Brilliant Results at Betteshanger Park

The Harriers put together an excellent set of results at the fifth Kent Fitness League race at Betteshanger Park on 11th January where the weather was still chilly but not as icy as the previous week at Minnis Bay. There were 50 finishers from the club, which sets a new record for Canterbury Harriers in the league.

The women’s team recorded their fourth victory out of five races, this time by ten points over Sevenoaks AC. The club’s lead scorer was Lucie Parker (5th and V35 scorer) for the fourth time this season and she is now already assured of the F35-39 award for the league in 2025-26. A few seconds behind Lucie was Emily Seling in 6th with Faye Roberts one place further back. The club’s V45 scorer was Mel Stinton in 21st place and she leads the league in her F50-54 category. Barbara Wenman completed the club’s scorers in 24th place. Sarah Newman finished in 17th place but did not score due to the age category requirements and Lima Nance had an excellent league debut coming 34th.

The top ten in the women’s team race were as follows:

Pos	Club	fv55	fv45	fv35	f	f	Total
1	Canterbury H	24	21	5	6	7	63
2	Sevenoaks AC	30	10	1	12	20	73
3	Petts Wood Runners	39	14	18	4	23	98
4	Thanet RR	47	11	27	9	28	122
5	NEJ Running Club	42	36	51	22	32	183
6	Maidstone H	74	43	26	40	76	259
7	Paddock Wood AC	161	52	8	15	29	265
8	Sittingbourne Str	82	16	46	50	79	273
9	Deal Tri Club	19	56	60	69	111	315
10	Medway & Mstn AC	127	80	78	3	41	329

That extends the lead the club have in the women’s team standings with the top eleven being:

Rank	Club	Match					Best 4	Total	TB	Places
		1	2	3	4	5
1	Canterbury H	18	18	17	18	18	72	89	—	374
2	Sevenoaks AC	16	17	18	16	17	68	84	—	487
3	Petts Wood Runners	17	15	16	13	16	64	77	—	655
4	Thanet RR	12	13	15	17	15	60	72	—	837
5	Paddock Wood AC	15	16	12	15	12	58	70	—	852
6	NEJ Running Club	14	11	14	14	14	56	67	—	1030
7	Dartford H	13	14	13	1	8	48	49	—	1643
8	Maidstone H	10	8	10	11	13	44	52	—	1608
9	Medway & Mstn AC	11	12	11	8	9	43	51	—	1575
10	Sittingbourne Str	9	9	9	10	11	39	48	—	1683
11	Deal Tri Club	7	10	6	12	10	39	45	—	1734

The men’s team had a season’s best result, coming fourth, led by Richard Magro who himself had his best finish coming seventh. He was followed by Kelvin Thursby (12th; first V40 scorer), Michael Farbrace (22nd), Ben Parmar (29th), Roddy McLachlan (30th; second V40 scorer), Tim Hamilton-West (64th; first V50 scorer), Hugh Gostelow (115th; V60 scorer) and Fiouse Corbeil (139th; second V50 scorer). Four runners finished before the last scoring runner but did not score themselves due to the age requirements for scoring: Alex Horsley (35th), Matt Newman (79th), Aron Hancock (89th) and Patrick Shannon (94th).

The top ten men’s teams were:

Pos	Club	mv60	mv50:1	mv50:2	mv40:1	mv40:2	m	m	m	Total
1	Petts Wood Runners	72	16	17	6	10	4	5	26	156
2	Thanet RR	66	32	56	14	19	27	33	42	289
3	Paddock Wood AC	114	28	50	13	74	2	3	31	315
4	Canterbury H	115	64	139	12	30	7	22	29	418
5	Medway & Mstn AC	118	9	52	24	59	8	80	126	476
6	Sevenoaks AC	46	62	83	23	53	49	90	105	511
7	Maidstone H	87	76	99	45	78	25	102	103	615
8	Dartford H	162	34	77	39	70	1	129	157	669
9	NEJ Running Club	153	61	88	63	69	40	101	116	691
10	Dartford RR	158	20	71	65	73	60	96	165	708

That raises the men’s team two places to seventh in the men’s team standings and are only behind Dartford Harriers on tiebreak:

Rank	Club	Match					Best 4	Total	TB	Places
		1	2	3	4	5
1	Petts Wood Runners	18	18	18	17	18	72	89	—	1116
2	Thanet RR	17	16	16	18	17	68	84	—	1638
3	Medway & Mstn AC	14	17	14	16	14	61	75	—	2034
4	Paddock Wood AC	13	15	15	15	16	61	74	8	2002
5	Sevenoaks AC	16	14	17	14	13	61	74	7	2139
6	Dartford H	15	10	11	12	11	49	59	8	3057
7	Canterbury H	12	11	10	11	15	49	59	7	3061
8	Maidstone H	11	12	9	13	12	48	57	—	3216
9	NEJ Running Club	10	13	13	10	10	46	56	—	3335
10	Bromley Vets AC	9	8	12	9	8	38	46	—	4140

The great results from both the men’s and women’s teams led to the club coming third in the combined team race, which was again a season’s best. The top ten combined teams were:

