Fine Season Finale at Mote Park

The Harriers wrapped up the Kent Fitness League season at Mote Park on 22nd February with another fine set of results on a damp but mild day. There was a bit of confusion at the start as the runners were sent the wrong way and the race had to be restarted. Despite that the women’s team capped their excellent season with their fifth victory and in the combined team race the club finished second behind Petts Wood Runners, just as it had done at Allhallows two weeks ago. The club’s total finishers for the league season reached exactly 300, a new record.

The women’s team were led again by Lucie Parker (fourth and V35 scorer) who also secured third place overall in the league for the season. Faye Roberts was the club’s second finisher in eighth and that result also meant Faye won the F40 category in the league. A place behind Faye was four-time club cross-country champion Emily Seling with the other scorers being Barbara Grogan (20th, V45 scorer) and Nicky Leatherbarrow (23rd, V55 scorer). Sarah Newman finished 14th but did not score due to the age category requirements and she was second only to Faye in the F40 category over the season.

Those results led to a comfortable victory over Sevenoaks AC at Mote Park with the top ten women’s teams being:

Pos	Club	fv55	fv45	fv35	f	f	Total
1	Canterbury H	23	20	4	8	9	64
2	Sevenoaks AC	22	7	10	15	28	82
3	Thanet RR	40	6	47	13	19	125
4	Paddock Wood AC	11	46	24	25	36	142
5	NEJ Running Club	29	27	50	16	34	156
6	Petts Wood Runners	75	2	63	3	26	169
7	Maidstone H	44	31	33	41	94	243
8	Sittingbourne Str	65	12	39	55	84	255
9	Larkfield AC	103	62	37	30	88	320
10	Dartford H	155	155	5	21	32	368

The top ten women’s teams in the 2025-26 Kent Fitness League final standings were:

Rank	Club	Match							Best 6	Total	TB	Places
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7
1	Canterbury H	18	18	17	18	18	17	18	107	124	—	506
2	Sevenoaks AC	16	17	18	16	17	18	17	103	119	—	613
3	Petts Wood Runners	17	15	16	13	16	15	13	92	105	—	954
4	Thanet RR	12	13	15	17	15	16	16	92	104	—	1049
5	Paddock Wood AC	15	16	12	15	12	9	15	85	94	—	1312
6	NEJ Running Club	14	11	14	14	14	14	14	84	95	—	1364
7	Maidstone H	10	8	10	11	13	12	12	68	76	—	2142
8	Sittingbourne Str	9	9	9	10	11	13	11	63	72	—	2224
9	Medway & Mstn AC	11	12	11	8	9	10	8	61	69	—	2268
10	Dartford H	13	14	13	1	8	3	9	60	61	—	2428

The Harrier men had another good result to follow up on their outings at Allhallows and Betteshanger Park, finishing fourth, despite Kelvin Thursby not running at Mote Park. They were led home by Richard Magro in fourth place, followed by Michael Farbrace (20th), Alex Horsley (22nd, first V40 scorer), Ben Parmar (27th), Roddy McLachlan (37th, second V40 scorer), Tim Hamilton-West (46th, first V50 scorer), Andrew Thorns (92nd, V60 scorer) and Colin Kent (109th, second V50 scorer). Richard Magro’s result was not quite enough to surpass Kelvin in the standings and so Kelvin Thursby is the club’s male cross-country champion for this season.

The top ten men’s teams at Mote Park were:

Pos	Club	mv60	mv50:1	mv50:2	mv40:1	mv40:2	m	m	m	Total
1	Petts Wood Runners	60	9	12	2	8	14	16	67	188
2	Medway & Mstn AC	72	11	24	31	34	3	5	42	222
3	Paddock Wood AC	90	43	56	40	41	10	19	57	356
4	Canterbury H	92	46	109	22	37	4	20	27	357
5	Maidstone H	77	52	85	29	33	30	53	54	413
6	Thanet RR	209	48	49	6	21	18	25	45	421
7	NEJ Running Club	106	32	107	68	69	7	15	81	485
8	Sevenoaks AC	75	38	51	28	66	84	87	98	527
9	Dartford RR	140	36	100	44	59	50	117	146	692
10	Bromley Vets AC	23	114	122	13	39	161	182	187	841

That meant the men’s team finished sixth in the men’s league for 2025-26 with the top ten being:

Rank	Club	Match							Best 6	Total	TB	Places
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7
1	Petts Wood Runners	18	18	18	17	18	18	18	108	125	—	1536
2	Thanet RR	17	16	16	18	17	8	13	97	105	—	2860
3	Paddock Wood AC	13	15	15	15	16	17	16	94	107	10	2717
4	Medway & Mstn AC	14	17	14	16	14	15	17	93	107	11	2699
5	Sevenoaks AC	16	14	17	14	13	14	11	88	99	—	3168
6	Canterbury H	12	11	10	11	15	16	15	80	90	—	3839
7	Maidstone H	11	12	9	13	12	12	14	74	83	—	4173
8	NEJ Running Club	10	13	13	10	10	10	12	68	78	—	4450
9	Dartford H	15	10	11	12	11	9	8	68	76	—	4647
10	Bromley Vets AC	9	8	12	9	8	13	9	60	68	—	5485

