Grand Prix 2022/2023
Fixtures
Round |
Month |
Date and time |
Race |
Reports |
1 |
November |
5/11/2022 & 26/11/2022 (best time from either parkrun, you submit your time) |
Swanley Parkrun, Swanley Park, New Barn Rd, Swanley, BR8 7PW |
|
2 |
January |
22/01/2023 |
||
3 |
February RESCHEDULED from December |
12/02/2023 |
||
4 |
February |
19/02/2023 |
||
5 |
March |
26/03/2023 - 10:00am |
||
– |
April |
NO RACE |
London Marathon Month |
|
6 |
May |
01/05/2023 - 9:30am |
||
7 |
May |
14/05/2023 - 8:30am |
||
8 |
June |
11/06/2023 - 10:00am |
||
9 |
July |
16/07/2023 - 9:00am |
||
10 |
August |
5th, 12th, 19th, 26th - /08/2023 |
Any Parkrun anywhere (Submit your best time from any Parkrun) |
|
11 |
September |
24/09/2023 |
||
12 |
October |
01/10/2023 (TBC) |
Sittingbourne 10 miles |
Click here for Grand Prix groups and current positions.
For the full Grand Prix Competition Rules pdf Click here
Any questions, please message Kev or Nat on: [email protected] or [email protected]
For the full Grand Prix Competition Rules pdf Click here
Any questions, please message Kev or Nat on: [email protected] or [email protected]
RACE REPORTS
Round 1: swanley parkrun 5/11/22 & 26/11/22 (best time taken)
& ROUND 2: CANTERBURY 10 MILE 22/01/23
It’s back, and it promises to be a great season! The 2022-2023 Grand Prix is under way, with two of the twelve rounds having already taken place, and round 3 just around the corner.
Round 1 was a double header at Swanley parkrun in November, with competitors’ best times from either Saturday 5th or 26th giving them their classification. Anyone who marshalled instead of running was awarded 15 points (the equivalent of a 4th place finish). Round 2 was scheduled to be the KFL race at All Hallows on December 18th but, unfortunately, course conditions meant that it had to be rescheduled to February 12th. Therefore, the original round 3, the Canterbury 10 miler, on January 22nd became round 2! With me so far? Then, just to confuse matters even more, the groups in the Grand Prix are the reverse of those on a Tuesday night, with Group 1 being the quickest.
Group 1 (10 registered competitors)
Swanley: 1 Oliver Knowles (17:56), 2 Adam Wilkinson (18:11), 3 Kev Howarth (18:36), 4 Mark Philbrick (19:39), 5 Andy Tippet (19:57), 6 Andrew Robertson (20:09).
Canterbury: 1 Knowles (55:13), 2 Wilkinson (58:54), 3 Will Senbanjo (61:59), 4 Tippet (64:05), 5 Robertson (66:17).
There’s a new kid on the block and he’s fast! Last season’s champion Adam Wilkinson had to be content with the runner-up spot at both events (even though he was 48s quicker at Canterbury than in 2022) as Oliver Knowles beat him on both occasions.
The second date at Swanley produced the quickest results for Group 1 with Kev Howarth 3rd fastest, and Mark Philbrick (the only one in the group to run at both parkruns) improving his time by 12s in 4th. Andy Tippet was 5th from Andrew Robertson in 6th.
Behind the top two at Canterbury in 3rd was Will Senbanjo in his first ever GP event, from Tippet and Robertson. Howarth was at Canterbury but only as a supporter/photographer as he recovers from a long bout of illness since November.
Knowles (40 points) with his two victories obviously tops the points table. Wilkinson (36) leads Tippet (29), Robertson (27), and Howarth and Senbanjo tied in 5th on 16 points. Philbrick (15) is 7th, with Kev Chadwick, Mark Griffin and Simon Dobson yet to take part.
Group 2 (13 registered competitors)
Swanley: 1 Krish Gurunathan (21:04), 2 James Wall (21:42), 3 Natalie Southam (21:50), 4 David Moore (22:13), 5 David Groom (22:30), 6 Carl Inman (23:00).
Canterbury: 1 Emma Crawford (67:43), 2 Mark Franks (70:27), 3 Marcus Elwes (70:35), 4 David Groom (70:46), 5 James Winbourne (73:06), 6 Carl Inman (73:44).
Six Group 2s at both rounds but totally different competitors in the top three at each event. GP newcomer Kris Gurunathan was the pace-setter at Swanley, 38s clear of James Wall in 2nd, with another GP newbie Natalie Southam 3rd. David Moore who so nearly won Group 3 last season was 4th from David Groom and Carl Inman.
Emma Crawford dominated the second half of last year’s Group 3 championship and picked up the title. She had only finished 5th in class at Canterbury last year but an improvement this time around of four and a half minutes saw her take the win and finish comfortably clear of the rest. Mark Franks who had finished 2nd to Crawford in last season’s champs was 2nd over the 10 mile course, just edging out Marcus Elwes and Groom. James Winbourne was 5th from Inman 6th.
As the two race winners only competed at one of the rounds, the top two positions in the table are held by runners who took part in both events. Groom (29 points) leads Inman (26), with Gurunathan and Crawford tied for 3rd on 20 points apiece. Wall and Franks share 5th place on 18 points from Southam and Elwes on 16, Moore on 15 and Winbourne on 14. Daniel Selman, James Falshaw and Johnny Gill are yet to race.
Group 3 (15 registered competitors)
Swanley: 1 Paul Whelan (22:06), 2 Lucy Tippet (22:10), 3 Anna Hanbury (22:11), 4 Ian Bauly (22:42), 5 Stuart Ball (23:04), 6 Peter Fisher (23:24).
Canterbury: 1 Daniella Furneau (74:24), 2 Nigel May (74:53), 3 Mike Reeves (74:55), 4 Tippet (75:01), 5 Fisher (75:27), 6 John Kingscott (78:18).
As with Group 2, Group 3, with the largest number of registered competitors, 15, also had different competitors on the podium at the two rounds. Paul Whelan was fastest at Swanley and set his time on the first of the two weekends, as did everyone else in the top six. Lucy Tippet and Anna Hanbury were next quickest, all three covered by just 5 seconds! Ian Bauly, last season’s Group 3 champion Stuart Ball, and Peter Fisher completed the top six.
2021/22 Group 4 champion Daniella Furneau held off the seven others in her group at Canterbury. It was tight at the top, with Nigel May, Mike Reeves and Lucy Tippet all within a minute or so of the winner’s time. John Kingscott, having taken 7th place at Swanley, went one better at Canterbury to complete the top six.
Tippet’s 2nd and 4th places give her 33 points and a 6-point advantage at the top of the table over Bauly and Fisher tied in 2nd place on 27 points. Ball and Kingscott, 25 points apiece, are tied in 4th from the two race winners, Whelan and Furneau, in 6th equal on 20 points. May (18), Reeves (16) and Hanbury (16) complete the points scorers so far. Five Group 5s have yet to take part - Guy Sims, Jeremy Benson, Jon Dedman, Pauline Skerrett and Stuart Hatcher.
Group 4 (13 registered competitors)
Swanley: 1 Alice Neal (23:49), 2 Mark Burgess (23:52), 3 Ellen Ball (23:58), 4 Adam Waterman (24:16), 5 Steve Burnett (24:31), 6 Nat Jacques (25:25).
Canterbury: 1 Burnett (79:40), 2 Burgess (81:39), 3 Rachel Knowles (82:09), 4 Ball (82:45), Chloe Wilkinson (84:56).
Alice Neal was the quickest Group 4 at Swanley, 3s quicker on Guy Fawkes Day than the next quickest, Mark Burgess, who set his times two weeks later. Last season’s Group 5 runner-up Ellen Ball was only 6s slower, with Adam Waterman, 2021-22 Group 5 champion Steve Burnett and Nat Jacques completing the top six.
Burnett set the pace at Canterbury despite having too many layers for the conditions to take the win, with Burgess picking up another runner-up spot. Rachel Knowles improved from 8th at the first round to take 3rd place over the longer distance, from Ball and Chloe Wilkinson - making a welcome return to racing after her ankle fracture. There were no ill effects on the day and she was only just over 6 minutes slower than last year. Expect her to rise to the top as the series progresses.
Burgess’ two 2nd places puts him top of the table on 36 points from Burnett (34) and Ball (31). Wilkinson was one of a number of PWRs who volunteered at one of the Swanley parkruns that gives her 15 points if she doesn’t do 7 rounds. Combined with her 14 from Canterbury, that gives her 29 points and puts her in 4th overall from Knowles (27), Neal (20), Waterman (15), Jacques (13) and Paul Strachan (12). David Welfare, Louise Philbrick, Nat Juchau and Sam Gibbs are yet to take part.
Group 5 (14 registered competitors)
Swanley: 1 Laura Elvin (24:27), 2= Kerrie Donohue & Trevor Adams (24:43), 4 Robert Corbett (24:44), 5 Fiona Willis (25:10), 6 Nigel Hewson (25:36).
Canterbury: 1 Donohue (82:32), 2 Willis (83:36), 3 Hewson (85:11), 4 Edwina Cheng (85:47), 5 Lianne Flynn (86:57), 6 Corbett (90:01).
An excellent turnout of 10 Group 5s at Swanley were led home by Laura Elvin who was 16s ahead of two runners with the same time - Kerrie Donohue and Trevor Adams setting a 24:43 on the same day. Robert Corbett who ran 1s slower two weeks earlier was 4th quickest from Fiona Willis and Nigel Hewson.
Donohue, who only joined the club last year, led the way at Canterbury from Willis and Hewson. Edwina Cheng was 4th from Lianne Flynn and Corbett whose time wasn’t recorded by the organisers so had to resort to proving it using Strava! Adams was an interested spectator having broken a rib on the Tuesday night leading up to the event and sensibly deciding not to race.
A win and a 2nd place means Donohue (38 points) tops the table from Willis (33) and Hewson (29). Corbett’s endeavours at Canterbury were worthwhile as he lies 4th with 28 points from Flynn (23) and Swanley speedster Elvin (20). Adams (18), Cheng (15), Scott Haragan (12), Anthony Donohue (11) and last season’s Group 6 champion Jason Hone (10) complete the points scorers so far, with Amy Mulkerrins, Craig Ginn and Robert White yet to take part.
Group 6 (13 registered competitors)
Swanley: 1 Louis Strover (25:08), 2 Vassilis Sakizlis (26:15), 3 Ka Si Tung (26:35), 4 Hilary Morton (26:58), 5 Matt Sheehan (27:13), 6 Rob Sampson (27:17).
Canterbury: 1 Tung (85:12), 2 Strover (88:49), 3 Jennie Keetch (89:40), 4 Olivia Senbanjo (90:41), 5 Sakizlis (93:08), 6 Morton (94:54).
Louis Strover headed seven Group 6s who took in Swanley parkrun and was comfortably clear of 2nd-fastest Vassilis Sakizlis. Ka Si Tung was next quickest from last season’s Group 7 champion Hilary Morton, Matt Sheehan and Rob Sampson who had narrowly been defeated by Morton in last season’s title race.
Tung had won his group at the Canterbury round last year and he was even quicker this time out to make it consecutive victories over this 10 mile course. Strover finished 2nd to show he will be in the running whatever the distance, while Jennie Keetch was 3rd. Olivia Senbanjo was 4th quickest from Sakizlis and Morton.
The two round winners, Strover (38 points) and Tung (36), top the table, with Sakizlis (32) completing the top three. Morton (28) lies 4th from Keetch (16) and Senbanjo (15) to round off the top six, followed by Sheehan (14), Sampson (13) and Nick Squires and Andy Stubbs, both on 12 points.
Group 7 (14 registered competitors)
Swanley: 1 Andy Hall (26:30), 2 Viral Tanna (27:30), 3 David Allison (27:54), 4 Sally Callaghan (28:42), 5 Emma Horan (29:02), 6 Denise Eva (29:05).
Canterbury: 1 Amy Vistuer (92:20), 2 Chris Floridia (92:51), 3 Eva (94:16), 4 Janine Harris (94:36), 5 Micky Boyd (96:06), 6 Hall (96:24).
Andy Hall set the Group 7 pace at Swanley and was a minute quicker than Viral Tanna. Last season’s Group 8 champion David Allison was 3rd from Sally Callaghan, Emma Horan and Denise Eva.
An excellent turnout of nine raced at Canterbury with Amy Vistuer, who only became a member in November, beating Chris Floridia to the top spot by 30 seconds. Eva took 3rd from Janine Harris, Micky Boyd and Swanley victor Hall who finished just 2s quicker than birthday girl Callaghan.
Hall (33 points) leads the championship at this early stage from Eva (29), Callaghan (27) and Allison (26). Liz Delamain (23), Vistuer (20), Tanna and Floridia (18), Harris (15) and Horan and Boyd (14) complete the points scorers to date. Andrew Vadron, Catherine Crabtree and Lisa Barrett are yet to be seen.
Group 8 (11 registered competitors)
Swanley: 1 James Fisher (28:14), 2 Richard Dunstan (28:28), 3 Katie Garvey (28:59), 4 Julie Medhurst (29:57), 5 Rob Lillywhite (30:34), 6 Rachel Inman (30:40).
Canterbury: 1 Garvey (96:21), 2 Jennifer Kelly (96:45), 3 Dunstan (97:37), 4 Fisher (99:15), 5 Medhurst (100:17), 6 Inman (101:31).
James Fisher ran both Swanley legs, bettering his performance by 4s second time out to make sure of the Group 8 win. Either would have given him the win with Richard Dunstan 14s behind in 2nd. Katie Garvey was 3rd from Julie Medhurst, Rob Lillywhite and Rachel Inman.
The same six raced at Canterbury, with Jennifer Kelly joining them for the longer distance event. Garvey was the victor this time out with Kelly only 24s slower on chip times. Dunstan was 3rd from Fisher, Medhurst, Inman and Lillywhite.
It’s tight at the top in this class with Garvey (36) leading the way from Fisher (35) and Dunstan (34). Medhurst (29) is 4th from Lillywhite and Inman in 5th equal on 26 points. As the only one to have only contested one race, Kelly is on her own in 7th but will surely rise up the ranks once she takes in more rounds. Barrie Nightingale, Djuro Rnic, Eleanor Pinkerton and Oscar Engles are yet to participate.
Group 9 (11 registered competitors)
Swanley: 1 Biljana Petrushevska (29:32), 2 Terry Stocks (30:24), 3 Emma Sims (30:58), 4 Lou Stocks (31:04), 5 Alex Robins (31:52), 6= Prema Reddy & Gemma Worley (36:10).
Canterbury: 1 Terry Stocks (100:06), 2 Sims (101:30), 3 Chris Haydon (101:47), 4 Lou Stocks (101:51), 5 Robins (108:42).
Biljana Petrushevska was the only Group 9 to go sub 30 minutes for the Swanley parkrun and she headed Terry Stocks, last season’s champion Emma Simms, Lou Stocks, Corinne Hollamby, Alex Robins, and Prema Reddy and Gemma Worley who recorded identical times on November 5th.
Terry Stocks was quickest at the Canterbury 10 despite Sims going over 7 minutes quicker than she had in 2022. Chris Haydon making his season debut was 3rd from Lou Stocks and Robins.
A win and a 2nd place means Terry Stocks (38 points) leads the series from Sims (34) and Lou Stocks(30). Four Group 9s volunteered at Swanley so some of them may have points changes if they complete the seven rounds at which time their marshalling points are no longer taken into account. Robins has 29 points including 15 for marshalling as that was better than the 14 she got from coming 5th at Swanley, from Petrushevska (20), Haydon (16), Reddy and Pherenice Worsey-Buck on 15 points (marshaling points), Hollamby 14 and Worley 12. Jenny Waterman is the only Group 9 not to have raced in a GP round so far.
Group 10 (9 registered competitors)
Swanley: 1 Ann Adams (31:43), 2 Wendy Tung (32:31), 3 Paul Pester (32:52), 4 Barbara Carr (33:29).
Canterbury: 1 Lyttleton Barrett (110:46), 2 Adams (110:54), 3 Carr (112:02).
Four Group 10s contested one of the Swanley rounds, with Ann Adams fastest from last season’s Group 11 champion Wendy Tung, Paul Pester and Barbara Carr.
Although Lyttleton Barrett couldn’t reproduce his time from last year’s Canterbury event, he narrowly beat Adams by 8s over the 10 miles to open his account. Carr was the only other runner from their group and therefore finished 3rd but less than 2 minutes behind the top two.
Adams (38 points) has a comfortable lead in the series over 2nd-placed Carr (31). Barrett (20) is 3rd from Tung (18) and Pester (16). Egle Brerro, Perry Wilson, Peter Eves and Sophia Gale are yet to join in the competition.
Group 11 (8 registered competitors)
Swanley: 1 Sue McAdam (33:23), 2 Liz Squires (34:48).
Canterbury: No registered competitors ran.
Group 11 hasn’t really got going yet with only two competitors at Swanley and none taking on Canterbury. Sue McAdam, in her third parkrun at Swanley, came out on top over the 5k distance from first-timer Social Secretary Liz Squires.
McAdam leads the way with 20 points from Squires (18), but there is plenty of time left for Denise Duffus, Hannah Harrison, John Perks, Lisa O’Keefe, Sherry Bevan and Simon Parsons to get themselves into the mix.
Report: Mark Burgess
Photos: Lisa Hall & Kev Howarth
Round 3 is this coming weekend and should be a biggie! The rearranged All Hallows KFL fixture is now the last round in that championship with PWR in a great position to take the top honours. There should be a fantastic turnout as we all try to help the club to KFL team glory - and beat our Grand Prix rivals at the same time! See you there!
Round 1 was a double header at Swanley parkrun in November, with competitors’ best times from either Saturday 5th or 26th giving them their classification. Anyone who marshalled instead of running was awarded 15 points (the equivalent of a 4th place finish). Round 2 was scheduled to be the KFL race at All Hallows on December 18th but, unfortunately, course conditions meant that it had to be rescheduled to February 12th. Therefore, the original round 3, the Canterbury 10 miler, on January 22nd became round 2! With me so far? Then, just to confuse matters even more, the groups in the Grand Prix are the reverse of those on a Tuesday night, with Group 1 being the quickest.
Group 1 (10 registered competitors)
Swanley: 1 Oliver Knowles (17:56), 2 Adam Wilkinson (18:11), 3 Kev Howarth (18:36), 4 Mark Philbrick (19:39), 5 Andy Tippet (19:57), 6 Andrew Robertson (20:09).
Canterbury: 1 Knowles (55:13), 2 Wilkinson (58:54), 3 Will Senbanjo (61:59), 4 Tippet (64:05), 5 Robertson (66:17).
There’s a new kid on the block and he’s fast! Last season’s champion Adam Wilkinson had to be content with the runner-up spot at both events (even though he was 48s quicker at Canterbury than in 2022) as Oliver Knowles beat him on both occasions.
The second date at Swanley produced the quickest results for Group 1 with Kev Howarth 3rd fastest, and Mark Philbrick (the only one in the group to run at both parkruns) improving his time by 12s in 4th. Andy Tippet was 5th from Andrew Robertson in 6th.
Behind the top two at Canterbury in 3rd was Will Senbanjo in his first ever GP event, from Tippet and Robertson. Howarth was at Canterbury but only as a supporter/photographer as he recovers from a long bout of illness since November.
Knowles (40 points) with his two victories obviously tops the points table. Wilkinson (36) leads Tippet (29), Robertson (27), and Howarth and Senbanjo tied in 5th on 16 points. Philbrick (15) is 7th, with Kev Chadwick, Mark Griffin and Simon Dobson yet to take part.
Group 2 (13 registered competitors)
Swanley: 1 Krish Gurunathan (21:04), 2 James Wall (21:42), 3 Natalie Southam (21:50), 4 David Moore (22:13), 5 David Groom (22:30), 6 Carl Inman (23:00).
Canterbury: 1 Emma Crawford (67:43), 2 Mark Franks (70:27), 3 Marcus Elwes (70:35), 4 David Groom (70:46), 5 James Winbourne (73:06), 6 Carl Inman (73:44).
Six Group 2s at both rounds but totally different competitors in the top three at each event. GP newcomer Kris Gurunathan was the pace-setter at Swanley, 38s clear of James Wall in 2nd, with another GP newbie Natalie Southam 3rd. David Moore who so nearly won Group 3 last season was 4th from David Groom and Carl Inman.
Emma Crawford dominated the second half of last year’s Group 3 championship and picked up the title. She had only finished 5th in class at Canterbury last year but an improvement this time around of four and a half minutes saw her take the win and finish comfortably clear of the rest. Mark Franks who had finished 2nd to Crawford in last season’s champs was 2nd over the 10 mile course, just edging out Marcus Elwes and Groom. James Winbourne was 5th from Inman 6th.
As the two race winners only competed at one of the rounds, the top two positions in the table are held by runners who took part in both events. Groom (29 points) leads Inman (26), with Gurunathan and Crawford tied for 3rd on 20 points apiece. Wall and Franks share 5th place on 18 points from Southam and Elwes on 16, Moore on 15 and Winbourne on 14. Daniel Selman, James Falshaw and Johnny Gill are yet to race.
Group 3 (15 registered competitors)
Swanley: 1 Paul Whelan (22:06), 2 Lucy Tippet (22:10), 3 Anna Hanbury (22:11), 4 Ian Bauly (22:42), 5 Stuart Ball (23:04), 6 Peter Fisher (23:24).
Canterbury: 1 Daniella Furneau (74:24), 2 Nigel May (74:53), 3 Mike Reeves (74:55), 4 Tippet (75:01), 5 Fisher (75:27), 6 John Kingscott (78:18).
As with Group 2, Group 3, with the largest number of registered competitors, 15, also had different competitors on the podium at the two rounds. Paul Whelan was fastest at Swanley and set his time on the first of the two weekends, as did everyone else in the top six. Lucy Tippet and Anna Hanbury were next quickest, all three covered by just 5 seconds! Ian Bauly, last season’s Group 3 champion Stuart Ball, and Peter Fisher completed the top six.
2021/22 Group 4 champion Daniella Furneau held off the seven others in her group at Canterbury. It was tight at the top, with Nigel May, Mike Reeves and Lucy Tippet all within a minute or so of the winner’s time. John Kingscott, having taken 7th place at Swanley, went one better at Canterbury to complete the top six.
Tippet’s 2nd and 4th places give her 33 points and a 6-point advantage at the top of the table over Bauly and Fisher tied in 2nd place on 27 points. Ball and Kingscott, 25 points apiece, are tied in 4th from the two race winners, Whelan and Furneau, in 6th equal on 20 points. May (18), Reeves (16) and Hanbury (16) complete the points scorers so far. Five Group 5s have yet to take part - Guy Sims, Jeremy Benson, Jon Dedman, Pauline Skerrett and Stuart Hatcher.
Group 4 (13 registered competitors)
Swanley: 1 Alice Neal (23:49), 2 Mark Burgess (23:52), 3 Ellen Ball (23:58), 4 Adam Waterman (24:16), 5 Steve Burnett (24:31), 6 Nat Jacques (25:25).
Canterbury: 1 Burnett (79:40), 2 Burgess (81:39), 3 Rachel Knowles (82:09), 4 Ball (82:45), Chloe Wilkinson (84:56).
Alice Neal was the quickest Group 4 at Swanley, 3s quicker on Guy Fawkes Day than the next quickest, Mark Burgess, who set his times two weeks later. Last season’s Group 5 runner-up Ellen Ball was only 6s slower, with Adam Waterman, 2021-22 Group 5 champion Steve Burnett and Nat Jacques completing the top six.
Burnett set the pace at Canterbury despite having too many layers for the conditions to take the win, with Burgess picking up another runner-up spot. Rachel Knowles improved from 8th at the first round to take 3rd place over the longer distance, from Ball and Chloe Wilkinson - making a welcome return to racing after her ankle fracture. There were no ill effects on the day and she was only just over 6 minutes slower than last year. Expect her to rise to the top as the series progresses.
Burgess’ two 2nd places puts him top of the table on 36 points from Burnett (34) and Ball (31). Wilkinson was one of a number of PWRs who volunteered at one of the Swanley parkruns that gives her 15 points if she doesn’t do 7 rounds. Combined with her 14 from Canterbury, that gives her 29 points and puts her in 4th overall from Knowles (27), Neal (20), Waterman (15), Jacques (13) and Paul Strachan (12). David Welfare, Louise Philbrick, Nat Juchau and Sam Gibbs are yet to take part.
Group 5 (14 registered competitors)
Swanley: 1 Laura Elvin (24:27), 2= Kerrie Donohue & Trevor Adams (24:43), 4 Robert Corbett (24:44), 5 Fiona Willis (25:10), 6 Nigel Hewson (25:36).
Canterbury: 1 Donohue (82:32), 2 Willis (83:36), 3 Hewson (85:11), 4 Edwina Cheng (85:47), 5 Lianne Flynn (86:57), 6 Corbett (90:01).
An excellent turnout of 10 Group 5s at Swanley were led home by Laura Elvin who was 16s ahead of two runners with the same time - Kerrie Donohue and Trevor Adams setting a 24:43 on the same day. Robert Corbett who ran 1s slower two weeks earlier was 4th quickest from Fiona Willis and Nigel Hewson.
Donohue, who only joined the club last year, led the way at Canterbury from Willis and Hewson. Edwina Cheng was 4th from Lianne Flynn and Corbett whose time wasn’t recorded by the organisers so had to resort to proving it using Strava! Adams was an interested spectator having broken a rib on the Tuesday night leading up to the event and sensibly deciding not to race.
A win and a 2nd place means Donohue (38 points) tops the table from Willis (33) and Hewson (29). Corbett’s endeavours at Canterbury were worthwhile as he lies 4th with 28 points from Flynn (23) and Swanley speedster Elvin (20). Adams (18), Cheng (15), Scott Haragan (12), Anthony Donohue (11) and last season’s Group 6 champion Jason Hone (10) complete the points scorers so far, with Amy Mulkerrins, Craig Ginn and Robert White yet to take part.
Group 6 (13 registered competitors)
Swanley: 1 Louis Strover (25:08), 2 Vassilis Sakizlis (26:15), 3 Ka Si Tung (26:35), 4 Hilary Morton (26:58), 5 Matt Sheehan (27:13), 6 Rob Sampson (27:17).
Canterbury: 1 Tung (85:12), 2 Strover (88:49), 3 Jennie Keetch (89:40), 4 Olivia Senbanjo (90:41), 5 Sakizlis (93:08), 6 Morton (94:54).
Louis Strover headed seven Group 6s who took in Swanley parkrun and was comfortably clear of 2nd-fastest Vassilis Sakizlis. Ka Si Tung was next quickest from last season’s Group 7 champion Hilary Morton, Matt Sheehan and Rob Sampson who had narrowly been defeated by Morton in last season’s title race.
Tung had won his group at the Canterbury round last year and he was even quicker this time out to make it consecutive victories over this 10 mile course. Strover finished 2nd to show he will be in the running whatever the distance, while Jennie Keetch was 3rd. Olivia Senbanjo was 4th quickest from Sakizlis and Morton.
The two round winners, Strover (38 points) and Tung (36), top the table, with Sakizlis (32) completing the top three. Morton (28) lies 4th from Keetch (16) and Senbanjo (15) to round off the top six, followed by Sheehan (14), Sampson (13) and Nick Squires and Andy Stubbs, both on 12 points.
Group 7 (14 registered competitors)
Swanley: 1 Andy Hall (26:30), 2 Viral Tanna (27:30), 3 David Allison (27:54), 4 Sally Callaghan (28:42), 5 Emma Horan (29:02), 6 Denise Eva (29:05).
Canterbury: 1 Amy Vistuer (92:20), 2 Chris Floridia (92:51), 3 Eva (94:16), 4 Janine Harris (94:36), 5 Micky Boyd (96:06), 6 Hall (96:24).
Andy Hall set the Group 7 pace at Swanley and was a minute quicker than Viral Tanna. Last season’s Group 8 champion David Allison was 3rd from Sally Callaghan, Emma Horan and Denise Eva.
An excellent turnout of nine raced at Canterbury with Amy Vistuer, who only became a member in November, beating Chris Floridia to the top spot by 30 seconds. Eva took 3rd from Janine Harris, Micky Boyd and Swanley victor Hall who finished just 2s quicker than birthday girl Callaghan.
Hall (33 points) leads the championship at this early stage from Eva (29), Callaghan (27) and Allison (26). Liz Delamain (23), Vistuer (20), Tanna and Floridia (18), Harris (15) and Horan and Boyd (14) complete the points scorers to date. Andrew Vadron, Catherine Crabtree and Lisa Barrett are yet to be seen.
Group 8 (11 registered competitors)
Swanley: 1 James Fisher (28:14), 2 Richard Dunstan (28:28), 3 Katie Garvey (28:59), 4 Julie Medhurst (29:57), 5 Rob Lillywhite (30:34), 6 Rachel Inman (30:40).
Canterbury: 1 Garvey (96:21), 2 Jennifer Kelly (96:45), 3 Dunstan (97:37), 4 Fisher (99:15), 5 Medhurst (100:17), 6 Inman (101:31).
James Fisher ran both Swanley legs, bettering his performance by 4s second time out to make sure of the Group 8 win. Either would have given him the win with Richard Dunstan 14s behind in 2nd. Katie Garvey was 3rd from Julie Medhurst, Rob Lillywhite and Rachel Inman.
The same six raced at Canterbury, with Jennifer Kelly joining them for the longer distance event. Garvey was the victor this time out with Kelly only 24s slower on chip times. Dunstan was 3rd from Fisher, Medhurst, Inman and Lillywhite.
It’s tight at the top in this class with Garvey (36) leading the way from Fisher (35) and Dunstan (34). Medhurst (29) is 4th from Lillywhite and Inman in 5th equal on 26 points. As the only one to have only contested one race, Kelly is on her own in 7th but will surely rise up the ranks once she takes in more rounds. Barrie Nightingale, Djuro Rnic, Eleanor Pinkerton and Oscar Engles are yet to participate.
Group 9 (11 registered competitors)
Swanley: 1 Biljana Petrushevska (29:32), 2 Terry Stocks (30:24), 3 Emma Sims (30:58), 4 Lou Stocks (31:04), 5 Alex Robins (31:52), 6= Prema Reddy & Gemma Worley (36:10).
Canterbury: 1 Terry Stocks (100:06), 2 Sims (101:30), 3 Chris Haydon (101:47), 4 Lou Stocks (101:51), 5 Robins (108:42).
Biljana Petrushevska was the only Group 9 to go sub 30 minutes for the Swanley parkrun and she headed Terry Stocks, last season’s champion Emma Simms, Lou Stocks, Corinne Hollamby, Alex Robins, and Prema Reddy and Gemma Worley who recorded identical times on November 5th.
