Weekly Update - 26th Nov. 2025

Noel Carmody
2 hours ago
4 min read

Kent Masters Cross Country Championships, Dartford (Sat. 22nd Nov.)

Men: The last race of the day for 40-49 year old men made for good viewing for those of us that had already raced, writes Clem Dixon. It is four laps of a compact course which means that you can follow most of the action from a single vantage point. A year ago we won the team prize by a single point and hopes were again high; all four of last year's scorers were on the entry list as was Chris Loudon whose first year in his 40s has been an annus mirabilis. But things don't always go according to plan: Chris was ruled out with 'hip flexor tendinopathy' (you must have to pay quite a bit for a diagnosis with that many syllables) and so too was James Macdonald (no fancy diagnosis, we will just have to go with 'bad back'). Danny Kendall (No 305) and Ben Shearer (No 311) were both in an initial leading group of six which was gradually whittled down until the two of them were out on their own, Danny eventually taking the gold medal by four seconds from Ben in silver. All the more impressive considering that Danny is 47 and Ben 49. There was a typically gutsy run from John O'Mahony for 9th but then a big gap. On paper there is not much to choose between Gavin Hows and Peter Reynolds, it was Gavin who started the faster but Peter reeled him in to be our fourth scorer in 20th: team silver just two points behind Blackheath & Bromley.

There had been more success in the earlier M50 race, here too we had one entrant missing (Matthew Preston, calf) but there was a great performance from Anthony McGinty in his first season running cross country for the club, he was backed up well by Steve Cummins, David Reader and Russell Buchanan. Medway & Maidstone were easy winners but there was little to separate the next four clubs and it turned out that we had won the bronze medals.

A big factor in being successful as a runner is staying injury free, even more so as you get older. From my experience I am not convinced that injuries become more common with age, but they certainly take longer to recover from. Our over 60s team was missing Martin Hawkins (hip) and Graham Maynard (foot). It is three to score in this one and three is what we had, Martin Leat ran well for 13th but the team was way back in 7th. For the first time ever they were giving out team medals in the over 70 race and five clubs responded by fielding teams of three, sadly we were not one of them, we had just two: Mick Ellsmore (6th) and Peter Hadley (29th).

Women: Initially we had teams of at least three entered for age groups W45-54, W55-W64 and W65+, reports Rose Baker. On the day we couldn't close a W65 team but both Maria Macdonald and Stephanie Dungate ran well. Katie Sanders was our only W35-44 representative but very nearly came home with a individual medal, finishing 4th in her category. We had a strong W45 team, this tends to be the most competitive category in the championship, there were no medals but good teamwork with club members running together at various points (so much that we had to query a close finish between two of the team). Joanne Parke, Jo Barber, Emma Brown, Ceinwen Giles and Maggie Illingworth (in lovely club stripey socks) formed our W35 team. Despite some injury problems among regulars, we had a team of three in the W55 category, Rose Baker, Marian Hine and Angela Ford, and came away with a team bronze medal and an individual silver, again just missing out on a further medal as Marian was 4th. Overall, a successful day and showed the strength of the club.

Rose Baker - Angela Ford - Marian Hine

South of Thames 5 Mile Cross Country, Lloyd Park, Croydon (Sat. 22nd Nov.)

Whilst some of our older athletes were contesting the Kent Championships a number of our younger athletes travelled to Lloyd Park, Croydon for the South of the Thames 5 mile championship. Kyle Hurst was our first finisher in 17th, and together with Mattia Bernardi (23rd), James Pitts (50th) and Terry Stark (57th) finished 6th team. Stephanie Dann ran in the women's race.

Terry Stark - Stephanie Dann - James Pitts - Mattia Bernardi - Kyle Hurst

Manchester Cup 2025, Sport City, Manchester (Sat. 22nd Nov.)

Faith Assah and Shawana Umunna are both studying in Nottingham, writes Mick Bond, although at different universities. Both travelled to Manchester for the annual Manchester Cup Inter University indoor fixture and came away with the fastest 200m time of the day (Shawanna indoor PB of 26.03s), and the second fastest 60m time of the day (Faith 8.09s).

Torino City Marathon, Turin (ITA) (Sun. 23rd Nov.)

Hugh Tibbs reduced his marathon PB by over two minutes to 2:26:32, when finishing in an excellent 8th place in the Torino City Marathon on Sunday.

San Sebastian Marathon (ESP) (Sun. 23rd Nov.)

Mike Taylor squeezed under three hours by just three seconds in the San Sebastian Marathon. Sally Carr recorded 3:38:34.

Boscombe 10k, Boscombe, Dorset (Sun. 23rd Nov.)

Congratulations to Amelia Lawrence (U20) for her performance in the Boscombe 10k, reports Mark Newell. This was her debut running this distance and she achieved a very respectable time of 37:21 securing her 38th place of 573 finishers and more importantly, first female (out of 248).