The Kent Fitness League started its 2023-24 season at Swanley Park on 12th November with the Canterbury Harriers Women’s Team taking victory and making an excellent start to their title defence. A record-equalling 49 Harriers took part, matching the number at Minnis Bay in January 2020, and that helped take the Harriers to third place in the combined team event and fourth in the men’s team race.
This season the new rule requiring five women to score for each club came into force, with Emily Collins being our leading runner once again and finishing fourth female. Emily was well-supported by Lucie Parker (V35 scorer on league debut), Claire Pluckrose (V45), Joanne Norrington, and Nicky Leatherbarrow (V55). That gave the club’s ladies a 30 point margin over Petts Wood Runners.
The men’s team was led home by Peter Hogben, who was third, with Simon Jones (first V40 scorer) coming 10th and Yiannis Christodoulou (second V40 scorer) coming 12th. Other scorers were Jamie Stokes, Peter Whall (on league debut), Greg Norman (V60), Fiouse Corbeil (first V50 scorer), and Colin Kent (second V50 scorer). There were quite a number of male finishers who did not score but finished ahead of the last scorer due to the age requirements: Ben Parmar, Matt Slark, Roddy McLachlan, Henry Cox, Matt Newman and Aron Hancock (making his league debut).
Other league debutants were Emily Nurden, Jamie McNabb and Aleisha Robinson.
There are photos from the race in the gallery.
49 Canterbury Harriers finished
| Ov Pos | Lg Pos | Runner | Age | Time | Score | Rtg | # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 3 | Peter Hogben | 31 | 30:01 | M1 | 99.49 | 24 |
| 10 | 10 | Simon Jones | 48 | 30:44 | V40:1 | 97.71 | 40 |
| 12 | 12 | Yiannis Christodoulou | 40 | 31:08 | V40:2 | 97.20 | 41 |
| 26 | 26 | Jamie Stokes | 37 | 32:32 | M2 | 93.64 | 5 |
| 41 | 41 | Peter Whall | 31 | 33:12 | M3 | 89.82 | Debut |
| 55 | 55 | Ben Parmar | 28 | 34:01 | NSBLS | 86.26 | 8 |
| 63 | 62 | Matt Slark | 34 | 34:32 | NSBLS | 84.48 | 18 |
| 67 | 65 | Roddy McLachlan | 45 | 34:41 | NSBLS | 83.72 | 11 |
| 75 | 4 | Emily Collins | 29 | 35:03 | F1 | 98.67 | 12 |
| 106 | 98 | Greg Norman | 62 | 36:33 | V60 | 75.32 | 11 |
| 123 | 111 | Henry Cox | 26 | 37:00 | NSBLS | 72.01 | 17 |
| 127 | 114 | Matt Newman | 37 | 37:14 | NSBLS | 71.25 | 6 |
| 133 | 118 | Fiouse Corbeil | 51 | 37:28 | V50:1 | 70.23 | 26 |
| 134 | 16 | Lucie Parker | 37 | 37:40 | V35 | 93.33 | Debut |
| 142 | 17 | Claire Pluckrose | 54 | 37:57 | V45 | 92.89 | 24 |
| 172 | 29 | Joanne Norrington | 40 | 38:50 | F2 | 87.56 | 58 |
| 174 | 31 | Nicky Leatherbarrow | 56 | 38:53 | V55 | 86.67 | 7 |
| 177 | 146 | Aron Hancock | 44 | 38:55 | NSBLS | 63.10 | Debut |
| 203 | 167 | Colin Kent | 58 | 39:52 | V50:2 | 57.76 | 68 |
| 246 | 203 | Adam Cowper-Smith | 64 | 41:04 | NS | 48.60 | 39 |
| 256 | 46 | Deb Parris | 55 | 41:15 | NS | 80.00 | 30 |
| 270 | 52 | Emily Nurden | 26 | 41:37 | NS | 77.33 | Debut |
| 292 | 234 | John Cooper | 64 | 42:28 | NS | 40.71 | 35 |
| 295 | 236 | Mark Wenman | 69 | 42:34 | NS | 40.20 | 99 |
| 303 | 240 | Gary Robertson | 61 | 42:49 | NS | 39.19 | 7 |
| 307 | 244 | Nathaniel Wells | 30 | 42:57 | NS | 38.17 | 9 |
| 337 | 263 | Paul Moore | 59 | 44:00 | NS | 33.33 | 8 |
| 339 | 75 | Sammy Black | 42 | 44:03 | NS | 67.11 | 10 |
| 366 | 85 | Hannah Wilding | 30 | 44:43 | NS | 62.67 | 15 |
| 395 | 301 | Jamie McNabb | 30 | 45:37 | NS | 23.66 | Debut |
| 403 | 306 | Joe Hicks | 70 | 46:00 | NS | 22.39 | 74 |
| 420 | 315 | Daren Parris | 55 | 46:51 | NS | 20.10 | 24 |
| 444 | 327 | Mick Ellsmore | 71 | 48:04 | NS | 17.05 | 3 |
| 461 | 129 | Jenni Van Deelen | 55 | 49:05 | NS | 43.11 | 31 |
| 464 | 132 | Liz Batty | 67 | 49:18 | NS | 41.78 | 2 |
| 480 | 342 | Steve Clark | 70 | 49:58 | NS | 13.23 | 133 |
| 491 | 347 | Tony Savage | 69 | 50:34 | NS | 11.96 | 55 |
| 503 | 354 | Steve Reynolds | 64 | 51:20 | NS | 10.18 | 104 |
| 505 | 150 | Emma Garcia-Solley | 32 | 51:28 | NS | 33.78 | 12 |
| 510 | 357 | Jon Vann | 67 | 51:38 | NS | 9.41 | 38 |
| 515 | 157 | Shirley Pullen | 59 | 51:51 | NS | 30.67 | 38 |
| 531 | 363 | Matthew Northover | 55 | 53:23 | NS | 7.89 | 30 |
| 532 | 364 | Geoff Burston | 74 | 53:24 | NS | 7.63 | 25 |
| 550 | 176 | Karen Hoult | 59 | 55:12 | NS | 22.22 | 31 |
| 556 | 182 | Jane Hadler | 58 | 55:36 | NS | 19.56 | 17 |
| 570 | 380 | Andy Farrant | 67 | 57:21 | NS | 3.56 | 80 |
| 583 | 200 | Tina Jones | 76 | 59:25 | NS | 11.56 | 55 |
| 601 | 389 | Roy Gooderson | 66 | 1:04:09 | NS | 1.27 | 82 |
| 610 | 218 | Aleisha Robinson | 25 | 1:08:12 | NS | 3.56 | Debut |
Full results are on the KFL site.
Robin Bell of Plumstead has produced the following videos of the race and interviews with the winners:
The next race is at Oxleas Wood in a week’s time on Sunday 19th November.
