Fourth Title in a Row for the Women’s Team

There were dry and mild conditions for the sixth Kent Fitness League race at Allhallows on 8th February with 40 Canterbury Harriers finishing. Although the women’s team did not win their race this week their second place was enough to ensure that they have retained their title and have now won the league four years in a row! Huge congratulations to all the ladies!

Lucie Parker was once again lead scorer for the club with her second third place finish in the league, the first one coming at Minnis Bay. Second scorer was Sarah Newman who managed a top-ten finish with a season’s best ninth. Barbara Wenman was 15th and our V55 scorer, and in doing so she became the first woman in the league to pass the 5000 mark in scoring runners beaten (SRB). The other two scorers were Nicky Leatherbarrow who was 18th (V45 scorer) and Mel Stinton who was 23rd.

The top ten women’s teams at Allhallows were

Pos	Club	fv55	fv45	fv35	f	f	Total
1	Sevenoaks AC	14	5	1	7	17	44
2	Canterbury H	15	18	3	9	23	68
3	Thanet RR	27	4	20	10	26	87
4	Petts Wood Runners	19	36	47	6	22	130
5	NEJ Running Club	50	21	49	13	45	178
6	Sittingbourne Str	58	32	30	79	87	286
7	Maidstone H	60	82	16	43	90	291
8	Bromley Vets AC	54	33	62	67	76	292
9	Medway & Mstn AC	98	42	34	2	136	312
10	Paddock Wood AC	136	37	11	48	86	318

The top ten in the women’s team standings after Allhallows are below. As the maximum possible “Best 6” for Sevenoaks is 104 and Canterbury Harriers’ overall total is already 106 the women’s team cannot be caught.

Rank	Club	Match						Best 5	Total	TB	Places
		1	2	3	4	5	6
1	Canterbury H	18	18	17	18	18	17	89	106	—	442
2	Sevenoaks AC	16	17	18	16	17	18	86	102	—	531
3	Petts Wood Runners	17	15	16	13	16	15	79	92	—	785
4	Thanet RR	12	13	15	17	15	16	76	88	—	924
5	NEJ Running Club	14	11	14	14	14	14	70	81	—	1208
6	Paddock Wood AC	15	16	12	15	12	9	70	79	—	1170
7	Maidstone H	10	8	10	11	13	12	56	64	—	1899
8	Medway & Mstn AC	11	12	11	8	9	10	53	61	9	1887
9	Sittingbourne Str	9	9	9	10	11	13	52	61	9	1969
10	Dartford H	13	14	13	1	8	3	51	52	—	2060

The men’s team had a season’s best result at Allhallows with third place behind Petts Wood Runners (who have now won the men’s league) and Paddock Wood AC. There were three Harriers in the top ten with Kelvin Thursby (first V40 scorer) sixth, a league best for him, Richard Magro eighth and Michael Farbrace tenth, his first top ten finish in the league. They were supported by Ben Parmar (22nd), Roddy McLachlan (29th, second V40 scorer), Fiouse Corbeil (100th, first V50 scorer), Colin Kent (119th, V60 scorer) and Andrew Thorns (126th, second V50 scorer). Additionally, Peter Hogben (36th), Matt Newman (54th), Aron Hancock (60th), Patrick Shannon (74th) and Paul Pollard (112th) all finished ahead of the club’s last scorer but did not score themselves due to the age category requirements.

The top ten men’s teams at Allhallows were:

Pos	Club	mv60	mv50:1	mv50:2	mv40:1	mv40:2	m	m	m	Total
1	Petts Wood Runners	93	16	39	5	32	3	21	30	239
2	Paddock Wood AC	81	45	101	18	26	15	25	46	357
3	Canterbury H	119	100	126	6	29	8	10	22	420
4	Medway & Mstn AC	70	20	31	42	51	64	73	91	442
5	Sevenoaks AC	37	53	59	23	78	80	85	87	502
6	Bromley Vets AC	17	14	92	12	33	55	133	148	504
7	Maidstone H	97	89	109	19	28	57	61	83	543
8	Dartford RR	110	24	72	67	88	43	65	82	551
9	NEJ Running Club	122	123	146	56	77	9	13	84	630
10	Dartford H	195	35	241	41	47	1	2	118	680

That leaves the club sixth in the men’s team standings, the top ten being:

Rank	Club	Match						Best 5	Total	TB	Places
		1	2	3	4	5	6
1	Petts Wood Runners	18	18	18	17	18	18	90	107	—	1355
2	Thanet RR	17	16	16	18	17	8	84	92	—	2438
3	Paddock Wood AC	13	15	15	15	16	17	78	91	—	2359
4	Medway & Mstn AC	14	17	14	16	14	15	76	90	—	2476
5	Sevenoaks AC	16	14	17	14	13	14	75	88	—	2641
6	Canterbury H	12	11	10	11	15	16	65	75	—	3481
7	Maidstone H	11	12	9	13	12	12	60	69	—	3759
8	Dartford H	15	10	11	12	11	9	59	68	—	3737
9	NEJ Running Club	10	13	13	10	10	10	56	66	—	3965
10	Bromley Vets AC	9	8	12	9	8	13	51	59	—	4644