Terry Stocks was quickest at the Canterbury 10 despite Sims going over 7 minutes quicker than she had in 2022. Chris Haydon making his season debut was 3rd from Lou Stocks and Robins.
A win and a 2nd place means Terry Stocks (38 points) leads the series from Sims (34) and Lou Stocks(30). Four Group 9s volunteered at Swanley so some of them may have points changes if they complete the seven rounds at which time their marshalling points are no longer taken into account. Robins has 29 points including 15 for marshalling as that was better than the 14 she got from coming 5th at Swanley, from Petrushevska (20), Haydon (16), Reddy and Pherenice Worsey-Buck on 15 points (marshaling points), Hollamby 14 and Worley 12. Jenny Waterman is the only Group 9 not to have raced in a GP round so far.
Group 10 (9 registered competitors)
Swanley: 1 Ann Adams (31:43), 2 Wendy Tung (32:31), 3 Paul Pester (32:52), 4 Barbara Carr (33:29).
Canterbury: 1 Lyttleton Barrett (110:46), 2 Adams (110:54), 3 Carr (112:02).
Four Group 10s contested one of the Swanley rounds, with Ann Adams fastest from last season’s Group 11 champion Wendy Tung, Paul Pester and Barbara Carr.
Although Lyttleton Barrett couldn’t reproduce his time from last year’s Canterbury event, he narrowly beat Adams by 8s over the 10 miles to open his account. Carr was the only other runner from their group and therefore finished 3rd but less than 2 minutes behind the top two.
Adams (38 points) has a comfortable lead in the series over 2nd-placed Carr (31). Barrett (20) is 3rd from Tung (18) and Pester (16). Egle Brerro, Perry Wilson, Peter Eves and Sophia Gale are yet to join in the competition.
Group 11 (8 registered competitors)
Swanley: 1 Sue McAdam (33:23), 2 Liz Squires (34:48).
Canterbury: No registered competitors ran.
Group 11 hasn’t really got going yet with only two competitors at Swanley and none taking on Canterbury. Sue McAdam, in her third parkrun at Swanley, came out on top over the 5k distance from first-timer Social Secretary Liz Squires.
McAdam leads the way with 20 points from Squires (18), but there is plenty of time left for Denise Duffus, Hannah Harrison, John Perks, Lisa O’Keefe, Sherry Bevan and Simon Parsons to get themselves into the mix.
Report: Mark Burgess
Photos: Lisa Hall & Kev Howarth
Round 3 is this coming weekend and should be a biggie! The rearranged All Hallows KFL fixture is now the last round in that championship with PWR in a great position to take the top honours. There should be a fantastic turnout as we all try to help the club to KFL team glory - and beat our Grand Prix rivals at the same time! See you there!
Round 3: haven allhallows holiday park 12/02/23
Round 3 of the 2022-2023 Grand Prix series on February 12th was the postponed December KFL round at All Hallows Leisure Park near Rochester. As expected, there was a huge turnout of 82 PWRs helping the club successfully reatin the team championship title, of which 56 were registered for the Grand Prix. The tricky 9.3km (according to my watch) was two laps of a narrow course on and off the sandy/shingly beach and demanded full attention at all times.
Group 1 (10 registered competitors)
1 Oliver Knowles (34:35), 2 Adam Wilkinson (36:24), 3 Mark Griffin (38:13), 4 Kev Chadwick (38:53), 5 Kev Howarth (39:00).
Winner of the first two GP rounds, Oliver Knowles, was again in fine form and came in a superb 3rd overall. Adam Wilkinson had to again be content with the runner-up spot, while behind him were Mark Griffin and Kev Chadwick who were taking in their first GP event of the season. Kev Howarth was 5th, and the first PWR MV50, and immediately picked up his phone to photograph all those PWRs who finished behind him!
Knowles (60 points) leads the way in the championship with a perfect score, from Wilkinson (54), Howarth (30), up from 5th to 3rd, Andy Tippet (29) and Andrew Robertson (27). Griffin and Will Senbanjo are tied in 6th on 16 points, from Chadwick and Mark Philbrick in 8th equal on 15 points. Simon Dobson is the only Group 1 to have not yet made an appearance.
Group 2 (13 registered competitors)
1 James Wall (42:28), 2 Emma Crawford (43:28), 3 Daniel Selman (43:30), 4 Krish Gurunathan (44:13), 5 Marcus Elwes (44:22), 6 David Groom (45:35), 7 David Moore (46:50), 8 Jim Winbourne (47:02), 9 Carl Inman (47:34).
Group 2 had the best turnout with nine competitors, and it was James Wall that led them home and finishing a minute clear of Canterbury victor and first PWR V35 Emma Crawford. Daniel Selman was 3rd in his first GP outing this season from Swanley winner Krish Gurunathan. Marcus Elwes was 5th from David Groom who had led the championship coming into this event.
Groom retains the championship lead with 42 points, but just behind are two opponents who have each taken a win and a 2nd place and are looking very strong. Wall and Crawford both have 38 points and have only contested two rounds so far to Groom’s three. Inman (36) and Gurunathan (35) drop two places each to 4th and 5th respectively, while Elwes (30) moves from 8th to 6th. Behind him are Moore (27), Winbourne (25), Mark Franks (18),and Selman and Natalie Southam, both on 16 points. James Falshaw and Johnny Gill have yet to race.
Group 3 (15 registered competitors)
1 John Kingscott (46:20), 2 Nigel May (47:07), 3 Paul Whelan (47:45), 4 Daniella Furneau (48:17), 5 Peter Fisher (49:09), 6 Ian Bauly (49:51).
John Kingscott threw the form book out of the window with an excellent win at All Hallows. Having taken a 7th and a 6th at the opening two rounds, he finished 47s clear of Canterbury runner-up Nigel May. Swanley victor Paul Whelan was 3rd from Canterbury winner Daniella Furneau. Peter Fisher was 5th from Ian Bauly 6th.
Lucy Tippet led the championship coming into this round, but her no-show proved costly as she drops to 7th overall. The new leader is Kingscott (45 points) who jumps up from 5th in the standings. Fisher (41) is 2nd, just one point ahead of Bauly (40). Behind them it is all very close, with May and Whelan next up on 36 points, from Furneau (35). None of the remaining four series points scorers raced at this round, with Tippet (33) 7th from Stuart Ball (25), and Mike Reeves and Anna Hanbury, both with 16 points. Guy Sims, Jeremy Benson, Jon Dedman, Pauline Skerrett and Stuart Hatcher are registered but have not yet raced.
Group 4 (13 registered competitors)
1 Steve Burnett (51:25), 2 Alice Neal (51:28), 3 Mark Burgess (52:00), 4 Paul Strachan (52:47), 5 Natalie Jacques (53:43), 6 Rachel Knowles (54:36), 7 Adam Waterman (67:29).
Steve Burnett took his second victory of the campaign, having taken the honours at the previous round. Swanley winner Alice Neal looked like she was going to be first over the line but Burnett reeled her in and passed her in the last few hundred metres to beat her by 3 seconds. Mark Burgess, who had been beaten by them both at different rounds previously, again finished behind them, this time in 3rd overall. Paul Strachan was 4th from Nat Jacques and Rachel Knowles. Adam Waterman in his first GP race was well back in 7th but was obviously taking it easy and this performance was unrepresentative of his true speed.
Burnett (54 points) moves ahead of Burgess (52) to take over at the top of the table. Knowles is the only other Group 3 to have raced at all three rounds and she lies in 3rd with 40 points, from Neal (38) in 4th. Ellen Ball (31) and Chloe Wilkinson (29) neither of whom raced at All Hallows are next up, from a three way tie for 7th between Waterman, Strachan and Jacques, all on 27 points. We eagerly await the appearance of David Welfare, Louise Philbrick, Nat Juchau and Sam Gibbs.
Group 5 (14 registered competitors)
1 Jason Hone (50:12), 2 Nigel Hewson (50:59), 3 Fiona Willis (52:28), 4 Laura Elvin (53:34), 5 Edwina Cheng (53:46), 6 Robert Corbett (54:46).
After a poor Swanley performance, last season’s Group 6 champion Jason Hone was back up to speed at this round and took the win with his characteristic flying finish. Nigel Hewson was an excellent 2nd and the first PWR MV60 over the line to help the club secure its KFL title. Fiona Willis was 3rd from Swanley winner Laura Elvin, Edwina Cheng and Robert Corbett.
Willis (49 points) now leads the series from Hewson (47) and Corbett (41). Next up are the three round winners - Kerri Donohue (38), Elvin (35) and Hone (30). Cheng (29), Lianne Flynn (23), Trevor Adams (18), Scott Haragan (12) and Anthony Donohue (11) complete the points scorers so far. Amy Mulkerrins, Craig Ginn and Robert White are yet to register a start.
Group 6 (13 registered competitors)
1 Andrew Stubbs (54:44), 2 Louis Strover (54:48), 3 Lucy Tang (55:21), 4 Ka Si Tung (56:21), 5 Rob Sampson (62:01).
Andy Stubbs bounced back from a disappointing Canterbury round where he finished 7th to take this win by just 4 seconds from Swanley victor Louis Strover. Lucy Tang was 3rd in her first appearance in this season’s GP from Canterbury winner Ka Si Tung and Rob Sampson.
Strover (56 points) increases his lead over Tung (51) at the top of the table from 2 points to 5, while Stubbs (32) leaps up from 10th to join Vassilis Sakizlis in 3rd overall. Hilary Morton (28) in 5th is only one point ahead of Rob Sampson (27) in 6th. Then come five competitors all within 4 points of each other - Tang (16), Jennie Keetch (16), Olivia Senbanjo (15), Matt Sheehan (14) and Nick Squires (12). Charles Yates and Giovanni Figoni have not yet taken part.
Group 7 (14 registered competitors)
1 Chris Floridia (53:02), 2 Denise Eva (57:32), 3 David Allison (60:00), 4 Emma Horan (61:57), 5 Liz Delamain (64:22), 6 Micky Boyd (66:04), 7 Amy Vistuer (67:27), 8 Sally Callaghan (67:29).
Chris Floridia secured his first win of this season’s series and was over four minutes ahead of 2nd-placed Denise Eva, who in turn was clear of David Allison, last season’s Group 8 champion. Emma Horan was 4th from Liz Delamain and Micky Boyd. Canterbury winner Amy Vistuer and Sally Callaghan were next up, although, to put their KFL results into context, they had been two of the four marathon-training PWRs who had run the 11 miles from Petts Wood to get to the start!
Eva moves up a place in the championship and into the lead with 47 points. Allison (42) is now up to 2nd from 4th while Callaghan (38) now shares her 3rd place with Floridia (38). Delamain (37) is just one point behind, from former series leader Andy Hall (33) and Vistuer (32). Horan (29), Boyd (27), Viral Tanna (18) and Janine Harris (15) are the other points scorers, with Andrew Vadron, Catherine Crabtree and Lisa Barrett having not yet come under starter’s orders.
Group 8 (11 registered competitors)
1 Katie Garvey (60:04), 2 Rachel Inman (62:38), 3 Rob Lillywhite (72:36).
Just the three Group 8s at All Hallows, with Katie Garvey taking her second victory in a row. Rachel Inman was next up from another of those to have run to the event, Rob Lillywhite.
Garvey (56 points) has opened up a substantial 12-point advantage at the top of the leaderboard, while Inman (44) and Lillywhite (42) move up and onto the podium from 6th and 5th respectively. Swanley winner James Fisher (35), Richard Dunstan (34), Julie Medhurst (29) and Jennifer Kelly (18) complete the points scorers. Four Group 8s are yet to show - Barrie Nightingale, Djuro Rnic, Eleanor Pinkerton and Oscar Engles.
Group 9 (11 registered competitors)
1 Terry Stocks (61:47), 2 Lou Stocks (62:40), 3 Emma Sims (62:55), 4 Chris Haydon (63:18), 5 Jenny Waterman (63:59), 6 Alex Robins (68:32), 7 Biljana Petrushevska (69:02).
It was a 1-2 for the Stocks family in Group 9, with championship leader Terry taking the win from Lou in 2nd place who was less than a minute behind. Emma Sims secured her third top 3 finish, from Chris Haydon and Jenny Waterman making her season debut. Alex Robins and Swanley victor Biljana Petrushevska, the other marathon runner to run to the event, completed the points scorers.
Terry Stocks (58 points) leads the series from last season’s champion Sims (50) and Lou Stocks (48). Every registered competitor has now taken part in at least one round, with Robins (42), Petrushevska (32), Haydon (31), Prema Reddy (15), Pherenice Worsey-Buck (15), Waterman (14), Corinne Hollamby (14) and Gemma Worley (12) the order.
Group 10 (9 registered competitors)
1 Paul Pester (75:00).
Paul Pester was the only Group 10 to race and therefore picked up the 20 points on offer. Swanley winner Ann Adams (38 points) still leads the championship but Pester (36) has closed the gap to just 2 points. Barbara Carr (31), Canterbury victor Lyttleton Barrett (20) and last season’s champion Wendy Tung (18) complete the points scorers so far. We are yet to see Egle Brerro, Perry Wilson, Peter Eves and Sophia Gale.
Group 11 (8 registered competitors)
1 Sue McAdam (66:54)
Group 11 also only had one representative, with Sue McAdam taking her second win of this season’s series. McAdam (40 points) is well clear of the only other runner, Liz Squires (18), to have taken part. It would be great to see Denise Duffus, Hannah Harrison, John Perks, Lisa O’Keefe, Sherry Bevan and Simon Parsons before too long.
Report: Mark Burgess
Photos: Malcolm McKen & Kev Howarth
Group 1 (10 registered competitors)
1 Oliver Knowles (34:35), 2 Adam Wilkinson (36:24), 3 Mark Griffin (38:13), 4 Kev Chadwick (38:53), 5 Kev Howarth (39:00).
Winner of the first two GP rounds, Oliver Knowles, was again in fine form and came in a superb 3rd overall. Adam Wilkinson had to again be content with the runner-up spot, while behind him were Mark Griffin and Kev Chadwick who were taking in their first GP event of the season. Kev Howarth was 5th, and the first PWR MV50, and immediately picked up his phone to photograph all those PWRs who finished behind him!
Knowles (60 points) leads the way in the championship with a perfect score, from Wilkinson (54), Howarth (30), up from 5th to 3rd, Andy Tippet (29) and Andrew Robertson (27). Griffin and Will Senbanjo are tied in 6th on 16 points, from Chadwick and Mark Philbrick in 8th equal on 15 points. Simon Dobson is the only Group 1 to have not yet made an appearance.
Group 2 (13 registered competitors)
1 James Wall (42:28), 2 Emma Crawford (43:28), 3 Daniel Selman (43:30), 4 Krish Gurunathan (44:13), 5 Marcus Elwes (44:22), 6 David Groom (45:35), 7 David Moore (46:50), 8 Jim Winbourne (47:02), 9 Carl Inman (47:34).
Group 2 had the best turnout with nine competitors, and it was James Wall that led them home and finishing a minute clear of Canterbury victor and first PWR V35 Emma Crawford. Daniel Selman was 3rd in his first GP outing this season from Swanley winner Krish Gurunathan. Marcus Elwes was 5th from David Groom who had led the championship coming into this event.
Groom retains the championship lead with 42 points, but just behind are two opponents who have each taken a win and a 2nd place and are looking very strong. Wall and Crawford both have 38 points and have only contested two rounds so far to Groom’s three. Inman (36) and Gurunathan (35) drop two places each to 4th and 5th respectively, while Elwes (30) moves from 8th to 6th. Behind him are Moore (27), Winbourne (25), Mark Franks (18),and Selman and Natalie Southam, both on 16 points. James Falshaw and Johnny Gill have yet to race.
Group 3 (15 registered competitors)
1 John Kingscott (46:20), 2 Nigel May (47:07), 3 Paul Whelan (47:45), 4 Daniella Furneau (48:17), 5 Peter Fisher (49:09), 6 Ian Bauly (49:51).
John Kingscott threw the form book out of the window with an excellent win at All Hallows. Having taken a 7th and a 6th at the opening two rounds, he finished 47s clear of Canterbury runner-up Nigel May. Swanley victor Paul Whelan was 3rd from Canterbury winner Daniella Furneau. Peter Fisher was 5th from Ian Bauly 6th.
Lucy Tippet led the championship coming into this round, but her no-show proved costly as she drops to 7th overall. The new leader is Kingscott (45 points) who jumps up from 5th in the standings. Fisher (41) is 2nd, just one point ahead of Bauly (40). Behind them it is all very close, with May and Whelan next up on 36 points, from Furneau (35). None of the remaining four series points scorers raced at this round, with Tippet (33) 7th from Stuart Ball (25), and Mike Reeves and Anna Hanbury, both with 16 points. Guy Sims, Jeremy Benson, Jon Dedman, Pauline Skerrett and Stuart Hatcher are registered but have not yet raced.
Group 4 (13 registered competitors)
1 Steve Burnett (51:25), 2 Alice Neal (51:28), 3 Mark Burgess (52:00), 4 Paul Strachan (52:47), 5 Natalie Jacques (53:43), 6 Rachel Knowles (54:36), 7 Adam Waterman (67:29).
Steve Burnett took his second victory of the campaign, having taken the honours at the previous round. Swanley winner Alice Neal looked like she was going to be first over the line but Burnett reeled her in and passed her in the last few hundred metres to beat her by 3 seconds. Mark Burgess, who had been beaten by them both at different rounds previously, again finished behind them, this time in 3rd overall. Paul Strachan was 4th from Nat Jacques and Rachel Knowles. Adam Waterman in his first GP race was well back in 7th but was obviously taking it easy and this performance was unrepresentative of his true speed.
Burnett (54 points) moves ahead of Burgess (52) to take over at the top of the table. Knowles is the only other Group 3 to have raced at all three rounds and she lies in 3rd with 40 points, from Neal (38) in 4th. Ellen Ball (31) and Chloe Wilkinson (29) neither of whom raced at All Hallows are next up, from a three way tie for 7th between Waterman, Strachan and Jacques, all on 27 points. We eagerly await the appearance of David Welfare, Louise Philbrick, Nat Juchau and Sam Gibbs.
Group 5 (14 registered competitors)
1 Jason Hone (50:12), 2 Nigel Hewson (50:59), 3 Fiona Willis (52:28), 4 Laura Elvin (53:34), 5 Edwina Cheng (53:46), 6 Robert Corbett (54:46).
After a poor Swanley performance, last season’s Group 6 champion Jason Hone was back up to speed at this round and took the win with his characteristic flying finish. Nigel Hewson was an excellent 2nd and the first PWR MV60 over the line to help the club secure its KFL title. Fiona Willis was 3rd from Swanley winner Laura Elvin, Edwina Cheng and Robert Corbett.
Willis (49 points) now leads the series from Hewson (47) and Corbett (41). Next up are the three round winners - Kerri Donohue (38), Elvin (35) and Hone (30). Cheng (29), Lianne Flynn (23), Trevor Adams (18), Scott Haragan (12) and Anthony Donohue (11) complete the points scorers so far. Amy Mulkerrins, Craig Ginn and Robert White are yet to register a start.
Group 6 (13 registered competitors)
1 Andrew Stubbs (54:44), 2 Louis Strover (54:48), 3 Lucy Tang (55:21), 4 Ka Si Tung (56:21), 5 Rob Sampson (62:01).
Andy Stubbs bounced back from a disappointing Canterbury round where he finished 7th to take this win by just 4 seconds from Swanley victor Louis Strover. Lucy Tang was 3rd in her first appearance in this season’s GP from Canterbury winner Ka Si Tung and Rob Sampson.
Strover (56 points) increases his lead over Tung (51) at the top of the table from 2 points to 5, while Stubbs (32) leaps up from 10th to join Vassilis Sakizlis in 3rd overall. Hilary Morton (28) in 5th is only one point ahead of Rob Sampson (27) in 6th. Then come five competitors all within 4 points of each other - Tang (16), Jennie Keetch (16), Olivia Senbanjo (15), Matt Sheehan (14) and Nick Squires (12). Charles Yates and Giovanni Figoni have not yet taken part.
Group 7 (14 registered competitors)
1 Chris Floridia (53:02), 2 Denise Eva (57:32), 3 David Allison (60:00), 4 Emma Horan (61:57), 5 Liz Delamain (64:22), 6 Micky Boyd (66:04), 7 Amy Vistuer (67:27), 8 Sally Callaghan (67:29).
Chris Floridia secured his first win of this season’s series and was over four minutes ahead of 2nd-placed Denise Eva, who in turn was clear of David Allison, last season’s Group 8 champion. Emma Horan was 4th from Liz Delamain and Micky Boyd. Canterbury winner Amy Vistuer and Sally Callaghan were next up, although, to put their KFL results into context, they had been two of the four marathon-training PWRs who had run the 11 miles from Petts Wood to get to the start!
Eva moves up a place in the championship and into the lead with 47 points. Allison (42) is now up to 2nd from 4th while Callaghan (38) now shares her 3rd place with Floridia (38). Delamain (37) is just one point behind, from former series leader Andy Hall (33) and Vistuer (32). Horan (29), Boyd (27), Viral Tanna (18) and Janine Harris (15) are the other points scorers, with Andrew Vadron, Catherine Crabtree and Lisa Barrett having not yet come under starter’s orders.
Group 8 (11 registered competitors)
1 Katie Garvey (60:04), 2 Rachel Inman (62:38), 3 Rob Lillywhite (72:36).
Just the three Group 8s at All Hallows, with Katie Garvey taking her second victory in a row. Rachel Inman was next up from another of those to have run to the event, Rob Lillywhite.
Garvey (56 points) has opened up a substantial 12-point advantage at the top of the leaderboard, while Inman (44) and Lillywhite (42) move up and onto the podium from 6th and 5th respectively. Swanley winner James Fisher (35), Richard Dunstan (34), Julie Medhurst (29) and Jennifer Kelly (18) complete the points scorers. Four Group 8s are yet to show - Barrie Nightingale, Djuro Rnic, Eleanor Pinkerton and Oscar Engles.
Group 9 (11 registered competitors)
1 Terry Stocks (61:47), 2 Lou Stocks (62:40), 3 Emma Sims (62:55), 4 Chris Haydon (63:18), 5 Jenny Waterman (63:59), 6 Alex Robins (68:32), 7 Biljana Petrushevska (69:02).
It was a 1-2 for the Stocks family in Group 9, with championship leader Terry taking the win from Lou in 2nd place who was less than a minute behind. Emma Sims secured her third top 3 finish, from Chris Haydon and Jenny Waterman making her season debut. Alex Robins and Swanley victor Biljana Petrushevska, the other marathon runner to run to the event, completed the points scorers.
Terry Stocks (58 points) leads the series from last season’s champion Sims (50) and Lou Stocks (48). Every registered competitor has now taken part in at least one round, with Robins (42), Petrushevska (32), Haydon (31), Prema Reddy (15), Pherenice Worsey-Buck (15), Waterman (14), Corinne Hollamby (14) and Gemma Worley (12) the order.
Group 10 (9 registered competitors)
1 Paul Pester (75:00).
Paul Pester was the only Group 10 to race and therefore picked up the 20 points on offer. Swanley winner Ann Adams (38 points) still leads the championship but Pester (36) has closed the gap to just 2 points. Barbara Carr (31), Canterbury victor Lyttleton Barrett (20) and last season’s champion Wendy Tung (18) complete the points scorers so far. We are yet to see Egle Brerro, Perry Wilson, Peter Eves and Sophia Gale.
Group 11 (8 registered competitors)
1 Sue McAdam (66:54)
Group 11 also only had one representative, with Sue McAdam taking her second win of this season’s series. McAdam (40 points) is well clear of the only other runner, Liz Squires (18), to have taken part. It would be great to see Denise Duffus, Hannah Harrison, John Perks, Lisa O’Keefe, Sherry Bevan and Simon Parsons before too long.
Report: Mark Burgess
Photos: Malcolm McKen & Kev Howarth
Round 4: Tunbridge wells half marathon 19/02/23
Round 4 was the longest event in the 2022-2023 Grand Prix calendar, the Tunbridge Wells Half on February 19th. This was the 40th anniversary race and the organisers put on a great event in perfect weather conditions for the time of year. All 1500 places sold out in advance, with 1319 actually recording a finishing time. 50 Petts Wood raced with all but three entered in the GP.
Group 1 (10 registered competitors)
1 Andrew Robertson (1:32:36), 2 Andy Tippet (1:33:01)
There were only two Group 1s at this round but they were incredibly evenly matched. Andrew Robertson started 25s in front of Andy Tippet, and at the finish Robertson had five runners between himself and his rival and the same 25s!
The pair came into this round in 4th and 5th in the series, with Tippet ahead by two points. As Robertson scored two more points at this race, they now have the same points total and are tied in 3rd behind series leader Oliver Knowles, and 2nd-placed Adam Wilkinson who was on a city break in Poland.
Championship: 1 Oliver Knowles (60 points), 2 Adam Wilkinson (54), 3= Andrew Robertson & Andy Tippet (47), 5 Kev Howarth (30), 6= Mark Griffin & Will Senbanjo (16), 8= Kev Chadwick & Mark Philbrick (15), 10 Simon Dobson (0).
Group 2 (13 registered competitors)
1 Emma Crawford (1:29:42), 2 James Wall (1:33:12), 3 Mark Franks (1:35:25), 4 David Moore (1:36:42), 5 David Groom (1:36:53), 6 Krishna Gurunathan (1:37:59), 7 Carl Inman (1:38:17), 8 Marcus Elwes (1:47:42).
Group 2 had a much better turnout with eight competitors. Emma Crawford had had the legs over the rest at the other longer distance event to be held so far, the Canterbury 10 miler, and she was on top again here and indeed quicker than the two Group 1s and 2nd quickest in her age category.
Allhallows winner James Wall was next up from Mark Franks and David Moore. Championship leader David Groom was 5th from Swanley victor Krishna Gurunathan, Carl Inman and Marcus Elwes, who was unusually a bit off the pace.
Crawford leapfrogs Groom into the top spot in the championship, while Wall also moves up and now shares 2nd place with Groom, these two just two points behind the leader.
Championship: 1 Emma Crawford (58 points), 2= James Wall & David Groom (56), 4= Krishna Gurunathan & Carl Inman (48), 6 David Moore (42), 7 Marcus Elwes (41), 8 Mark Franks (34), 9 Jim Winbourne (25), 10= Daniel Selman & Natalie Southam (16), 12= James Falshaw & Johnny Gill (0).
Group 3 (15 registered competitors)
1 Lucy Tippet (1:40:44), 2 John Kingscott (1:40:51), 3 Nigel May (1:42:24), 4 Jeremy Benson (1:43:54).
Four Group 3s took on the challenge of Tunbridge Wells and it was Lucy Tippet that took the honours, just 7 seconds quicker than championship leader John Kingscott on chip times. Nigel May who had picked up 2nd places at the previous two rounds had to be content with 3rd, while Jeremy Benson in his first GP outing this season was 4th and just 90s further back.
Kingscott retains his lead in the series, but Tippet, after dropping from 1st to 7th at the last round as she did not race, is straight back up to 2nd place overall. May is up one place to 3rd and just a single point behind Tippet.
Championship: 1 John Kingscott (63), 2 Lucy Tippet (53), 3 Nigel May (52), 4 Peter Fisher (41), 5 Ian Bauly (40), 6 Paul Whelan (36), 7 Daniella Furneau (35), 8 Stuart Ball (25), 9= Mike Reeves & Anna Hanbury (16), 11 Jeremy Benson (15), 12= Guy Sims, Jon Dedman, Pauline Skerrett & Stuart Hatcher (0).
Group 4 (13 registered competitors)
1 Nathalie Juchau (1:42:30), 2 Alice Neal (1:46:16), 3 Steve Burnett (1:46:42), 4 Mark Burgess (1:54:08), 5 Paul Strachan (1:57:29).
Nathalie Juchau took time out from her busy “marathons practically every weekend” schedule to take in her first GP race of the season and won Group 4 by almost 4 minutes. Alice Neal had been beaten by Steve Burnett in the closing stages of the previous round, but returned the favour this time out now that she knew who she was racing. Mark Burgess and Paul Strachan came in 4th and 5th respectively.
Burnett extends his points advantage over Burgess at the top of the table by one point to three, while Neal and Strachan move ahead of Rachel Knowles into 3rd and 4th.
Championship: 1 Steve Burnett (70), 2 Mark Burgess (67), 3 Alice Neal (56), 4 Paul Strachan (41), 5 Rachel Knowles (40), 6 Ellen Ball (31), 7 Chloe Wilkinson (29), 8= Adam Waterman & Natalie Jacques (27), 10 Nathalie Juchau (20), 11= David Welfare, Louise Philbrick & Sam Gibbs (0).
Group 5 (14 registered competitors)
1 Jason Hone (1:42:15), 2 Nigel Hewson (1:52:02), 3 Robert Corbett (2:01:29), 4 Lianne Flynn (2:07:20).
Jason Hone destroyed the opposition at this round, his winning margin almost 10 minutes, and he was quicker than all the Group 4s and some of the Group 3s. In fact, the Group 5 runners were strung out at this round, with runner-up Nigel Hewson well clear of Robert Corbett in 3rd, who in turn was not under threat from Lianne Flynn.
Series leader Fiona Willis did not race and drops to 4th in the table behind new leader Hewson, Corbett and Hone, while Flynn rises from 8th to 5th.
Championship: 1 Nigel Hewson (65), 2 Robert Corbett (57), 3 Jason Hone (50), 4 Fiona Willis (49), 5= Lianne Flynn & Kerrie Donohue (38), 7 Laura Elvin (35), 8 Edwina Cheung (29), 9 Trevor Adams (18), 10 Scott Haragan (12), 11 Anthony Donohue (11), 12= Amy Mulkerrins, Craig Ginn & Robert White (0).
Group 6 (13 registered competitors)
1 Andrew Stubbs (1:56:14), 2 Lucy Tang (1:56:20), 3 Ka Si Tung (1:56:58), 4 Louis Strover (1:57:00), 5 Hilary Morton (2:07:27), 6 Jennie Keetch (2:07:56), 7 Vassilis Sakizlis (2:08:01).
The top four Group 6s were all within a minute of each other, with Andy Stubbs taking his second victory in a row. Lucy Tang was only 6s back, while Ka Si Tung was just 2s ahead of series leader Louis Strover in 3rd. The three other Group 6s were a bit further back but just as close, with Vasilis Sakizlis fresh from the ski slopes just behind Hilary Morton and Jennie Keetch in 7th.
Strover still heads Tung at the top of the table, but Stubbs is closing fast in 3rd. Sakizilis is 4th from Morton and Tang.
Championship: 1 Louis Strover (71), 2 Ka Si Tung (67), 3 Andrew Stubbs (52), 4 Vassilis Sakizlis (44), 5 Hilary Morton (42), 6 Lucy Tang (34), 7 Jennie Keetch (29), 8 Robert Sampson (27), 9 Olivia Senbanjo (15), 10 Matt Sheehan (14), 11 Nick Squires (12), 12= Charles Yates & Giovanni Figoni (0).
