Canterbury Harriers took part in four of these races, held on Tuesday evenings a fortnight apart, with the number of teams that we entered growing as the series went on. The first race was at Folkestone seafront on 1st June, where we put out a senior and a vet team. The course was surprisingly undulating and, having been told that it was going to be 2 ½ miles it turned out to be more like 2 ¾!
The next race at Victoria Park, Ashford on 15th June was flatter but probably a bit longer in distance. There the vets' team of Steve Clark, Steve Dorkings, Steve Reynolds and Joe Hicks (who rather antisocially refused to change his name to Steve) triumphed over the senior team of Simon Kendall, Roy Palmer, Doug Hinsley and Mike Hedger.
The "Three Steves & Joe" also beat their senior counterparts at the following race at Aylesham (which was easily the toughest course of the series) on 29th June. However, they were in turn bettered by the junior team of Jonathan Holmans, Jack Parnell, James Branwood and Andrew Dowell, who were taking part in the series for the first time. In fact, they would probably have been even further ahead if it hadn't been for a marshall sending Andrew the wrong way at one point. Another runner who had the misfortune to go the wrong way was Emma Farrow, competing for the Harrier Ladies Debutante Team, who made the mistake of listening to some garbled directions from Alastair Telford. We also had a second men's vets' team competing in the race, represented by Mel Carter, Graham Brown, Bob Davison and Roy Gooderson. Partial individual results from this race are below.
The final race in the series hosted by Invicta East Kent on a mainly flat course at the University of Kent saw six Harrier teams competing. The men's senior team reasserted their rightful position thanks to a superb run from Richard Steer after a long layoff due to injury. His time of 16:02 equated to 5:24.2 miling over the course which was measured as 2.96 (!) miles. Helen Martin ran an excellent leg for the ladies' team, helping them to third place amongst the female teams. Partial individual results from this race are also below.
Aylesham Relay 29/6/99 Jonathan HolmansJUN 15:00 Simon Kendall 15:31 Jack ParnellJUN 15:49 Roy Palmer 16:25 Steve ClarkV40 16:36 Steve ReynoldsV40 16:43 James BranwoodJUN 17:00 Steve DorkingsV40 17:05 Joe HicksV40 17:14 Graham BrownV50 17:26 Alastair Telford 17:49 Bob DavisonV40 17:55 Doug Hinsley 17:55 Mel CarterV50 18:27 Andrew DowellJUN 18:53 Roy GoodersonV40 18:54 Fayne StoneV35 20:33 Dianne AugustV35 20:46 Emma Farrow 22:07 Invicta East Kent Relay at the University of Kent at Canterbury 13th July Richard Steer 16:02 Simon Kendall 16:14 Jonathan HolmansJUN 16:43 Jack ParnellJUN 17:00 Steve ReynoldsV40 17:22 Steve ClarkV40 17:38 Alastair Telford 18:15 Gerry ReillyV50 18:15 James BranwoodJUN 18:18 Bob DavisonV40 18:19 Mark WalshV40 18:24 Dave SmithV50 18:35 Andrew DowellJUN 18:44 Doug Hinsley 18:52 Sean Reilly 19:33 Pete WyethV50 19:35 Roy GoodersonV40 19:55 Helen Martin 20:02 Dave ParnellV50 20:17 Mick HolmansV40 20:47 Fayne StoneV35 21:13 Emma Farrow 21:31