In conditions that were even wetter than normal, both the Harrier women’s team and Peter Hogben overcame their rivals to record impressive victories at the Kent Fitness League race at Minnis Bay on 7th January. Peter Hogben led the field of 471 runners and finished 25 seconds ahead of the second place finisher. The Harrier women were even more dominant, finishing a total of 53 placing points ahead of Sevenoaks AC. This was the fourth KFL season in a row that Canterbury Harriers had won the women’s team race at Minnis Bay.
The club’s women were led again by Emily Collins who finished second behind reigning champion Charlotte Johnston of Maidstone Harriers. Emily had some excellent support from Lucie Parker (V35 scorer) who achieved her best league result of fourth place and there was a brilliant league debut by Sarah Newman who came 13th. Claire Pluckrose (V55 scorer) and Nicky Leatherbarrow (V45) finished just four seconds apart in 20th and 21st places, respectively, to complete the scorers in a great team performance. This means that Canterbury Harriers continue to lead the women’s team competition.
Behind Peter Hogben, Simon Jones put in another quality run to come fourth overall and be the club’s first V40 scorer. Other male scorers were Jamie Stokes, Alex Horsley (second V40 scorer), James Pullen, Greg Norman (V60), Adam Cowper-Smith (first V50 scorer) and Colin Kent (second V50 scorer). There were a host of runners who did not score but finished before the club’s last male scorer: Ben Parmar, Matt Slark, Roddy McLachlan, Peter Whall, Matt Newman, Henry Cox and Aron Hancock. This put the club into fourth spot in the men’s team result and second, behind Petts Wood Runners, in the combined team result. That leaves the club sixth in the men’s team competition and fourth in the combined.
Rain leading up to the race led to the number of dyke crossings to be reduced from five to three, although conditions were very difficult all the way round. Despite that there were 471 finishers, almost matching the venue record for Minnis Bay. Daren Parris produced this video showing just how treacherous the going was:
There are also photos from the race in the Gallery.
44 Canterbury Harriers finished
| Ov Pos | Lg Pos | Runner | Age | Time | Score | Rtg | # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Peter Hogben | 31 | 36:02 | M1 | 100.00 | 26 |
| 4 | 4 | Simon Jones | 48 | 37:29 | V40:1 | 99.01 | 43 |
| 30 | 30 | Jamie Stokes | 38 | 40:41 | M2 | 90.46 | 6 |
| 35 | 35 | Alex Horsley | 46 | 41:07 | V40:2 | 88.82 | 14 |
| 41 | 41 | James Pullen | 22 | 41:29 | M3 | 86.84 | 4 |
| 58 | 57 | Ben Parmar | 28 | 42:38 | NSBLS | 81.58 | 10 |
| 67 | 2 | Emily Collins | 29 | 43:31 | F1 | 99.40 | 15 |
| 68 | 66 | Matt Slark | 35 | 43:32 | NSBLS | 78.62 | 21 |
| 69 | 67 | Roddy McLachlan | 45 | 43:35 | NSBLS | 78.29 | 14 |
| 72 | 70 | Peter Whall | 31 | 43:50 | NSBLS | 77.30 | 4 |
| 77 | 4 | Lucie Parker | 37 | 44:20 | V35 | 98.20 | 3 |
| 85 | 79 | Greg Norman | 63 | 44:45 | V60 | 74.34 | 14 |
| 88 | 81 | Matt Newman | 37 | 44:58 | NSBLS | 73.68 | 9 |
| 93 | 86 | Henry Cox | 26 | 45:19 | NSBLS | 72.04 | 20 |
| 113 | 13 | Sarah Newman | 40 | 47:20 | F2 | 92.81 | Debut |
| 118 | 104 | Aron Hancock | 44 | 47:35 | NSBLS | 66.12 | 4 |
| 137 | 20 | Claire Pluckrose | 55 | 48:28 | V55 | 88.62 | 26 |
| 138 | 21 | Nicky Leatherbarrow | 57 | 48:32 | V45 | 88.02 | 9 |
| 143 | 22 | Barbara Grogan | 51 | 48:43 | NS | 87.43 | 6 |
| 148 | 126 | Adam Cowper-Smith | 64 | 48:47 | V50:1 | 58.88 | 42 |
| 159 | 134 | Colin Kent | 58 | 49:35 | V50:2 | 56.25 | 71 |
| 173 | 27 | Barbara Wenman | 65 | 50:18 | NS | 84.43 | 106 |
| 205 | 169 | Mark Wenman | 69 | 51:57 | NS | 44.74 | 102 |
| 219 | 178 | Paul Pollard | 47 | 52:33 | NS | 41.78 | 2 |
| 232 | 186 | Nathaniel Wells | 30 | 53:15 | NS | 39.14 | 11 |
| 235 | 188 | John Cooper | 64 | 53:21 | NS | 38.49 | 38 |
| 243 | 48 | Deb Parris | 55 | 53:39 | NS | 71.86 | 33 |
| 245 | 49 | Emily Parris | 31 | 53:43 | NS | 71.26 | 5 |
| 247 | 197 | Gary Robertson | 61 | 53:46 | NS | 35.53 | 10 |
| 280 | 218 | Steve Clark | 70 | 55:16 | NS | 28.62 | 136 |
| 308 | 233 | Joe Hicks | 70 | 57:18 | NS | 23.68 | 76 |
| 310 | 76 | Sara Sinnerton | 30 | 57:25 | NS | 55.09 | 3 |
| 318 | 78 | Emily Nurden | 26 | 57:59 | NS | 53.89 | 3 |
| 319 | 79 | Jean Roffe | 56 | 58:09 | NS | 53.29 | 15 |
| 325 | 244 | Marco Keir | 62 | 58:23 | NS | 20.07 | 70 |
| 347 | 93 | Hannah Wilding | 30 | 1:00:20 | NS | 44.91 | 17 |
| 382 | 268 | Tony Savage | 69 | 1:03:18 | NS | 12.17 | 57 |
| 395 | 277 | Steve Reynolds | 65 | 1:04:34 | NS | 9.21 | 107 |
| 410 | 282 | Geoff Burston | 74 | 1:06:22 | NS | 7.57 | 27 |
| 411 | 129 | Shirley Pullen | 59 | 1:06:33 | NS | 23.35 | 40 |
| 431 | 294 | Andy Farrant | 67 | 1:11:02 | NS | 3.62 | 81 |
| 452 | 153 | Tina Jones | 77 | 1:18:40 | NS | 8.98 | 56 |
| 458 | 301 | Roy Gooderson | 66 | 1:20:26 | NS | 1.32 | 84 |
| 464 | 161 | Aleisha Robinson | 25 | 1:36:06 | NS | 4.19 | 3 |
Full results are on the KFL site.
Robin Bell of Plumstead has produced the following video of the race:
The next league race is in a week’s time at Betteshanger Country Park near Deal.