Group 7 (14 registered competitors)
1 Chris Floridia (1:57:17), 2 Amy Vistuer (2:02:15), 3 Janine Harris (2:06:50), 4 Sally Callaghan (2:14:24), 5 Micky Boyd (2:16:17).
Chris Floridia claimed the Group 7 win at Tunbridge Wells to replicate his victory at the previous round. Amy Vistuer was again rapid over the longer distances and followed up her Canterbury win with a 2nd place. Janine Harris was next up from Sally Callaghan and Micky Boyd.
Florida’s win catapults him from 3rd equal in the rankings up into the lead. Callaghan and Vistuer rise to the remaining podium places, while former series leader Denise Eva and 2nd-placed David Allison drop to 4th and 5th respectively.
Championship: 1 Chris Floridia (58 points), 2 Sally Callaghan (53), 3 Amy Vistuer (50), 4 Denise Eva (47), 5 David Allison (42), 6 Micky Boyd (41), 7 Liz Delamain (37), 8 Andy Hall (33), 9 Janine Harris (31), 10 Emma Horan (29), 11 Viral Tanna (18), 12= Andrew Vadron, Catherine Crabtree & Lisa Barrett (0).
Group 8 (11 registered competitors)
1 Richard Dunstan (2:05:02), 2 Katie Garvey (2:05:33), 3 James Fisher (2:10:39), 4 Rachel Inman (2:12:16), 5 Julie Medhurst (2:13:36), 6 Rob Lillywhite (2:14:32).
Fresh from Mexico (although I’m sure he will deny he was training at altitude), Richard Dunstan took the win and in the process captured the MV70 club record. Winner of the previous two rounds, Katie Garvey, was 2nd, from Swanley victor James Fisher, Rachel Inman, with her best result so far, Julie Medhurst and Rob Lillywhite.
Garvey increases her advantage at the top of the championship table from 12 points to 15, while Inman and Lillywhite retain their podium places. However, Dunstan and Fisher in 4th and 5th have edged closer to them.
Championship: 1 Katie Garvey (74 points), 2 Rachel Inman (59), 3 Rob Lillywhite (55), 4 Richard Dunstan (54), 5 James Fisher (51), 6 Julie Medhurst (43), 7 Jennifer Kelly (18), 8= Barrie Nightingale, Djuro Rnic, Eleanor Pinkerton & Oscar Engels (0).
Group 9 (11 registered competitors)
1 Terry Stocks (2:16:27), 2 Emma Sims (2:16:34), 3 Chris Haydon (2:17:56), 4 Lou Stocks (2:18:20).
It was all very close in Group 9, with all four runners covered by just over two minutes. Terry Stocks held off the close attentions of Emma Sims to take his third consecutive win, while Chris Haydon took 3rd from Lou Stocks.
Terry Stocks pulls another 2 points clear of Sims at the top of the table, while Haydon rises from 6th overall to 4th behind Lou Stocks.
Championship: 1 Terry Stocks (78 points), 2 Emma Sims (68), 3 Lou Stocks (63), 4 Chris Haydon (47), 5 Alex Robins (42), 6 Biljana Petrushevska (32), 7 = Prema Reddy & Pherenice Worsey-Buck (15), 9= Jenny Waterman & Corinne Hollamby (14), 11 Gemma Worley (12).
Group 10 (9 registered competitors)
1 Lyttleton Barrett (2:27:37).
For the second round in a row there was only a single Group 10 racing. This time it was Lyttleton Barrett who of course took the win to add to his victory at the Canterbury 10 miler where he had more competition.
Barrett moves up from 5th to lead the championship from Swanley victor Ann Adams who drops to 2nd. The rest of the table remains as was. If and when Barabara Carr ever returns from flag-planting at every Australian parkrun she possibly can then she may be able to offer some opposition.
Championship: 1 Lyttleton Barrett (40 points), 2 Ann Adams (38), 3 Paul Pester (36), 4 Barbara Carr (31), 5 Wendy Tung (31), 6= Egle Brerro, Perry Wilson, Peter Eves & Sophia Gale (0).
Group 11 (8 registered competitors)
1 Sue McAdam (2:32:01)
Sadly, Group 11 also only had one runner, with Sue McAdam claiming her third win of the campaign. Hopefully, with shorter distances coming up, she will face stiffer opposition.
Championship: 1 Sue McAdam (60 points), 2 Liz Squires (18), 3= Denise Duffus, Hannah Harrison, John Perks, Lisa O’Keefe, Sherry Bevan & Simon Parsons (0).
Report: Mark Burgess
Photos: Hudson Pictures (www.hudsonpictures.co.uk) and Wendy Tung
Next up is the Mel’s Milers 10k through the Sussex countryside around the stunning Christ’s Hospital School in Horsham. The event was a popular addition to the GP calendar last year, and entries for the 2023 edition are still open at https://www.theentrypoint.co.uk/events/mels-milers-nineteenth-multi-terrain-10k-Ewo3XeyRE4DLVW8
At the time of writing, 40 PWRs are on the entry list, and that doesn’t include Denise Eva who is obviously trying to increase her chances of doing well in Group 7 by entering twice! Why not come and join us?
Group 1 (10 registered competitors)
1 Andrew Robertson (1:32:36), 2 Andy Tippet (1:33:01)
There were only two Group 1s at this round but they were incredibly evenly matched. Andrew Robertson started 25s in front of Andy Tippet, and at the finish Robertson had five runners between himself and his rival and the same 25s!
The pair came into this round in 4th and 5th in the series, with Tippet ahead by two points. As Robertson scored two more points at this race, they now have the same points total and are tied in 3rd behind series leader Oliver Knowles, and 2nd-placed Adam Wilkinson who was on a city break in Poland.
Championship: 1 Oliver Knowles (60 points), 2 Adam Wilkinson (54), 3= Andrew Robertson & Andy Tippet (47), 5 Kev Howarth (30), 6= Mark Griffin & Will Senbanjo (16), 8= Kev Chadwick & Mark Philbrick (15), 10 Simon Dobson (0).
Group 2 (13 registered competitors)
1 Emma Crawford (1:29:42), 2 James Wall (1:33:12), 3 Mark Franks (1:35:25), 4 David Moore (1:36:42), 5 David Groom (1:36:53), 6 Krishna Gurunathan (1:37:59), 7 Carl Inman (1:38:17), 8 Marcus Elwes (1:47:42).
Group 2 had a much better turnout with eight competitors. Emma Crawford had had the legs over the rest at the other longer distance event to be held so far, the Canterbury 10 miler, and she was on top again here and indeed quicker than the two Group 1s and 2nd quickest in her age category.
Allhallows winner James Wall was next up from Mark Franks and David Moore. Championship leader David Groom was 5th from Swanley victor Krishna Gurunathan, Carl Inman and Marcus Elwes, who was unusually a bit off the pace.
Crawford leapfrogs Groom into the top spot in the championship, while Wall also moves up and now shares 2nd place with Groom, these two just two points behind the leader.
Championship: 1 Emma Crawford (58 points), 2= James Wall & David Groom (56), 4= Krishna Gurunathan & Carl Inman (48), 6 David Moore (42), 7 Marcus Elwes (41), 8 Mark Franks (34), 9 Jim Winbourne (25), 10= Daniel Selman & Natalie Southam (16), 12= James Falshaw & Johnny Gill (0).
Group 3 (15 registered competitors)
1 Lucy Tippet (1:40:44), 2 John Kingscott (1:40:51), 3 Nigel May (1:42:24), 4 Jeremy Benson (1:43:54).
Four Group 3s took on the challenge of Tunbridge Wells and it was Lucy Tippet that took the honours, just 7 seconds quicker than championship leader John Kingscott on chip times. Nigel May who had picked up 2nd places at the previous two rounds had to be content with 3rd, while Jeremy Benson in his first GP outing this season was 4th and just 90s further back.
Kingscott retains his lead in the series, but Tippet, after dropping from 1st to 7th at the last round as she did not race, is straight back up to 2nd place overall. May is up one place to 3rd and just a single point behind Tippet.
Championship: 1 John Kingscott (63), 2 Lucy Tippet (53), 3 Nigel May (52), 4 Peter Fisher (41), 5 Ian Bauly (40), 6 Paul Whelan (36), 7 Daniella Furneau (35), 8 Stuart Ball (25), 9= Mike Reeves & Anna Hanbury (16), 11 Jeremy Benson (15), 12= Guy Sims, Jon Dedman, Pauline Skerrett & Stuart Hatcher (0).
Group 4 (13 registered competitors)
1 Nathalie Juchau (1:42:30), 2 Alice Neal (1:46:16), 3 Steve Burnett (1:46:42), 4 Mark Burgess (1:54:08), 5 Paul Strachan (1:57:29).
Nathalie Juchau took time out from her busy “marathons practically every weekend” schedule to take in her first GP race of the season and won Group 4 by almost 4 minutes. Alice Neal had been beaten by Steve Burnett in the closing stages of the previous round, but returned the favour this time out now that she knew who she was racing. Mark Burgess and Paul Strachan came in 4th and 5th respectively.
Burnett extends his points advantage over Burgess at the top of the table by one point to three, while Neal and Strachan move ahead of Rachel Knowles into 3rd and 4th.
Championship: 1 Steve Burnett (70), 2 Mark Burgess (67), 3 Alice Neal (56), 4 Paul Strachan (41), 5 Rachel Knowles (40), 6 Ellen Ball (31), 7 Chloe Wilkinson (29), 8= Adam Waterman & Natalie Jacques (27), 10 Nathalie Juchau (20), 11= David Welfare, Louise Philbrick & Sam Gibbs (0).
Group 5 (14 registered competitors)
1 Jason Hone (1:42:15), 2 Nigel Hewson (1:52:02), 3 Robert Corbett (2:01:29), 4 Lianne Flynn (2:07:20).
Jason Hone destroyed the opposition at this round, his winning margin almost 10 minutes, and he was quicker than all the Group 4s and some of the Group 3s. In fact, the Group 5 runners were strung out at this round, with runner-up Nigel Hewson well clear of Robert Corbett in 3rd, who in turn was not under threat from Lianne Flynn.
Series leader Fiona Willis did not race and drops to 4th in the table behind new leader Hewson, Corbett and Hone, while Flynn rises from 8th to 5th.
Championship: 1 Nigel Hewson (65), 2 Robert Corbett (57), 3 Jason Hone (50), 4 Fiona Willis (49), 5= Lianne Flynn & Kerrie Donohue (38), 7 Laura Elvin (35), 8 Edwina Cheung (29), 9 Trevor Adams (18), 10 Scott Haragan (12), 11 Anthony Donohue (11), 12= Amy Mulkerrins, Craig Ginn & Robert White (0).
Group 6 (13 registered competitors)
1 Andrew Stubbs (1:56:14), 2 Lucy Tang (1:56:20), 3 Ka Si Tung (1:56:58), 4 Louis Strover (1:57:00), 5 Hilary Morton (2:07:27), 6 Jennie Keetch (2:07:56), 7 Vassilis Sakizlis (2:08:01).
The top four Group 6s were all within a minute of each other, with Andy Stubbs taking his second victory in a row. Lucy Tang was only 6s back, while Ka Si Tung was just 2s ahead of series leader Louis Strover in 3rd. The three other Group 6s were a bit further back but just as close, with Vasilis Sakizlis fresh from the ski slopes just behind Hilary Morton and Jennie Keetch in 7th.
Strover still heads Tung at the top of the table, but Stubbs is closing fast in 3rd. Sakizilis is 4th from Morton and Tang.
Championship: 1 Louis Strover (71), 2 Ka Si Tung (67), 3 Andrew Stubbs (52), 4 Vassilis Sakizlis (44), 5 Hilary Morton (42), 6 Lucy Tang (34), 7 Jennie Keetch (29), 8 Robert Sampson (27), 9 Olivia Senbanjo (15), 10 Matt Sheehan (14), 11 Nick Squires (12), 12= Charles Yates & Giovanni Figoni (0).
Group 7 (14 registered competitors)
1 Chris Floridia (1:57:17), 2 Amy Vistuer (2:02:15), 3 Janine Harris (2:06:50), 4 Sally Callaghan (2:14:24), 5 Micky Boyd (2:16:17).
Chris Floridia claimed the Group 7 win at Tunbridge Wells to replicate his victory at the previous round. Amy Vistuer was again rapid over the longer distances and followed up her Canterbury win with a 2nd place. Janine Harris was next up from Sally Callaghan and Micky Boyd.
Florida’s win catapults him from 3rd equal in the rankings up into the lead. Callaghan and Vistuer rise to the remaining podium places, while former series leader Denise Eva and 2nd-placed David Allison drop to 4th and 5th respectively.
Championship: 1 Chris Floridia (58 points), 2 Sally Callaghan (53), 3 Amy Vistuer (50), 4 Denise Eva (47), 5 David Allison (42), 6 Micky Boyd (41), 7 Liz Delamain (37), 8 Andy Hall (33), 9 Janine Harris (31), 10 Emma Horan (29), 11 Viral Tanna (18), 12= Andrew Vadron, Catherine Crabtree & Lisa Barrett (0).
Group 8 (11 registered competitors)
1 Richard Dunstan (2:05:02), 2 Katie Garvey (2:05:33), 3 James Fisher (2:10:39), 4 Rachel Inman (2:12:16), 5 Julie Medhurst (2:13:36), 6 Rob Lillywhite (2:14:32).
Fresh from Mexico (although I’m sure he will deny he was training at altitude), Richard Dunstan took the win and in the process captured the MV70 club record. Winner of the previous two rounds, Katie Garvey, was 2nd, from Swanley victor James Fisher, Rachel Inman, with her best result so far, Julie Medhurst and Rob Lillywhite.
Garvey increases her advantage at the top of the championship table from 12 points to 15, while Inman and Lillywhite retain their podium places. However, Dunstan and Fisher in 4th and 5th have edged closer to them.
Championship: 1 Katie Garvey (74 points), 2 Rachel Inman (59), 3 Rob Lillywhite (55), 4 Richard Dunstan (54), 5 James Fisher (51), 6 Julie Medhurst (43), 7 Jennifer Kelly (18), 8= Barrie Nightingale, Djuro Rnic, Eleanor Pinkerton & Oscar Engels (0).
Group 9 (11 registered competitors)
1 Terry Stocks (2:16:27), 2 Emma Sims (2:16:34), 3 Chris Haydon (2:17:56), 4 Lou Stocks (2:18:20).
It was all very close in Group 9, with all four runners covered by just over two minutes. Terry Stocks held off the close attentions of Emma Sims to take his third consecutive win, while Chris Haydon took 3rd from Lou Stocks.
Terry Stocks pulls another 2 points clear of Sims at the top of the table, while Haydon rises from 6th overall to 4th behind Lou Stocks.
Championship: 1 Terry Stocks (78 points), 2 Emma Sims (68), 3 Lou Stocks (63), 4 Chris Haydon (47), 5 Alex Robins (42), 6 Biljana Petrushevska (32), 7 = Prema Reddy & Pherenice Worsey-Buck (15), 9= Jenny Waterman & Corinne Hollamby (14), 11 Gemma Worley (12).
Group 10 (9 registered competitors)
1 Lyttleton Barrett (2:27:37).
For the second round in a row there was only a single Group 10 racing. This time it was Lyttleton Barrett who of course took the win to add to his victory at the Canterbury 10 miler where he had more competition.
Barrett moves up from 5th to lead the championship from Swanley victor Ann Adams who drops to 2nd. The rest of the table remains as was. If and when Barabara Carr ever returns from flag-planting at every Australian parkrun she possibly can then she may be able to offer some opposition.
Championship: 1 Lyttleton Barrett (40 points), 2 Ann Adams (38), 3 Paul Pester (36), 4 Barbara Carr (31), 5 Wendy Tung (31), 6= Egle Brerro, Perry Wilson, Peter Eves & Sophia Gale (0).
Group 11 (8 registered competitors)
1 Sue McAdam (2:32:01)
Sadly, Group 11 also only had one runner, with Sue McAdam claiming her third win of the campaign. Hopefully, with shorter distances coming up, she will face stiffer opposition.
Championship: 1 Sue McAdam (60 points), 2 Liz Squires (18), 3= Denise Duffus, Hannah Harrison, John Perks, Lisa O’Keefe, Sherry Bevan & Simon Parsons (0).
Report: Mark Burgess
Photos: Hudson Pictures (www.hudsonpictures.co.uk) and Wendy Tung
Next up is the Mel’s Milers 10k through the Sussex countryside around the stunning Christ’s Hospital School in Horsham. The event was a popular addition to the GP calendar last year, and entries for the 2023 edition are still open at https://www.theentrypoint.co.uk/events/mels-milers-nineteenth-multi-terrain-10k-Ewo3XeyRE4DLVW8
At the time of writing, 40 PWRs are on the entry list, and that doesn’t include Denise Eva who is obviously trying to increase her chances of doing well in Group 7 by entering twice! Why not come and join us?
Round 5: mel's milers 10k 26/03/23
Round 5 of this season’s PWR Grand Prix was the Mel’s Milers 10k at the beautiful Christ’s Hospital School in Horsham, West Sussex. Last year the event was blessed with glorious sunshine - fast forward a year to March 26th 2023 and it was very different with miserable weather on the way down and loads of standing water, both on the journey and on the course. Thankfully, the organisers and marshals did their best to lift the mood. 39 PWRs took part with all but two entered in the GP.
Group 1 (10 registered competitors)
1 Kev Howarth (40:00).
Sadly, only Kev Howarth took part in Group 1 and duly picked up the win. Although over 3 minutes slower than in 2022 where he was 3rd overall, he again picked up an award - this time for being the first MV50.
Howarth’s win lifts him to 3rd in the series, with the first five having all taken part in three events. Oliver Knowles still leads from Adam Wilkinson, Howarth, Andrew Robertson and Andy Tippet.
Championship: 1 Oliver Knowles (60 points), 2 Adam Wilkinson (54), 3 Kev Howarth (50), 4= Andrew Robertson & Andy Tippet (47), 6= Mark Griffin & Will Senbanjo (16), 8= Kev Chadwick & Mark Philbrick (15), 10 Simon Dobson (0).
Group 2 (13 registered competitors)
1 James Wall (43:01), 2 David Groom (43:25), 3 David Moore (45:18).
Group 2’s series leader Emma Crawford was on her hen night the night before so, unsurprisingly, didn’t make the trip. A few other PWR ladies were also absent who were pictured at the previous evening’s shenanigans. In Crawford’s absence, it was her two main championship rivals who took full advantage to boost their scores. James Wall took his second win of this season’s series by just 24s from David Groom who he had been tied with on points coming into the round. David Moore was 3rd.
Wall now has a narrow lead in the championship over Groom, with Crawford dropping from 1st to 3rd which she shares with Moore, although she has contested one round less.
Championship: 1 James Wall (76 points), 2 David Groom (74), 3= Emma Crawford & David Moore (58), 5= Krishna Gurunathan & Carl Inman (48), 7 Marcus Elwes (41), 8 Mark Franks (34), 9 Jim Winbourne (25), 10= Daniel Selman & Natalie Southam (16), 12= James Falshaw & Johnny Gill (0).
Group 3 (15 registered competitors)
1 John Kingscott (43:38), 2 Paul Whelan (44:38), 3 Stuart Ball (48:36).
Series leader John Kingscott was joined at this round by Swanley parkrun victor Paul Whelan and last season’s champion Stuart Ball. Kingscott took the win, his second this season, by exactly one minute from Whelan, with Ball a little further back in 3rd.
Kingscott has a healthy lead in the championship having of course done well, but also as he has contested all 5 rounds while those behind him have been less frequent attenders and have only raced at 3 events or less. Whelan, Lucy Tippet and Nigel May are closest and are separated by just two points.
Championship: 1 John Kingscott (83 points), 2 Paul Whelan (54), 3 Lucy Tippet (53), 4 Nigel May (52), 5= Peter Fisher & Stuart Ball (41), 7 Ian Bauly (40), 8 Daniella Furneau (35), 9= Mike Reeves & Anna Hanbury (16), 11 Jeremy Benson (15), 12= Guy Sims, Jon Dedman, Pauline Skerrett & Stuart Hatcher (0).
Group 4 (13 registered competitors)
1 Sam Gibbs (43:34), 2 Nathalie Juchau (47:40), 3 Mark Burgess (48:22), 4 Steve Burnett (49:09), 5 Alice Neal (51:16), 6 David Welfare (53:30).
Nathalie Juchau had upset the Group 4 order last time out by winning the Tunbridge Wells Half in her first GP appearance of the season. At the Mels’ event it was the turn of Sam Gibbs to appear from nowhere and he blitzed the opposition, winning by over 4 minutes. Juchau was 2nd this time out from Mark Burgess who managed to keep Steve Burnett and Alice Neal, winners of the first three rounds, behind him on this occasion. It was good to see David Welfare make his season debut and contribute to Group 4 having the equal largest entry at the event.
It remains tight at the top of the table with Burnett 2 points clear of Burgess in 2nd, these two the only ones to have contested all the fixtures so far held. Neal is 3rd but has raced at one round less.
Championship: 1 Steve Burnett (85 points), 2 Mark Burgess (83), 3 Alice Neal (70), 4 Paul Strachan (41), 5 Rachel Knowles (40), 6 Nathalie Juchau (38), 7 Ellen Ball (31), 8 Chloe Wilkinson (29), 9= Adam Waterman & Natalie Jacques (27), 11 Sam Gibbs (20), 12 David Welfare (13), 13 Louise Philbrick (0).
Group 5 (14 registered competitors)
1 Jason Hone (45:50), 2 Kerrie Donohue (49:45), 3 Nigel Hewson (50:21), 4 Trevor Adams (52:19), 5 Anthony Donohue (52:25).
Having been the last of the points scorers at the opening round, Jason Hone has been the person to beat in Group 5 ever since - winning all the other rounds he has contested. At this event he was almost 4 minutes clear of Canterbury 10 miler victor Kerri Donohue. Series leader Nigel Hewson was unable to pick Donohue off but finished well clear of Trevor Adams, making a welcome return to the series, and another Donohue, Anthony.
Hewson’s advantage at the top of the table is now 11 points but with Hone closing rapidly and now 2nd overall having deposed Robert Corbett who is just one point ahead of Kerri Donohue.
Championship: 1 Nigel Hewson (81 points), 2 Jason Hone (70), 3 Robert Corbett (57), 4 Kerrie Donohue (56), 5 Fiona Willis (49), 6 Lianne Flynn (38), 7 Laura Elvin (35), 8 Trevor Adams (33), 9 Edwina Cheung (29), 10 Anthony Donohue (25), 11 Scott Haragan (12), 12= Amy Mulkerrins, Craig Ginn & Robert White (0).
Group 6 (13 registered competitors)
1 Andrew Stubbs (49:38), 2 Hilary Morton (54:37), 3 Jennie Keetch (56:21), 4 Nick Squires (57:34).
Just as Hone has been dominant in Group 5 after a poor opener, so has Andy Stubbs been in Group 6. Last at the Canterbury 10 miler, he has since won every round and, this time, he was almost 5 minutes clear of the rest of the field. Hilary Morton, last season’s Group 7 champion, was 2nd - her best result so far. Jennie Keetch was 3rd from Nick Squires.
Stubbs leapfrogs from 3rd to lead the points table, just one point ahead of Louis Strover, with Ka Si Tung and Morton in 3rd and 4th respectively.
Championship: 1 Andrew Stubbs (72 points), 2 Louis Strover (71), 3 Ka Si Tung (67), 4 Hilary Morton (60), 5 Jennie Keetch (45), 6 Vassilis Sakizlis (44), 7 Lucy Tang (34), 8 Robert Sampson & Nick Squires (27), 10 Olivia Senbanjo (15), 11 Matt Sheehan (14), 12= Charles Yates & Giovanni Figoni (0).
Group 7 (14 registered competitors)
1 Chris Floridia (52:33), 2 Andy Hall (53:16), 3 Amy Vistuer (55:30), 4 Denise Eva (55:56), 5 Viral Tanna (57:16), 6 Janine Harris (57:54).
Group 7 had a good turnout of six runners with Chris Floridia claiming another victory to make it three in a row. Having won the season opener at Swanley, not much has been seen since of Andy Hall, however he was back out at this round and was comfortably clear of the rest in 2nd place. Canterbury victor Amy Vistuer was next up from Denise Eva, Viral Tanna and Janine Harris.
Florida’s advantage at the top of the championship table is now up to 12 points over 2nd-placed Vistuer. Eva and Sally Callaghan fill the next two places, with the top four all having contested 4 rounds.
Championship: 1 Chris Floridia (78 points), 2 Amy Vistuer (66), 3 Denise Eva (62), 4 Sally Callaghan (53), 5 Andy Hall (53), 6 Janine Harris (44), 7 David Allison (42), 8 Micky Boyd (41), 9 Liz Delamain (37), 10 Viral Tanna (32), 11 Emma Horan (29), 12= Andrew Vadron, Catherine Crabtree & Lisa Barrett (0).
Group 8 (11 registered competitors)
1 Jennifer Kelly (55:44), 2 Richard Dunstan (58:18), 3 Katie Garvey (58:52).
Three Group 8s had contested the Canterbury 10 miler earlier in the year and the same three did battle once more at this round. This time it was Jennifer Kelly who secured the win in only her second appearance this season, from Tunbridge Wells victor Richard Dunstan and series leader Katie Garvey.
Garvey has once again increased her advantage at the top of the table and is now 18 points clear of 2nd-place. Dunstan now fills that position from Rachel Inman and Rob Lillywhite.
Championship: 1 Katie Garvey (90 points), 2 Richard Dunstan (72), 3 Rachel Inman (59), 4 Rob Lillywhite (55), 5 James Fisher (51), 6 Julie Medhurst (43), 7 Jennifer Kelly (38), 8= Barrie Nightingale, Djuro Rnic, Eleanor Pinkerton & Oscar Engels (0).
Group 9 (11 registered competitors)
1 Terry Stocks (59:14), 2 Lou Stocks (61:01), 3 Chris Haydon (62:27), 4 Alex Robins (66:12).
Four Group 9s lined up for this round and, although he never dominates, it was once again Terry Stocks who was victorious, his fourth win from five. Making it a family 1-2 was Lou Stocks in 2nd, from Chris Haydon 3rd and Alex Robins 4th.
Terry Stocks is 17 points clear in the title race, with Lou now up to 2nd. Last year’s Group 9 champion Emma Sims drops one place to 3rd overall.
Championship: 1 Terry Stocks (98 points), 2 Lou Stocks (81), 3 Emma Sims (68), 4 Chris Haydon (63), 5 Alex Robins (57), 6 Biljana Petrushevska (32), 7 = Prema Reddy & Pherenice Worsey-Buck (15), 9= Jenny Waterman & Corinne Hollamby (14), 11 Gemma Worley (12).
Group 10 (9 registered competitors)
1 Ann Adams (66:57).
Unfortunately, neither Group 10 or 11 are getting the entries and, for the third race running, there was just a single competitor in each class. This time it was Ann Adams representing Group 10 and taking the victory to add to her win at the opening round where she had faced more competition.
Adams now leads the championship with her two wins and a 2nd place, from double winner Lyttleton Barrett and KFL victor Paul Pester.
Championship: 1 Ann Adams (58 points), 2 Lyttleton Barrett (40), 3 Paul Pester (36), 4 Barbara Carr (31), 5 Wendy Tung (31), 6= Egle Brerro, Perry Wilson, Peter Eves & Sophia Gale (0).
Group 11 (8 registered competitors)
1 Liz Squires (74:13).
Liz Squires was the only Group 11 and was encouraged to the line by husband Nick and Ann Adams. She now has 38 points to Sue McAdam’s 60 - these two the only in this group to have so far raced.
Championship: 1 Sue McAdam (60 points), 2 Liz Squires (38), 3= Denise Duffus, Hannah Harrison, John Perks, Lisa O’Keefe, Sherry Bevan & Simon Parsons (0).
Report: Mark Burgess
Photos: Nigel Hewson and Kev Howarth
Round 6 of the GP is the Ted Pepper Memorial 10k on Bank Holiday Monday May 1st at 9.30am. There are only 450 entries available for this popular annual event which is run on the trails around Norman Park and starts and finishes on the athletics track. In case of interest the current course record holders are Andrew Rayner (34:32) and Clare Elms (39:12)!
Enter now whether you are contesting the GP or not!: https://www.nice-work.org.uk/races/TedPepper10k/2023
Group 1 (10 registered competitors)
1 Kev Howarth (40:00).
Sadly, only Kev Howarth took part in Group 1 and duly picked up the win. Although over 3 minutes slower than in 2022 where he was 3rd overall, he again picked up an award - this time for being the first MV50.
Howarth’s win lifts him to 3rd in the series, with the first five having all taken part in three events. Oliver Knowles still leads from Adam Wilkinson, Howarth, Andrew Robertson and Andy Tippet.
Championship: 1 Oliver Knowles (60 points), 2 Adam Wilkinson (54), 3 Kev Howarth (50), 4= Andrew Robertson & Andy Tippet (47), 6= Mark Griffin & Will Senbanjo (16), 8= Kev Chadwick & Mark Philbrick (15), 10 Simon Dobson (0).
Group 2 (13 registered competitors)
1 James Wall (43:01), 2 David Groom (43:25), 3 David Moore (45:18).
Group 2’s series leader Emma Crawford was on her hen night the night before so, unsurprisingly, didn’t make the trip. A few other PWR ladies were also absent who were pictured at the previous evening’s shenanigans. In Crawford’s absence, it was her two main championship rivals who took full advantage to boost their scores. James Wall took his second win of this season’s series by just 24s from David Groom who he had been tied with on points coming into the round. David Moore was 3rd.
Wall now has a narrow lead in the championship over Groom, with Crawford dropping from 1st to 3rd which she shares with Moore, although she has contested one round less.
Championship: 1 James Wall (76 points), 2 David Groom (74), 3= Emma Crawford & David Moore (58), 5= Krishna Gurunathan & Carl Inman (48), 7 Marcus Elwes (41), 8 Mark Franks (34), 9 Jim Winbourne (25), 10= Daniel Selman & Natalie Southam (16), 12= James Falshaw & Johnny Gill (0).
Group 3 (15 registered competitors)
1 John Kingscott (43:38), 2 Paul Whelan (44:38), 3 Stuart Ball (48:36).
Series leader John Kingscott was joined at this round by Swanley parkrun victor Paul Whelan and last season’s champion Stuart Ball. Kingscott took the win, his second this season, by exactly one minute from Whelan, with Ball a little further back in 3rd.
