We had a good turn out at the second Kent League fixture of the season, at least in terms of quantity if not quality. 18 of us were in the main field with a further 2 in the earlier over 70s race. Dean Lacy showed that his form is moving in the right direction as he finished in 4th place, only 20 seconds behind the winner (Invicta’s Abel Tsegay), but we had little to back him up, our next finisher being Dave Worden in 92nd, followed by Christian Poulton, running his first cross country of the season after marathon distractions, in 125th. Well done to new member Warren Mills, running his first cross country for the club, who completed the four to score team which finished a disappointing 14th.
Two week’s ago Dave Kitcher won the over 60 category by an astonishing 3 and a half minutes, the return to the team of two of our other leading M60s, Alan Black and Jerry Carnell, meant that he was not going to have it so easy this time but he produced another excellent performance to be our 5th finisher well over a minute in front of Alan his nearest M60 challenger.
A little further back was another new member, a big welcome to Pete Lukacs, also making a first appearance after his autumn marathon, there will surely be more to come from him once he gets that out of his legs.
Once again it was Luke Ford who had the honour of completing the 12 to score team which finished 7th.
In the earlier M70 race there was another 3rd place for Peter Hadley leaving him in 2nd place in the league table at the half way stage. There was also a typically gutsy run from Dave Tull for 5th place in a field of 12 in what has become an increasingly competitive race recently. As always a big thank you to Tonbridge AC, the course had been laid out immaculately and the slight changes to the route met with general approval. We could have done with a bit of mud, the ground being firmer this year than anyone could remember, better luck next time!