Photo – Purdey Hutchings winning the under 15 girls race at the Kent League
The Kent Cross Country League held its opening fixture of the season, on Saturday, at Footscray Meadows, near Sidcup, in warm, sunny conditions. The second fixture then follows on quickly, this coming Saturday, at The Schools at Somerhill, Tonbridge. Each fixture consists of eight races, with the league placings in each age group decided over the course of four fixtures, which will be completed before Christmas.
The senior races are held over courses around 8 kilometres long, although at Sidcup the consensus was that they were a fraction over this. The men’s race set off at a fast pace, set by Jack Shayler, from Blackheath and Bromley. Two small laps preceded two long laps, with Shayler pushing the pace until Ted and Jack Higgins, from Tonbridge started to pull away around halfway. Then, with about two kilometres remaining Ted Higgins picked the pace up further and pulled away from his brother to win in 25.07, 18 seconds clear, with Shayler 3rd in 26.02. A fast-finishing James Crombie from Tonbridge placed 3rd, with Harrison Fraser (7th) and Cameron Chambers (8th), also making the top ten. Tonbridge comfortably won the team events for 4 and 12 runners to score, from the 17 clubs competing.
Tonbridge had a second individual win, which came from Purdey Hutchings, in the under 15 girl’s event, held over four kilometres. Hutchings paced the race well and after a steady start won by three seconds in 15.14. Tonbridge were 2ndteam with Aimee Watts (12th) and Maya Ping (15th) the other scorers.
Blackheath and Bromley had the most winning teams, with four young athlete victories and the senior women’s competitions. However, Tonbridge did win the under 15 boys team contest through Joel Graffin (2nd), Ted Vallins (7th) and Ellis Hill (10th). The other team results saw Tonbridge 3rd in the under 13 girls, 4th in the under 13 boys, 3rd in the under 17 girls, 2nd in the under 17 men and 4th in the senior women.
From an individual point of view, the leading Tonbridge runners were former GB international Elle Baker (5th in the senior women’s race), Ewan Prendergast 3rd (under 17 men), Isla Murray 8th (under 17 women), Jess Hill 5th (under 13 girls) and Max Magee 11th (under 13 boys). Additionally, Sam Smialowski was 2nd and Florrie McIver-Hall 7th, as under 20s in their categories, run alongside the under 17s.
The league races on Saturday, at The Schools at Somerhill, start at noon, with the final race off at 3pm.