Kingscott has a healthy lead in the championship having of course done well, but also as he has contested all 5 rounds while those behind him have been less frequent attenders and have only raced at 3 events or less. Whelan, Lucy Tippet and Nigel May are closest and are separated by just two points.
Championship: 1 John Kingscott (83 points), 2 Paul Whelan (54), 3 Lucy Tippet (53), 4 Nigel May (52), 5= Peter Fisher & Stuart Ball (41), 7 Ian Bauly (40), 8 Daniella Furneau (35), 9= Mike Reeves & Anna Hanbury (16), 11 Jeremy Benson (15), 12= Guy Sims, Jon Dedman, Pauline Skerrett & Stuart Hatcher (0).
Group 4 (13 registered competitors)
1 Sam Gibbs (43:34), 2 Nathalie Juchau (47:40), 3 Mark Burgess (48:22), 4 Steve Burnett (49:09), 5 Alice Neal (51:16), 6 David Welfare (53:30).
Nathalie Juchau had upset the Group 4 order last time out by winning the Tunbridge Wells Half in her first GP appearance of the season. At the Mels’ event it was the turn of Sam Gibbs to appear from nowhere and he blitzed the opposition, winning by over 4 minutes. Juchau was 2nd this time out from Mark Burgess who managed to keep Steve Burnett and Alice Neal, winners of the first three rounds, behind him on this occasion. It was good to see David Welfare make his season debut and contribute to Group 4 having the equal largest entry at the event.
It remains tight at the top of the table with Burnett 2 points clear of Burgess in 2nd, these two the only ones to have contested all the fixtures so far held. Neal is 3rd but has raced at one round less.
Championship: 1 Steve Burnett (85 points), 2 Mark Burgess (83), 3 Alice Neal (70), 4 Paul Strachan (41), 5 Rachel Knowles (40), 6 Nathalie Juchau (38), 7 Ellen Ball (31), 8 Chloe Wilkinson (29), 9= Adam Waterman & Natalie Jacques (27), 11 Sam Gibbs (20), 12 David Welfare (13), 13 Louise Philbrick (0).
Group 5 (14 registered competitors)
1 Jason Hone (45:50), 2 Kerrie Donohue (49:45), 3 Nigel Hewson (50:21), 4 Trevor Adams (52:19), 5 Anthony Donohue (52:25).
Having been the last of the points scorers at the opening round, Jason Hone has been the person to beat in Group 5 ever since - winning all the other rounds he has contested. At this event he was almost 4 minutes clear of Canterbury 10 miler victor Kerri Donohue. Series leader Nigel Hewson was unable to pick Donohue off but finished well clear of Trevor Adams, making a welcome return to the series, and another Donohue, Anthony.
Hewson’s advantage at the top of the table is now 11 points but with Hone closing rapidly and now 2nd overall having deposed Robert Corbett who is just one point ahead of Kerri Donohue.
Championship: 1 Nigel Hewson (81 points), 2 Jason Hone (70), 3 Robert Corbett (57), 4 Kerrie Donohue (56), 5 Fiona Willis (49), 6 Lianne Flynn (38), 7 Laura Elvin (35), 8 Trevor Adams (33), 9 Edwina Cheung (29), 10 Anthony Donohue (25), 11 Scott Haragan (12), 12= Amy Mulkerrins, Craig Ginn & Robert White (0).
Group 6 (13 registered competitors)
1 Andrew Stubbs (49:38), 2 Hilary Morton (54:37), 3 Jennie Keetch (56:21), 4 Nick Squires (57:34).
Just as Hone has been dominant in Group 5 after a poor opener, so has Andy Stubbs been in Group 6. Last at the Canterbury 10 miler, he has since won every round and, this time, he was almost 5 minutes clear of the rest of the field. Hilary Morton, last season’s Group 7 champion, was 2nd - her best result so far. Jennie Keetch was 3rd from Nick Squires.
Stubbs leapfrogs from 3rd to lead the points table, just one point ahead of Louis Strover, with Ka Si Tung and Morton in 3rd and 4th respectively.
Championship: 1 Andrew Stubbs (72 points), 2 Louis Strover (71), 3 Ka Si Tung (67), 4 Hilary Morton (60), 5 Jennie Keetch (45), 6 Vassilis Sakizlis (44), 7 Lucy Tang (34), 8 Robert Sampson & Nick Squires (27), 10 Olivia Senbanjo (15), 11 Matt Sheehan (14), 12= Charles Yates & Giovanni Figoni (0).
Group 7 (14 registered competitors)
1 Chris Floridia (52:33), 2 Andy Hall (53:16), 3 Amy Vistuer (55:30), 4 Denise Eva (55:56), 5 Viral Tanna (57:16), 6 Janine Harris (57:54).
Group 7 had a good turnout of six runners with Chris Floridia claiming another victory to make it three in a row. Having won the season opener at Swanley, not much has been seen since of Andy Hall, however he was back out at this round and was comfortably clear of the rest in 2nd place. Canterbury victor Amy Vistuer was next up from Denise Eva, Viral Tanna and Janine Harris.
Florida’s advantage at the top of the championship table is now up to 12 points over 2nd-placed Vistuer. Eva and Sally Callaghan fill the next two places, with the top four all having contested 4 rounds.
Championship: 1 Chris Floridia (78 points), 2 Amy Vistuer (66), 3 Denise Eva (62), 4 Sally Callaghan (53), 5 Andy Hall (53), 6 Janine Harris (44), 7 David Allison (42), 8 Micky Boyd (41), 9 Liz Delamain (37), 10 Viral Tanna (32), 11 Emma Horan (29), 12= Andrew Vadron, Catherine Crabtree & Lisa Barrett (0).
Group 8 (11 registered competitors)
1 Jennifer Kelly (55:44), 2 Richard Dunstan (58:18), 3 Katie Garvey (58:52).
Three Group 8s had contested the Canterbury 10 miler earlier in the year and the same three did battle once more at this round. This time it was Jennifer Kelly who secured the win in only her second appearance this season, from Tunbridge Wells victor Richard Dunstan and series leader Katie Garvey.
Garvey has once again increased her advantage at the top of the table and is now 18 points clear of 2nd-place. Dunstan now fills that position from Rachel Inman and Rob Lillywhite.
Championship: 1 Katie Garvey (90 points), 2 Richard Dunstan (72), 3 Rachel Inman (59), 4 Rob Lillywhite (55), 5 James Fisher (51), 6 Julie Medhurst (43), 7 Jennifer Kelly (38), 8= Barrie Nightingale, Djuro Rnic, Eleanor Pinkerton & Oscar Engels (0).
Group 9 (11 registered competitors)
1 Terry Stocks (59:14), 2 Lou Stocks (61:01), 3 Chris Haydon (62:27), 4 Alex Robins (66:12).
Four Group 9s lined up for this round and, although he never dominates, it was once again Terry Stocks who was victorious, his fourth win from five. Making it a family 1-2 was Lou Stocks in 2nd, from Chris Haydon 3rd and Alex Robins 4th.
Terry Stocks is 17 points clear in the title race, with Lou now up to 2nd. Last year’s Group 9 champion Emma Sims drops one place to 3rd overall.
Championship: 1 Terry Stocks (98 points), 2 Lou Stocks (81), 3 Emma Sims (68), 4 Chris Haydon (63), 5 Alex Robins (57), 6 Biljana Petrushevska (32), 7 = Prema Reddy & Pherenice Worsey-Buck (15), 9= Jenny Waterman & Corinne Hollamby (14), 11 Gemma Worley (12).
Group 10 (9 registered competitors)
1 Ann Adams (66:57).
Unfortunately, neither Group 10 or 11 are getting the entries and, for the third race running, there was just a single competitor in each class. This time it was Ann Adams representing Group 10 and taking the victory to add to her win at the opening round where she had faced more competition.
Adams now leads the championship with her two wins and a 2nd place, from double winner Lyttleton Barrett and KFL victor Paul Pester.
Championship: 1 Ann Adams (58 points), 2 Lyttleton Barrett (40), 3 Paul Pester (36), 4 Barbara Carr (31), 5 Wendy Tung (31), 6= Egle Brerro, Perry Wilson, Peter Eves & Sophia Gale (0).
Group 11 (8 registered competitors)
1 Liz Squires (74:13).
Liz Squires was the only Group 11 and was encouraged to the line by husband Nick and Ann Adams. She now has 38 points to Sue McAdam’s 60 - these two the only in this group to have so far raced.
Championship: 1 Sue McAdam (60 points), 2 Liz Squires (38), 3= Denise Duffus, Hannah Harrison, John Perks, Lisa O’Keefe, Sherry Bevan & Simon Parsons (0).
Report: Mark Burgess
Photos: Nigel Hewson and Kev Howarth
Round 6 of the GP is the Ted Pepper Memorial 10k on Bank Holiday Monday May 1st at 9.30am. There are only 450 entries available for this popular annual event which is run on the trails around Norman Park and starts and finishes on the athletics track. In case of interest the current course record holders are Andrew Rayner (34:32) and Clare Elms (39:12)!
Enter now whether you are contesting the GP or not!: https://www.nice-work.org.uk/races/TedPepper10k/2023
Round 6: Ted Pepper Memorial 10k 01/05/23
The Ted Pepper Memorial 10k on Bank Holiday Monday May 1st was round 6 of this season’s PWR Grand Prix series. 322 took part of which 51 were GP entrants. The race started on the Norman Park running track, headed off into the woodlands around the park and then finished on the grassy bank lining the track - so no mud was brought onto the running surface!
Group 1 (10 registered competitors)
1 Mark Griffin (40:46), 2 Kev Howarth (43:03).
The two fastest Group 1s, Oliver Knowles and Adam Wilkinson, were both entered but did not show. In their absence it was Mark Griffin who took the class win in only his second outing so far this season. Kev Howarth had picked up at maximum points last time out but had to be content with the runner-up spot this time around.
Group 2 (13 registered competitors)
1 Emma Crawford (46:35), 2 David Groom (49:14), 3 Marcus Elwes (49:42), 4 David Moore (49:55), 5 Mark Franks (50:23).
Having missed the previous round as she was on her hen night, Emma Crawford was back and was comfortably quicker than the rest of the Group 2s, 2nd lady overall and quickest in her age category. David Groom took his second runner-up spot in a row, less than a minute ahead of Marcus Elwes and David Moore, with Mark Franks not far behind in 5th.
Group 3 (15 registered competitors)
1 Lucy Tippet (49:08), 2 John Kingscott (50:17), 3 Stuart Ball (52:39), 4 Peter Fisher (53:56), 5 Guy Sims (55:01).
Tunbridge Wells victor Lucy Tippet took the honours in Group 3, just over a minute ahead of championship leader John Kingscott. Stuart Ball was 3rd from Peter Fisher and Guy Sims, making his season debut.
Group 4 (13 registered competitors)
1 Sam Gibbs (47:31), 2 Chloe Wilkinson (53:00), 3 Mark Burgess (53:30), 4 Steve Burnett (53:50), 5 Alice Neal (54:34), 6 Ellen Ball (55:43), 7 Nathalie Juchau (57:58), 8 David Welfare (59:03).
Group 4 had by far the largest contingent with 8 of the 13 registered competitors taking part. In a repeat of the previous round, Sam Gibbs blitzed the opposition, winning by almost 5.5 minutes. Fresh from her London Marathon 3:49 just the previous weekend, Chloe Wilkinson was in great form and took 2nd place. Then it was the top three in the championship with Mark Burgess heading in the current series leader Steve Burnett and Alice Neal. Ellen Ball was 6th from Mel’s Milers victor Nathalie Juchau and David Welfare.
Group 5 (14 registered competitors)
1 Jason Hone (50:19), 2 Trevor Adams (54:57), 3 Kerrie Donohue (54:58).
Jason Hone was comfortably quickest once again in Group 5 to take the victory from the other two entrants. At the opening Swanley parkrun round Kerrie Donohue and Trevor Adams had posted identical times and, at Norman Park, there was again little to choose between them - Adams quicker by just one second!
Group 6 (13 registered competitors)
1 Andrew Stubbs (52:59), 2 Vassilis Sakizlis (58:11), 3 Lucy Tang (58:58), 4 Hilary Morton (60:07), 5 Nick Squires (60:22), 6 Louis Strover (68:44).
There’s no stopping Andy Stubbs currently, and he won convincingly to take his fourth straight victory in a row. Vassilis Sakizlis took his second runner-up spot of the series, with Lucy Tang in 3rd maintaining her run of either finishing 2nd or 3rd - when she races. Hilary Morton was 4th from Nick Squires 5th and former series leader Louis Strover 6th.
Group 7 (14 registered competitors)
1 Chris Floridia (58:27), 2 Denise Eva (59:03), 3 Viral Tanna (62:16), 4 Amy Vistuer (62:25), 5 Sally Callaghan (63:50), 6 Catherine Crabtree (64:05).
Mirroring Stubbs in Group 6, Chris Floridia took his fourth consecutive victory, although on this occasion by only just over 30s from Denise Eva. Viral Tanna got the better of Amy Vistuer on this occasion for 3rd, the two having finished the other way around at the previous round. Sally Callaghan was 5th from season debutant Catherine Crabtree.
Group 8 (11 registered competitors)
1 Jennifer Kelly (63:05), 2 James Fisher (64:00), 3 Richard Dunstan (65:43), 4 Rachel Inman (67:44), 5 Rob Lillywhite (69:14).
Jennifer Kelly made it two victories in a row, with James Fisher 2nd - his best finishing position since being quickest at the Swanley parkrun opener. Tunbridge Wells victor Richard Dunstan was 3rd from Rachel Inman and Rob Lillywhite.
Group 9 (11 registered competitors)
1 Terry Stocks (65:35), 2 Chris Haydon (65:55), 3 Corinne Hollamby (70:27), 4 Lou Stocks (71:14), 5 Gemma Worley (71:53), 6 Alex Robins (73:17).
It was no surprise to learn that Terry Stocks had again won Group 9 as he has won every round apart from the season opener where he finished 2nd. Chris Haydon though is getting closer and was just 20s behind in his best finishing position so far this season. In only her second GP race this season, Corinne Hollamby was 3rd from Lou Stocks in 4th, her fourth such placing so far. Gemma Worley was 5th from Alex Robins.
Group 10 (9 registered competitors)
1 Lyttleton Barrett (69:09), 2 Ann Adams (71:15), 3 Barbara Carr (73:59), 4 Wendy Tung (76:09).
Hurrah! For the first time in a while we had more than one Group 10 at a GP event - in fact we had 4! Lyttleton Barrett seems to take in alternate races and, continuing the patterned theme, he wins whenever he races! Series leader Ann Adams was 2nd from Barbara Carr, back racing in the series after a three race absence, and Wendy Tung in only her second appearance this season.
Group 11 (8 registered competitors)
1 Liz Squires (78:19).
No such surge in entries in Group 11 unfortunately, with Liz Squires the sole entry and the recipient of the 20 points for a win.
Report: Mark Burgess
Photos: Kev Howarth, Karen Mercer & Sharon Wroe
Group 1 (10 registered competitors)
1 Mark Griffin (40:46), 2 Kev Howarth (43:03).
The two fastest Group 1s, Oliver Knowles and Adam Wilkinson, were both entered but did not show. In their absence it was Mark Griffin who took the class win in only his second outing so far this season. Kev Howarth had picked up at maximum points last time out but had to be content with the runner-up spot this time around.
Group 2 (13 registered competitors)
1 Emma Crawford (46:35), 2 David Groom (49:14), 3 Marcus Elwes (49:42), 4 David Moore (49:55), 5 Mark Franks (50:23).
Having missed the previous round as she was on her hen night, Emma Crawford was back and was comfortably quicker than the rest of the Group 2s, 2nd lady overall and quickest in her age category. David Groom took his second runner-up spot in a row, less than a minute ahead of Marcus Elwes and David Moore, with Mark Franks not far behind in 5th.
Group 3 (15 registered competitors)
1 Lucy Tippet (49:08), 2 John Kingscott (50:17), 3 Stuart Ball (52:39), 4 Peter Fisher (53:56), 5 Guy Sims (55:01).
Tunbridge Wells victor Lucy Tippet took the honours in Group 3, just over a minute ahead of championship leader John Kingscott. Stuart Ball was 3rd from Peter Fisher and Guy Sims, making his season debut.
Group 4 (13 registered competitors)
1 Sam Gibbs (47:31), 2 Chloe Wilkinson (53:00), 3 Mark Burgess (53:30), 4 Steve Burnett (53:50), 5 Alice Neal (54:34), 6 Ellen Ball (55:43), 7 Nathalie Juchau (57:58), 8 David Welfare (59:03).
Group 4 had by far the largest contingent with 8 of the 13 registered competitors taking part. In a repeat of the previous round, Sam Gibbs blitzed the opposition, winning by almost 5.5 minutes. Fresh from her London Marathon 3:49 just the previous weekend, Chloe Wilkinson was in great form and took 2nd place. Then it was the top three in the championship with Mark Burgess heading in the current series leader Steve Burnett and Alice Neal. Ellen Ball was 6th from Mel’s Milers victor Nathalie Juchau and David Welfare.
Group 5 (14 registered competitors)
1 Jason Hone (50:19), 2 Trevor Adams (54:57), 3 Kerrie Donohue (54:58).
Jason Hone was comfortably quickest once again in Group 5 to take the victory from the other two entrants. At the opening Swanley parkrun round Kerrie Donohue and Trevor Adams had posted identical times and, at Norman Park, there was again little to choose between them - Adams quicker by just one second!
Group 6 (13 registered competitors)
1 Andrew Stubbs (52:59), 2 Vassilis Sakizlis (58:11), 3 Lucy Tang (58:58), 4 Hilary Morton (60:07), 5 Nick Squires (60:22), 6 Louis Strover (68:44).
There’s no stopping Andy Stubbs currently, and he won convincingly to take his fourth straight victory in a row. Vassilis Sakizlis took his second runner-up spot of the series, with Lucy Tang in 3rd maintaining her run of either finishing 2nd or 3rd - when she races. Hilary Morton was 4th from Nick Squires 5th and former series leader Louis Strover 6th.
Group 7 (14 registered competitors)
1 Chris Floridia (58:27), 2 Denise Eva (59:03), 3 Viral Tanna (62:16), 4 Amy Vistuer (62:25), 5 Sally Callaghan (63:50), 6 Catherine Crabtree (64:05).
Mirroring Stubbs in Group 6, Chris Floridia took his fourth consecutive victory, although on this occasion by only just over 30s from Denise Eva. Viral Tanna got the better of Amy Vistuer on this occasion for 3rd, the two having finished the other way around at the previous round. Sally Callaghan was 5th from season debutant Catherine Crabtree.
Group 8 (11 registered competitors)
1 Jennifer Kelly (63:05), 2 James Fisher (64:00), 3 Richard Dunstan (65:43), 4 Rachel Inman (67:44), 5 Rob Lillywhite (69:14).
Jennifer Kelly made it two victories in a row, with James Fisher 2nd - his best finishing position since being quickest at the Swanley parkrun opener. Tunbridge Wells victor Richard Dunstan was 3rd from Rachel Inman and Rob Lillywhite.
Group 9 (11 registered competitors)
1 Terry Stocks (65:35), 2 Chris Haydon (65:55), 3 Corinne Hollamby (70:27), 4 Lou Stocks (71:14), 5 Gemma Worley (71:53), 6 Alex Robins (73:17).
It was no surprise to learn that Terry Stocks had again won Group 9 as he has won every round apart from the season opener where he finished 2nd. Chris Haydon though is getting closer and was just 20s behind in his best finishing position so far this season. In only her second GP race this season, Corinne Hollamby was 3rd from Lou Stocks in 4th, her fourth such placing so far. Gemma Worley was 5th from Alex Robins.
Group 10 (9 registered competitors)
1 Lyttleton Barrett (69:09), 2 Ann Adams (71:15), 3 Barbara Carr (73:59), 4 Wendy Tung (76:09).
Hurrah! For the first time in a while we had more than one Group 10 at a GP event - in fact we had 4! Lyttleton Barrett seems to take in alternate races and, continuing the patterned theme, he wins whenever he races! Series leader Ann Adams was 2nd from Barbara Carr, back racing in the series after a three race absence, and Wendy Tung in only her second appearance this season.
Group 11 (8 registered competitors)
1 Liz Squires (78:19).
No such surge in entries in Group 11 unfortunately, with Liz Squires the sole entry and the recipient of the 20 points for a win.
Report: Mark Burgess
Photos: Kev Howarth, Karen Mercer & Sharon Wroe
Round 7: darent valley 10k 14/05/23
Round 7 of this season’s GP series was the Darent Valley 10k on May 14th with 36 GP entrants taking part. The best 7 results from the 12 rounds count, so from the next event a few competitors who have contested all 7 rounds so far held will have to drop their worst scores.
Group 1 (10 registered competitors)
1 Oliver Knowles (34:58), 2 Kev Howarth (39:52).
Oliver Knowles had missed the previous three rounds but was back with a bang at this race as he took 1st place overall! Championship leader Kev Howarth wasn’t able to compete with the winner on this occasion and was almost 5 minutes slower.
Haworth retains the championship lead but Knowles has a perfect score from the four rounds he has contested and, assuming he takes part in at least some of the remaining five rounds, looks set to take the title.
Championship: 1 Kev Howarth (86 points), 2 Oliver Knowles (80), 3 Adam Wilkinson (54), 4= Andrew Robertson & Andy Tippet (47), 6 Mark Griffin (36), 7 Will Senbanjo (16), 8= Kev Chadwick & Mark Philbrick (15), 10 Simon Dobson (0).
Group 2 (13 registered competitors)
1 James Wall (43:23), 2 Emma Crawford (43:36), 3 David Groom (43:37), 4 Mark Franks (44:36), 5 Carl Inman (48:00).
James Wall won Group 2 this time out from Emma Crawford to make it 2-1 to him in the three races where they have met. Crawford was just 13s behind, and had series leader David Groom breathing down her neck on chip times at least as he was but 1s slower. Mark Franks was 4th, with Carl Inman 5th.
Groom keeps his series lead but has contested 7 rounds, while Crawford and Wall are locked together in 2nd place, 12 points behind, and have only contested 5 rounds and have three wins and two 2nd places apiece. Krishna Gurunathan is the only other Group 2 to have taken a win but is down in 8th having only taken in three rounds.
Championship: 1 David Groom (108 points), 2= Emma Crawford & James Wall (96), 4 David Moore (73), 5 Mark Franks (63), 6 Carl Inman (62), 7 Marcus Elwes (57), 8 Krishna Gurunathan (48), 9 Jim Winbourne (25), 10= Daniel Selman & Natalie Southam (16), 12= James Falshaw & Johnny Gill (0).
Group 3 (15 registered competitors)
1 Stuart Ball (49:18).
Stuart Ball was the only Group 3 out of 15 registered competitors to race at this event and duly took the 20 points on offer.
John Kingscott retains his healthy series lead, with Ball’s 20 points pushing him up into 2nd place ahead of Lucy Tippet. These three have taken five of the seven victories, with Paul Whelan and Daniella Furneau also having tasted success.
Championship: 1 John Kingscott (101 points), 2 Stuart Ball (77), 3 Lucy Tippet (73), 4 Peter Fisher (56), 5 Paul Whelan (54), 6 Nigel May (52), 7 Ian Bauly (40), 8 Daniella Furneau (35), 9= Mike Reeves & Anna Hanbury (16), 11 Jeremy Benson (15), 12 Guy Sims (14), 13= Jon Dedman, Pauline Skerrett & Stuart Hatcher (0).
Group 4 (13 registered competitors)
1 Chloe Wilkinson (48:49), 2 Ellen Ball (49:48), 3 Rachel Knowles (50:50), 4 Paul Strachan (51:51).
Group 4 was won by Chloe Wilkinson who had finished 2nd at the previous round. Ellen Ball took the runner-up spot, her best result of this campaign, from Rachel Knowles and Paul Strachan. Our ladies captain and spreadsheet whizz Natalie Jacques, herself a Group 4 runner, enjoyed the symmetry of their times - take a look and see if it makes your day too!
The top three in the championship missed the Darent Valley round but still retain the podium positions. Both series leader Steve Burnett and 2nd-placed Mark Burgess have contested six races, while Alice Neal in 3rd has done one less.
Championship: 1 Steve Burnett (100 points), 2 Mark Burgess (99), 3 Alice Neal (84), 4 Chloe Wilkinson (67), 5 Ellen Ball (62), 6= Paul Strachan & Rachel Knowles (56), 8 Nathalie Juchau (50), 9 Sam Gibbs (40), 10= Adam Waterman & Natalie Jacques (27), 12 David Welfare (24), 13 Louise Philbrick (0).
Group 5 (14 registered competitors)
1 Kerrie Donohue (50:22), 2 Laura Elvin (56:34).
Canterbury 10 miler winner Kerrie Donohue claimed the honours again at this 10k round. The only other Group 5 in attendance was Swanley parkrun victor Laura Elvin (+1) who couldn’t challenge the winner.
Donohue’s win moves her from 3rd overall into the series lead. Two wins, two 2nds and a 3rd place to her name puts her in a good position but, lurking just two points behind, is Jason Hone who has four wins to his name, a poor time at the parkrun opener the only reason why he isn’t heading the table. Former championship leader Nigel Hewson is now down to 3rd having not raced at the last two rounds.
Championship: 1 Kerrie Donohue (92 points), 2 Jason Hone (90), 3 Nigel Hewson (81), 4 Robert Corbett (57), 5 Laura Elvin (53), 6 Trevor Adams (51), 7 Fiona Willis (49), 8 Lianne Flynn (38), 9 Edwina Cheung (29), 10 Anthony Donohue (25), 11 Scott Haragan (12), 12= Amy Mulkerrins, Craig Ginn & Robert White (0).
Group 6 (13 registered competitors)
1 Andrew Stubbs (49:29), 2 Lucy Tang (53:31), 3 Vassilis Sakizlis (56:12), 4 Hilary Morton (56:22), 5 Louis Strover (58:59).
Andy Stubbs was again the dominant force in Group 6 and picked up his fifth win in succession. Lucy Tang maintained her run of either finishing 2nd or 3rd when she races with her second 2nd place of the series, while Vassilis Sakizlis took 3rd by just 10s from Hilary Morton. Louis Strover was 5th.
Stubbs needs just two more wins from the remaining five rounds to post a maximum score. Strover retains the runner-up position but needs to rediscover his early season form if he is to hold off challenges from the likes of Morton, Sakizlis and Tang.
Championship: 1 Andrew Stubbs (112 points), 2 Louis Strover (98), 3 Hilary Morton (90), 4 Vassilis Sakizlis (78), 5 Lucy Tang (68), 6 Ka Si Tung (67), 7 Jennie Keetch (45), 8 Nick Squires (41), 9 Robert Sampson (27), 10 Olivia Senbanjo (15), 11 Matt Sheehan (14), 12= Charles Yates & Giovanni Figoni (0).
Group 7 (14 registered competitors)
1 Denise Eva (54:12), 2 Amy Vistuer (55:52), 3 Sally Callaghan (56:33), 4 Micky Boyd (57:29), 5 Emma Horan (58:04).
Denise Eva recorded her first win of the series at Darent Valley, with Canterbury victor Amy Vistuer 2nd. Sally Callaghan and Micky Boyd were next up in 3rd and 4th, both posting their best results so far. Emma Horan was 5th.
Eva and Vistuer move into championship 1st and 2nd and are separated by just a single point, although Chris Floridia is in turn only one point behind and has four wins to his name.
Championship: 1 Denise Eva (100 points), 2 Amy Vistuer (99), 3 Chris Floridia (98), 4 Sally Callaghan (83), 5 Micky Boyd (56), 6 Andy Hall (51), 7 Viral Tanna (48), 8 Janine Harris (44), 9 Emma Horan (43), 10 David Allison (42), 11 Liz Delamain (37), 12 Catherine Crabtree (13), 13= Andrew Vadron & Lisa Barrett (0).
Group 8 (11 registered competitors)
1 Jennifer Kelly (54:44), 2 Djuro Rnic (56:00), 3 James Fisher (58:48), 4 Rob Lillywhite (60:36), 5 Richard Dunstan (60:46), 6 Rachel Inman (63:45).
Jennifer Kelly has shaken up the form book in Group 8 at recent races by winning the last two rounds and she did it again at Darent Valley to make it three in a row. In 2nd place was a newcomer to the series, Djuro Rnic, while Swanley victor James Fisher completed the top three. Rob Lillywhite was 4th from Tunbridge Wells winner Richard Dunstan and Rachel Inman.
Despite finishing 5th, Dunstan moves into the championship lead ahead of the absent Katie Garvey, while Inman retains the final podium position.
Championship: 1 Richard Dunstan (102 points), 2 Katie Garvey (90), 3 Rachel Inman (87), 4 James Fisher (85), 5 Rob Lillywhite (84), 6 Jennifer Kelly (78), 7 Julie Medhurst (43), 8 Djuro Rnic (18), 9= Barrie Nightingale, Eleanor Pinkerton & Oscar Engels (0).
Group 9 (11 registered competitors)
1 Terry Stocks (61:24), 2 Chris Haydon (61:44), 3 Lou Stocks (63:34), 4 Emma Sims (66:12).
As at the previous round it was Terry Stocks taking the win from Chris Haydon and, yet again, by the same margin of 20s! Lou Stocks was 3rd, with Emma Sims 4th.
Stocks is now just one win away from posting a maximum points score and, according to my calculations, cannot be prevented from lifting the title despite there being five rounds remaining! Attention now turns to how many victories he can rack up, and whether it will be another Stocks in 2nd place or Haydon or Sims?
Championship: 1 Terry Stocks (138 points), 2 Lou Stocks (112), 3 Chris Haydon (99), 4 Emma Sims (83), 5 Alex Robins (70), 6 Biljana Petrushevska (32), 7 Corinne Hollamby (30), 8 Gemma Worley (26), 9= Prema Reddy & Pherenice Worsey-Buck (15), 11 Jenny Waterman (14).
Group 10 (9 registered competitors)
1 Barbara Carr (68:45).
Unfortunately, after a surge in numbers at the previous round, we were back down to a sole entrant for this event. This time it was Barbara Carr flying the flag for Group 10 to take her first win of the series.
Ann Adams still leads the championship but there’s still all to play for if the likes of Carr and other round winners Lyttleton Barrett and Paul Pester take in the remaining races.
Championship: 1 Ann Adams (76 points), 2 Barbara Carr (67), 3 Lyttleton Barrett (60), 4 Paul Pester (36), 5 Wendy Tung (33), 6= Egle Brerro, Perry Wilson, Peter Eves & Sophia Gale (0).
Group 11 (8 registered competitors)
1 Sue McAdam (64:36).
Sadly, Group 11 really hasn’t got going this season and, apart from the Swanley opener when both turned up, if either Sue McAdam or Liz Squires crosses the finishing line then they get the victory as they have taken it in turn to be the sole entrant. This time it was McAdam taking the 20 points and, in the process, setting a faster time than a couple of others in Groups 9 and 10.