The great results from both the women and men led to the club finishing second in the combined team race with the top ten being:

Pos	Club	M	F	Total	Scrs	Last
1	Petts Wood Runners	239	130	369	13	227
2	Canterbury H	420	68	488	13	158
3	Sevenoaks AC	502	44	546	13	131
4	Paddock Wood AC	357	318	675	12	331
5	Medway & Mstn AC	442	312	754	12	328
6	Bromley Vets AC	504	292	796	13	289
7	NEJ Running Club	630	178	808	13	233
8	Maidstone H	543	291	834	13	315
9	Thanet RR	800	87	887	12	295
10	Dartford RR	551	350	901	12	370

That result pushes the club up to fifth by tiebreak over Medway & Maidstone AC in the combined team standings, with Petts Wood Runners having clinched the combined team title:

Rank	Club	Match						Best 5	Total	TB	Places
		1	2	3	4	5	6
1	Petts Wood Runners	18	18	18	17	18	18	90	107	—	2140
2	Thanet RR	15	15	16	18	17	10	81	91	—	3362
3	Sevenoaks AC	17	14	17	16	14	16	80	94	—	3172
4	Paddock Wood AC	14	16	15	15	15	15	76	90	—	3529
5	Canterbury H	13	13	12	13	16	17	72	84	9	3923
6	Medway & Mstn AC	12	17	14	14	13	14	72	84	9	4363
7	NEJ Running Club	11	12	13	11	12	12	60	71	—	5173
8	Dartford H	16	11	11	10	10	8	58	66	—	5797
9	Maidstone H	10	10	10	12	11	11	54	64	—	5658
10	Bromley Vets AC	9	8	9	8	8	13	47	55	—	7329

There are photos from the race in the Gallery.

40 Canterbury Harriers finished

Ov Pos	Lg Pos	Runner	Age	Time	Score	Rtg	#
6	6	Kelvin Thursby	40	35:32	V40:1	98.02	6
8	8	Richard Magro	33	35:47	M1	97.22	5
10	10	Michael Farbrace	27	36:27	M2	96.43	9
22	22	Ben Parmar	31	37:58	M3	91.67	23
29	29	Roddy McLachlan	47	38:29	V40:2	88.89	29
37	36	Peter Hogben	33	39:02	NSBLS	86.11	28
45	3	Lucie Parker	39	39:57	V35	98.52	12
61	54	Matt Newman	39	41:40	NSBLS	78.97	20
67	60	Aron Hancock	46	42:16	NSBLS	76.59	16
75	9	Sarah Newman	42	43:18	F1	94.07	13
84	74	Patrick Shannon	19	44:25	NSBLS	71.03	4
114	100	Fiouse Corbeil	53	46:57	V50:1	60.71	36
120	15	Barbara Wenman	67	47:21	V55	89.63	112
128	112	Paul Pollard	49	48:35	NSBLS	55.95	17
134	18	Nicky Leatherbarrow	59	48:53	V45	87.41	22
138	119	Colin Kent	60	49:27	V60	53.17	86
146	126	Andrew Thorns	60	50:20	V50:2	50.40	6
152	131	Steve Clark	72	50:48	NS	48.41	150
158	23	Mel Stinton	54	51:17	F2	83.70	4
170	145	Paul O'Keefe	55	53:11	NS	42.86	10
181	154	Steve Couzens	42	54:30	NS	39.29	6
184	156	Phil Deery	56	54:38	NS	38.49	5
202	35	Jen Harding	38	57:01	NS	74.81	6
215	44	Lima Nance	31	57:59	NS	68.15	2
228	181	Rob Waite	53	59:29	NS	28.57	9
237	186	Jon Vann	70	1:01:08	NS	26.59	52
244	190	Marco Keir	64	1:01:23	NS	25.00	81
267	205	Bob Davison	71	1:04:59	NS	19.05	90
268	206	Joe Hicks	72	1:05:09	NS	18.65	89
271	64	Daisy Shaw	25	1:05:33	NS	53.33	5
277	210	Ben Lowe	48	1:05:54	NS	17.06	9
284	73	Jean Roffe	58	1:07:35	NS	46.67	29
291	214	Phil Wyard	63	1:08:53	NS	15.48	45
336	234	Tony Savage	71	1:16:13	NS	7.54	66
341	237	Andy Phillips	63	1:18:28	NS	6.35	45
342	105	Shirley Pullen	61	1:19:39	NS	22.96	55
349	239	Geoff Burston	76	1:21:08	NS	5.56	36
350	240	Peter Yarlett	73	1:21:20	NS	5.16	73
384	134	Tina Jones	79	1:31:54	NS	1.48	67
385	251	Bob Pullen	63	1:40:22	NS	0.79	80

Full results are on the KFL site.

The final race of the 2025-26 KFL season is at the earlier time of 9am at Mote Park on 22nd February. It will be the first time that the league has visited Mote Park in 22 years.