A turnout of 22 Harriers, much better than at the previous race at Swanley, competed in this event and all put in some good efforts for the club despite the very hilly, six mile course and the windy conditions.
Richard Steer, returning to racing after more knee problems, came 6th overall and 4th in the men's league race, two places ahead of Simon Kendall. In the women's race, Sarah May surpassed even her previous efforts in coming second only to Tina Oldershaw of Paddock Wood, beating last year's league winner Caroline Houghton in the process. Fine debuts were made by Katherine O'Hara and Graham Brown, with James Branwood running his first senior XC.
Henry Coltart unfortunately had to pull out of his first race for the club due to ankle problems and Roy Gooderson was similarly unlucky to have a calf strain. It appeared that these were only two of at least 15 casualties on a course with treacherous terrain.
The fine team effort meant that we came 4th on the day in the Combined event, the best result for the season, and 3rd on the day in the Ladies' event. To emphasise what a good all round effort it was, our `B' team (consisting of the 7 men and 3 women who didn't score in the actual league race) would have finished ahead of Sittingbourne Striders who had a full team out and only a point behind Invicta.
Junior Tony Rowland did well in completing a full lap of the course.
In the figures below, after the time the next column shows the overall position, the following one the position in that individual's league race (i.e. ignoring guests and runners of the opposite sex) and the final column shows the performance rating i.e. the percentage of runners beaten in that league race.
Richard Steer 34:43 6 4 98.3 Simon Kendall 35:06 8 6 97.2 Roy Palmer 36:44 17 15 92.0 Sarah May 38:30 38 2 98.6 Steve ReynoldsV40 39:40 50 45 75.0 Mel CarterV50 41:04 73 65 63.6 James Branwood 41:05 74 66 63.1 Joe HicksV40 41:06 75 67 62.5 Graham BrownV50 41:40 81 72 59.7 Gerry ReillyV50 41:44 83 74 58.5 Dave LightburnV40 42:46 100 88 50.6 Martyn BallandsV40 44:12 120 104 41.5 Katherine O'Hara 44:34 125 12 85.1 Mick HolmansV40 44:43 129 109 38.6 Tom Smith 45:25 143 118 33.5 Carol Reid 46:47 164 25 67.6 Pete WyethV50 47:36 173 139 21.6 Dianne AugustV40 48:07 178 28 63.5 Fayne StoneV40 50:05 202 40 47.3 Sue ReillyV45 56:35 249 65 14.9 Combined League Placings After 4 Events 1 Medway AC 58pts 2 Paddock Wood AC 56 3 Istead & Ifield H 54 4 Sevenoaks AC 46 5 Canterbury Harriers 43 6 Thanet RR AC 37 7 Maidstone H 32 7 Invicta EK AC 32 9 Swanley & District AC 26 10 New Eltham Joggers 25 11 Bromley Vets 18 12 Gravesend RR 15 13 Dartford H 13 13 Sittingbourne Striders 13 15 Plumstead Runners 6 Ladies' League 1 Paddock Wood AC 59pts 2 Medway AC 47 3 Invicta EK AC 46 4 Istead & Ifield H 41 5 Canterbury Harriers 40 6 Thanet RR AC 38 7 New Eltham Joggers 34 7 Sevenoaks AC 34 7 Swanley & District AC 34 10 Gravesend RR 30 11 Bromley Vets 29 12 Maidstone H 19 13 Plumstead Runners 14 13 Sittingbourne Striders 11 15 Dartford H 4