Pos	Club	M	F	Total	Scrs	Last
1	Petts Wood Runners	156	98	254	13	204
2	Thanet RR	289	122	411	13	229
3	Canterbury H	418	63	481	13	170
4	Paddock Wood AC	315	265	580	12	403
5	Sevenoaks AC	511	73	584	13	166
6	Medway & Mstn AC	476	329	805	13	398
7	NEJ Running Club	691	183	874	13	239
8	Maidstone H	615	259	874	13	302
9	Dartford H	669	362	1031	12	385
10	Dartford RR	708	459	1167	12	419

The club remains in sixth place in the combined team standings, the top ten being:

Rank	Club	Match					Best 4	Total	TB	Places
		1	2	3	4	5
1	Petts Wood Runners	18	18	18	17	18	72	89	—	1771
2	Thanet RR	15	15	16	18	17	66	81	—	2475
3	Sevenoaks AC	17	14	17	16	14	64	78	—	2626
4	Paddock Wood AC	14	16	15	15	15	61	75	—	2854
5	Medway & Mstn AC	12	17	14	14	13	58	70	—	3609
6	Canterbury H	13	13	12	13	16	55	67	—	3435
7	NEJ Running Club	11	12	13	11	12	48	59	—	4365
8	Dartford H	16	11	11	10	10	48	58	—	4700
9	Maidstone H	10	10	10	12	11	43	53	—	4824
10	Bromley Vets AC	9	8	9	8	8	34	42	—	6533

Pictures from the race are in the Gallery with thanks to Tilly Roffe.

50 Canterbury Harriers finished

Ov Pos	Lg Pos	Runner	Age	Time	Score	Rtg	#
7	7	Richard Magro	33	32:03	M1	97.91	4
12	12	Kelvin Thursby	40	32:20	V40:1	96.17	5
22	22	Michael Farbrace	27	33:51	M2	92.68	8
29	29	Ben Parmar	30	34:28	M3	90.24	22
30	30	Roddy McLachlan	47	34:31	V40:2	89.90	28
36	35	Alex Horsley	48	34:43	NSBLS	88.15	21
60	5	Lucie Parker	39	36:11	V35	97.50	11
61	6	Emily Seling	31	36:14	F1	96.88	26
69	7	Faye Roberts	43	36:56	F2	96.25	24
71	64	Tim Hamilton-West	50	36:58	V50:1	78.05	3
93	79	Matt Newman	39	38:11	NSBLS	72.82	19
105	17	Sarah Newman	42	39:06	NSBLS	90.00	12
106	89	Aron Hancock	46	39:13	NSBLS	69.34	15
111	94	Patrick Shannon	19	39:26	NSBLS	67.60	3
135	115	Hugh Gostelow	68	40:48	V60	60.28	8
138	21	Mel Stinton	54	40:55	V45	87.50	3
152	24	Barbara Wenman	67	41:27	V55	85.62	111
168	31	Faye Jeacocke	48	42:09	NS	81.25	7
170	139	Fiouse Corbeil	53	42:17	V50:2	51.92	35
173	141	Paul Pollard	49	42:25	NS	51.22	16
181	34	Lima Nance	31	43:05	NS	79.38	Debut
187	37	Joanne Norrington	42	43:17	NS	77.50	65
194	156	Steve Couzens	42	43:40	NS	45.99	5
197	159	Phil Deery	56	43:45	NS	44.95	4
207	168	Paul O'Keefe	55	44:18	NS	41.81	9
221	178	Colin Kent	60	45:09	NS	38.33	85
223	180	Andrew Thorns	60	45:17	NS	37.63	5
226	45	Kimberley Ash	43	45:27	NS	72.50	8
247	194	Gary Robertson	63	46:33	NS	32.75	23
258	58	Jen Harding	38	47:18	NS	64.38	5
283	68	Sara Sinnerton	32	49:27	NS	58.13	12
284	216	Rob Waite	53	49:28	NS	25.09	8
291	71	Daisy Shaw	25	49:42	NS	56.25	4
295	223	Joe Hicks	72	49:47	NS	22.65	88
309	232	Marco Keir	64	50:24	NS	19.51	80
311	233	Jon Vann	69	50:26	NS	19.16	51
316	236	Ben Lowe	47	50:49	NS	18.12	8
319	238	Mark Wenman	71	50:51	NS	17.42	108
321	240	Phil Wyard	63	50:56	NS	16.72	44
327	241	Bob Davison	71	51:14	NS	16.38	89
331	88	Deb Parris	57	51:25	NS	45.62	41
332	89	Emily Parris	33	51:25	NS	45.00	11
335	245	Steve Clark	72	51:53	NS	14.98	149
344	95	Jean Roffe	58	52:59	NS	41.25	28
366	258	Tony Savage	71	55:25	NS	10.45	65
372	113	Shirley Pullen	61	55:54	NS	30.00	54
387	267	Peter Yarlett	73	57:59	NS	7.32	72
424	279	Geoff Burston	76	1:04:03	NS	3.14	35
440	155	Tina Jones	79	1:06:58	NS	3.75	66
447	287	Andy Farrant	69	1:19:27	NS	0.35	89

Full results are on the KFL site.

The next race in the league will be in four weeks’ time on 8th February at Allhallows.