McAdam leads the way on 80 points from her four wins, with Squires 2nd from her two wins and a 2nd place from their only meeting so far.
Championship: 1 Sue McAdam (80 points), 2 Liz Squires (58), 3= Denise Duffus, Hannah Harrison, John Perks, Lisa O’Keefe, Sherry Bevan & Simon Parsons (0).
Report: Mark Burgess
Photos: Kev Howarth
Round 8 of the GP is the Tenterden 10k on Sunday June 11th at 10am. This countryside race starts in St. Michael’s, Tenterden and uses some of the country lanes around the area before returning to the Recreation Ground at St. Michael’s for the finish. It also includes a lap of Biddenden Vineyards.
Online entries have now probably closed, but just in case try: https://www.sportingeventsuk.com/enter-an-event/tenterden-5k-10k#. If they have closed then there are likely to be some on the day entries. Make sure you enter the 10k, not the 5k or the 1 mile fun run!
Group 1 (10 registered competitors)
1 Oliver Knowles (34:58), 2 Kev Howarth (39:52).
Oliver Knowles had missed the previous three rounds but was back with a bang at this race as he took 1st place overall! Championship leader Kev Howarth wasn’t able to compete with the winner on this occasion and was almost 5 minutes slower.
Haworth retains the championship lead but Knowles has a perfect score from the four rounds he has contested and, assuming he takes part in at least some of the remaining five rounds, looks set to take the title.
Championship: 1 Kev Howarth (86 points), 2 Oliver Knowles (80), 3 Adam Wilkinson (54), 4= Andrew Robertson & Andy Tippet (47), 6 Mark Griffin (36), 7 Will Senbanjo (16), 8= Kev Chadwick & Mark Philbrick (15), 10 Simon Dobson (0).
Group 2 (13 registered competitors)
1 James Wall (43:23), 2 Emma Crawford (43:36), 3 David Groom (43:37), 4 Mark Franks (44:36), 5 Carl Inman (48:00).
James Wall won Group 2 this time out from Emma Crawford to make it 2-1 to him in the three races where they have met. Crawford was just 13s behind, and had series leader David Groom breathing down her neck on chip times at least as he was but 1s slower. Mark Franks was 4th, with Carl Inman 5th.
Groom keeps his series lead but has contested 7 rounds, while Crawford and Wall are locked together in 2nd place, 12 points behind, and have only contested 5 rounds and have three wins and two 2nd places apiece. Krishna Gurunathan is the only other Group 2 to have taken a win but is down in 8th having only taken in three rounds.
Championship: 1 David Groom (108 points), 2= Emma Crawford & James Wall (96), 4 David Moore (73), 5 Mark Franks (63), 6 Carl Inman (62), 7 Marcus Elwes (57), 8 Krishna Gurunathan (48), 9 Jim Winbourne (25), 10= Daniel Selman & Natalie Southam (16), 12= James Falshaw & Johnny Gill (0).
Group 3 (15 registered competitors)
1 Stuart Ball (49:18).
Stuart Ball was the only Group 3 out of 15 registered competitors to race at this event and duly took the 20 points on offer.
John Kingscott retains his healthy series lead, with Ball’s 20 points pushing him up into 2nd place ahead of Lucy Tippet. These three have taken five of the seven victories, with Paul Whelan and Daniella Furneau also having tasted success.
Championship: 1 John Kingscott (101 points), 2 Stuart Ball (77), 3 Lucy Tippet (73), 4 Peter Fisher (56), 5 Paul Whelan (54), 6 Nigel May (52), 7 Ian Bauly (40), 8 Daniella Furneau (35), 9= Mike Reeves & Anna Hanbury (16), 11 Jeremy Benson (15), 12 Guy Sims (14), 13= Jon Dedman, Pauline Skerrett & Stuart Hatcher (0).
Group 4 (13 registered competitors)
1 Chloe Wilkinson (48:49), 2 Ellen Ball (49:48), 3 Rachel Knowles (50:50), 4 Paul Strachan (51:51).
Group 4 was won by Chloe Wilkinson who had finished 2nd at the previous round. Ellen Ball took the runner-up spot, her best result of this campaign, from Rachel Knowles and Paul Strachan. Our ladies captain and spreadsheet whizz Natalie Jacques, herself a Group 4 runner, enjoyed the symmetry of their times - take a look and see if it makes your day too!
The top three in the championship missed the Darent Valley round but still retain the podium positions. Both series leader Steve Burnett and 2nd-placed Mark Burgess have contested six races, while Alice Neal in 3rd has done one less.
Championship: 1 Steve Burnett (100 points), 2 Mark Burgess (99), 3 Alice Neal (84), 4 Chloe Wilkinson (67), 5 Ellen Ball (62), 6= Paul Strachan & Rachel Knowles (56), 8 Nathalie Juchau (50), 9 Sam Gibbs (40), 10= Adam Waterman & Natalie Jacques (27), 12 David Welfare (24), 13 Louise Philbrick (0).
Group 5 (14 registered competitors)
1 Kerrie Donohue (50:22), 2 Laura Elvin (56:34).
Canterbury 10 miler winner Kerrie Donohue claimed the honours again at this 10k round. The only other Group 5 in attendance was Swanley parkrun victor Laura Elvin (+1) who couldn’t challenge the winner.
Donohue’s win moves her from 3rd overall into the series lead. Two wins, two 2nds and a 3rd place to her name puts her in a good position but, lurking just two points behind, is Jason Hone who has four wins to his name, a poor time at the parkrun opener the only reason why he isn’t heading the table. Former championship leader Nigel Hewson is now down to 3rd having not raced at the last two rounds.
Championship: 1 Kerrie Donohue (92 points), 2 Jason Hone (90), 3 Nigel Hewson (81), 4 Robert Corbett (57), 5 Laura Elvin (53), 6 Trevor Adams (51), 7 Fiona Willis (49), 8 Lianne Flynn (38), 9 Edwina Cheung (29), 10 Anthony Donohue (25), 11 Scott Haragan (12), 12= Amy Mulkerrins, Craig Ginn & Robert White (0).
Group 6 (13 registered competitors)
1 Andrew Stubbs (49:29), 2 Lucy Tang (53:31), 3 Vassilis Sakizlis (56:12), 4 Hilary Morton (56:22), 5 Louis Strover (58:59).
Andy Stubbs was again the dominant force in Group 6 and picked up his fifth win in succession. Lucy Tang maintained her run of either finishing 2nd or 3rd when she races with her second 2nd place of the series, while Vassilis Sakizlis took 3rd by just 10s from Hilary Morton. Louis Strover was 5th.
Stubbs needs just two more wins from the remaining five rounds to post a maximum score. Strover retains the runner-up position but needs to rediscover his early season form if he is to hold off challenges from the likes of Morton, Sakizlis and Tang.
Championship: 1 Andrew Stubbs (112 points), 2 Louis Strover (98), 3 Hilary Morton (90), 4 Vassilis Sakizlis (78), 5 Lucy Tang (68), 6 Ka Si Tung (67), 7 Jennie Keetch (45), 8 Nick Squires (41), 9 Robert Sampson (27), 10 Olivia Senbanjo (15), 11 Matt Sheehan (14), 12= Charles Yates & Giovanni Figoni (0).
Group 7 (14 registered competitors)
1 Denise Eva (54:12), 2 Amy Vistuer (55:52), 3 Sally Callaghan (56:33), 4 Micky Boyd (57:29), 5 Emma Horan (58:04).
Denise Eva recorded her first win of the series at Darent Valley, with Canterbury victor Amy Vistuer 2nd. Sally Callaghan and Micky Boyd were next up in 3rd and 4th, both posting their best results so far. Emma Horan was 5th.
Eva and Vistuer move into championship 1st and 2nd and are separated by just a single point, although Chris Floridia is in turn only one point behind and has four wins to his name.
Championship: 1 Denise Eva (100 points), 2 Amy Vistuer (99), 3 Chris Floridia (98), 4 Sally Callaghan (83), 5 Micky Boyd (56), 6 Andy Hall (51), 7 Viral Tanna (48), 8 Janine Harris (44), 9 Emma Horan (43), 10 David Allison (42), 11 Liz Delamain (37), 12 Catherine Crabtree (13), 13= Andrew Vadron & Lisa Barrett (0).
Group 8 (11 registered competitors)
1 Jennifer Kelly (54:44), 2 Djuro Rnic (56:00), 3 James Fisher (58:48), 4 Rob Lillywhite (60:36), 5 Richard Dunstan (60:46), 6 Rachel Inman (63:45).
Jennifer Kelly has shaken up the form book in Group 8 at recent races by winning the last two rounds and she did it again at Darent Valley to make it three in a row. In 2nd place was a newcomer to the series, Djuro Rnic, while Swanley victor James Fisher completed the top three. Rob Lillywhite was 4th from Tunbridge Wells winner Richard Dunstan and Rachel Inman.
Despite finishing 5th, Dunstan moves into the championship lead ahead of the absent Katie Garvey, while Inman retains the final podium position.
Championship: 1 Richard Dunstan (102 points), 2 Katie Garvey (90), 3 Rachel Inman (87), 4 James Fisher (85), 5 Rob Lillywhite (84), 6 Jennifer Kelly (78), 7 Julie Medhurst (43), 8 Djuro Rnic (18), 9= Barrie Nightingale, Eleanor Pinkerton & Oscar Engels (0).
Group 9 (11 registered competitors)
1 Terry Stocks (61:24), 2 Chris Haydon (61:44), 3 Lou Stocks (63:34), 4 Emma Sims (66:12).
As at the previous round it was Terry Stocks taking the win from Chris Haydon and, yet again, by the same margin of 20s! Lou Stocks was 3rd, with Emma Sims 4th.
Stocks is now just one win away from posting a maximum points score and, according to my calculations, cannot be prevented from lifting the title despite there being five rounds remaining! Attention now turns to how many victories he can rack up, and whether it will be another Stocks in 2nd place or Haydon or Sims?
Championship: 1 Terry Stocks (138 points), 2 Lou Stocks (112), 3 Chris Haydon (99), 4 Emma Sims (83), 5 Alex Robins (70), 6 Biljana Petrushevska (32), 7 Corinne Hollamby (30), 8 Gemma Worley (26), 9= Prema Reddy & Pherenice Worsey-Buck (15), 11 Jenny Waterman (14).
Group 10 (9 registered competitors)
1 Barbara Carr (68:45).
Unfortunately, after a surge in numbers at the previous round, we were back down to a sole entrant for this event. This time it was Barbara Carr flying the flag for Group 10 to take her first win of the series.
Ann Adams still leads the championship but there’s still all to play for if the likes of Carr and other round winners Lyttleton Barrett and Paul Pester take in the remaining races.
Championship: 1 Ann Adams (76 points), 2 Barbara Carr (67), 3 Lyttleton Barrett (60), 4 Paul Pester (36), 5 Wendy Tung (33), 6= Egle Brerro, Perry Wilson, Peter Eves & Sophia Gale (0).
Group 11 (8 registered competitors)
1 Sue McAdam (64:36).
Sadly, Group 11 really hasn’t got going this season and, apart from the Swanley opener when both turned up, if either Sue McAdam or Liz Squires crosses the finishing line then they get the victory as they have taken it in turn to be the sole entrant. This time it was McAdam taking the 20 points and, in the process, setting a faster time than a couple of others in Groups 9 and 10.
McAdam leads the way on 80 points from her four wins, with Squires 2nd from her two wins and a 2nd place from their only meeting so far.
Championship: 1 Sue McAdam (80 points), 2 Liz Squires (58), 3= Denise Duffus, Hannah Harrison, John Perks, Lisa O’Keefe, Sherry Bevan & Simon Parsons (0).
Report: Mark Burgess
Photos: Kev Howarth
Round 8 of the GP is the Tenterden 10k on Sunday June 11th at 10am. This countryside race starts in St. Michael’s, Tenterden and uses some of the country lanes around the area before returning to the Recreation Ground at St. Michael’s for the finish. It also includes a lap of Biddenden Vineyards.
Online entries have now probably closed, but just in case try: https://www.sportingeventsuk.com/enter-an-event/tenterden-5k-10k#. If they have closed then there are likely to be some on the day entries. Make sure you enter the 10k, not the 5k or the 1 mile fun run!
Round 8: tenterden 10k 11/06/23
The Tenterden 10k on June 11th was both round 8 of this season’s PWR Grand Prix series and a round of the Kent GP and it was roasting! Unusually, photo ID was required to collect your name number, and runners were allocated start waves. 38 PWRs were there for the club championship, although ultimately only 36 scored points - read on to find out why!
Group 1 (10 registered competitors)
1 Oliver Knowles (35:29).
Oliver Knowles, who has won every round that he has contested, was the only Group 1 at Tenterden and was, as usual, right up at the sharp end. Oli finished a superb 2nd overall, although his trophy said 3rd as the organisers had inadvertently produced two 3rd place trophies!
Knowles’ 20 points for the victory moves him into the championship lead with a perfect 100 points from his 5 rounds. Kev Howarth drops to 2nd in the series with the rest of the table remaining unchanged.
Championship: 1 Oliver Knowles (100 points), 2 Kev Howarth (86), 3 Adam Wilkinson (54), 4= Andrew Robertson & Andy Tippet (47), 6 Mark Griffin (36), 7 Will Senbanjo (16), 8= Kev Chadwick & Mark Philbrick (15), 10 Simon Dobson (0).
Group 2 (13 registered competitors)
1 Emma Crawford (42:16), 2 David Groom (44:42), 3 Mark Franks (47:19), 4 Carl Inman (49:07).
Emma Crawford took her fourth win of the series, finishing 2.5 minutes clear of championship leader David Groom. Crawford was 2nd lady overall and won her age group. Mark Franks was 3rd from Carl Inman.
Groom has now had to relinquish the top spot in the series to Crawford and is the only person in the whole Grand Prix to have raced at every round. As only 7 rounds count towards the final classification, and 8 have now been held, his points total doesn’t include his worst round - his 6th place at the KFL All Hallows round 3. I hope that makes sense! James Wall stays 3rd overall, while Franks and Inman move ahead of David Moore into 4th and 5th respectively.
Championship: 1 Emma Crawford (116 points), 2 David Groom (113), 3 James Wall (96), 4 Mark Franks (79), 5 Carl Inman (77), 6 David Moore (73), 7 Marcus Elwes (57), 8 Krishna Gurunathan (48), 9 Jim Winbourne (25), 10= Daniel Selman & Natalie Southam (16), 12= James Falshaw & Johnny Gill (0).
Group 3 (15 registered competitors)
1 John Kingscott (45:49), 2 Stuart Ball (47:56).
Championship leader John Kingscott had forgotten to enter this round so on a wing and a prayer made the not so short journey hoping to pick up one of the on-the-day entries. He was kept waiting right up to race start time before being given the all clear to take part, however it was definitely the right decision to drive down as he took the 20 points on offer, finishing 2 minutes clear of the only other Group 2, Stuart Ball.
Kingscott and Ball already headed the series coming into this round so have increased their advantage over the remainder of the field led by Lucy Tippet and Peter Fisher.
Championship: 1 John Kingscott (121 points), 2 Stuart Ball (95), 3 Lucy Tippet (73), 4 Peter Fisher (56), 5 Paul Whelan (54), 6 Nigel May (52), 7 Ian Bauly (40), 8 Daniella Furneau (35), 9= Mike Reeves & Anna Hanbury (16), 11 Jeremy Benson (15), 12 Guy Sims (14), 13= Jon Dedman, Pauline Skerrett & Stuart Hatcher (0).
Group 4 (13 registered competitors)
1 Chloe Wilkinson (50:21), 2 Alice Neal (51:26), 3 Paul Strachan (52:52), 4 Mark Burgess (55:57), 5 Ellen Ball (56:14), 6 Steve Burnett (56:39).
Group 4 had the largest contingent at Tenterden with six points scorers. Chloe Wilkinson, the winner of the previous round at Darent Valley, once again took the honours, with Alice Neal in 2nd place. Paul Strachan scored his best result of the season so far in 3rd, from Mark Burgess, Ellen Ball and Steve Burnett - Burnett and Burgess, the top two in the series coming into the round certainly struggling in the heat.
Thanks to Ball finishing ahead of Burnett, Burgess now heads the table by just one point from Burnett who led coming into this round. Neal in 3rd and Wilkinson in 4th are closing in on them though, while Strachan moves up one place to 6th, just behind Ball in 5th.
Championship: 1 Mark Burgess (114 points), 2 Steve Burnett (113), 3 Alice Neal (102), 4 Chloe Wilkinson (87), 5 Ellen Ball (76), 6 Paul Strachan (72), 7 Rachel Knowles (56), 8 Nathalie Juchau (50), 9 Sam Gibbs (40), 10= Adam Waterman & Natalie Jacques (27), 12 David Welfare (24), 13 Louise Philbrick (0).
Group 5 (14 registered competitors)
1 Jason Hone (49:52), 2 Kerrie Donohue (51:52), 3 Nigel Hewson (52:57), 4 Robert Corbett (53:03).
After missing the previous round Jason Hone was back and duly took the Group 5 win. However, his margin over the rest wasn’t as large as usual, with championship leader Kerrie Donohue ‘just’ 2 minutes behind in 2nd place. Nigel Hewson was back after an absence of two rounds taking in France to finish 3rd and just fending off Robert Corbett in 4th.
Hone’s 20 points for the win compared to Donohue’s 18 for 2nd place draws him level with her in the lead in the championship - both having contested six rounds. Hewson and Corbett retain their 3rd and 4th places respectively.
Championship: 1= Kerrie Donohue & Jason Hone (110 points), 3 Nigel Hewson (97), 4 Robert Corbett (72), 5 Laura Elvin (53), 6 Trevor Adams (51), 7 Fiona Willis (49), 8 Lianne Flynn (38), 9 Edwina Cheung (29), 10 Anthony Donohue (25), 11 Scott Haragan (12), 12= Amy Mulkerrins, Craig Ginn & Robert White (0).
Group 6 (13 registered competitors)
1 Andrew Stubbs (51:13), 2 Lucy Tang (55:45), 3 Vassilis Sakizlis (60:21), 4 Louis Strover (65:41), 5 Nick Squires (66:37).
There were no surprises at the front in Group 6, with Andy Stubbs notching up his sixth win in a row by a healthy margin over Lucy Tang. Hot weather and Vassilis Sakizlis means only one thing - yes, a bare chest as he finished 3rd. Actually, forget the weather needing to be hot! Louis Strover and Nick Squires were 4th and 5th.
Stubbs requires just one more win from the remaining four rounds to score the maximum 140 points available. Strover is 2nd overall, while Sakizlis moves up one place to 3rd ahead of the absent Hilary Morton.
Championship: 1 Andrew Stubbs (132 points), 2 Louis Strover (113), 3 Vassilis Sakizlis (94), 4 Hilary Morton (90), 5 Lucy Tang (86), 6 Ka Si Tung (67), 7 Nick Squires (55), 8 Jennie Keetch (45), 9 Robert Sampson (27), 10 Olivia Senbanjo (15), 11 Matt Sheehan (14), 12= Charles Yates & Giovanni Figoni (0).
Group 7 (14 registered competitors)
1 Andy Hall (57:58), 2 Denise Eva (57:59), 3 Micky Boyd (68:03), 4 Chris Gatt-Floridia (68:57).
For a variety of reasons (shin splints, India and Venice) Andy Hall hasn’t taken in many of this year’s events, but he was back for Tenterden and just edged Darent Valley winner Denise Eva by a single second! Micky Boyd was 3rd, his best result of the championship, while Chris Floridia, winner of four rounds this season, had his worst result and was 4th.
Eva retains her championship lead, with Floridia moving ahead of Amy Vistuer into the runner-up spot. Sally Callaghan, Boyd and Hall complete the top six in the standings.
Championship: 1 Denise Eva (118 points), 2 Chris Gatt-Floridia (113), 3 Amy Vistuer (99), 4 Sally Callaghan (83), 5 Micky Boyd (72), 6 Andy Hall (71), 7 Viral Tanna (48), 8 Janine Harris (44), 9 Emma Horan (43), 10 David Allison (42), 11 Liz Delamain (37), 12 Catherine Crabtree (13), 13= Andrew Vadron & Lisa Barrett (0).
Group 8 (11 registered competitors)
1 Richard Dunstan (59:27), 2 Jennifer Kelly (62:49), 3 Rob Lillywhite (65:33), 4 James Fisher (65:57), 5 Rachel Inman (69:09).
Following three rounds where Jennifer Kelly took the honors, Tunbridge Wells Half winner Richard Dunstan put his foot down at Tenterden and sealed the win by over 3 minutes from Kelly in 2nd. Rob Lillywhite and James Fisher were not far apart in 3rd and 4th, with Rachel Inman 5th. There were actually six runners in Group 8 but unfortunately Djuro Rnic, who had been 2nd at the previous round, decided to opt to complete the 5k race that was also taking place having found the 10k tough going.
Dunstan’s win extends his lead in the championship to 21 points over the new 2nd-placed Inman, who is one point ahead of James Fisher and Rob Lillywhite who are sharing 3rd place. Katie Garvey falls from 2nd to 6th behind Kelly.
Championship: 1 Richard Dunstan (122 points), 2 Rachel Inman (101), 3= James Fisher & Rob Lillywhite (100), 5 Jennifer Kelly (96), 6 Katie Garvey (90), 7 Julie Medhurst (43), 8 Djuro Rnic (18), 9= Barrie Nightingale, Eleanor Pinkerton & Oscar Engels (0).
Group 9 (11 registered competitors)
1 Chris Haydon (66:40), 2 Lou Stocks (67:38), 3 Emma Sims (67:52), 4 Pherenice Worsey-Buck (71:52), 5 Alex Robins (73:29).
Group 9 also had one runner that got caught out at Tenterden, as champion-elect Terry Stocks failed to navigate his way around the vineyard that was part of the course and withdrew from the results. For the last couple of rounds Chris Haydon has been knocking on the door for his first win in this year’s series and this time his efforts paid off. Lou Stocks took her third 2nd place of the season with Emma Sims not far behind in 3rd. Pherenice Worsey-Buck was back for her second race in this year’s championship and repeated her 4th place from the opening round while Alex Robins was 5th.
Terry Stocks still can’t be caught in the championship but now has Haydon behind him in 2nd rather than wife Lou who drops to 3rd overall. Sims heads up the rest in 4th.
Championship: 1 Terry Stocks (138 points), 2 Chris Haydon (119), 3 Lou Stocks (115), 4 Emma Sims (99), 5 Alex Robins (84), 6 Biljana Petrushevska (32), 7= Corinne Hollamby & Pherenice Worsey-Buck (30), 9 Gemma Worley (26), 10 Prema Reddy (15), 11 Jenny Waterman (14).
Group 10 (9 registered competitors)
No entries
There were no entries in Group 10 so Ann Adams still leads the championship from Barbara Carr and Lyttleton Barrett.
Championship: 1 Ann Adams (76 points), 2 Barbara Carr (67), 3 Lyttleton Barrett (60), 4 Paul Pester (36), 5 Wendy Tung (33), 6= Egle Brerro, Perry Wilson, Peter Eves & Sophia Gale (0).
Group 11 (8 registered competitors)
1 Sue McAdam (74:34), 2 Liz Squires (84:35).
For only the second round this season we had more than one entry in Group 11 - championship leader Sue McAdam comfortably beating her rival Liz Squires.
McAdam remains on course to score maximum points in the series, with Squires the only other Group 11 to have raced.
Championship: 1 Sue McAdam (100 points), 2 Liz Squires (76), 3= Denise Duffus, Hannah Harrison, John Perks, Lisa O’Keefe, Sherry Bevan & Simon Parsons (0).
Report & photos: Mark Burgess
Round 9 is the Mid Kent 5 miler at Staplehurst on July 16th which was a Grand Prix round back in 2018. Here’s what I said about it back then: “It was a great event with friendly marshals, car parking on-site, good facilities and potentially a PB-friendly course – if you could cope with the heat.”
Personally, I hope it isn’t another scorcher, but it certainly is a great opportunity to set a PB over a distance which isn’t raced that often.
Entries are still open but, if you enter now, you won’t receive a medal as they have all been allocated. Here’s where to enter: https://www.netiming.co.uk/events/the-mid-kent-5-3
Group 1 (10 registered competitors)
1 Oliver Knowles (35:29).
Oliver Knowles, who has won every round that he has contested, was the only Group 1 at Tenterden and was, as usual, right up at the sharp end. Oli finished a superb 2nd overall, although his trophy said 3rd as the organisers had inadvertently produced two 3rd place trophies!
Knowles’ 20 points for the victory moves him into the championship lead with a perfect 100 points from his 5 rounds. Kev Howarth drops to 2nd in the series with the rest of the table remaining unchanged.
Championship: 1 Oliver Knowles (100 points), 2 Kev Howarth (86), 3 Adam Wilkinson (54), 4= Andrew Robertson & Andy Tippet (47), 6 Mark Griffin (36), 7 Will Senbanjo (16), 8= Kev Chadwick & Mark Philbrick (15), 10 Simon Dobson (0).
Group 2 (13 registered competitors)
1 Emma Crawford (42:16), 2 David Groom (44:42), 3 Mark Franks (47:19), 4 Carl Inman (49:07).
Emma Crawford took her fourth win of the series, finishing 2.5 minutes clear of championship leader David Groom. Crawford was 2nd lady overall and won her age group. Mark Franks was 3rd from Carl Inman.
Groom has now had to relinquish the top spot in the series to Crawford and is the only person in the whole Grand Prix to have raced at every round. As only 7 rounds count towards the final classification, and 8 have now been held, his points total doesn’t include his worst round - his 6th place at the KFL All Hallows round 3. I hope that makes sense! James Wall stays 3rd overall, while Franks and Inman move ahead of David Moore into 4th and 5th respectively.
Championship: 1 Emma Crawford (116 points), 2 David Groom (113), 3 James Wall (96), 4 Mark Franks (79), 5 Carl Inman (77), 6 David Moore (73), 7 Marcus Elwes (57), 8 Krishna Gurunathan (48), 9 Jim Winbourne (25), 10= Daniel Selman & Natalie Southam (16), 12= James Falshaw & Johnny Gill (0).
Group 3 (15 registered competitors)
1 John Kingscott (45:49), 2 Stuart Ball (47:56).
Championship leader John Kingscott had forgotten to enter this round so on a wing and a prayer made the not so short journey hoping to pick up one of the on-the-day entries. He was kept waiting right up to race start time before being given the all clear to take part, however it was definitely the right decision to drive down as he took the 20 points on offer, finishing 2 minutes clear of the only other Group 2, Stuart Ball.
Kingscott and Ball already headed the series coming into this round so have increased their advantage over the remainder of the field led by Lucy Tippet and Peter Fisher.
Championship: 1 John Kingscott (121 points), 2 Stuart Ball (95), 3 Lucy Tippet (73), 4 Peter Fisher (56), 5 Paul Whelan (54), 6 Nigel May (52), 7 Ian Bauly (40), 8 Daniella Furneau (35), 9= Mike Reeves & Anna Hanbury (16), 11 Jeremy Benson (15), 12 Guy Sims (14), 13= Jon Dedman, Pauline Skerrett & Stuart Hatcher (0).
Group 4 (13 registered competitors)
1 Chloe Wilkinson (50:21), 2 Alice Neal (51:26), 3 Paul Strachan (52:52), 4 Mark Burgess (55:57), 5 Ellen Ball (56:14), 6 Steve Burnett (56:39).
Group 4 had the largest contingent at Tenterden with six points scorers. Chloe Wilkinson, the winner of the previous round at Darent Valley, once again took the honours, with Alice Neal in 2nd place. Paul Strachan scored his best result of the season so far in 3rd, from Mark Burgess, Ellen Ball and Steve Burnett - Burnett and Burgess, the top two in the series coming into the round certainly struggling in the heat.
Thanks to Ball finishing ahead of Burnett, Burgess now heads the table by just one point from Burnett who led coming into this round. Neal in 3rd and Wilkinson in 4th are closing in on them though, while Strachan moves up one place to 6th, just behind Ball in 5th.
Championship: 1 Mark Burgess (114 points), 2 Steve Burnett (113), 3 Alice Neal (102), 4 Chloe Wilkinson (87), 5 Ellen Ball (76), 6 Paul Strachan (72), 7 Rachel Knowles (56), 8 Nathalie Juchau (50), 9 Sam Gibbs (40), 10= Adam Waterman & Natalie Jacques (27), 12 David Welfare (24), 13 Louise Philbrick (0).
Group 5 (14 registered competitors)
1 Jason Hone (49:52), 2 Kerrie Donohue (51:52), 3 Nigel Hewson (52:57), 4 Robert Corbett (53:03).
After missing the previous round Jason Hone was back and duly took the Group 5 win. However, his margin over the rest wasn’t as large as usual, with championship leader Kerrie Donohue ‘just’ 2 minutes behind in 2nd place. Nigel Hewson was back after an absence of two rounds taking in France to finish 3rd and just fending off Robert Corbett in 4th.
Hone’s 20 points for the win compared to Donohue’s 18 for 2nd place draws him level with her in the lead in the championship - both having contested six rounds. Hewson and Corbett retain their 3rd and 4th places respectively.
Championship: 1= Kerrie Donohue & Jason Hone (110 points), 3 Nigel Hewson (97), 4 Robert Corbett (72), 5 Laura Elvin (53), 6 Trevor Adams (51), 7 Fiona Willis (49), 8 Lianne Flynn (38), 9 Edwina Cheung (29), 10 Anthony Donohue (25), 11 Scott Haragan (12), 12= Amy Mulkerrins, Craig Ginn & Robert White (0).
Group 6 (13 registered competitors)
1 Andrew Stubbs (51:13), 2 Lucy Tang (55:45), 3 Vassilis Sakizlis (60:21), 4 Louis Strover (65:41), 5 Nick Squires (66:37).
There were no surprises at the front in Group 6, with Andy Stubbs notching up his sixth win in a row by a healthy margin over Lucy Tang. Hot weather and Vassilis Sakizlis means only one thing - yes, a bare chest as he finished 3rd. Actually, forget the weather needing to be hot! Louis Strover and Nick Squires were 4th and 5th.
Stubbs requires just one more win from the remaining four rounds to score the maximum 140 points available. Strover is 2nd overall, while Sakizlis moves up one place to 3rd ahead of the absent Hilary Morton.
Championship: 1 Andrew Stubbs (132 points), 2 Louis Strover (113), 3 Vassilis Sakizlis (94), 4 Hilary Morton (90), 5 Lucy Tang (86), 6 Ka Si Tung (67), 7 Nick Squires (55), 8 Jennie Keetch (45), 9 Robert Sampson (27), 10 Olivia Senbanjo (15), 11 Matt Sheehan (14), 12= Charles Yates & Giovanni Figoni (0).