The showing from the club’s men’s and women’s teams led to the Harriers coming second only to Petts Wood Runners at Mote Park in the combined team race with the top ten teams being:

Pos	Club	M	F	Total	Scrs	Last
1	Petts Wood Runners	188	169	357	13	277
2	Canterbury H	357	64	421	13	132
3	Paddock Wood AC	356	142	498	13	230
4	Thanet RR	421	125	546	13	287
5	Medway & Mstn AC	222	381	603	12	363
6	Sevenoaks AC	527	82	609	13	166
7	NEJ Running Club	485	156	641	13	235
8	Maidstone H	413	243	656	13	332
9	Dartford RR	692	382	1074	12	368
10	Bromley Vets AC	841	389	1230	13	336

That led to the club finishing fifth in the combined team league standings for 2025-26 with the top ten being:

Rank	Club	Match							Best 6	Total	TB	Places
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7
1	Petts Wood Runners	18	18	18	17	18	18	18	108	125	—	2490
2	Thanet RR	15	15	16	18	17	10	15	96	106	11	3909
3	Sevenoaks AC	17	14	17	16	14	16	13	94	107	—	3781
4	Paddock Wood AC	14	16	15	15	15	15	16	92	106	10	4029
5	Canterbury H	13	13	12	13	16	17	17	89	101	—	4345
6	Medway & Mstn AC	12	17	14	14	13	14	14	86	98	—	4967
7	NEJ Running Club	11	12	13	11	12	12	12	72	83	—	5814
8	Dartford H	16	11	11	10	10	8	8	66	74	—	7075
9	Maidstone H	10	10	10	12	11	11	11	65	75	—	6315
10	Bromley Vets AC	9	8	9	8	8	13	9	56	64	—	8559

There are photos from the race in the Gallery.

40 Canterbury Harriers finished

Ov Pos	Lg Pos	Runner	Age	Time	Score	Rtg	#
4	4	Richard Magro	33	31:08	M1	98.88	6
20	20	Michael Farbrace	27	33:47	M2	92.94	10
22	22	Alex Horsley	48	34:03	V40:1	92.19	22
27	27	Ben Parmar	31	34:37	M3	90.33	24
37	37	Roddy McLachlan	47	35:52	V40:2	86.62	30
42	4	Lucie Parker	39	36:12	V35	98.06	13
51	46	Tim Hamilton-West	50	36:43	V50:1	83.27	4
52	47	Matt Newman	39	36:44	NSBLS	82.90	21
61	8	Faye Roberts	44	37:40	F1	95.48	25
66	9	Emily Seling	31	38:14	F2	94.84	27
67	58	Patrick Shannon	19	38:26	NSBLS	78.81	5
83	14	Sarah Newman	42	39:25	NSBLS	91.61	14
107	20	Barbara Grogan	53	40:43	V45	87.74	18
114	92	Andrew Thorns	60	41:14	V60	66.17	7
119	23	Nicky Leatherbarrow	59	41:29	V55	85.81	23
132	109	Colin Kent	60	42:11	V50:2	59.85	87
133	110	Paul Pollard	49	42:14	NS	59.48	18
143	119	Fiouse Corbeil	53	42:34	NS	56.13	37
147	123	Steve Couzens	42	42:53	NS	54.65	7
157	131	Phil Deery	56	43:28	NS	51.67	6
162	136	Rob Waite	53	43:42	NS	49.81	10
163	137	Steve Clark	72	43:43	NS	49.44	151
197	162	Peter Ash	56	46:11	NS	40.15	4
209	38	Claire Pluckrose	57	46:46	NS	76.13	35
219	177	Gary Robertson	64	47:39	NS	34.57	24
227	45	Sara Sinnerton	32	47:48	NS	71.61	13
264	67	Emily Parris	33	50:28	NS	57.42	12
265	68	Deb Parris	57	50:28	NS	56.77	42
276	202	Joe Hicks	72	50:58	NS	25.28	90
279	204	Marco Keir	64	51:10	NS	24.54	82
291	212	Ben Lowe	48	51:53	NS	21.56	10
299	218	Bob Davison	71	52:26	NS	19.33	91
303	82	Jean Roffe	58	52:57	NS	47.74	30
315	229	Tony Savage	71	53:51	NS	15.24	67
339	100	Kimberley Ash	43	56:13	NS	36.13	9
352	245	Phil Wyard	63	58:22	NS	9.29	46
372	252	Andy Phillips	63	1:01:23	NS	6.69	46
400	264	Geoff Burston	76	1:07:29	NS	2.23	37
413	149	Tina Jones	79	1:12:11	NS	4.52	68
424	269	Andy Farrant	69	1:40:54	NS	0.37	90

Full results are on the KFL site.

Statistics for the club’s runners over the 2025-26 season can be seen at https://kfl.canterburyharriers.org/club_runners.php?club=Canterbury+H&yr=2025