Saturday 10th Feb saw the final outing of the Kent Cross Country season at Sparrows Den. The conditions remained true to form for a cross country season with rain, mud, puddles, oh and the odd incline.
With a long wait since the last event back in November and an increased number of athletes marathon training the attendance was not at its peak for this event. Attacking the course this time round we had Elise Rendall and David Sampson, both competing in the maximum number of events this season with 4 out of 4 visits.
Elise was the first and only female to set off in the senior women’s 5k route and setting a very respectable time of 22:48, finishing 23rd. After 4 maximum events this gave Elise an overall position of 11th and accomplishing 5th overall in her age category.
David Sampson had to wait a further 30 minutes before competing allowing him time to assess the course whilst warming up. David took on the challenge with great form and came out the other side (after 3 laps of the hilly wooded area) and finished the 10k route in 44:08 with a position of 90th. Not the best in David’s book but not the easiest of courses either so hats off to you both. David finished the season off in 37th overall and also accomplished an age category position of 5th overall.
During this seasons events Paddock Wood had 11 senior males and 7 senior females compete. All of which helped acquire teams of 4 men to score on two occasions and 3 women to score also on two occasions. On one event we even managed to gather a team of 6 women to score. Based on these eligible teams the men finished in 21st position and the women finished in 18th.
Well done and thank you to everyone who took part and supported this season. Hopefully with the improved awareness we stand a chance of improving on these results in seasons to come.
Until such a time, happy running folks!
