South of Thames Cross Country Champs 25th Nov 2017
SOUTH OF THE THAMES CCA 5 MILE CHAMPIONSHIPS, BECKENHAM PLACE PARK, 25 NOVEMBER 2017
KENT AC DOMINATE THE TEAM RACES ON THEIR HOME PATCH
On home turf Kent AC men and women showed impressive form in the team races at Beckenham. We may have missed out on an individual winner in the race, but again demonstrated the strength in depth we have as a club. Unlike the longer 7.5 race we helped to stage last year, this race was exclusively run on the old golf course. Not surprisingly, the x-country course, designed by Kent AC legend Dennis Fairbrass, won plaudits from many visitors. It was thought to be a real test for runners and most seemed to enjoy running up and down the challenging former fairways.
In the men’s race Chris Greenwood set off as though he really meant business and took up the running from the gun. At one stage he had quite a substantial lead over his immediate pursuers, Belgrave’s Paskar Owor and our own Jordan Weaver. However, Paskar and Jordan got back in touch. Then for the majority of the race it was the three together, but with Chris looking as though he was still pushing to get away.
Eventually towards the end of the race, Paskar, who has always been noted for his finish, put in a burst which was to prove decisive. However, Jordan put up a determined fight and was only a second adrift to see him finish a close up second. So after doing much of the hard work, Chris was overhauled in the closing stages and ended up third. However, it has to be said it was a very impressive run from him.
Unlike many of our races, this race is just four to score. Our two other scorers in the ‘A’ team were Noah Armitage-Hookes (8th and first under 20) and then in 10th, Tom Mower. I previously commented on how fortunate we are now to have Noah in our ranks, but it was also good to welcome Tom Mower into a scoring team. Tom has some swift times to his name and we were obviously pleased when he joined us. Unfortunately he has had a period out injured and he hasn’t been able to compete for us much. Hopefully he’ll be available for some of the key fixtures next year, as he clearly has the potential to strengthen us as a team.
Our strong ‘B’ team who came in fourth consisted of Neil Phillps (17th), Pete Lighting (19th), Joe Hartley (21st) and Rob Laing (25th). With this essentially being a home fixture it was likely we were going to have a strong presence in the race, but we hadn’t perhaps anticipated how dominant we would be in the team stakes. In the four to score we registered five scoring teams. This was in a race that had 40 teams close in.
As mentioned, our B team was fourth, C Team 6th, D Team 7th, E Team 12th and finally we had an F Team that finished 25th. As well as the four to score, there is an eight to score competition and we were first and second here. And the good thing about this race, unlike many others, is that B teams can score and get rewarded.
Kent AC also dominated in the women’s team race – actually coming first and second in the team race. For the race we welcomed back Amy Clements after a period out injured. Despite quite a lengthy period out, Amy ran strongly and considering her lack of racing did well to be less than ninety seconds down on the women’s winner, international runner Georgie Bruinvels.
Following on from Amy were the two runners who have been doing so well in Amy’s absence in the Surrey League races, Teresa Murphy and Katie Rowland. The two looked to have had quite a battle before Teresa finally won out. Penny Teoh closed in the team. But just like the men, we had so many runners out we were able to close in several teams – in fact we had a total of five four to score teams. So all in all, a tremendously successful day for the club. Let’s hope we can go some way to matching this when we contest the Senior South of the Thames at Aldershot in three weeks’ time.
Results:
1st Pascar Owar Bel 27 39
2nd Jordan Weaver KAC 27 40
3rd Chris Greenwood KAC 27 49
8th Noah Armitage-Hookes KAC 28 32 – 1st U20
10th Tom Mower KAC 28 37
Team: 1st Kent AC 23 pts 2nd Belgrave 29 pts
3rd Tonbridge 64 pts
12th Dave Morgan Guest 29 18
17th Neil Phillips
19th Pete Lighting KAC 29 36
21st Joe Hartley
25th Rob Laing KAC 30 00
Team: 4th Kent AC B 82 pts
27th James Bowler KAC 30 05
28th Phil Sanders KAC 30 17
31st Calum Fraser KAC 30 26
37th Sean Fitzpatrick KAC 30 58
Team: 6th Kent AC C 123 pts
39th Tim Lawrence KAC 31 13
42nd Stuart Beaney KAC 31 25
45th Lee Haze KAC 31 43
46th Chris Minns KAC 31 46
Team: 7th Kent AC D 172 pts
49th Will Pitt KAC
55th Rowan Critchton KAC 32 21
65th Matthew Moroney KAC 32 56
75th Alan Curtis-Garcia KAC 33 35
78th Thomas Thain KAC 33 40
101st Roger Beardsworth KAC 35 05
118th Adrian Dracup KAC 35 40
120th Mick Barlow KAC 35 48
139th Darryl Coulter KAC 37 25
174th Alan Curtis KAC
191 finished and 40 teams finished
Coleman Cup : 8 to score
1st Kent AC 105 pts
2nd Kent AC B 195 pts
3rd Tonbridge 261 pts
Paul Crompton’s Photographs: