Kentish Express Ashford & District
Latala leads the way at Brands Hatch
Athletics
Robert Latala was the leading local runner in the Kent Cross-Country Championships at Brands Hatch on Saturday.
The Ashford & District Road Running Club member finished 16th in a time of 41min 13sec, in a race won by John Gilbert, of Kent AC (38.34).
Ashford & District performed impressively in the team competition, up against some of the county’s more established clubs. They finished sixth out of 19 teams with the first 12 runners scoring and eighth out of 31 teams with the first six home to score.
Other Ashford & District finishers: Dan Green (MV40) 83rd (47.24), Trevor Kay 98th (48.19), Dean Bracken 114th (49.55), Scott Lynch (MV40) 116th (50.03), Paul Moses (MV50) 125th (51.11), Robin Butler (MV40) 135th (52.27), Richard Baker (MV40) 142nd (52.49), Anthony Brown 147th (52.54), Keith Haynes (VM40) 169th (55.41), Chris Boyce 171st (56.04), Darren Santer 185th (58.39) and Stu Nunn (MV40) 191st (60.09).
The two ladies representing the club both produced strong performances. Danyel Carter was 63rd out of 188 finishers (40.04), while Claire Green was 88th (43.30). The race was won by Lucy Reid, of Tonbridge AC (31.02).
Shane Dragwidge produced a gutsy performance in the under 20 men’s event, finishing 19th in a time of 27.10.
Meanwhile, Ashford AC’s Matthew Britton finished 43rd (44.00) in the main event
Clubmate Oliver Prior finished sixth in the under-17 race (22.16), while Marshall Smith was 14th in 23.07.
Gabbi Stannard (32.37) competed in the girls’ under-17 race.
Nathalie Kitchen was 35th (19.01) in the under-15s, two places ahead of Ciara Mackey (19.41).
Anna Hinson was 54th (15,29) in the under-13s.
At the latest Ashford parkrun, Robert Carpenter was first of Ashford & District RRC members home, finishing sixth in a time of 19.58.
He was followed by Mark Attenborough in 11th place in 21.09, Mark Cleworth in 27.31, Terry Sellen in 28.46, Julie Foster in 29.06 and Steve Hickman in 29.09.