for 2hr 19min marathon man John Gilbert as he recorded his 6th successive win in the league.

A group of three set of together with two Walton runners on John’s tail but after a mile the Kent AC man pushed on and steadily pulled away, eventually winning by well over a minute despite only just coming off his break. As one of the Walton men dropped back through the field another Kent AC man, new recruit to the sport Chris Greenwood, worked his way up to Walton’s John Hamblin and then pulled away with a mile to go securing a superb 2nd place.

Our best ever turnout in the league of 20 runners showed what a great job Team Manager Rich Munn has done and another solid run from him saw him come home in 6th place. Another real improver Dan Hale also had his best ever XC run as he tore through the field on the second lap eventually coming in 16th.

Stuart Beaney had to really hang on as he struggled to overcome his virus coming home in 21st place but he at least held off rocket man Rawlston Morian who took 5 runners in the last 200m ! Our debutant Jack Wilson (29th) also showed that he has real potential once he gets more training done with U20 David Pelackas (32nd), Luke Armitage (37th) and U20 Theo Hadlow (45th) making a welcome return to racing in Kent AC colours completing our scoring 10 runners.

In the Young Athletes race Said Gabo showed what a real talent he is as he comfortably won the U15 race despite only being 2 weeks into a new training regime that should really bring him on. Another massive talent Josh Hall had a good return to racing after time out from the sport as he came home in 4th place in a high class U17 race - again we expect to see big improvements as he is now training seriously. Coupled with the fact that we had 6 U20’s racing in the Senior race bodes well for the future.

Already it looks like Kent AC will gain their 3rd successive promotion and will be joined next year by Reigate Priory who pushed us close on the day so we will have to ensure good turnouts for the rest of the season if we are to win the league this year. Both clubs were well clear of the other 7 clubs in the team competition as Kent AC won by just 27 points to maintain their unbeaten run.