Group 7 (14 registered competitors)
1 Andy Hall (57:58), 2 Denise Eva (57:59), 3 Micky Boyd (68:03), 4 Chris Gatt-Floridia (68:57).
For a variety of reasons (shin splints, India and Venice) Andy Hall hasn’t taken in many of this year’s events, but he was back for Tenterden and just edged Darent Valley winner Denise Eva by a single second! Micky Boyd was 3rd, his best result of the championship, while Chris Floridia, winner of four rounds this season, had his worst result and was 4th.
Eva retains her championship lead, with Floridia moving ahead of Amy Vistuer into the runner-up spot. Sally Callaghan, Boyd and Hall complete the top six in the standings.
Championship: 1 Denise Eva (118 points), 2 Chris Gatt-Floridia (113), 3 Amy Vistuer (99), 4 Sally Callaghan (83), 5 Micky Boyd (72), 6 Andy Hall (71), 7 Viral Tanna (48), 8 Janine Harris (44), 9 Emma Horan (43), 10 David Allison (42), 11 Liz Delamain (37), 12 Catherine Crabtree (13), 13= Andrew Vadron & Lisa Barrett (0).
Group 8 (11 registered competitors)
1 Richard Dunstan (59:27), 2 Jennifer Kelly (62:49), 3 Rob Lillywhite (65:33), 4 James Fisher (65:57), 5 Rachel Inman (69:09).
Following three rounds where Jennifer Kelly took the honors, Tunbridge Wells Half winner Richard Dunstan put his foot down at Tenterden and sealed the win by over 3 minutes from Kelly in 2nd. Rob Lillywhite and James Fisher were not far apart in 3rd and 4th, with Rachel Inman 5th. There were actually six runners in Group 8 but unfortunately Djuro Rnic, who had been 2nd at the previous round, decided to opt to complete the 5k race that was also taking place having found the 10k tough going.
Dunstan’s win extends his lead in the championship to 21 points over the new 2nd-placed Inman, who is one point ahead of James Fisher and Rob Lillywhite who are sharing 3rd place. Katie Garvey falls from 2nd to 6th behind Kelly.
Championship: 1 Richard Dunstan (122 points), 2 Rachel Inman (101), 3= James Fisher & Rob Lillywhite (100), 5 Jennifer Kelly (96), 6 Katie Garvey (90), 7 Julie Medhurst (43), 8 Djuro Rnic (18), 9= Barrie Nightingale, Eleanor Pinkerton & Oscar Engels (0).
Group 9 (11 registered competitors)
1 Chris Haydon (66:40), 2 Lou Stocks (67:38), 3 Emma Sims (67:52), 4 Pherenice Worsey-Buck (71:52), 5 Alex Robins (73:29).
Group 9 also had one runner that got caught out at Tenterden, as champion-elect Terry Stocks failed to navigate his way around the vineyard that was part of the course and withdrew from the results. For the last couple of rounds Chris Haydon has been knocking on the door for his first win in this year’s series and this time his efforts paid off. Lou Stocks took her third 2nd place of the season with Emma Sims not far behind in 3rd. Pherenice Worsey-Buck was back for her second race in this year’s championship and repeated her 4th place from the opening round while Alex Robins was 5th.
Terry Stocks still can’t be caught in the championship but now has Haydon behind him in 2nd rather than wife Lou who drops to 3rd overall. Sims heads up the rest in 4th.
Championship: 1 Terry Stocks (138 points), 2 Chris Haydon (119), 3 Lou Stocks (115), 4 Emma Sims (99), 5 Alex Robins (84), 6 Biljana Petrushevska (32), 7= Corinne Hollamby & Pherenice Worsey-Buck (30), 9 Gemma Worley (26), 10 Prema Reddy (15), 11 Jenny Waterman (14).
Group 10 (9 registered competitors)
No entries
There were no entries in Group 10 so Ann Adams still leads the championship from Barbara Carr and Lyttleton Barrett.
Championship: 1 Ann Adams (76 points), 2 Barbara Carr (67), 3 Lyttleton Barrett (60), 4 Paul Pester (36), 5 Wendy Tung (33), 6= Egle Brerro, Perry Wilson, Peter Eves & Sophia Gale (0).
Group 11 (8 registered competitors)
1 Sue McAdam (74:34), 2 Liz Squires (84:35).
For only the second round this season we had more than one entry in Group 11 - championship leader Sue McAdam comfortably beating her rival Liz Squires.
McAdam remains on course to score maximum points in the series, with Squires the only other Group 11 to have raced.
Championship: 1 Sue McAdam (100 points), 2 Liz Squires (76), 3= Denise Duffus, Hannah Harrison, John Perks, Lisa O’Keefe, Sherry Bevan & Simon Parsons (0).
Report & photos: Mark Burgess
Round 9 is the Mid Kent 5 miler at Staplehurst on July 16th which was a Grand Prix round back in 2018. Here’s what I said about it back then: “It was a great event with friendly marshals, car parking on-site, good facilities and potentially a PB-friendly course – if you could cope with the heat.”
Personally, I hope it isn’t another scorcher, but it certainly is a great opportunity to set a PB over a distance which isn’t raced that often.
Entries are still open but, if you enter now, you won’t receive a medal as they have all been allocated. Here’s where to enter: https://www.netiming.co.uk/events/the-mid-kent-5-3
Round 9: MID KENT 5 MILER 16/07/23
Round 9 of the 2022-2023 PWR Grand Prix in mid-July was a lovely event. The Mid Kent 5 Miler started and finished on the cricket pitch at Staplehurst and really had a warm feeling to it. Friendly marshals, a nice PB friendly route, bar/food available, parking on the outfield - there was much to love about it. The only downside was that they hadn’t ordered enough medals so started to restrict numbers, only to have a change of heart and re-open entries but making it clear that those signing up wouldn’t receive their deserved bling. As it happened, some of those who really wanted one were able to obtain one anyway.
Simon Thornhill, one of only a couple of PWRs racing that were not entered for the GP was quickest in 13th overall and, with his 28:20, was just 4 seconds outside Kev Howarth’s MV50 5 mile club record.
Group 1 (10 registered competitors)
1 Kev Howarth (29:18).
As at the previous round there was only one Group 1 in attendance. This time it was Kev Howarth’s turn to race and he duly picked up the 20 points for the win and was less than a minute behind Thornhill. Our Men’s Captain is a really good egg, and having finished then turned his hand to taking photos of those coming in behind him.
Howarth moves back into the championship lead, six points ahead of Oliver Knowles, but with just two wins to Knowles’ five.
Championship: 1 Kev Howarth (106 points), 2 Oliver Knowles (100), 3 Adam Wilkinson (54), 4= Andrew Robertson & Andy Tippet (47), 6 Mark Griffin (36), 7 Will Senbanjo (16), 8= Kev Chadwick & Mark Philbrick (15), 10 Simon Dobson (0).
Group 2 (13 registered competitors)
1 Emma Crawford (32:12), 2 Krish Gurunathan (32:16), 3 James Wall (33:02), 4 David Groom (34:31).
Also now with 5 victories is Emma Crawford who pipped Swanley parkrun GP opener Krish Gurunathan by just 4s to win the event and come in 1st in her age category. James Wall, three times a winner this season, was 3rd with former championship leader David Groom 4th.
Crawford is just 4 points away from getting the maximum haul in this class, with Wall in 3rd her only possible challenger and needing to really win all three remaining rounds to top the podium.
Championship: 1 Emma Crawford (136 points), 2 David Groom (114), 3 James Wall (112), 4 Mark Franks (79), 5 Carl Inman (77), 6 David Moore (73), 7 Krishna Gurunathan (66), 8 Marcus Elwes (57), 9 Jim Winbourne (25), 10= Daniel Selman & Natalie Southam (16), 12= James Falshaw & Johnny Gill (0).
Group 3 (15 registered competitors)
1 John Kingscott (32:36), 2 Anna Hanbury (34:42), 3 Stuart Ball (37:12).
Championship leader John Kingscott led in the Group 3s and was over 2 minutes clear of 2nd-placed Anna Hanbury in only her second appearance in this season’s Grand Prix. Darent Valley victor Stuart Ball was 3rd.
Although Kingscott can theoretically be beaten to the title, it would require Ball to win all three remaining rounds and for Kingscott not to race (or come very low down if there was an unexpected large turnout in the group). Much more likely is that Ball has secured the runner-up spot unless Lucy Tippet reappears having missed the last three rounds.
Championship: 1 John Kingscott (129 points), 2 Stuart Ball (111), 3 Lucy Tippet (73), 4 Peter Fisher (56), 5 Paul Whelan (54), 6 Nigel May (52), 7 Ian Bauly (40), 8 Daniella Furneau (35), 9 Anna Hanbury (34), 10 Mike Reeves (16), 11 Jeremy Benson (15), 12 Guy Sims (14), 13= Jon Dedman, Pauline Skerrett & Stuart Hatcher (0).
Group 4 (13 registered competitors)
1 Chloe Wilkinson (36:12), 2 Mark Burgess (36:51), 3 Alice Neal (37:52), 4 Steve Burnett (38:06), 5 Ellen Ball (38:15), 6 Paul Strachan (40:46).
Chloe Wilkinson made it three wins in a row as she makes her bid for the title. Mark Burgess did his best to take his first victory but there was no stopping Wilkinson as she passed him just after half distance and pulled away to win by 39s. Alice Neal overtook Steve Burnett for 3rd, with Ellen Ball 5th less than 10s behind Burnett, and Paul Strachan completing the six Group 4s at the event.
Neal moves up into the championship lead as Burgess had already contested seven rounds and was therefore having to drop his worst score from his points tally. Burgess and Burnett drop to 2nd and 3rd overall respectively with Wilkinson closing in 4th and in the driving seat for the title having not yet raced seven rounds.
Championship: 1 Alice Neal (118 points), 2 Mark Burgess (117), 3 Steve Burnett (115), 4 Chloe Wilkinson (107), 5 Ellen Ball (90), 6 Paul Strachan (85), 7 Rachel Knowles (56), 8 Nathalie Juchau (50), 9 Sam Gibbs (40), 10= Adam Waterman & Natalie Jacques (27), 12 David Welfare (24), 13 Louise Philbrick (0).
Group 5 (14 registered competitors)
1 Robert Corbett (37:42), 2 Kerrie Donohue (38:18), 3 Nigel Hewson (39:15), 4 Trevor Adams (39:55).
Robert Corbett took his first win of the season with Kerri Donohue, joint series leader with the absent Jason Hone, in 2nd place. Nigel Hewson and Trevor Adams weren’t far behind in 3rd and 4th respectively.
Donohue moves back into the championship lead on her own, with Hone dropping to 3rd behind Hewson. However, Hone usually wins if he races so expect the table to change in his favour if he contests any of the remaining three rounds as he is another that has not yet raced at seven events.
Championship: 1 Kerrie Donohue (128 points), 2 Nigel Hewson (113), 3 Jason Hone (110), 4 Robert Corbett (92), 5 Trevor Adams (66), 6 Laura Elvin (53), 7 Fiona Willis (49), 8 Lianne Flynn (38), 9 Edwina Cheung (29), 10 Anthony Donohue (25), 11 Scott Haragan (12), 12= Amy Mulkerrins, Craig Ginn & Robert White (0).
Group 6 (13 registered competitors)
1 Andrew Stubbs (36:37), 2 Lucy Tang (40:58), 3 Vassilis Sakizlis (42:40), 4 Louis Strover (43:36), 5 Hilary Morton (43:41), 6 Nick Squires (44:05).
Yet again it was the Andy Stubbs show in Group 6, with the championship leader winning comfortably to take his seventh victory of the campaign to capture the title with the maximum 140 points available. Lucy Tang was again the best of the rest in 2nd place and, as at the previous round, it was Vassilis Sakizlis and Louis Strover next up. Hilary Morton was just 5s slower than Strover, and less than 30s ahead of 6th-placed Nick Squires.
With the title now sorted, the main focus turns to who will join Stubbs on the podium at season end. Just 11 points separate the next four competitors, with Tang in joint 4th best placed to add to her score as she is the only one of the quartet who hasn’t yet raced at 7 rounds.
Championship: 1 Andrew Stubbs (140 points), 2 Louis Strover (115), 3 Vassilis Sakizlis (110), 4= Hilary Morton & Lucy Tang (104), 6 Nick Squires (68), 7 Ka Sing Tung (67), 8 Jennie Keetch (45), 9 Robert Sampson (27), 10 Olivia Senbanjo (15), 11 Matt Sheehan (14), 12= Charles Yates & Giovanni Figoni (0).
Group 7 (14 registered competitors)
1 Andy Hall (40:07), 2 Chris Gatt-Floridia (40:54), 3 Denise Eva (41:00), 4 Micky Boyd (44:10).
Following his comeback win last time out, Andy Hall was again top of the pile at this meeting. Chris Floridia, winner of four rounds, was back on form in the cooler conditions compared to the baking hot day that was the Tenterden 10k and was 2nd, with Darent Valley victor Denise Eva 3rd and Micky Boyd 4th.
Florida is now in the series lead with 131 points from a possible 140. Eva in 2nd could potentially overhaul him if she wins all the remaining rounds, but it is Hall in 4th, having only raced at 5 rounds so far, who is probably best placed if anyone is going to deny Floridia the title.
Championship: 1 Chris Gatt-Floridia (131 points), 2 Denise Eva (121), 3 Amy Vistuer (99), 4 Andy Hall (91), 5 Micky Boyd (87), 6 Sally Callaghan (83), 7 Viral Tanna (48), 8 Janine Harris (44), 9 Emma Horan (43), 10 David Allison (42), 11 Liz Delamain (37), 12 Catherine Crabtree (13), 13= Andrew Vadron & Lisa Barrett (0).
Group 8 (11 registered competitors)
1 Jennifer Kelly (42:58), 2 Richard Dunstan (43:50), 3 Rob Lillywhite (45:43), 4 Rachel Inman (46:45), 5 Katie Garvey (48:34).
Normal service was resumed in Group 8, with Jennifer Kelly the dominant force since round 5 taking her fourth win from five. Series leader Richard Dunstan was 2nd quickest from Rob Lillywhite and Rachel Inman. Early season pacesetter Katie Garvey who had missed the last three rounds was 5th.
Dunstan retains his series lead but Kelly’s relentless pursuit should see her overcome him as just one more win will put her on 136 points, and she could even make the magic 140 points if she wins all three remaining rounds. It’s really tight for the final podium spot with just 4 points separating Lillywhite, Garvey, Inman and James Fisher.
Championship: 1 Richard Dunstan (126 points), 2 Jennifer Kelly (116), 3= Rob Lillywhite & Katie Garvey (104), 5 Rachel Inman (103), 6 James Fisher (100), 7 Julie Medhurst (43), 8 Djuro Rnic (18), 9= Barrie Nightingale, Eleanor Pinkerton & Oscar Engels (0).
Group 9 (11 registered competitors)
1 Chris Haydon (48:32), 2 Pherenice Worsey-Buck (49:35), 3 Alex Robins (51:56).
Chris Haydon backed up his Tenterden victory with another win this time out. Pherenice Worsey-Buck had been 5 minutes behind Haydon at the previous round, but over the same distance cut the deficit this time to just over a minute in taking the runner-up spot. Alex Robins in 3rd was also much closer to the victor this time out.
Champion-elect Terry Stocks is just one win away from a perfect score, and 2nd and 3rd in the series look pretty sorted too as Haydon is 9 points clear of Lou Stocks with both having contested 8 rounds.
Championship: 1 Terry Stocks (138 points), 2 Chris Haydon (124), 3 Lou Stocks (115), 4 Alex Robins (100), 5 Emma Sims (99), 6 Pherenice Worsey-Buck (48), 7 Biljana Petrushevska (32), 8 Corinne Hollamby (30), 9 Gemma Worley (26), 10 Prema Reddy (15), 11 Jenny Waterman (14).
Group 10 (9 registered competitors)
1 Ann Adams (50:18), 2 Barbara Carr (52:13).
The top two in Group 10 were at Staplehurst with Ann Adams getting the better of Barbara Carr as she has done at every round they have both raced at this year.
Adams leads the series by 11 points from Carr, however as both have only raced at 5 rounds, a non-appearance by either at the remaining rounds will have a big effect on the table.
Championship: 1 Ann Adams (96 points), 2 Barbara Carr (85), 3 Lyttleton Barrett (60), 4 Paul Pester (36), 5 Wendy Tung (33), 6= Egle Brerro, Perry Wilson, Peter Eves & Sophia Gale (0).
Group 11 (8 registered competitors)
1 Sue McAdam (51:34), 2 John Perks (53:01), 3 Liz Squires (56:26).
Although we are not taking big numbers, it was great to see three competitors in Group 11, the highest at any round so far! Sue McAdam took her sixth win, with John Perks in his first outing 2nd from Liz Squires in 3rd.
In the championship, just one more win will give McAdam maximum points while Squires is guaranteed to finish 2nd.
Championship: 1 Sue McAdam (120 points), 2 Liz Squires (92), 3 John Perks (18), 4= Denise Duffus, Hannah Harrison, Lisa O’Keefe, Sherry Bevan & Simon Parsons (0).
Report: Mark Burgess
Photos: Kev Howarth
Next up is your fastest parkrun time from the four Saturdays in August. Last year PWRs ventured far and wide in their attempts to set a fast time, with Edgbaston, Yorkshire and The Netherlands all being used to secure fast times as well as the more local Bromley and Sutcliffe Park. As many PWRs enjoy participating in parkruns each Saturday, we should see a high number of competitors scoring points in each of the eleven groups and maybe some unfamiliar names taking the wins.
Simon Thornhill, one of only a couple of PWRs racing that were not entered for the GP was quickest in 13th overall and, with his 28:20, was just 4 seconds outside Kev Howarth’s MV50 5 mile club record.
Group 1 (10 registered competitors)
1 Kev Howarth (29:18).
As at the previous round there was only one Group 1 in attendance. This time it was Kev Howarth’s turn to race and he duly picked up the 20 points for the win and was less than a minute behind Thornhill. Our Men’s Captain is a really good egg, and having finished then turned his hand to taking photos of those coming in behind him.
Howarth moves back into the championship lead, six points ahead of Oliver Knowles, but with just two wins to Knowles’ five.
Championship: 1 Kev Howarth (106 points), 2 Oliver Knowles (100), 3 Adam Wilkinson (54), 4= Andrew Robertson & Andy Tippet (47), 6 Mark Griffin (36), 7 Will Senbanjo (16), 8= Kev Chadwick & Mark Philbrick (15), 10 Simon Dobson (0).
Group 2 (13 registered competitors)
1 Emma Crawford (32:12), 2 Krish Gurunathan (32:16), 3 James Wall (33:02), 4 David Groom (34:31).
Also now with 5 victories is Emma Crawford who pipped Swanley parkrun GP opener Krish Gurunathan by just 4s to win the event and come in 1st in her age category. James Wall, three times a winner this season, was 3rd with former championship leader David Groom 4th.
Crawford is just 4 points away from getting the maximum haul in this class, with Wall in 3rd her only possible challenger and needing to really win all three remaining rounds to top the podium.
Championship: 1 Emma Crawford (136 points), 2 David Groom (114), 3 James Wall (112), 4 Mark Franks (79), 5 Carl Inman (77), 6 David Moore (73), 7 Krishna Gurunathan (66), 8 Marcus Elwes (57), 9 Jim Winbourne (25), 10= Daniel Selman & Natalie Southam (16), 12= James Falshaw & Johnny Gill (0).
Group 3 (15 registered competitors)
1 John Kingscott (32:36), 2 Anna Hanbury (34:42), 3 Stuart Ball (37:12).
Championship leader John Kingscott led in the Group 3s and was over 2 minutes clear of 2nd-placed Anna Hanbury in only her second appearance in this season’s Grand Prix. Darent Valley victor Stuart Ball was 3rd.
Although Kingscott can theoretically be beaten to the title, it would require Ball to win all three remaining rounds and for Kingscott not to race (or come very low down if there was an unexpected large turnout in the group). Much more likely is that Ball has secured the runner-up spot unless Lucy Tippet reappears having missed the last three rounds.
Championship: 1 John Kingscott (129 points), 2 Stuart Ball (111), 3 Lucy Tippet (73), 4 Peter Fisher (56), 5 Paul Whelan (54), 6 Nigel May (52), 7 Ian Bauly (40), 8 Daniella Furneau (35), 9 Anna Hanbury (34), 10 Mike Reeves (16), 11 Jeremy Benson (15), 12 Guy Sims (14), 13= Jon Dedman, Pauline Skerrett & Stuart Hatcher (0).
Group 4 (13 registered competitors)
1 Chloe Wilkinson (36:12), 2 Mark Burgess (36:51), 3 Alice Neal (37:52), 4 Steve Burnett (38:06), 5 Ellen Ball (38:15), 6 Paul Strachan (40:46).
Chloe Wilkinson made it three wins in a row as she makes her bid for the title. Mark Burgess did his best to take his first victory but there was no stopping Wilkinson as she passed him just after half distance and pulled away to win by 39s. Alice Neal overtook Steve Burnett for 3rd, with Ellen Ball 5th less than 10s behind Burnett, and Paul Strachan completing the six Group 4s at the event.
Neal moves up into the championship lead as Burgess had already contested seven rounds and was therefore having to drop his worst score from his points tally. Burgess and Burnett drop to 2nd and 3rd overall respectively with Wilkinson closing in 4th and in the driving seat for the title having not yet raced seven rounds.
Championship: 1 Alice Neal (118 points), 2 Mark Burgess (117), 3 Steve Burnett (115), 4 Chloe Wilkinson (107), 5 Ellen Ball (90), 6 Paul Strachan (85), 7 Rachel Knowles (56), 8 Nathalie Juchau (50), 9 Sam Gibbs (40), 10= Adam Waterman & Natalie Jacques (27), 12 David Welfare (24), 13 Louise Philbrick (0).
Group 5 (14 registered competitors)
1 Robert Corbett (37:42), 2 Kerrie Donohue (38:18), 3 Nigel Hewson (39:15), 4 Trevor Adams (39:55).
Robert Corbett took his first win of the season with Kerri Donohue, joint series leader with the absent Jason Hone, in 2nd place. Nigel Hewson and Trevor Adams weren’t far behind in 3rd and 4th respectively.
Donohue moves back into the championship lead on her own, with Hone dropping to 3rd behind Hewson. However, Hone usually wins if he races so expect the table to change in his favour if he contests any of the remaining three rounds as he is another that has not yet raced at seven events.
Championship: 1 Kerrie Donohue (128 points), 2 Nigel Hewson (113), 3 Jason Hone (110), 4 Robert Corbett (92), 5 Trevor Adams (66), 6 Laura Elvin (53), 7 Fiona Willis (49), 8 Lianne Flynn (38), 9 Edwina Cheung (29), 10 Anthony Donohue (25), 11 Scott Haragan (12), 12= Amy Mulkerrins, Craig Ginn & Robert White (0).
Group 6 (13 registered competitors)
1 Andrew Stubbs (36:37), 2 Lucy Tang (40:58), 3 Vassilis Sakizlis (42:40), 4 Louis Strover (43:36), 5 Hilary Morton (43:41), 6 Nick Squires (44:05).
Yet again it was the Andy Stubbs show in Group 6, with the championship leader winning comfortably to take his seventh victory of the campaign to capture the title with the maximum 140 points available. Lucy Tang was again the best of the rest in 2nd place and, as at the previous round, it was Vassilis Sakizlis and Louis Strover next up. Hilary Morton was just 5s slower than Strover, and less than 30s ahead of 6th-placed Nick Squires.
With the title now sorted, the main focus turns to who will join Stubbs on the podium at season end. Just 11 points separate the next four competitors, with Tang in joint 4th best placed to add to her score as she is the only one of the quartet who hasn’t yet raced at 7 rounds.
Championship: 1 Andrew Stubbs (140 points), 2 Louis Strover (115), 3 Vassilis Sakizlis (110), 4= Hilary Morton & Lucy Tang (104), 6 Nick Squires (68), 7 Ka Sing Tung (67), 8 Jennie Keetch (45), 9 Robert Sampson (27), 10 Olivia Senbanjo (15), 11 Matt Sheehan (14), 12= Charles Yates & Giovanni Figoni (0).
Group 7 (14 registered competitors)
1 Andy Hall (40:07), 2 Chris Gatt-Floridia (40:54), 3 Denise Eva (41:00), 4 Micky Boyd (44:10).
Following his comeback win last time out, Andy Hall was again top of the pile at this meeting. Chris Floridia, winner of four rounds, was back on form in the cooler conditions compared to the baking hot day that was the Tenterden 10k and was 2nd, with Darent Valley victor Denise Eva 3rd and Micky Boyd 4th.
Florida is now in the series lead with 131 points from a possible 140. Eva in 2nd could potentially overhaul him if she wins all the remaining rounds, but it is Hall in 4th, having only raced at 5 rounds so far, who is probably best placed if anyone is going to deny Floridia the title.
Championship: 1 Chris Gatt-Floridia (131 points), 2 Denise Eva (121), 3 Amy Vistuer (99), 4 Andy Hall (91), 5 Micky Boyd (87), 6 Sally Callaghan (83), 7 Viral Tanna (48), 8 Janine Harris (44), 9 Emma Horan (43), 10 David Allison (42), 11 Liz Delamain (37), 12 Catherine Crabtree (13), 13= Andrew Vadron & Lisa Barrett (0).
Group 8 (11 registered competitors)
1 Jennifer Kelly (42:58), 2 Richard Dunstan (43:50), 3 Rob Lillywhite (45:43), 4 Rachel Inman (46:45), 5 Katie Garvey (48:34).
Normal service was resumed in Group 8, with Jennifer Kelly the dominant force since round 5 taking her fourth win from five. Series leader Richard Dunstan was 2nd quickest from Rob Lillywhite and Rachel Inman. Early season pacesetter Katie Garvey who had missed the last three rounds was 5th.
Dunstan retains his series lead but Kelly’s relentless pursuit should see her overcome him as just one more win will put her on 136 points, and she could even make the magic 140 points if she wins all three remaining rounds. It’s really tight for the final podium spot with just 4 points separating Lillywhite, Garvey, Inman and James Fisher.
Championship: 1 Richard Dunstan (126 points), 2 Jennifer Kelly (116), 3= Rob Lillywhite & Katie Garvey (104), 5 Rachel Inman (103), 6 James Fisher (100), 7 Julie Medhurst (43), 8 Djuro Rnic (18), 9= Barrie Nightingale, Eleanor Pinkerton & Oscar Engels (0).
Group 9 (11 registered competitors)
1 Chris Haydon (48:32), 2 Pherenice Worsey-Buck (49:35), 3 Alex Robins (51:56).
Chris Haydon backed up his Tenterden victory with another win this time out. Pherenice Worsey-Buck had been 5 minutes behind Haydon at the previous round, but over the same distance cut the deficit this time to just over a minute in taking the runner-up spot. Alex Robins in 3rd was also much closer to the victor this time out.
Champion-elect Terry Stocks is just one win away from a perfect score, and 2nd and 3rd in the series look pretty sorted too as Haydon is 9 points clear of Lou Stocks with both having contested 8 rounds.
Championship: 1 Terry Stocks (138 points), 2 Chris Haydon (124), 3 Lou Stocks (115), 4 Alex Robins (100), 5 Emma Sims (99), 6 Pherenice Worsey-Buck (48), 7 Biljana Petrushevska (32), 8 Corinne Hollamby (30), 9 Gemma Worley (26), 10 Prema Reddy (15), 11 Jenny Waterman (14).
Group 10 (9 registered competitors)
1 Ann Adams (50:18), 2 Barbara Carr (52:13).
The top two in Group 10 were at Staplehurst with Ann Adams getting the better of Barbara Carr as she has done at every round they have both raced at this year.
Adams leads the series by 11 points from Carr, however as both have only raced at 5 rounds, a non-appearance by either at the remaining rounds will have a big effect on the table.
Championship: 1 Ann Adams (96 points), 2 Barbara Carr (85), 3 Lyttleton Barrett (60), 4 Paul Pester (36), 5 Wendy Tung (33), 6= Egle Brerro, Perry Wilson, Peter Eves & Sophia Gale (0).
Group 11 (8 registered competitors)
1 Sue McAdam (51:34), 2 John Perks (53:01), 3 Liz Squires (56:26).
Although we are not taking big numbers, it was great to see three competitors in Group 11, the highest at any round so far! Sue McAdam took her sixth win, with John Perks in his first outing 2nd from Liz Squires in 3rd.
In the championship, just one more win will give McAdam maximum points while Squires is guaranteed to finish 2nd.
Championship: 1 Sue McAdam (120 points), 2 Liz Squires (92), 3 John Perks (18), 4= Denise Duffus, Hannah Harrison, Lisa O’Keefe, Sherry Bevan & Simon Parsons (0).
Report: Mark Burgess
Photos: Kev Howarth
Next up is your fastest parkrun time from the four Saturdays in August. Last year PWRs ventured far and wide in their attempts to set a fast time, with Edgbaston, Yorkshire and The Netherlands all being used to secure fast times as well as the more local Bromley and Sutcliffe Park. As many PWRs enjoy participating in parkruns each Saturday, we should see a high number of competitors scoring points in each of the eleven groups and maybe some unfamiliar names taking the wins.
Round 10: Any Parkrun in August 5, 12, 19, 26/08/23
The tenth round of the 2022/2023 Grand Prix was held over the month of August, with entrants’ best parkrun time over the four Saturdays used to decide this round’s classification. Unsurprisingly, many ventured to known ‘fast’ courses such as Sutcliffe and Dulwich in their attempts to set a quick time, and for many that proved to be the right decision.
Group 1 (10 registered competitors)
1 Oliver Knowles (15:42), 2 Kev Howarth (17:27), 3 Adam Wilkinson (17:48), 4 Mark Philbrick (18:45), 5 Andrew Robertson (19:31), 6 Mark Griffin (19:53).
Oliver Knowles turned up at Dulwich on Race Day 1 and set an amazing time of 15:42 which was well out of reach for the rest of Group 1. On the same weekend Adam Wilkinson posted a 17:48 at York, but that was pipped by championship leader Kev Howarth with a 17:27 when he tried his luck at Dulwich on Race Day 2. Mark Philbrick in 4th improved from 18:57 to 18:45 over the last two weekends at Bromley, while Andrew Robertson also ran twice at Norman Park with 19:31 his best. Mark Griffin’s sole attempt was a 19:53 at South Norwood.
Howarth still leads the championship from Knowles but the gap is down to just 4 points, and Knowles has only raced at 6 events so can count all of his points from one of the two remaining races. Howarth meanwhile has raced 7 times so has to drop points. These two are well clear of Wilkinson and Robertson in 3rd and 4th respectively.
