Davies sets the standard

Ashford & District RR

The cross-country season got under way at Swanley with a strong representation from Ashford & District RRC in the opening Kent League meeting.

Michael Davies provided the inspiration with first place in the V70 race, finishing more than one minute ahead of the next runner home.

The A&D ladies team was led home by Becks Macey in 19th place and third V35 lady. Chris Costiff finished 55th and first V55 lady, while Tracey Calnan was 59th.

This gave the ladies’ team ninth place in the three to score league.

Jill Crofton-Martin came in 85th followed by Gill O’Connor in 97th place and third in the V55 category.

She was followed home by Aurelie Morris 98th, Massah Cooper 99th and Claire Green 100th.

With Karine Puech 120th, Jacklyn Kay 125th and Lucy Johnstone 144th, A&D achieved eighth place in the six to score league.

Trevor Kay, returning to form, was the first finisher for A&D in the men’s race, in 71st place.

A superb 80th place for Lawrence Teeling, was an impressive introduction to the league and cross-country running.

With Jon Pearce 83rd, Dan Green 101st, Andrew Noble 105th and eighth V50, and Scott Lynch 112th and 11th V50, the foundations were laid for 12th place in the four to score league.

Paul Moses was 142nd, Tom Preece 151st, James Booth 157th, Keith Haynes 163rd, Paul Ridley 168th, Mark Harrison 175th, Mark Attenborough 177th, Adrian Moody 186th and Ricky Hickman 272nd – which meant a gutsy team performance was rewarded with sixth place in the 12 to score league.

A&D were well represented at the inaugural Temple Ewell 10k on Sunday. The multi-terrain and challenging course started at Kearsney Abbey and suited the Ashford runners.

Becks Macey followed up her crosscountry run with a fantastic first lady performance in a time of 47min 00sec. She was joined on the podium by Essen Larsen (50.57) in third place. Karine Peuch dug deep, complementing her run on Saturday, and was placed 26th lady with 57.30.

Maintaining his run of excellent results, Laurence Teeling was fifth in 41.20. Darren Flagg also had a great run, finishing 49th with a time of 50.18.

Phillip Bridges, putting together a string of first class races, finished in 57th with a time of 51.12.

Another of the cross-country team, Paul Ridley, competed in the hilly Maidstone Half Marathon and completed the course in a creditable time of 1hr 38min 03sec.

Keith Lynn took part in the Royal Parks Half Marathon in London.

On a busy weekend for the club’s half marathon runners, Lucy Johnstone travelled on from the cross country on Saturday to run the Oxford Half Marathon on Sunday, finishing in 2:18.36. She was joined in Oxford by Sarah Taylor (2:29.53), and Hugh Scarlin who ran 2:07.16, giving him a personal best time by a margin of nine minutes.