KFL Cross Country #4 – Minnis Bay –
Muddy and wet but oh so fun, home leg Minnis Bay XC 4/7
Thank you to all the volunteers and marshals who work so hard to make the event so great. Special thanks to Julie Williams, Race Director, Andy Stevens, on the day race director (so Julie and Anna could run!) and Anna Harrison, Marshal co-ordinator.
After a break over the festive period, the Kent Fitness League resumed for 2025 with Minnis Bay: home territory for Thanet Roadrunners. Many of us look forward to this race. First and foremost, we don’t have to drive an hour down the motorway to get there. Secondly, the course is flat and (some would say) fun. Infamous for its waterlogged dykes, runners travel far and wide (across Kent…) to take it on. Quintessentially cross country, at Minnis there is an expectation that you will go home wet and muddy.
The course is one lap, heading out below the seawall towards Reculver, turning left inland for a stretch before running alongside the train tracks, hopping back and forth between grassy path and the outskirts of fields over dykes.
With clear but cold conditions for the marking of the route yesterday, runners welcomed reports that the dykes were relatively dry this year. However, overnight rain filled them up and made the muddy track even muddier. Last year, TRAC decided to reduce the number of dykes to 3 rather than 5 as there had been so much rainfall it was unsafe (refer to the photographs of Ade waist-high deep in brown water for evidence). This year, we were back to 5. Some people relished this – shoutout to the “mud man” who seemed to have bathed himself in it. Others were not so happy. The dykes can be found in the second half of the course.
At 6 miles, Minnis is the longest course in the KFL, so by the time they’ve reached the dykes, runners are pushing themselves beyond the normal distance of a cross country race. After the dykes, though, there is a relatively simple, straight route to the finish line. You can choose between pavement or grass for this, dependent on your choice of footwear. Compared to last year, it was warmer and less rainy this year. Nevertheless, it’s a tough one! Well done to the 451 runners who managed to complete the course this year!
Speaking of Ade and the muddy ditches! He decided to run the course this year, but still managed to have an eventful time! Enjoying a friendly rivalry with Oli, Ade made it first to the biggest of the ditches, only to get dragged back into the ditch by Oli as he was scrambling to get out and then face planted!
There was great representation from TRAC today with 32 runners from the team taking part.
The Men’s team was joined by Louis from our Juniors section who smashed the win coming 5th overall, closely followed by Alex (7th) and Lee (16th). In a fantastic team result, the Men’s team finished in 2nd place. With the Ladies team in 5th place this meant a combined team finish of 2nd overall – amazing! Brittany Crombie (11th) brought home the Ladies team, followed by Jo Kemp (25th) and Gemma Barnes (37th).
Fantastic support throughout the age categories means team TRAC is doing brilliantly this year. Well done to everyone – all runners count and help push down the scores of the other teams.
Also debuts for Mark Scholefield and Andrew Philpot – what a course to start with! Well done and hope to see you at some of the remaining fixtures.
|
Overall Position |
Gender Position |
Runner |
Time |
Rtg |
|
5 |
5 |
Louis Eldred |
38:05:00 |
98.68 |
|
7 |
7 |
Alex Dugard |
38:33:00 |
98.01 |
|
16 |
16 |
Lee Hardie |
39:45:00 |
95.03 |
|
26 |
26 |
Matt McCarthy |
40:45:00 |
91.72 |
|
27 |
27 |
Jude Wood |
40:47:00 |
91.39 |
|
37 |
37 |
Christopher Brenchley |
41:44:00 |
88.08 |
|
45 |
45 |
Jamie Hipgrave |
42:23:00 |
85.43 |
|
48 |
48 |
Matt Finch |
42:33:00 |
84.44 |
|
51 |
51 |
Adam Foster |
43:01:00 |
83.44 |
|
55 |
54 |
Philip Morton |
43:14:00 |
82.45 |
|
57 |
56 |
Alex Hoss |
43:17:00 |
81.79 |
|
96 |
89 |
Robbie Weatherley-Day |
46:08:00 |
70.86 |
|
97 |
90 |
Mark Croucher |
46:14:00 |
70.53 |
|
98 |
91 |
Chris Pascoe |
46:26:00 |
70.20 |
|
118 |
109 |
Chris Brown |
47:18:00 |
64.24 |
|
122 |
11 |
Brittany Crombie |
47:30:00 |
93.29 |
|
157 |
135 |
Mark Scholefield |
49:28:00 |
55.63 |
|
167 |
25 |
Joanne Kemp |
49:46:00 |
83.89 |
|
187 |
156 |
Mike James |
51:07:00 |
48.68 |
|
203 |
168 |
Andrew Philpott |
51:57:00 |
44.70 |
|
214 |
37 |
Gemma Barnes |
52:53:00 |
75.84 |
|
216 |
38 |
Joanne Holl |
53:03:00 |
75.17 |
|
247 |
47 |
Julie Williams |
54:24:00 |
69.13 |
|
285 |
224 |
Spencer Hoult |
56:38:00 |
26.16 |
|
303 |
67 |
Nicola Boyes |
58:01:00 |
55.70 |
|
313 |
242 |
Peter Heath |
58:39:00 |
20.20 |
|
345 |
260 |
Oliver Northrop |
01:01:04 |
14.24 |
|
355 |
263 |
Adrian Neaves |
01:01:55 |
13.25 |
|
356 |
93 |
Janet Morgan |
01:01:56 |
38.26 |
|
410 |
123 |
Elizabeth Brown |
01:10:13 |
18.12 |
|
429 |
131 |
Anna Harrison |
01:15:23 |
12.75 |
|
437 |
139 |
Alison Smith |
01:20:14 |
7.38 |
To see the full results, click on the following link:
https://kfl.canterburyharriers.org/
Thank you to everybody who took part. A special, bigger thank you to the marshalls who stood in along the course ensuring everyone got round safely. And thank you to those who volunteered to mark the course yesterday. A real team effort!
Next week runners will travel to Betteshanger for the 5th race of the league. You can put away your spikes for this one!