Championship: 1 Kev Howarth (124 points), 2 Oliver Knowles (120), 3 Adam Wilkinson (70), 4 Andrew Robertson 61, 5 Mark Griffin (49), 6 Andy Tippet (47), 7 Mark Philbrick (30), 8 Will Senbanjo (16), 9 Kev Chadwick (15), 10 Simon Dobson (0).
Group 2 (13 registered competitors)
1 Krish Gurunathan (18:45), 2 Emma Stevens (19:21), 3 Johnny Gill (19:43), 4 David Groom (19:57), 5 James Wall (20:01), 6 Carl Inman (20:56), 7 David Moore (21:02), 8 Mark Franks (21:36).
Khrish Gurunathan won the opening round of the series, also a parkrun, with a time of 21:04. Swanley is an undulating trail parkrun but, nonetheless, it shows just how much he has improved that, in taking the Group 2 honours again at round 10, his time at Sutcliffe on Race Day 3 was 18:45, well over 2 minutes quicker and an emphatic parkrun PB! In 2nd place was series leader Emma Stevens whose 19:21 at Sutcliffe was her only attempt.
Johnny Gill made his season debut and posted the 3rd quickest time of 19:43, heading David Groom home by 8s at Sutcliffe on Race Day 4. After runs at Hoblingwell and Foots Cray which are not particularly known for fast times, James Wall posted his best time of 20:01 at Walsall Arboretum on August 26th. Carl Inman 20:56 (Pegwell Bay), David Moore 21:02 (Dulwich) and Mark Franks 21:36 (Sutcliffe) rounded out the eight Group 2s to submit times.
Stevens is all but confirmed as champion now, with Wall needing to win the two remaining rounds to equal her points score. If he managed to pull that off they would also be tied on 5 wins, but Stevens would win a tie break as she has more 2nd places.
Championship: 1 Emma Stevens (136 points), 2 James Wall (126), 3 David Groom (115) 4= Mark Franks & Carl Inman (90), 6 Krishna Gurunathan (86), 7 David Moore (85), 8 Marcus Elwes (57), 9 Jim Winbourne (25), 10= Daniel Selman, Natalie Southam & Johnny Gill (16), 13 James Falshaw (0).
Group 3 (15 registered competitors)
1 John Kingscott (19:59), 2 Stuart Ball (20:16), 3 Anna Hanbury (20:57), 4 Paul Whelan (21:30), 5 Peter Fisher (21:56), 6 Jeremy Benson (22:23), 7 Guy Sims (23:02).
John Kingscott’s winning time of 19:59 came at Bromley on Race Day 3, a time he was unable to match at Dulwich the following weekend. Stuart Ball set a new parkrun PB of 20:16 at Dulwich on the opening Saturday, and was followed in 3rd by Anna Hanbury who also netted a PB with her 20:57 at Sutcliffe at the end of the month. Next up was Paul Whelan, 21:30, who took 1st place at the Cornerstone Lakes parkrun in Illinois, with Peter Fisher 21:56 (Charlton), Jeremy Benson 22:23 (Colchester) and Guy Sims (Bromley) next up.
Kingscott has now clinched the title and could take the maximum points available if he wins the remaining two rounds. After a slow start to the season where he was only 7th and 6th at the opening two rounds, he came good at round 3 with a win and hasn’t looked back since. Ball is secure in 2nd place, but the final podium place is up for grabs with just 4 points separating Lucy Tippet, Fisher and Whelan.
Championship: 1 John Kingscott (136 points), 2 Stuart Ball (118), 3 Lucy Tippet (73), 4 Peter Fisher (70), 5 Paul Whelan (69), 6 Nigel May (52), 7 Anna Hanbury (50), 8 Ian Bauly (40), 9 Daniella Furneau (35), 10 Jeremy Benson (28), 11 Guy Sims (26), 12 Mike Reeves (16), 13= Jon Dedman, Pauline Skerrett & Stuart Hatcher (0).
Group 4 (13 registered competitors)
1 Chloe Wilkinson (20:34), 2 Mark Burgess (21:52), 3 Ellen Ball (21:53), 4 Alice Neal (22:23), 5 Natalie Jacques (22:27), 6 Paul Strachan (22:53), 7 Steve Burnett (22:59), 8 David Welfare (23:44).
Six Group 4s turned up at Dulwich on the opening Saturday, all with the same idea of getting a fast time under their belts. Mark Burgess was fastest with a 21:52 but blissfully unaware that Ellen Ball was just 1s behind! Any faint hopes that Chloe Wilkinson’s Time at York on the same weekend would be her best were soon dashed when she went almost 4 minutes quicker at Sutcliffe on Race Day 2 to record a 20:34 to take her rightful place as the quickest Group 4.
Alice Neal went 7s quicker at Sutcliffe at the end of the month than she had done at the Dulwich opener which was just enough to drop Natalie Jacques, who had set her fastest time at Dulwich, to 5th. Paul Strachan improved his time at Sutcliffe by 11s to oust Steve Burnett from 6th place who set his best at Dulwich. David Welfare also produced his best time at Sutcliffe to make it even stevens between Dulwich and Sutcliffe, with 4 fastest times at each by the eight competitors.
Wilkinson takes over the series lead with Neal dropping to 2nd behind Burgess. It looks like a tall order for either of these two to stop Wilkinson hoisting the winning trophy aloft come the end of the season.
Championship: 1 Chloe Wilkinson (127 points), 2 Mark Burgess (120), 3 Alice Neal (119 points), 4 Steve Burnett (115), 5 Ellen Ball (106), 6 Paul Strachan (98), 7 Rachel Knowles (56), 8 Nathalie Juchau (50), 9 Natalie Jacques (41), 10 Sam Gibbs (40), 11 David Welfare (35), 12 Adam Waterman (27), 13 Louise Philbrick (0).
Group 5 (14 registered competitors)
1 Jason Hone, (22:17), 2 Robert Corbett (22:20), 3 Kerrie Donohue (22:24), 4 Trevor Adams (23:39), 5 Nigel Hewson (23:55), 6 Anthony Donohue (24:12).
Just 7s separated the three fastest Group 5s over 4 weekends in August. Jason Hone and Robert Corbett both raced at Sutcliffe on Race Day 2, with Hone quicker by 3s despite Corbett setting a PB. That proved decisive in the battle for victory at this round, with Kerrie Donohue just a further 4s slower after two attempts at Sutcliffe at the end of the month. The other three from this group to register a parkrun time were evenly matched, with Trevor Adams’ Sutcliffe time edging out Nigel Hewson at Victoria Glasgow and Anthony Donohue at Burgess Hill.
Hone’s sixth win of the season moves him into the championship lead on 130 points. Kerri Donohue drops to 2nd, but is only 2 points adrift. Hewson and Corbett are separated by just 4 points in 3rd and 4th respectively.
Championship: 1 Jason Hone (130 points), 2 Kerrie Donohue (128), 3 Nigel Hewson (114), 4 Robert Corbett (110), 5 Trevor Adams (81), 6 Laura Elvin (53), 7 Fiona Willis (49), 8= Lianne Flynn & Anthony Donohue (38), 10 Edwina Cheung (29), 11 Scott Haragan (12), 12= Amy Mulkerrins, Craig Ginn & Robert White (0).
Group 6 (13 registered competitors)
1 Andrew Stubbs (22:40), 2 Lucy Tang (24:13), 3 Louis Strover (24:59), 4 Vassilis Sakizlis (25:31), 5 Hilary Morton (25:42), 6 Ka Si Tung (26:22), 7 Nick Squires (26:38).
Andy Stubbs again proved to be the class of Group 6, his 22:40s at Sutcliffe comfortably quicker than the rest and earning him his eighth win of the campaign - only seven of them count Andy! Lucy Tang contested three parkruns and set a PB on the last weekend at Sutcliffe to claim the 2nd fastest time overall. Louis Strover recorded his best time at the same event to take 3rd, while Vassilis Sakizlis focused all his efforts at Bromley, setting his best time on his fourth attempt. Hilary Morton was next quickest with a parkrun PB at Sutcliffe, with Ka Si Tung (Orpington) and Nick Squires completing the seven Group 6s to contest this round.
In the battle for 2nd in this group behind runaway champion Stubbs, it is now Tang who holds the initiative with 122 points to Strover’s 117 and Sakizlis’ 113.
Championship: 1 Andrew Stubbs (140 points), 2 Lucy Tang (122), 3 Louis Strover (117), 4 Vassilis Sakizlis (113), 5 Hilary Morton (105), 6= Nick Squires & Ka Sing Tung (80), 8 Jennie Keetch (45), 9 Robert Sampson (27), 10 Olivia Senbanjo (15), 11 Matt Sheehan (14), 12= Charles Yates & Giovanni Figoni (0).
Group 7 (14 registered competitors)
1 Denise Eva (23:07), 2 Andy Hall (23:46), 3 Micky Boyd (27:09), 4 Emma Horan (29:53), 5 David Allison (31:37).
Denise Eva absolutely smashed her parkrun PB on Race Day 2, her 23:07 practically 2 minutes quicker than her previous best in her fifth run at the Father Collins event in Dublin. Andy Hall had been happy with his 23:46 at Sutcliffe on the same weekend until news filtered through of Eva’s time. These two were well clear of Micky Boyd’s 27:09 at Tonbridge, Emma Horan’s Hoblingwell time of 29:53, and David Allison’s 31:37 at Biddeford.
Chris Floridia on 131 points still retains the championship lead but with Eva now just 5 points behind. Hall in 3rd only has 109 points banked but has raced at just six events so can add a full 20 points if he wins one of the remaining two rounds, and boost his points even tally further if he finishes higher than 6th at the other remaining round. This group is going down to the wire!
Championship: 1 Chris Gatt-Floridia (131 points), 2 Denise Eva (126), 3 Andy Hall (109), 4 Micky Boyd (103), 5 Amy Vistuer (99), 6 Sally Callaghan (83), 7 Emma Horan (58), 8 David Allison (56), 9 Viral Tanna (48), 10 Janine Harris (44), 11 Liz Delamain (37), 12 Catherine Crabtree (13), 13= Andrew Vadron & Lisa Barrett (0).
Group 8 (11 registered competitors)
1 Jennifer Kelly (25:07), 2 Richard Dunstan (25:54), 3 Rachel Inman (26:17), 4 James Fisher (26:22), 5 Katie Garvey (26:40), 6 Rob Lillywhite (27:57), 7 Julie Medhurst (29:45).
Three PWRs set parkrun PBs in this group in their attempts to post a time worthy of a large points haul. As she has been for much of the campaign Jennifer Kelly was quickest, and a PB at Sutcliffe on the last weekend in her only run meant she ended up 47s clear of her championship rival Richard Dunstan who also set his time at Sutcliffe, albeit two weekends earlier. The next three weren’t far behind Dunstan, with Rachel Inman setting her 26:17 at Pegwell Bay from the other two Group 8s to set a PB - James Fisher at Sutcliffe and Katie Garvey at Dulwich. Dulwich was also the venue for Rob Lillywhite’s best time in 6th, while Julie Medhurst set hers on Race Day 1 at Canons Park.
By my calculations, Kelly has now won the title as she is 8 points clear of Dunstan who can only improve his score by 6 points even if he wins the remaining two rounds. Garvey in 3rd has a slim chance of pipping Dunstan for 2nd overall but would also need to win the Vitality 10k and Sittingbourne 10 miler and for Dunstan not to claim a 2nd place behind her.
Championship: 1 Jennifer Kelly (136), 2 Richard Dunstan (128), 3 Katie Garvey (118), 4 James Fisher (115), 5 Rachel Inman (106), 6 Rob Lillywhite (104), 7 Julie Medhurst (55), 8 Djuro Rnic (18), 9= Barrie Nightingale, Eleanor Pinkerton & Oscar Engels (0).
Group 9 (11 registered competitors)
1 Terry Stocks (27:10), 2 Lou Stocks (27:52), 3 Chris Haydon (29:28), 4 Emma Sims (29:37), 5 Pherenice Worsey-Buck (30:20), 6 Alex Robins (30:42), 7 Corinne Hollamby (31:55).
Terry Stocks banged in a 27:10 at Sutcliffe on Race Day 3 to set the fastest time in the group and take his seventh win of the series. The other half of the Stocks duo, Lou, also set her best time at Sutcliffe to take 2nd, although she set her fastest time on the final weekend. After two attempts at Bromley, Chris Haydon went to Dulwich for his final two tries, with his best of 29:28 recorded on Race Day 4. Emma Sims went quicker at Winchester than she did at Salisbury in 4th, from Pherenice Worsey-Buck who set her best time at Frederic Back in Canada. Alex Robins was 7th with her Southall time quicker than Corinne Hollamby’s best set at Bromley.
Seven wins means Terry Stocks has won the Group 9 title with a maximum score of 140 points. Who will end up one step or two down from him on the final podium is between Haydon and Lou Stocks, with Haydon 6 points ahead. Sims is also in with a chance.
Championship: 1 Terry Stocks (140 points), 2 Chris Haydon (124), 3 Lou Stocks (118), 4 Emma Sims (114), 5 Alex Robins (100), 6 Pherenice Worsey-Buck (62), 7 Corinne Hollamby (42), 8 Biljana Petrushevska (32), 9 Gemma Worley (26), 10 Prema Reddy (15), 11 Jenny Waterman (14).
Group 10 (9 registered competitors)
1 Barbara Carr (29:40), 2 Paul Pester (30:54), 3 Ann Adams (31:00), 4 Wendy Tung (32:27).
The three fastest times in this group were set on the last race weekend, with Barbara Carr leading the way with a 29:40, and a parkrun PB, at Sutcliffe. Paul Pester was 2nd quickest with a 30:54 at Charlton, while series leader Ann Adams’ best was a 31:00 at Sutcliffe. Wendy Tung only ran once and set a 32:27 at Orpington.
The battle for the title remains between Adams and Carr, with Adams 7 points ahead. Both have only contested six rounds so there are plenty of points still to be picked up at the remaining two rounds.
Championship: 1 Ann Adams (112 points), 2 Barbara Carr (105), 3 Lyttleton Barrett (60), 4 Paul Pester (54), 5 Wendy Tung (48), 6= Egle Brerro, Perry Wilson, Peter Eves & Sophia Gale (0).
Group 11 (8 registered competitors)
1 Liz Squires (33:07).
Sadly, Liz Squires was the only Group 11 to submit a parkrun time from August so naturally takes another victory. She raced at four different venues, with her best of 33:07 coming at Dulwich on Race Day 2.
Squires’ win has closed the gap to championship leader Sue McAdam by 20 points to just 8. However, both of them have only raced at six rounds so a win for McAdam at either of the remaining two rounds will give her an unbeatable maximum score of 140 points.
Championship: 1 Sue McAdam (120 points), 2 Liz Squires (112), 3 John Perks (18), 4= Denise Duffus, Hannah Harrison, Lisa O’Keefe, Sherry Bevan & Simon Parsons (0).
Report: Mark Burgess
The Vitality 10k in Central London on September 24th is the penultimate round. This mass event sets competitors off in waves, so GP competitors will just have to race against the clock and hope they set a time that is better than their rivals!
Group 1 (10 registered competitors)
1 Oliver Knowles (15:42), 2 Kev Howarth (17:27), 3 Adam Wilkinson (17:48), 4 Mark Philbrick (18:45), 5 Andrew Robertson (19:31), 6 Mark Griffin (19:53).
Oliver Knowles turned up at Dulwich on Race Day 1 and set an amazing time of 15:42 which was well out of reach for the rest of Group 1. On the same weekend Adam Wilkinson posted a 17:48 at York, but that was pipped by championship leader Kev Howarth with a 17:27 when he tried his luck at Dulwich on Race Day 2. Mark Philbrick in 4th improved from 18:57 to 18:45 over the last two weekends at Bromley, while Andrew Robertson also ran twice at Norman Park with 19:31 his best. Mark Griffin’s sole attempt was a 19:53 at South Norwood.
Howarth still leads the championship from Knowles but the gap is down to just 4 points, and Knowles has only raced at 6 events so can count all of his points from one of the two remaining races. Howarth meanwhile has raced 7 times so has to drop points. These two are well clear of Wilkinson and Robertson in 3rd and 4th respectively.
Championship: 1 Kev Howarth (124 points), 2 Oliver Knowles (120), 3 Adam Wilkinson (70), 4 Andrew Robertson 61, 5 Mark Griffin (49), 6 Andy Tippet (47), 7 Mark Philbrick (30), 8 Will Senbanjo (16), 9 Kev Chadwick (15), 10 Simon Dobson (0).
Group 2 (13 registered competitors)
1 Krish Gurunathan (18:45), 2 Emma Stevens (19:21), 3 Johnny Gill (19:43), 4 David Groom (19:57), 5 James Wall (20:01), 6 Carl Inman (20:56), 7 David Moore (21:02), 8 Mark Franks (21:36).
Khrish Gurunathan won the opening round of the series, also a parkrun, with a time of 21:04. Swanley is an undulating trail parkrun but, nonetheless, it shows just how much he has improved that, in taking the Group 2 honours again at round 10, his time at Sutcliffe on Race Day 3 was 18:45, well over 2 minutes quicker and an emphatic parkrun PB! In 2nd place was series leader Emma Stevens whose 19:21 at Sutcliffe was her only attempt.
Johnny Gill made his season debut and posted the 3rd quickest time of 19:43, heading David Groom home by 8s at Sutcliffe on Race Day 4. After runs at Hoblingwell and Foots Cray which are not particularly known for fast times, James Wall posted his best time of 20:01 at Walsall Arboretum on August 26th. Carl Inman 20:56 (Pegwell Bay), David Moore 21:02 (Dulwich) and Mark Franks 21:36 (Sutcliffe) rounded out the eight Group 2s to submit times.
Stevens is all but confirmed as champion now, with Wall needing to win the two remaining rounds to equal her points score. If he managed to pull that off they would also be tied on 5 wins, but Stevens would win a tie break as she has more 2nd places.
Championship: 1 Emma Stevens (136 points), 2 James Wall (126), 3 David Groom (115) 4= Mark Franks & Carl Inman (90), 6 Krishna Gurunathan (86), 7 David Moore (85), 8 Marcus Elwes (57), 9 Jim Winbourne (25), 10= Daniel Selman, Natalie Southam & Johnny Gill (16), 13 James Falshaw (0).
Group 3 (15 registered competitors)
1 John Kingscott (19:59), 2 Stuart Ball (20:16), 3 Anna Hanbury (20:57), 4 Paul Whelan (21:30), 5 Peter Fisher (21:56), 6 Jeremy Benson (22:23), 7 Guy Sims (23:02).
John Kingscott’s winning time of 19:59 came at Bromley on Race Day 3, a time he was unable to match at Dulwich the following weekend. Stuart Ball set a new parkrun PB of 20:16 at Dulwich on the opening Saturday, and was followed in 3rd by Anna Hanbury who also netted a PB with her 20:57 at Sutcliffe at the end of the month. Next up was Paul Whelan, 21:30, who took 1st place at the Cornerstone Lakes parkrun in Illinois, with Peter Fisher 21:56 (Charlton), Jeremy Benson 22:23 (Colchester) and Guy Sims (Bromley) next up.
Kingscott has now clinched the title and could take the maximum points available if he wins the remaining two rounds. After a slow start to the season where he was only 7th and 6th at the opening two rounds, he came good at round 3 with a win and hasn’t looked back since. Ball is secure in 2nd place, but the final podium place is up for grabs with just 4 points separating Lucy Tippet, Fisher and Whelan.
Championship: 1 John Kingscott (136 points), 2 Stuart Ball (118), 3 Lucy Tippet (73), 4 Peter Fisher (70), 5 Paul Whelan (69), 6 Nigel May (52), 7 Anna Hanbury (50), 8 Ian Bauly (40), 9 Daniella Furneau (35), 10 Jeremy Benson (28), 11 Guy Sims (26), 12 Mike Reeves (16), 13= Jon Dedman, Pauline Skerrett & Stuart Hatcher (0).
Group 4 (13 registered competitors)
1 Chloe Wilkinson (20:34), 2 Mark Burgess (21:52), 3 Ellen Ball (21:53), 4 Alice Neal (22:23), 5 Natalie Jacques (22:27), 6 Paul Strachan (22:53), 7 Steve Burnett (22:59), 8 David Welfare (23:44).
Six Group 4s turned up at Dulwich on the opening Saturday, all with the same idea of getting a fast time under their belts. Mark Burgess was fastest with a 21:52 but blissfully unaware that Ellen Ball was just 1s behind! Any faint hopes that Chloe Wilkinson’s Time at York on the same weekend would be her best were soon dashed when she went almost 4 minutes quicker at Sutcliffe on Race Day 2 to record a 20:34 to take her rightful place as the quickest Group 4.
Alice Neal went 7s quicker at Sutcliffe at the end of the month than she had done at the Dulwich opener which was just enough to drop Natalie Jacques, who had set her fastest time at Dulwich, to 5th. Paul Strachan improved his time at Sutcliffe by 11s to oust Steve Burnett from 6th place who set his best at Dulwich. David Welfare also produced his best time at Sutcliffe to make it even stevens between Dulwich and Sutcliffe, with 4 fastest times at each by the eight competitors.
Wilkinson takes over the series lead with Neal dropping to 2nd behind Burgess. It looks like a tall order for either of these two to stop Wilkinson hoisting the winning trophy aloft come the end of the season.
Championship: 1 Chloe Wilkinson (127 points), 2 Mark Burgess (120), 3 Alice Neal (119 points), 4 Steve Burnett (115), 5 Ellen Ball (106), 6 Paul Strachan (98), 7 Rachel Knowles (56), 8 Nathalie Juchau (50), 9 Natalie Jacques (41), 10 Sam Gibbs (40), 11 David Welfare (35), 12 Adam Waterman (27), 13 Louise Philbrick (0).
Group 5 (14 registered competitors)
1 Jason Hone, (22:17), 2 Robert Corbett (22:20), 3 Kerrie Donohue (22:24), 4 Trevor Adams (23:39), 5 Nigel Hewson (23:55), 6 Anthony Donohue (24:12).
Just 7s separated the three fastest Group 5s over 4 weekends in August. Jason Hone and Robert Corbett both raced at Sutcliffe on Race Day 2, with Hone quicker by 3s despite Corbett setting a PB. That proved decisive in the battle for victory at this round, with Kerrie Donohue just a further 4s slower after two attempts at Sutcliffe at the end of the month. The other three from this group to register a parkrun time were evenly matched, with Trevor Adams’ Sutcliffe time edging out Nigel Hewson at Victoria Glasgow and Anthony Donohue at Burgess Hill.
Hone’s sixth win of the season moves him into the championship lead on 130 points. Kerri Donohue drops to 2nd, but is only 2 points adrift. Hewson and Corbett are separated by just 4 points in 3rd and 4th respectively.
Championship: 1 Jason Hone (130 points), 2 Kerrie Donohue (128), 3 Nigel Hewson (114), 4 Robert Corbett (110), 5 Trevor Adams (81), 6 Laura Elvin (53), 7 Fiona Willis (49), 8= Lianne Flynn & Anthony Donohue (38), 10 Edwina Cheung (29), 11 Scott Haragan (12), 12= Amy Mulkerrins, Craig Ginn & Robert White (0).
Group 6 (13 registered competitors)
1 Andrew Stubbs (22:40), 2 Lucy Tang (24:13), 3 Louis Strover (24:59), 4 Vassilis Sakizlis (25:31), 5 Hilary Morton (25:42), 6 Ka Si Tung (26:22), 7 Nick Squires (26:38).
Andy Stubbs again proved to be the class of Group 6, his 22:40s at Sutcliffe comfortably quicker than the rest and earning him his eighth win of the campaign - only seven of them count Andy! Lucy Tang contested three parkruns and set a PB on the last weekend at Sutcliffe to claim the 2nd fastest time overall. Louis Strover recorded his best time at the same event to take 3rd, while Vassilis Sakizlis focused all his efforts at Bromley, setting his best time on his fourth attempt. Hilary Morton was next quickest with a parkrun PB at Sutcliffe, with Ka Si Tung (Orpington) and Nick Squires completing the seven Group 6s to contest this round.
In the battle for 2nd in this group behind runaway champion Stubbs, it is now Tang who holds the initiative with 122 points to Strover’s 117 and Sakizlis’ 113.
Championship: 1 Andrew Stubbs (140 points), 2 Lucy Tang (122), 3 Louis Strover (117), 4 Vassilis Sakizlis (113), 5 Hilary Morton (105), 6= Nick Squires & Ka Sing Tung (80), 8 Jennie Keetch (45), 9 Robert Sampson (27), 10 Olivia Senbanjo (15), 11 Matt Sheehan (14), 12= Charles Yates & Giovanni Figoni (0).
Group 7 (14 registered competitors)
1 Denise Eva (23:07), 2 Andy Hall (23:46), 3 Micky Boyd (27:09), 4 Emma Horan (29:53), 5 David Allison (31:37).
Denise Eva absolutely smashed her parkrun PB on Race Day 2, her 23:07 practically 2 minutes quicker than her previous best in her fifth run at the Father Collins event in Dublin. Andy Hall had been happy with his 23:46 at Sutcliffe on the same weekend until news filtered through of Eva’s time. These two were well clear of Micky Boyd’s 27:09 at Tonbridge, Emma Horan’s Hoblingwell time of 29:53, and David Allison’s 31:37 at Biddeford.
Chris Floridia on 131 points still retains the championship lead but with Eva now just 5 points behind. Hall in 3rd only has 109 points banked but has raced at just six events so can add a full 20 points if he wins one of the remaining two rounds, and boost his points even tally further if he finishes higher than 6th at the other remaining round. This group is going down to the wire!
Championship: 1 Chris Gatt-Floridia (131 points), 2 Denise Eva (126), 3 Andy Hall (109), 4 Micky Boyd (103), 5 Amy Vistuer (99), 6 Sally Callaghan (83), 7 Emma Horan (58), 8 David Allison (56), 9 Viral Tanna (48), 10 Janine Harris (44), 11 Liz Delamain (37), 12 Catherine Crabtree (13), 13= Andrew Vadron & Lisa Barrett (0).
Group 8 (11 registered competitors)
1 Jennifer Kelly (25:07), 2 Richard Dunstan (25:54), 3 Rachel Inman (26:17), 4 James Fisher (26:22), 5 Katie Garvey (26:40), 6 Rob Lillywhite (27:57), 7 Julie Medhurst (29:45).
Three PWRs set parkrun PBs in this group in their attempts to post a time worthy of a large points haul. As she has been for much of the campaign Jennifer Kelly was quickest, and a PB at Sutcliffe on the last weekend in her only run meant she ended up 47s clear of her championship rival Richard Dunstan who also set his time at Sutcliffe, albeit two weekends earlier. The next three weren’t far behind Dunstan, with Rachel Inman setting her 26:17 at Pegwell Bay from the other two Group 8s to set a PB - James Fisher at Sutcliffe and Katie Garvey at Dulwich. Dulwich was also the venue for Rob Lillywhite’s best time in 6th, while Julie Medhurst set hers on Race Day 1 at Canons Park.
By my calculations, Kelly has now won the title as she is 8 points clear of Dunstan who can only improve his score by 6 points even if he wins the remaining two rounds. Garvey in 3rd has a slim chance of pipping Dunstan for 2nd overall but would also need to win the Vitality 10k and Sittingbourne 10 miler and for Dunstan not to claim a 2nd place behind her.
Championship: 1 Jennifer Kelly (136), 2 Richard Dunstan (128), 3 Katie Garvey (118), 4 James Fisher (115), 5 Rachel Inman (106), 6 Rob Lillywhite (104), 7 Julie Medhurst (55), 8 Djuro Rnic (18), 9= Barrie Nightingale, Eleanor Pinkerton & Oscar Engels (0).
Group 9 (11 registered competitors)
1 Terry Stocks (27:10), 2 Lou Stocks (27:52), 3 Chris Haydon (29:28), 4 Emma Sims (29:37), 5 Pherenice Worsey-Buck (30:20), 6 Alex Robins (30:42), 7 Corinne Hollamby (31:55).
Terry Stocks banged in a 27:10 at Sutcliffe on Race Day 3 to set the fastest time in the group and take his seventh win of the series. The other half of the Stocks duo, Lou, also set her best time at Sutcliffe to take 2nd, although she set her fastest time on the final weekend. After two attempts at Bromley, Chris Haydon went to Dulwich for his final two tries, with his best of 29:28 recorded on Race Day 4. Emma Sims went quicker at Winchester than she did at Salisbury in 4th, from Pherenice Worsey-Buck who set her best time at Frederic Back in Canada. Alex Robins was 7th with her Southall time quicker than Corinne Hollamby’s best set at Bromley.
Seven wins means Terry Stocks has won the Group 9 title with a maximum score of 140 points. Who will end up one step or two down from him on the final podium is between Haydon and Lou Stocks, with Haydon 6 points ahead. Sims is also in with a chance.
Championship: 1 Terry Stocks (140 points), 2 Chris Haydon (124), 3 Lou Stocks (118), 4 Emma Sims (114), 5 Alex Robins (100), 6 Pherenice Worsey-Buck (62), 7 Corinne Hollamby (42), 8 Biljana Petrushevska (32), 9 Gemma Worley (26), 10 Prema Reddy (15), 11 Jenny Waterman (14).
Group 10 (9 registered competitors)
1 Barbara Carr (29:40), 2 Paul Pester (30:54), 3 Ann Adams (31:00), 4 Wendy Tung (32:27).
The three fastest times in this group were set on the last race weekend, with Barbara Carr leading the way with a 29:40, and a parkrun PB, at Sutcliffe. Paul Pester was 2nd quickest with a 30:54 at Charlton, while series leader Ann Adams’ best was a 31:00 at Sutcliffe. Wendy Tung only ran once and set a 32:27 at Orpington.
The battle for the title remains between Adams and Carr, with Adams 7 points ahead. Both have only contested six rounds so there are plenty of points still to be picked up at the remaining two rounds.
Championship: 1 Ann Adams (112 points), 2 Barbara Carr (105), 3 Lyttleton Barrett (60), 4 Paul Pester (54), 5 Wendy Tung (48), 6= Egle Brerro, Perry Wilson, Peter Eves & Sophia Gale (0).
Group 11 (8 registered competitors)
1 Liz Squires (33:07).
Sadly, Liz Squires was the only Group 11 to submit a parkrun time from August so naturally takes another victory. She raced at four different venues, with her best of 33:07 coming at Dulwich on Race Day 2.
Squires’ win has closed the gap to championship leader Sue McAdam by 20 points to just 8. However, both of them have only raced at six rounds so a win for McAdam at either of the remaining two rounds will give her an unbeatable maximum score of 140 points.
