Author: Sarah Kenyon

The 2^nd race in the Kent Cross Country League was run over a tough, hilly, 8 km course at Somerhill School, Tonbridge.  Medway & Maidstone AC were out in force again with 18 runners, although there were quite a few individual changes from the first race.  The team’s 4-to-score team slipped from 2^nd in the first race to 3^rd this time (out of 19 teams), although this was only on the last runner count back rule. Tonbridge AC were dominant once again taking first team place, with 10 runners in the first 12. M & M were, once again second the 12-to-score team (out of 8 teams).

M&M were led by Tom Collins in 14^th place, with Ethan Gear (U20) in 15^th, Anthony Webb (M45) once again the top overall Master in 18^th and to close the 4-to-score team, Mark Wilkins (M40). The next runners completing the 12-to-score team were led bythe improving Jayden Iles in only his second cross-country race in 40^th. Iles was followed by Tewelde Menges, who is normally competing for the top places, but was in 43^rd this time after being abroad for several weeks, then in quarantine.  Johnathan Whittall was in 48^th, chased by Neil Wright (M45) in 49, Noel Lyons (first overall M50) in 50^th, Chris Rampling 54^th, Jack Crossley (M40) 57^th and Daniel St Martin in 63^rd.  Excellent back-up was provided by Gareth Williams (M55) in 67^th, Sean Rodwell 82^nd, Barry Royden (M50) 83^rd, Owen Featherstone 88^th, Mark Smith (M45) 110^th and Bob Fursey (M55) 177^th.  There were 256 finishers.

The next Kent League race for the Senior Men is at Foots Cray Meadows on the 27^th November.  Before that is the British Masters 10 Km Road Championships, which this year are local at the Cyclopark, Gravesend, 21^st November. With so many good masters, the club should be out in force for this one.

Hayden Gear had another excellent and gutsy run winning his second race of the season and topping the  U17 men’s league position. Dylan Leach (15th), Cameron Featherstone (22nd), Callum Featherstone (25th) and Jacob Graham (28th) completed the U17 Team that placed 4th  on the day and are 3rd overall in the team event. The Under 20 men placed 2nd in the team event. Sean Barwick (11th), Alex Donnelly (13th) and Isaac Thomas (14th) completing the team.

The Under 15 boys saw Alex Dack finish 2nd with another outstanding performance over the hilly Tonbridge 4000m course after his win at  Swanley. Equally strong performances from Riley Maisey 3rd) Theo Ronchetti (4th) and Franklin Shepherd in 8th place. This leaves the boys currently in first place after 2 matches.

In the U13 boys race over 3000m.  Owen Tucker performed brilliantly to finish in 6th place. With teammates Reuben Sarakbi (33rd) and Jake Alford (37th) to finish the 3 to score team. They were followed in by Alex Anderson (39th), Sam Fowler (47th) Louie Gear (53rd) Sebastian Charilaou (57th) and Luca Gratwick (60th).

The women now competing over the same distance of 8000m as the men. First in for M&M Liz Weeks (W40) (24th), Antel Muller (27th) and Vera Hunter (W35) (30th) to complete the 3 to score team. Strongly backed up by Taryne McPherson (W45) 38th,  Jenny Fowler (W45) (48th) Vanessa Vander (W35), (63rd) to complete the 6 to score. Closely followed by Karen Cudmore (W45) 67th, Cat Rodwell (102nd) and Kat Ford (W35) (116th).

M&M had 6 Under 17 women competing on the notoriously hilly course, with some great individual performances once again.  Abigail Royden, Ella Webb and Lily Crossley all improved upon their excellent Swanley Park performances by finishing in 5th, 7th and 8th place respectively. They were followed by Annabel Young in 19th, Ingrid Linn finishing her first cross country for M&M in 27th and Ciara Harrop finishing in 32nd place. The excellent performances from the top 3 athletes meant M&M finished second in the Under 17 Women team event on the day.

In the Under 20 Women’s event, M&M were represented by Billie Rouse who finished in 5th place.

The Medway and Maidstone AC Under 13 and Under 15 Girls teams made it a clean sweep. The M&M girls’ strength and determination shone through over the gruelling, hilly course

In the Under 13 girls race, Rose Crossley led the M&M team home, finishing in third place overall with a gutsy performance over the 3000m course. Sophia Cudmore-Smith and Sienna Mabb followed on with some brilliant running to make up the winning team. The strength in depth of M&M team was clear to see with fantastic performances from Sienna Gratwick, Mia Blaber, Maisie Graham and Mary-Anne Sawyer. After 2 league fixtures the Under 13 Girls are joint top of the league – its all to play for in the next two races.

The M&M girls dominated the Under 15 Girls race securing both first and second place, and with 7 athletes in the top 20 finishers over the 4000m course. Natalia Austin showed her class to lead the M&M team home in 1^stplace, Iris Crossley ran through the field to secure 2^nd place and Millie Dack finished in 13^thto make up the winning team. Brimming with talent, the U15 Girls packed together well with 4 more athletes finishing in the top 20: Beth Palmer (15^th), Amber Mathews (16^th), Macey Swayer (17^th) and Heidi Hughes (19^th). There were strong performances from Mercedes McGivern, Abigail Hawkes, Erin Marsh, Elizabeth Fry, Sophie Stratford and Molly Marsh over the tough undulating course. After 2 league fixtures, the Under 15 Girls are in second place in the league – just one point behind Blackheath and Bromley.

