Harrier Women Continue Their Winning Ways

The Kent Fitness League for 2025-26 started at Swanley Park on 9th November, with the runners first observing the silence for Remembrance Sunday on a very mild and sunny morning.

The Harrier Women’s team continued their winning streak with first place, having won the last four races of the 2024-25 season. They were comfortably ahead of Petts Wood Runners in second. Lucie Parker returned to the league having missed last season and produced her best result yet, leading the team home with a fourth place and a 98.71 rating. She had strong support from Faye Roberts who was fifth and Emily Seling who was sixth. Faye (21 races) and Emily (23 races) also continued their long 100% scoring records. Mel Stinton made an excellent debut in the league to be the club’s FV45 scorer and Barbara Wenman made a great return to the league after missing last season to be in the FV55 scoring position for the club. Sarah Newman finished before Mel and Barbara but, due to the age category requirements, did not score. Additionally, Jen Harding made an excellent league debut.

The top nine female teams at Swanley Park were:

Pos	Club	fv55	fv45	fv35	f	f	Total
1	Canterbury H	33	24	4	5	6	72
2	Petts Wood Runners	50	18	28	3	27	126
3	Sevenoaks AC	40	13	15	31	37	136
4	Paddock Wood AC	16	87	10	8	19	140
5	NEJ Running Club	47	46	67	26	42	228
6	Dartford H	143	54	20	1	11	229
7	Thanet RR	56	62	38	12	104	272
8	Medway & Mstn AC	174	14	60	2	90	340
9	Maidstone H	131	55	35	45	83	349

The club’s men came seventh in their team competition, led home by league debutant Kelvin Thursby who was 13th. He had great support from the other scorers, Simon Jones (first V50 scorer), Michael Farbrace, Alex Horsley (second V40 scorer after Kelvin), Roddy McLachlan, Patrick Shannon (on league debut), Alastair Borthwick (V60 scorer on his league debut) and Hugh Gostelow (second V50 scorer). Matt Newman finished above Alastair and Hugh but did not score due to the age category requirements. Steve Couzens also made a good league debut for the club.

The top nine men’s teams at Swanley Park were:

Pos	Club	mv60	mv50:1	mv50:2	mv40:1	mv40:2	m	m	m	Total
1	Petts Wood Runners	101	25	35	3	20	2	16	26	228
2	Thanet RR	114	55	87	17	40	6	10	33	362
3	Sevenoaks AC	51	65	102	24	50	8	21	62	383
4	Dartford H	221	61	75	4	11	1	5	12	390
5	Medway & Mstn AC	159	15	18	36	41	59	67	77	472
6	Paddock Wood AC	137	86	96	14	45	42	47	48	515
7	Canterbury H	150	28	167	13	54	38	69	97	616
8	Maidstone H	126	104	144	64	78	31	43	93	683
9	NEJ Running Club	200	72	136	71	76	7	32	98	692

In the combined team race the club came sixth with the top nine teams being:

Pos	Club	M	F	Total	Scrs	Last
1	Petts Wood Runners	228	126	354	13	307
2	Sevenoaks AC	383	136	519	13	250
3	Dartford H	390	229	619	13	518
4	Thanet RR	362	272	634	13	442
5	Paddock Wood AC	515	140	655	13	399
6	Canterbury H	616	72	688	13	226
7	Medway & Mstn AC	472	340	812	13	574
8	NEJ Running Club	692	228	920	13	352
9	Maidstone H	683	349	1032	13	495

There are photos from the race in the Gallery and the following is a video of the start taken by Sue Bolton of Deal Tri Club:

50 Canterbury Harriers finished

Ov Pos	Lg Pos	Runner	Age	Time	Score	Rtg	#
13	13	Kelvin Thursby	40	31:33	V40:1	97.23	Debut
28	28	Simon Jones	50	32:46	V50:1	93.76	52
38	38	Michael Farbrace	27	33:27	M1	91.45	5
54	54	Alex Horsley	48	34:10	V40:2	87.76	19
72	69	Roddy McLachlan	47	34:48	M2	84.30	24
82	4	Lucie Parker	39	35:12	V35	98.71	7
86	5	Faye Roberts	43	35:27	F1	98.28	21
102	97	Patrick Shannon	19	36:05	M3	77.83	Debut
104	6	Emily Seling	31	36:06	F2	97.84	23
131	118	Matt Newman	39	37:10	NSBLS	72.98	16
162	22	Sarah Newman	42	38:02	NSBLS	90.95	8
171	24	Mel Stinton	54	38:23	V45	90.09	Debut
174	150	Alastair Borthwick	61	38:32	V60	65.59	Debut
191	167	Hugh Gostelow	68	39:08	V50:2	61.66	7
226	33	Barbara Wenman	67	40:08	V55	86.21	110
228	34	Nicky Leatherbarrow	58	40:12	NS	85.78	18
255	212	Paul Pollard	49	41:05	NS	51.27	12
267	223	Colin Kent	60	41:27	NS	48.73	81
268	224	Fiouse Corbeil	53	41:35	NS	48.50	32
274	230	Adam Cowper-Smith	66	41:44	NS	47.11	52
281	235	Paul O'Keefe	55	42:06	NS	45.96	5
282	236	Andrew Thorns	60	42:06	NS	45.73	3
311	52	Kimberley Ash	43	42:59	NS	78.02	4
330	271	Andy Farrant	69	43:33	NS	37.64	87
331	272	Gary Robertson	63	43:33	NS	37.41	20
344	281	Steve Clark	72	43:51	NS	35.33	146
349	285	Steve Couzens	42	43:57	NS	34.41	Debut
377	77	Sara Sinnerton	32	44:43	NS	67.24	8
381	303	John Cooper	66	44:54	NS	30.25	46
396	84	Jen Harding	37	45:15	NS	64.22	Debut
402	313	Joe Hicks	72	45:36	NS	27.94	84
416	322	Rob Waite	53	46:07	NS	25.87	5
464	349	Bob Davison	71	48:10	NS	19.63	86
480	355	Matthew Northover	57	48:40	NS	18.24	37
484	127	Jean Roffe	58	48:46	NS	45.69	25
494	364	Marco Keir	64	49:04	NS	16.17	77
501	369	Mark Wenman	71	49:13	NS	15.01	107
504	134	Liz Batty	69	49:23	NS	42.67	3
509	373	Phil Wyard	63	49:41	NS	14.09	40
520	377	Steve Reynolds	66	50:20	NS	13.16	114
535	383	Mike Jefferies-Pottle	57	50:57	NS	11.78	13
561	398	Tony Savage	71	52:21	NS	8.31	61
570	172	Shirley Pullen	61	52:51	NS	26.29	50
575	401	Peter Yarlett	73	53:08	NS	7.62	68
578	403	Andy Phillips	62	53:20	NS	7.16	43
579	404	Jon Vann	69	53:23	NS	6.93	47
626	206	Karen Hoult	61	59:29	NS	11.64	36
643	218	Tina Jones	78	1:02:05	NS	6.47	64
650	427	Roy Gooderson	68	1:03:20	NS	1.62	92
655	428	Bob Pullen	63	1:05:00	NS	1.39	79

Full results are on the KFL site.

The next race in the league is in two weeks on 23rd November at Oxleas Wood.