Championship: 1 Sue McAdam (120 points), 2 Liz Squires (112), 3 John Perks (18), 4= Denise Duffus, Hannah Harrison, Lisa O’Keefe, Sherry Bevan & Simon Parsons (0).
Report: Mark Burgess
The Vitality 10k in Central London on September 24th is the penultimate round. This mass event sets competitors off in waves, so GP competitors will just have to race against the clock and hope they set a time that is better than their rivals!
Round 11: vitality 10k 24/09/23
ROUND 12: SITTINGBOURNE 10 MILES 01/10/23
The 2022-2023 Grand Prix season culminated with two events just a week apart on the last weekend of September and first weekend of October. Although just 7 days apart, they were very different!
Round 11 was the mass participation Vitality 10k in the heart of London, while Round 12 was the Sittingbourne 10 Mile around the Kent countryside. The Vitality 10k had in excess of 15,000 entries, Sittingbourne just 224 finishers. Sadly, although the London race attracted a good number of PWRs, there were limited entries for Sittingbourne over the longer distance.
Some issues with the London event meant that many runners had to queue for hours to collect their race numbers and start much later than originally planned. Sittingbourne on the other hand was apparently well organised with great facilities and cakes!
Group 1 (10 registered competitors)
Vitality 10k: 1 Kev Howarth (43:05).
Sittingbourne 10m: 1 Oliver Knowles (55:55), 2 Andy Tippet (68:50).
The top two in the championship were well clear of the rest coming into these last two rounds, primarily because they had won 9 of the previous 10 events between them, but also because no one else had contested more than 4 rounds when 7 count. Kev Howarth led the rapid Oliver Knowles by 4 points but Knowles still had one round to count, whilst Howarth would have to drop worst scores to add to his points tally.
Howarth was the only Group 1 at the Vitality 10k and duly took the victory, increasing the gap to Knowles to 10 points. However, with 20 points on offer for a win, it would all depend on whether Knowles turned up at the last round or not. That he did and finished 3rd overall! Andy Tippet was the only other Group 1 in 2nd place, the 18 points boosting his position in the overall table.
Knowles’ Sittingbourne victory sealed the championship title with a maximum 140 points, ten clear of Howarth. Adam Wilkinson takes the final podium spot from Tippet, Andrew Robertson and Mark Griffin.
Championship: 1 Oliver Knowles (140 points), 2 Kev Howarth (130), 3 Adam Wilkinson (70), 4 Andy Tippet (65), 5 Andrew Robertson (61), 6 Mark Griffin (49), 7 Mark Philbrick (30), 8 Will Senbanjo (16), 9 Kev Chadwick (15).
Group 2 (13 registered competitors)
Vitality 10k: 1 Johnny Gill (39:22), 2 James Wall (42:23), 3 David Groom (42:53), 4 David Moore (43:07), 5 Mark Franks (43:37), 6 Carl Inman (44:30).
Sittingbourne 10m: 1 Emma Stevens (69:39), 2 Krish Gurunathan (71:55), 3 Mark Franks (77:26), 4 James Wall (81:52).
Emma Stevens was in pole position to lift the Group 2 title. James Wall was able to match her on points if he won the last two rounds but by my calculations losing out on the tie-break.
A decent turnout of six Group 2s at the Vitality 10k, with Johnny Gill in only his second appearance of the season taking the win by a convincing margin of 3 minutes over Wall, and setting a new MV60 club record. David Groom was just 30s slower than Wall, with David Moore, Mark Franks and Carl Inman not far behind.
Four turned out at the last round, with Stevens heading them home and counting six wins and a 2nd place from her best seven rounds to accumulate 138 points, just two short of a maximum, and confirm herself as champion. Krish Gurunathan, winner of the two parkrun rounds, was 2nd at Sittingbourne from Franks and Wall.
Wall came 2nd in the championship with 130 points, with Groom 3rd from Franks, Gurunathan and Moore.
Championship: 1 Emma Stevens (138 points), 2 James Wall (130), 3 David Groom (116), 4 Mark Franks (109), 5 Krishna Gurunathan (104), 6 David Moore (100), 7 Carl Inman (93), 8 Marcus Elwes (57), 9 Johnny Gill (36), 10 Jim Winbourne (25), 11= Daniel Selman & Natalie Southam (16).
Group 3 (15 registered competitors)
Vitality 10k: 1 Ian Bauly: 51:52.
Sittingbourne 10m: No finishers
Disappointingly, there was just the one Group 3 at the Vitality 10k, Ian Bauly, and none at all at Sittingbourne. Bauly was perhaps slower than expected when taking the win, but can be forgiven if you take into consideration his mad 47 mile run around Lake Windermere just two weeks earlier!
John Kingscott had already wrapped up the title and can be forgiven for not racing at either event as he was taking part in the Berlin Marathon on the same weekend as the Vitality. Stuart Ball had also secured the runner-up spot before these rounds, while the anticipated battle for the remaining podium spot didn’t materialise, with Lucy Tippet taking it from Peter Fisher and Paul Whelan. Bauly’s win bumped him up from 8th to 6th.
Championship: 1 John Kingscott (136 points), 2 Stuart Ball (118), 3 Lucy Tippet (73), 4 Peter Fisher (70), 5 Paul Whelan (69), 6 Ian Bauly (60), 7 Nigel May (52), 8 Anna Hanbury (50), 9 Daniella Furneau (35), 10 Jeremy Benson (28), 11 Guy Sims (26), 12 Mike Reeves (16).
Group 4 (13 registered competitors)
Vitality 10k: 1 Chloe Wilkinson (43:32), 2 Mark Burgess (47:44), 3 Alice Neal (49:12), 4 Steve Burnett (50:33), 5 David Welfare (50:40).
Sittingbourne 10m: 1 Chloe Wilkinson (78:59), 2 Alice Neal (83:26).
Chloe Wilkinson has been on a devastating run of form since her Darent Valley 10k victory and had also won the next three rounds to put herself into the series lead ahead of Mark Burgess and Alice Neal. She was on top form once again at the Vitality round, beating Burgess by over 4 minutes, with Neal 3rd from Canterbury and All Hallows winner Steve Burnett who was just 7s quicker than David Welfare.
It was just Wilkinson and Neal at the final round, with Wilkinson again winning but a good run by Neal kept the winning margin down to roughly the same as at the previous round.
Wilkinson deservedly took the title, six wins and a 2nd place meaning she was just 2 points off a perfect score. Neal, who won the opening round, clinched 2nd place with Burgess 3rd overall. Early season leader Burnett took 4th from Ball and Paul Strachan.
Championship: 1 Chloe Wilkinson (138 points), 2 Alice Neal (124 points), 3 Mark Burgess (122), 4 Steve Burnett (116), 5 Ellen Ball (106), 6 Paul Strachan (98), 7 Rachel Knowles (56), 8 Nathalie Juchau (50), 9 David Welfare (49), 10 Natalie Jacques (41), 11 Sam Gibbs (40), 12 Adam Waterman (27).
Group 5 (14 registered competitors)
Vitality 10k: 1 Jason Hone (47:15), 2 Kerrie Donohue (48:51), 3 Trevor Adams (49:51).
Sittingbourne 10m: 1 Kerrie Donohue (82:39), 2 Trevor Adams (88:35).
Jason Hone had won his previous six Group 5 races and so it was no surprise to see him win again at the Vitality and claim maximum points in the championship. However, Kerrie Donohue has kept him honest throughout the campaign and was less than 2 minutes slower around the streets of London. Trevor Adams performed well too and was just a minute slower than Donohue in 3rd.
It was just Donohue and Adams at Sittingbourne, with Donohue taking her third win of the season to reinforce her overall series runner-up. Adams, who came into the last round in 5th place in the standings, was attempting to snatch 3rd overall from Nigel Hewson. His 2nd place at Sittingbourne was enough to take him above Robert Corbett in 4th and draw him level with Hewson with 114 points apiece and so they will both be on the final step of the podium come the awards evening.
Championship: 1 Jason Hone (140 points), 2 Kerrie Donohue (132), 3= Nigel Hewson & Trevor Adams (114), 5 Robert Corbett (110), 6 Laura Elvin (53), 7 Fiona Willis (49), 8= Lianne Flynn & Anthony Donohue (38), 10 Edwina Cheung (29), 11 Scott Haragan (12).
Group 6 (13 registered competitors)
Vitality 10k: 1 Andrew Stubbs (46:29), 2 Lucy Tang (50:16), 3 Hilary Morton (52:33), 4 Vassilis Sakizlis (53:56), 5 Louis Strover (54:41).
Sittingbourne 10m: 1 Andrew Stubbs (82:39), 2 Hilary Morton (94:20), 3 Louis Strover (94:38), 4 Vassilis Sakizlis (98:07), 5 Nick Squires (98:44).
Already champion, Andy Stubbs was not content with his eight victories but entered both of the last rounds and claimed victories to make it ten wins in a row!
There was a good turnout from this group at both events with Lucy Tang posting her fifth 2nd place in a row at the Vitality 10k to cement her hold on the championship runner-up spot. Hilary Morton was 3rd there and then went one better at Sittingbourne to follow in runaway leader Stubbs. Louis Strover and Vassilis Sakizlis were in a battle for the last podium place, with Sakizlis beating his opponent over the 10k distance while Strove triumphed over Sittingbourne’s 10 miles.
There were no changes in the championship order following these two rounds, with Stubbs well clear of the rest in 1st place. Tang and Strover join him on the podium, while Sakizlis finishes just off it in 4th from Morton in 5th.
Championship: 1 Andrew Stubbs (140 points), 2 Lucy Tang (124), 3 Louis Strover (118), 4 Vassilis Sakizlis (114), 5 Hilary Morton (111), 6 Nick Squires (94), 7 Ka Sing Tung (80), 8 Jennie Keetch (45), 9 Robert Sampson (27), 10 Olivia Senbanjo (15), 11 Matt Sheehan (14).
Group 7 (14 registered competitors)Vitality 10k: 1 Andy Hall (49:46), 2 Micky Boyd (53:54), 3 Amy Vistuer (57:40), 4 Sally Callaghan (58:57), 5 Janine Harris (59:26), 6 Lisa Barrett (60:42).
Sittingbourne 10m: 1 Denise Eva (89:59), 2 Andy Hall (97:46).
This group was a real nail biter going into the last rounds as, although Chris Floridia had amassed a healthy 131 points from his 7 rounds, Denise Eva had reduced the deficit to 5 points with the fastest time at August parkruns. However, Andy Hall, although seemingly a long way back, had only contested 6 rounds so knew that he could turbo-boost his tally with good results at the remaining two rounds.
Hall was good to his word, taking advantage of his rivals’ absence from the Vitality to take win. Micky Boyd was an excellent 2nd, his highest placing this season, with Amy Vistuer and Sally Callaghan next up, both having been absent for a few rounds.
Hall had now overtaken Eva in the series and was just two points behind leader Floridia. Eva and Hall were the only two Group 7s to contest the last round, with Eva comfortably ahead of her rival. However, Hall was able to add to his tally more than Eva as he had a worse score that he could drop so he was able to gain 5 points from Sittingbourne, while Eva, despite beating him on the road, was only able to add 4 points to her total. All this meant that Hall’s charge to the top was timed to perfection and he ran out champion from Floridia, with Eva just point behind in 3rd. Vistuer’s 3rd place at Vitality moved her ahead of Micky Boyd into 4th overall.
Championship: 1 Andy Hall (134 points), 2 Chris Gatt-Floridia (131), 3 Denise Eva (130), 4 Amy Vistuer (115), 5 Micky Boyd (108), 6 Sally Callaghan (98), 7= Janine Harris & Emma Horan (58), 9 David Allison (56), 10 Viral Tanna (48), 11 Liz Delamain (37), 12= Lisa Barrett & Catherine Crabtree (13).
Group 8 (11 registered competitors)
Vitality 10k: 1 Katie Garvey (56:16), 2 Rachel Inman (57:40).
Sittingbourne 10m: 1 Jennifer Kelly (91:55), 2 Rob Lillywhite (110:43), 3 Richard Dunstan (110:44).
Katie Garvey had a slim chance of overtaking Richard Dunstan for 2nd in this group but would need to win both of the remaining rounds - Jennifer Kelly having already secured the title.
Garvey duly completed the first half of her challenge by taking the Victory victory, with Rachel Inman not far behind.
Garvey however didn’t race at Sittingbourne and normal service was resumed with Kelly way ahead of Rob Lillywhite and Dunstan who were separated on chip times by just 1s!
Kelly takes the title, just two points short of the maximum 140. Dunstan holds onto the runner-up spot from Garvey, with James Fisher 4th.
Championship: 1 Jennifer Kelly (138), 2 Richard Dunstan (128), 3 Katie Garvey (124), 4 James Fisher (115), 5 Rachel Inman (111), 6 Rob Lillywhite (109), 7 Julie Medhurst (55), 8 Djuro Rnic (18).
Group 9 (11 registered competitors)
Vitality 10k: 1 Prema Reddy (55:52), 2 Alex Robins (61:40), 3 Chris Haydon (62:01), 4 Gemma Worley (70:47).
Sittingbourne 10m: 1 Terry Stocks (109:59).
Prema Reddy popped up at the Vitality having not raced at any of the previous rounds and took a comfortable victory. Alex Robins took her best result of the season in 2nd and beat Haydon into 3rd who was trying to make sure of 2nd overall in the title race behind runway champion Terry Stocks. Gemma Worley made her third appearance and was 4th.
Stocks was the only Group 9 at the last round and duly took his eighth win of the campaign, his only ‘loss’ being at the season opening Swanley parkrun when Biljana Petrushevska made a winning appearance . Haydon takes the runner-up spot from Lou Stocks, with Emma Sims not far behind.
Championship: 1 Terry Stocks (140 points), 2 Chris Haydon (124), 3 Lou Stocks (118), 4 Emma Sims (114), 5 Alex Robins (105), 6 Pherenice Worsey-Buck (62), 7 Corinne Hollamby (42), 8 Gemma Worley (41), 9 Prema Reddy (35), 10 Biljana Petrushevska (32), 11 Jenny Waterman (14).
Group 10 (9 registered competitors)
Vitality 10k: 1 Wendy Tung (61:57), 2 Barbara Carr (65:44), 3 Ann Adams (65:56),
Sittingbourne 10m: 1 Ann Adams (117:45).
The top two in this championship both entered Vitality and, as neither had completed 7 rounds, would both score highly. Neither however claimed 1st place as Wendy Tung took her first win of the series and the 20 points. Barbara Carr just pippedAnn Adams for 2nd place by 12 seconds to reduce the deficit to her rival to 5 points going into the Sittingbourne finale.
The next weekend though and it was just Adams out on this one-lapper in Kent so naturally she took the 20 points on offer to seal the title. Carr finished 9 points behind in 2nd, while Tung’s Vitality win promoted her from 5th to 3rd.
Championship: 1 Ann Adams (132 points), 2 Barbara Carr (123), 3 Wendy Tung (68), 4 Lyttleton Barrett (60), 5 Paul Pester (54).
Group 11 (8 registered competitors)
Vitality 10k: 1 Liz Squires (68:15).
Sittingbourne 10m: 1 Sue McAdam (112:07), 2 Liz Squires (118:21).
Group 11 has had the lowest turnout over the season with Sue McAdam and Liz Squires taking all the 1st places. McAdam had already notched up six wins, so one more from the last two rounds and she would achieve the maximum 140 points available.
Squires was the sole Group 11 at Vitality so added 20 points to her score, but was headed in by McAdam at Sittingbourne meaning McAdam took the title with a perfect score and Squires only six points behind in 2nd.
Championship: 1 Sue McAdam (140 points), 2 Liz Squires (134), 3 John Perks (18).
Report: Mark Burgess
It has been a great championship with good battles in some of the groups and runaway victors in the others. All the hard work will have been well worth it when the victors receive their awards at the Winter Party at the end of November. Well done everyone!
Round 11 was the mass participation Vitality 10k in the heart of London, while Round 12 was the Sittingbourne 10 Mile around the Kent countryside. The Vitality 10k had in excess of 15,000 entries, Sittingbourne just 224 finishers. Sadly, although the London race attracted a good number of PWRs, there were limited entries for Sittingbourne over the longer distance.
Some issues with the London event meant that many runners had to queue for hours to collect their race numbers and start much later than originally planned. Sittingbourne on the other hand was apparently well organised with great facilities and cakes!
Group 1 (10 registered competitors)
Vitality 10k: 1 Kev Howarth (43:05).
Sittingbourne 10m: 1 Oliver Knowles (55:55), 2 Andy Tippet (68:50).
The top two in the championship were well clear of the rest coming into these last two rounds, primarily because they had won 9 of the previous 10 events between them, but also because no one else had contested more than 4 rounds when 7 count. Kev Howarth led the rapid Oliver Knowles by 4 points but Knowles still had one round to count, whilst Howarth would have to drop worst scores to add to his points tally.
Howarth was the only Group 1 at the Vitality 10k and duly took the victory, increasing the gap to Knowles to 10 points. However, with 20 points on offer for a win, it would all depend on whether Knowles turned up at the last round or not. That he did and finished 3rd overall! Andy Tippet was the only other Group 1 in 2nd place, the 18 points boosting his position in the overall table.
Knowles’ Sittingbourne victory sealed the championship title with a maximum 140 points, ten clear of Howarth. Adam Wilkinson takes the final podium spot from Tippet, Andrew Robertson and Mark Griffin.
Championship: 1 Oliver Knowles (140 points), 2 Kev Howarth (130), 3 Adam Wilkinson (70), 4 Andy Tippet (65), 5 Andrew Robertson (61), 6 Mark Griffin (49), 7 Mark Philbrick (30), 8 Will Senbanjo (16), 9 Kev Chadwick (15).
Group 2 (13 registered competitors)
Vitality 10k: 1 Johnny Gill (39:22), 2 James Wall (42:23), 3 David Groom (42:53), 4 David Moore (43:07), 5 Mark Franks (43:37), 6 Carl Inman (44:30).
Sittingbourne 10m: 1 Emma Stevens (69:39), 2 Krish Gurunathan (71:55), 3 Mark Franks (77:26), 4 James Wall (81:52).
Emma Stevens was in pole position to lift the Group 2 title. James Wall was able to match her on points if he won the last two rounds but by my calculations losing out on the tie-break.
A decent turnout of six Group 2s at the Vitality 10k, with Johnny Gill in only his second appearance of the season taking the win by a convincing margin of 3 minutes over Wall, and setting a new MV60 club record. David Groom was just 30s slower than Wall, with David Moore, Mark Franks and Carl Inman not far behind.
Four turned out at the last round, with Stevens heading them home and counting six wins and a 2nd place from her best seven rounds to accumulate 138 points, just two short of a maximum, and confirm herself as champion. Krish Gurunathan, winner of the two parkrun rounds, was 2nd at Sittingbourne from Franks and Wall.
Wall came 2nd in the championship with 130 points, with Groom 3rd from Franks, Gurunathan and Moore.
Championship: 1 Emma Stevens (138 points), 2 James Wall (130), 3 David Groom (116), 4 Mark Franks (109), 5 Krishna Gurunathan (104), 6 David Moore (100), 7 Carl Inman (93), 8 Marcus Elwes (57), 9 Johnny Gill (36), 10 Jim Winbourne (25), 11= Daniel Selman & Natalie Southam (16).
Group 3 (15 registered competitors)
Vitality 10k: 1 Ian Bauly: 51:52.
Sittingbourne 10m: No finishers
Disappointingly, there was just the one Group 3 at the Vitality 10k, Ian Bauly, and none at all at Sittingbourne. Bauly was perhaps slower than expected when taking the win, but can be forgiven if you take into consideration his mad 47 mile run around Lake Windermere just two weeks earlier!
John Kingscott had already wrapped up the title and can be forgiven for not racing at either event as he was taking part in the Berlin Marathon on the same weekend as the Vitality. Stuart Ball had also secured the runner-up spot before these rounds, while the anticipated battle for the remaining podium spot didn’t materialise, with Lucy Tippet taking it from Peter Fisher and Paul Whelan. Bauly’s win bumped him up from 8th to 6th.
Championship: 1 John Kingscott (136 points), 2 Stuart Ball (118), 3 Lucy Tippet (73), 4 Peter Fisher (70), 5 Paul Whelan (69), 6 Ian Bauly (60), 7 Nigel May (52), 8 Anna Hanbury (50), 9 Daniella Furneau (35), 10 Jeremy Benson (28), 11 Guy Sims (26), 12 Mike Reeves (16).
Group 4 (13 registered competitors)
Vitality 10k: 1 Chloe Wilkinson (43:32), 2 Mark Burgess (47:44), 3 Alice Neal (49:12), 4 Steve Burnett (50:33), 5 David Welfare (50:40).
Sittingbourne 10m: 1 Chloe Wilkinson (78:59), 2 Alice Neal (83:26).
Chloe Wilkinson has been on a devastating run of form since her Darent Valley 10k victory and had also won the next three rounds to put herself into the series lead ahead of Mark Burgess and Alice Neal. She was on top form once again at the Vitality round, beating Burgess by over 4 minutes, with Neal 3rd from Canterbury and All Hallows winner Steve Burnett who was just 7s quicker than David Welfare.
It was just Wilkinson and Neal at the final round, with Wilkinson again winning but a good run by Neal kept the winning margin down to roughly the same as at the previous round.
Wilkinson deservedly took the title, six wins and a 2nd place meaning she was just 2 points off a perfect score. Neal, who won the opening round, clinched 2nd place with Burgess 3rd overall. Early season leader Burnett took 4th from Ball and Paul Strachan.
Championship: 1 Chloe Wilkinson (138 points), 2 Alice Neal (124 points), 3 Mark Burgess (122), 4 Steve Burnett (116), 5 Ellen Ball (106), 6 Paul Strachan (98), 7 Rachel Knowles (56), 8 Nathalie Juchau (50), 9 David Welfare (49), 10 Natalie Jacques (41), 11 Sam Gibbs (40), 12 Adam Waterman (27).
Group 5 (14 registered competitors)
Vitality 10k: 1 Jason Hone (47:15), 2 Kerrie Donohue (48:51), 3 Trevor Adams (49:51).
Sittingbourne 10m: 1 Kerrie Donohue (82:39), 2 Trevor Adams (88:35).
Jason Hone had won his previous six Group 5 races and so it was no surprise to see him win again at the Vitality and claim maximum points in the championship. However, Kerrie Donohue has kept him honest throughout the campaign and was less than 2 minutes slower around the streets of London. Trevor Adams performed well too and was just a minute slower than Donohue in 3rd.
It was just Donohue and Adams at Sittingbourne, with Donohue taking her third win of the season to reinforce her overall series runner-up. Adams, who came into the last round in 5th place in the standings, was attempting to snatch 3rd overall from Nigel Hewson. His 2nd place at Sittingbourne was enough to take him above Robert Corbett in 4th and draw him level with Hewson with 114 points apiece and so they will both be on the final step of the podium come the awards evening.
Championship: 1 Jason Hone (140 points), 2 Kerrie Donohue (132), 3= Nigel Hewson & Trevor Adams (114), 5 Robert Corbett (110), 6 Laura Elvin (53), 7 Fiona Willis (49), 8= Lianne Flynn & Anthony Donohue (38), 10 Edwina Cheung (29), 11 Scott Haragan (12).
Group 6 (13 registered competitors)
Vitality 10k: 1 Andrew Stubbs (46:29), 2 Lucy Tang (50:16), 3 Hilary Morton (52:33), 4 Vassilis Sakizlis (53:56), 5 Louis Strover (54:41).
Sittingbourne 10m: 1 Andrew Stubbs (82:39), 2 Hilary Morton (94:20), 3 Louis Strover (94:38), 4 Vassilis Sakizlis (98:07), 5 Nick Squires (98:44).
Already champion, Andy Stubbs was not content with his eight victories but entered both of the last rounds and claimed victories to make it ten wins in a row!
There was a good turnout from this group at both events with Lucy Tang posting her fifth 2nd place in a row at the Vitality 10k to cement her hold on the championship runner-up spot. Hilary Morton was 3rd there and then went one better at Sittingbourne to follow in runaway leader Stubbs. Louis Strover and Vassilis Sakizlis were in a battle for the last podium place, with Sakizlis beating his opponent over the 10k distance while Strove triumphed over Sittingbourne’s 10 miles.
There were no changes in the championship order following these two rounds, with Stubbs well clear of the rest in 1st place. Tang and Strover join him on the podium, while Sakizlis finishes just off it in 4th from Morton in 5th.
Championship: 1 Andrew Stubbs (140 points), 2 Lucy Tang (124), 3 Louis Strover (118), 4 Vassilis Sakizlis (114), 5 Hilary Morton (111), 6 Nick Squires (94), 7 Ka Sing Tung (80), 8 Jennie Keetch (45), 9 Robert Sampson (27), 10 Olivia Senbanjo (15), 11 Matt Sheehan (14).
Group 7 (14 registered competitors)Vitality 10k: 1 Andy Hall (49:46), 2 Micky Boyd (53:54), 3 Amy Vistuer (57:40), 4 Sally Callaghan (58:57), 5 Janine Harris (59:26), 6 Lisa Barrett (60:42).
Sittingbourne 10m: 1 Denise Eva (89:59), 2 Andy Hall (97:46).
This group was a real nail biter going into the last rounds as, although Chris Floridia had amassed a healthy 131 points from his 7 rounds, Denise Eva had reduced the deficit to 5 points with the fastest time at August parkruns. However, Andy Hall, although seemingly a long way back, had only contested 6 rounds so knew that he could turbo-boost his tally with good results at the remaining two rounds.
Hall was good to his word, taking advantage of his rivals’ absence from the Vitality to take win. Micky Boyd was an excellent 2nd, his highest placing this season, with Amy Vistuer and Sally Callaghan next up, both having been absent for a few rounds.
Hall had now overtaken Eva in the series and was just two points behind leader Floridia. Eva and Hall were the only two Group 7s to contest the last round, with Eva comfortably ahead of her rival. However, Hall was able to add to his tally more than Eva as he had a worse score that he could drop so he was able to gain 5 points from Sittingbourne, while Eva, despite beating him on the road, was only able to add 4 points to her total. All this meant that Hall’s charge to the top was timed to perfection and he ran out champion from Floridia, with Eva just point behind in 3rd. Vistuer’s 3rd place at Vitality moved her ahead of Micky Boyd into 4th overall.
Championship: 1 Andy Hall (134 points), 2 Chris Gatt-Floridia (131), 3 Denise Eva (130), 4 Amy Vistuer (115), 5 Micky Boyd (108), 6 Sally Callaghan (98), 7= Janine Harris & Emma Horan (58), 9 David Allison (56), 10 Viral Tanna (48), 11 Liz Delamain (37), 12= Lisa Barrett & Catherine Crabtree (13).
Group 8 (11 registered competitors)
Vitality 10k: 1 Katie Garvey (56:16), 2 Rachel Inman (57:40).
Sittingbourne 10m: 1 Jennifer Kelly (91:55), 2 Rob Lillywhite (110:43), 3 Richard Dunstan (110:44).
Katie Garvey had a slim chance of overtaking Richard Dunstan for 2nd in this group but would need to win both of the remaining rounds - Jennifer Kelly having already secured the title.
Garvey duly completed the first half of her challenge by taking the Victory victory, with Rachel Inman not far behind.
Garvey however didn’t race at Sittingbourne and normal service was resumed with Kelly way ahead of Rob Lillywhite and Dunstan who were separated on chip times by just 1s!
Kelly takes the title, just two points short of the maximum 140. Dunstan holds onto the runner-up spot from Garvey, with James Fisher 4th.
Championship: 1 Jennifer Kelly (138), 2 Richard Dunstan (128), 3 Katie Garvey (124), 4 James Fisher (115), 5 Rachel Inman (111), 6 Rob Lillywhite (109), 7 Julie Medhurst (55), 8 Djuro Rnic (18).
Group 9 (11 registered competitors)
Vitality 10k: 1 Prema Reddy (55:52), 2 Alex Robins (61:40), 3 Chris Haydon (62:01), 4 Gemma Worley (70:47).
Sittingbourne 10m: 1 Terry Stocks (109:59).
Prema Reddy popped up at the Vitality having not raced at any of the previous rounds and took a comfortable victory. Alex Robins took her best result of the season in 2nd and beat Haydon into 3rd who was trying to make sure of 2nd overall in the title race behind runway champion Terry Stocks. Gemma Worley made her third appearance and was 4th.
Stocks was the only Group 9 at the last round and duly took his eighth win of the campaign, his only ‘loss’ being at the season opening Swanley parkrun when Biljana Petrushevska made a winning appearance . Haydon takes the runner-up spot from Lou Stocks, with Emma Sims not far behind.
Championship: 1 Terry Stocks (140 points), 2 Chris Haydon (124), 3 Lou Stocks (118), 4 Emma Sims (114), 5 Alex Robins (105), 6 Pherenice Worsey-Buck (62), 7 Corinne Hollamby (42), 8 Gemma Worley (41), 9 Prema Reddy (35), 10 Biljana Petrushevska (32), 11 Jenny Waterman (14).
Group 10 (9 registered competitors)
Vitality 10k: 1 Wendy Tung (61:57), 2 Barbara Carr (65:44), 3 Ann Adams (65:56),
Sittingbourne 10m: 1 Ann Adams (117:45).
The top two in this championship both entered Vitality and, as neither had completed 7 rounds, would both score highly. Neither however claimed 1st place as Wendy Tung took her first win of the series and the 20 points. Barbara Carr just pippedAnn Adams for 2nd place by 12 seconds to reduce the deficit to her rival to 5 points going into the Sittingbourne finale.
The next weekend though and it was just Adams out on this one-lapper in Kent so naturally she took the 20 points on offer to seal the title. Carr finished 9 points behind in 2nd, while Tung’s Vitality win promoted her from 5th to 3rd.
Championship: 1 Ann Adams (132 points), 2 Barbara Carr (123), 3 Wendy Tung (68), 4 Lyttleton Barrett (60), 5 Paul Pester (54).
Group 11 (8 registered competitors)
Vitality 10k: 1 Liz Squires (68:15).
Sittingbourne 10m: 1 Sue McAdam (112:07), 2 Liz Squires (118:21).
Group 11 has had the lowest turnout over the season with Sue McAdam and Liz Squires taking all the 1st places. McAdam had already notched up six wins, so one more from the last two rounds and she would achieve the maximum 140 points available.
Squires was the sole Group 11 at Vitality so added 20 points to her score, but was headed in by McAdam at Sittingbourne meaning McAdam took the title with a perfect score and Squires only six points behind in 2nd.
Championship: 1 Sue McAdam (140 points), 2 Liz Squires (134), 3 John Perks (18).
Report: Mark Burgess
It has been a great championship with good battles in some of the groups and runaway victors in the others. All the hard work will have been well worth it when the victors receive their awards at the Winter Party at the end of November. Well done everyone!