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The first race of the season, in the Kent Cross-country League, was held at Swanley on Saturday.  This was the first Cross-country league race for almost 2 years.  The league is contested by the many of the top middle-distance runners from Kent and South-East London.  In the Senior Men’s race, Medway & Maidstone AC had 17 runners competing, a great turn out considering many of the cub runners had competed in marathons in the previous 2 weeks. The club had 12 runners in the top 64 and 15 runners in the top 90, showing great strength in depth. There were also some superb individual performances and an excellent team spirit was clearly evident. There were 268 finishers in total.  In spite of having 4 finishers in the first 16 (46 points), the club failed to win the 4-to-score team position as Tonbridge AC had a superb team result taking the first 5 places (10 points).  M&M still had a great result with 2^nd team out of 20 teams. Cambridge Harriers were 3^rd (65 points). In the 12-to-score team competition, Tonbridge AC also took  first place (197), with M&M again second (382), followed by Cambridge Harriers (656). M&Ms team first scorer was Anthony Webb (M45) in 9^th.  He was also the first master. He was closely followed by Tom Collins (M35) in 10^th and Under 20 Ethan Gear in 11^th. Justin Lane (M45) completed the 4-to-score team with his highest ever league position. To complete the 12-to-score team the top 4 were followed by Ben Tyler (20^th); Neill Wright with his highest ever league position in 29^th; Johnathan Whittall 34^th in his first race for the club; Mark Wilkins (M40 38^th); Jayden Iles, 45^th in his first ever cross-country race; Noel Lyons (first M50 in 48^th); Alun Rodgers (M55 58^th) and Sean Rodwell, 64^th, another runner recording his highest ever finishing place, moving up 90 places since he last ran at Swanley in 2019. Athletes providing strong back-up to the scoring teams were Gareth Williams (M55, 72^nd), Barry Royden (M50 75^th), Triston Hodges (M40 90^th), Robert Fursey (M55 148^th) and James Milne (M40) in his first race for the club and first ever cross-country race

 The U17 & U20 men’s races ware represented by a good number of athletes. The U17 men got the season off to a flyer with Hayden Gear putting in a very impressive performance and winning the race. Dylan Leach (19th) & Jacob Graham (31st) made up the team which placed a creditable 3rd place overall. The Under 20 Men’s team was hampered with illness and Sean Barwick in his first race for the club placed 6th and Alex Donnelly 11th.

The U13 boys set off over the twisty and undulating 3100 metres course; 20 minutes later and they were all finished, their Kent League debuts completed. Freddie Gibson was first M&M home in 4th place, pipping Owen Tucker by 1 second, Alex Anderson completed the team in 43rd place, followed by Sam Fowler (50th), Louie Gear (60th) and Sebastian Charilaou (63rd). The team currently lie in 5th place, just 4 points off of the lead.

The U15 boys took their turn, this time over a slightly longer 3910m route. In comparison to the U13s, these were seasoned athletes having previously competed in the 2019/20 season as under 13s. Initially, the first 25 athletes were clumped into three groups and covered by around 15 seconds but as the first lap continued the lead athletes stretched away and the groups began to fragment. At the halfway point, Alex Dack had opened up a two metres lead over Franklin Shepherd with Riley Maisey around ten metres further back and Theo Ronchetti a further twenty metres back in 5th place. With 800 metres to go, the front three remained in the same positions but a Tonbridge athlete had moved up into 4th place with Ronchetti right on his shoulder; this was a great place to be because the Tonbridge athlete slipped and fell at the final turn and Rochetti seized his opportunity to race past the stricken athlete and complete a 1-2-3-4 finish; the team secured first place in the three to score competition with Henry Gibson (14th) and Jay Trimmer (27th) giving strong supporting performances.

With the Senior Woman now competing over the same distance as the men there were some strong performances over this longer distance. Liz Weeks (W40) (15th), followed in by teammates Taryne McPherson (W45) (29th) and Jenny Fowler (W45) (51st) to complete the 3 to score and 4th place. Karen Cudmore (W45) (57th), Chloe Hammond (W45) struggling through with an injury but still crossing the line in 62nd and Cat Rodwell (102nd) completed the 6 to score and 6th place. Kat Ford (W35) (118th) and rounding up the team placings.

It was a good turnout for M&M’s U17 & U20 Women’s teams at Swanley Park, with a total of 9 athletes.  It was great to see this many competing after nearly two years away from Kent League Cross Country. In the Under 17 Women’s category, M&M had 3 athletes in the top 10 placings with Abigail Royden, Lily Crossley and Ella Webb in 7th, 9th & 10th places respectively.  They were followed by Annabel Young (17th), Emma Ryan (22nd), Jenny Swandale (26th) and Ciara Harrop (30th).  This excellent performance meant the Under 17 Women finished in 3rd place in the team event on the day.  In the Under 20 Women’s category, Billie Rouse finished in 2nd place, followed by Rachel Anderson in 6th place.  There were no Under 20 Women team results as none of the clubs entered fielded enough athletes to qualify for this.

An 11 strong U15 girls’ team were led home by Iris Crossley in a great 7th place. Also running strong,  Millie Dack (15th) and Beth Palmer, (16th) completed the scoring team leaving the girls finishing in 3rd place. Macey Sawyer (17th), Mercedes McGivern (26th) Ferne Peirce (31st), Heidi Hughes (33rd), Abigail Hawkes (39th), Erin Marsh (42nd), Elizabeth Fry (43rd), Sophie Stratford (44th)

The U13s girls’ team  was led home by Rose Crossley finishing with a superb 4th place closely followed by a strong performance from  Sofia Cudmore-Smith (7th) and new to cross country, Sienna Mabb (21st) to complete the team scoring for 2nd. Other placings were Sienna Gratwick (28th), Mia Blaber (38th), Darcy Scott (44th), Maisie Graham (48th) and Mary-Anne Sawyer (51st).  

Well done to all the competitors. The next race is at Somerhill School, Tonbridge on the 23^thOctober.

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