Afternoon HarriersOn Saturday afternoon 18 Harriers (2 women and 16 men) took part in the SEAA Main XC Championships at Beckenham Place Park. This regional championship attracts runners from across the south of England and the standard of competition is extremely high.
Despite the dip in temperature, the sun was shining and, apart from a few muddy sections, the conditions underfoot were generally dry.
The Senior Women’s course consisted of a short start lap followed by 2 medium laps of undulating parkland. Although billed as 8km, many reported it as being slightly shorter. Due to illness and injury, the TWH team was unfortunately reduced to only 2 women, Ali Farrall and Sue Cooper, who were treated to the largest women’s field so far this season with 361 finishers completing the race.
The senior mens race, advertised as 15km, was also reported as being slightly shorter. Given that this is the longest course of the season nobody was complaning! The course consisted of an extended start lap followed by 2 long, undulating laps which covered most of the park.
James Kingston from Tonbridge AC stormed round the course in an impressive time of 42:50.
Alex Holmes led the Harrier field finishing 363rd overall in a time of 57:32. Ken Macsporran, Ben Mills, Robin Barwick, Mike King and Rob Winter followed to make up the 6-to-score team. TWH finished 45th out of 46 teams.
Despite being warned about a strictly enforced cut off time, all Harriers made it home safely in time.
We retired to the Jolly Woodman, our favourite pub in Beckenham, afterwards for post race refreshments.
Provisional consolidated results attached.
Kind regards
Simon and Jillian
TWH XC Captains