For the final Kent League XC race of the year, held on November 25th at Swanley park, the weather decided instead of thick mud and pouring rain, it was going to be freezing cold temperatures, rock solid ground and numb feet, with many athletes wrapped up in dry robes on the start line till the very last minute.
The well known course had some changes since last year, with a new field to run round twice and no 400 metre section around the lake. The relatively flat course allowed for some fast times and fantastic finishes over the 5k distance (although many believing it was longer).
In the U17 girls Blackheath and Bromley had: Megan Slattery 4th in a time of 19:56, leading her to overall victory for all 4 league races. Megan Barlow finished 6th u17 in a time of 20:28 and third overall placing in the 4 league races. Kyla Dervish finished 9th in a time of 21:04, Amber Cockburn finished 18th in a time of 22:50, Jessica Kelly finished 20th in a time of 23:13 Isla Pearson finished close behind in 21st with a time of 23:21.
Moving on to the u20 women: The 4 league races overall standings meant Carys Firth took the victory and finished 2nd U20w at Swanley in a time of 19:22, Olivia Magee-Brown finished in 7th U20w with a time of 20:37, Emily Debacker arrived from uni for her first Kent league of the year and finished 10th u20w with a time of 22:24. An amazing set of results from both age groups meant that the U17w took 2nd place over the 4 Kent league races as a team and the U20w took 1st!
– Olivia Magee-Brown
Speaking later to Megan Barlow (6th U17W) she said of the day: “Yesterday was the last Kent League of 2023 at Swanley Park, and was possibly my best run of the 4. I felt strong the whole way and had a fast finish, coming in at 20:28 and finishing 6th. This meant that over the 4 matches I came 3rd overall, so was awarded a bronze trophy. My overall finishing position also meant I got selected to rep Kent at the Oxford inter-counties on December 9th”
This was the final Kent XC League match for the young athletes and Paul Austridge kindly provided a full breakdown of an incredible set of results overall and for match 4. After the four race series BBHAC won team gold for the U13 boys, U15 boys, U15 girls, U17 girls and U20 women. We also placed second for the U13 girls and U17 boys. Unfortunately we had no team U20 men!
