Evening Harriers
On Saturday afternoon 29 Harriers (23 men & 6 women) took part in the Kent County Champs at Brands Hatch.
Despite the persistent monsoon conditions leading up to the event, the ground was surprisingly firm with no standing water or deep mud as expected. It was however, cold and breezy as usual due to the exposed nature of the site. These were the best conditions we’ve experienced at this event for some years and the gamble to not take the gazebo luckily paid off!
The course remained unchanged from previous years and consisted of 1 short lap on the flatter area at the top of the hill, followed by 2 (for women) or 3 (for men) undulating laps up and down the hillside, making a total of 8.35km or 12km respectively.
The Senior Men ran first with Alex Jeffries taking an early lead for the Harriers. Alex Holmes, Geoff Turner, Ken MacSporran, Robin Barwick and Benjamin Mills followed to make up the 6 to score. The 12 score was completed by Rob Winter, Richard Craig-McFeely, Andy Joad, Richard Quartermaine, George Harris and Hayden Thirkell.
The men finished 10th out of 13 in the 6 to score competition and 8th out of 8 in the 12 to score competition.
The Senior Women ran the last race of the day and were even treated to a brief glimpse of sunshine as they lined up at the start. Amelie Karlsson led the Harrier field followed closely by Emily Nash, finishing in 13th and 15th place respectively. Next Harrier was Ali Farrall making up the 3 to score. She was followed by Jillian Holford, Sue Cooper and Pat Salamanca to make up the 6 to score.
The women finished 7th out of 14 in the 3 to score and 5th out of 10 in the 6 to score.
The cake offerings afterwards were to the usual high standard although the cold weather meant we didn’t linger too long after the finish. A slightly smaller than usual contingent retired to the Five Bells in Eynsford for post race refreshments and re-warming.
Please find attached consolidated Harrier results. Photos from both races taken by Stuweb can be found here: https://stuweb.photohawk.com/
Kind regards
Simon & Jillian Holford
TWH XC Captains