38 Harriers turned out for the first Kent Fitness League race of 2017 at Minnis Bay Birchington hosted by Thanet Road Runners. Normally quite a muddy 6 mile circuit throughout , conditions were a lot drier than normal underfoot and the weather was fairly benign with little if any wind to contend with. Even the notorious dykes in the latter half of the race were only about a third full of their usual marsh soup. Harriers finished strongly in the team event with 4 of our male runners in the top 15 – Simon Jones 3rd , Yiannis Christodoulou 7th , Paul Knight 12th and Alex Horsley 14th. Jo Norrington led home the Harriers ladies finishing in 134th place backed up by Emma NcCabe in 171st , Kate Slee in 211th and Wendy 234th. Full results including Team Positions can be found by following the link on the right to Kent Fitness League.

At the Canterbury Harriers’ home cross country run, Peter Hogben made a hat-trick of wins in 29:53, closely followed by fellow Harriers Tom Purnell in seventh and Tom Millard in ninth. This resulted in the Harriers finishing third in the combined league tables for the season with Peter Hogben finishing fourth overall in the season, followed by Tom Purnell in fifth position. Barbara Wenman retained her Vet 55 Female title and Yiannis Christodoulou won Most Improved male in the league.

Also, at the Deal Half Marathon, David Waite came in the top 20 with a PB of 1:31:25.

Peter Hogben on his way to victory

After 6 of the 7 Kent Fitness League races Harries ladies team have a commanding lead in the league which means that they cannot now be caught in the female team standings. Many congratulations to them for winning the league once again!

The female scorers at the Blean event held on 2nd February were Victoria Kenny (4th), Jenny Benson (6th) and Barbara Wenman (13th) making them the first female team for the fourth time in the league this season. The other female team scorers this season are Sarah Maguire and Penny Birchall who finished 17th and 30th respectively on Sunday. Other excellent runs came from were Sarah Hugill (27th), and Hazel Dobson (29th)

In the mens scoring event there were also impressive performances all round, including Tom Purnell (6th), Joe Thomsett (27th), Tom Millard (32nd), Jason Paton-Smith (37th). In the overall combined team standings Harriers are currently 3rd and a good result in the last race at Nurstead Court, Meopham on 16th February could see a close end to the final league positions.

All Harriers are to be congratulated for making our home event so successful despite the tough muddy conditions and interesting water features along the route. And finally a big thank you to all those members and family supporters who helped on the day in setting up the course and marshalling as well as giving great encouragement to the runners

Canterbury Harriers are the new Kent Fitness League cross country champions following the final race of the seven race series hosted by the club at Blean Woods , Rough Common on Sunday. The club were comfortable winners of the mens, ladies and combined team events.

Mark Ford finished in third place in the individual mens championship and Faye Roberts finished third in the ladies championship. A fantastic achievement by the Harriers all the more impressive given the extremely tough conditions throughout all of the races following the wettest year on record.

A big thank you to all who helped set up the race and marshall on the day with a special mention for the efforts of Roy Gooderson as Race Director and John Hartley as Acting Supreme Chief Marshall ( in the absence of the normal? Supreme Chief Marshall, Steve Clark, who was unavoidably detained on Crib Goch).

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