Weekly Update - 14th Jan. 2026

Kent County Cross Country Championships, Brands Hatch (Sat. 10th Jan.)

The club had a highly successful championships, securing seven medals in total - two individual golds, two team silvers, and three team bronzes plus third in the men's twelve to score team race.

All of our younger age groups were represented at this year's championships, reports Mark Newell. There were many standout performances both individually and team wise with two individual winners and four team medals.

Charlotte Foster and Ayotunde Danda (pictured) both won their respective under 15 races with different tactics. Charlotte lead from start to finish in her race to win comfortably by 23 seconds. Ayotunde used his tried and tested method of sitting in behind the lead group for the early part of the race. As things developed he found himself tracking the lead runner, with 400 metres to go, Ayotunde took the lead to claim gold in a sprint finish.

Charlotte was backed up by Lizzie Sanders (4th) and Sophie Floyd (16th) enabling the team to pick up team silver.

The under 13 boys also collected team silver, with star of the show Max Foster producing an outstanding run to cross the line in 5th place. Harry Baldwin (12th), Will Smith (17th) and Callum Pattyson (26th) completed the team.

Both of our under 17 teams secured team bronze. For the men Olly Cook finished a respectable 8th, followed by Daniel Whitehouse (13th), Thomas Ellis (24th) and Daniel O'Shea (29th). For the women Meredith Cummins was our first finisher in 6th place followed by Celia Yeatman (11th) and Violet Turner (16th).

Emer Tynan and Amelia Lawrence ran together for a large part of the under 20 women's race, Emer pulled away to finish in 4th, with Amelia 6th. David Poungui was our only representative in the under 20 men's event, finishing 14th.

The senior men buoyed by their achievement of a second place finish in the Kent League wondered whether they could repeat the feat at the Kent Championships, writes Clem Dixon. Not as easy as it sounds for two reasons: first, the better runners at some clubs don't bother with the League but show up for the championships; and second, Kent AC run in the Surrey League rather than the Kent League but still show up for the Kent Championships. It turned out that we didn't need to worry about the latter, in a season with a topsy turvy fixture list the Kent Championships clashed with a Surrey League race and Kent AC chose to concentrate on their League position. They get no sympathy from me, that club needs to work out which county they are in (and you would have thought that the clue is in the name).

Hugh Tibbs ran a well judged race to work through the field to be our first finisher in 7th. Next, having been beaten to the line by Danny Kendall in all four League races this season, Ben Shearer finally got his own back, our second finisher in 13th. And here is a niche stat for you: Ben's margin over Danny (16th) of 31 seconds was comfortably more than the total of all four of Danny's winning margins in the League. But perhaps Danny was just having a bad day as he was also beaten for the first time by Angus Vosper (14th). Whatever the details it was excellent packing and if the scoring basis had been for teams of four as it is in the League then we would have been second. But it is six to score in this one and our next two finishers, John O'Mahony (30th) and Dave Worden (35th) were adrift of Medway's 5 and 6 so we had to settle for the bronze medals. But remember, last year, when we were also third, was the first time that we had medalled in these championships for decades.

Ben Shearer - John O'Mahony - Dave Worden - Hugh Tibbs

We were third too in the twelve to score (although they don't present medals for that) Mark Penny having the honour of being our close-out man in 65th behind Gavin Hows, Brett Baker, Terry Stark, Ben Rew and James Pitts. In all 26 of us enjoyed our run, once again more than there were from any other club. Enjoyed? Well it must be admitted that the Brands Hatch venue is on the bleak side and although there was no rain this year the North wind had quite a bite to it, thanks to Mark Newell for bringing the tent and minibus which provided some respite. Rumours abound that a new and possibly less bleak venue is on the cards for next year, watch this space.

With nineteen senior women entered for the Kent Championships the club had the largest ladies’ entry of any competing club, reports Rose Baker. However, on the day, injury, illness, other commitments, and a few apparent changes of heart (or simple forgetfulness) meant that only ten hardy runners made it to the start line. Literally hardy too – the course is a series of fields at Brands Hatch.

Even so, we finished mid-pack in the “3 to score” competition and were one of only six clubs able to close a team in the “6 to score” competition. Our ladies were led home by Kacie Henson, the only non-veteran in the team. She was followed closely by Maggie Illingworth, Rose Baker, and Olesya Golovina running together, then Ceinwen Giles and Teresa Massey. Jo Barber, Emma Brown, Maria MacDonald, and Stephanie Dungate were close behind.

Both Maria and Stephanie completed a parkrun that morning – even though I broke my usual habit of running parkrun and volunteered instead. For some, the race was an opportunity to try out new shoes; for others, it was their first experience of the Kent Championships and of the wind on this exposed course. Running at Brands Hatch is always an achievement. Everyone finished smiling. Well done, ladies.

Winter Spine Challenger South | MRT 2026 (Sat. 10th Jan.)

The Winter Spine Challenger South is a non-stop, 108 mile race beginning in Edale in Derbyshire, runners have a time limit of 60 hours to get to the finish at Hawes, North Yorkshire.

The race covers the southern section of the Pennine Way which traverses the iconic moorland of the Kinder Plateau, numerous National Parks, Malham Cove and Pen-y-Ghent.

This is a notoriously difficult event with the full intensity and ferocity of the British Winter with deep snow, storm force winds and driving rain.

Christian Poulton completed the combined Open and Mountain Rescue Team race in 42:41:25, 30th out of 95 finishers (173 started).

SEAA Indoor U13/U15/U17 Championships, Lee Valley (Sat. 10th / Sun. 11th Jan.)

A number of the club’s juniors competed at Lee Valley over the weekend, producing several notable performances, reports Mick Bond.

Kendrick Onolememen was a clear winner in the Under 15 Boys’ shot put, throwing an impressive 15.69m. His training partner, Samir Plaha, finished fourth with a personal best of 13.32m.

Zavier Brathwaite had to work harder for his victory in the Under 17 Men’s 200m. After an easy first-round win, he faced a tough semi-final in which only the winner was guaranteed a place in the final. The final promised to be close, with all athletes having run between 22.7 and 22.9 seconds in the earlier rounds. Drawn in lane six, Zavier had to run “blind”, but despite this and a strong challenge down the home straight, he took gold with an indoor personal best of 22.59.

Elsewhere, Tess Hepple claimed bronze in the Under 17 Women’s 60m hurdles, while Maxwell Guezodje produced an excellent fourth-place finish in the Under 15 Boys’ 60m hurdles, setting a personal best of 9.06. Lizzie McKen had a busy weekend, competing in four events, with her strongest performance coming in the Under 17 triple jump, where she finished fourth with a personal best of 10.23m.