Kent Fitness League 2017/18: Blean Woods

The Kent Fitness League fixture at Blean Woods, Rough Common is another great venue, but in the times I have run here I've always had trouble deciding whether to wear trail shoes or cross-country spikes. The problem is that the course features a fairly even split between squelchy mud and hard stony paths. So for the final race of the 2017/18 KFL season, I took both shoe options.

dartford harriers [photo: eden]

Upon arrival in the village of Rough Common, I found a space on a side street to park the car. For the record, the on-street car parking is very tight here, so it's a good idea to arrive early and be prepared to drive up-and-down the streets searching for a space. The race HQ is in the Rough Common Village Hall, and this is also where the toilets are located.

Standing in the hall looking out of the door at the combination of sleet and hail stones, it was clear that this outing was going to be pretty miserable. After chatting to some team mates, I found out that it was also quite windy out on the playing fields where the race starts and finishes. So heading over to the fields in the rain, I was eager to get started.

into the woods [photo: eden]

Back to the shoes conundrum - I had made a decision and went for the spikes. After a quick warm-up it was time to get going. So, after one-and-a-half laps around the sports fields and it was time to dive into the woods themselves. The entry began with a plunge into some fairly nasty mud which released the almighty stench lurking within.

The paths in the woods switch between thick mud and firm, stony paths. So, going back to the shoe choice, I think the best advice I can offer is this; if you really can't stand running on hard paths in spikes then go for your trail shoes. However, if you can deal with being uncomfortable underfoot at times, you will benefit from spikes on the muddier sections.

playing fields heading to the finish [photo: eden]

The paths undulate all the way around, and the ups-and-downs are typically covered over fairly long stretches. I tried to stick to the edges of the hard paths in an attempt to soften the impact, but it wasn't always possible to find enough soft mud to make much difference. With the wooded section complete, the course heads back out onto the sports field and around to the finish.

And with the race complete, the 2017/18 Kent Fitness League cross-country season came to a close. I quickly got changed out of my running gear and into something a little warmer. However, I was frozen to the core, so I discreetly trotted off in the direction of the car.

kfl 2017/18 season complete [thanks to paul for taking the post-race photo of me]

My club, Dartford Harriers, had won the team competition again (Hooops!). For me personally, it marked my second consecutive complete season (all seven races) and my KFL streak reached 15 consecutive races. It turns out that I also ran a course best time, shaving 15 seconds off my previous best from the 2016/17 race.

Official Results: KFL 2017/18 - Blean Woods

Race stats:

• Overall position: 80 / 329
• Gender position:  77 / 228
• Age category position (VM40-44): 10 / 20
• Rating: 66.67

Links:

• KFL 2017/18: Blean Woods GPS data
• Relive course fly-by video
• Official results
• My Kent Fitness League course information page
• My full KFL stats page

Kent Fitness League 2017/18: Nurstead Court

Race six of the 2017/18 Kent Fitness League season took place in the grounds of the Grade I Listed Nurstead Court in Meopham. The grounds here are used by equestrians and features a purpose built cross-country course as well as many other horse related facilities.

dartford harriers

So, in the pre-race briefing we were told that the horses had been out in one of the fields and had churned it up, I noted it but wasn't overly concerned. The horn sounded and we all flew off to test ourselves over one of the best cross-country courses in the league. A real bonus was that the weather had slight spring feel to it, so I didn't have to wear a hat, arm warmers or gloves.

If you've read any of my previous posts (2014/15 and 2016/17) about this venue, you'll have a good idea what this course is like. If you haven't, you'll be pleased to hear that it has a bit of everything; uphills, downhills, mud, a water crossing, tree roots, branches, logs and bales of hay to jump over, forest paths, fields, open grass areas, and even some bomb craters!

kfl

As soon as we headed off along the start/finish straight, it was clear that the course was going to be soft underfoot and by the time I reached the water crossing (800 metres into the course) I was already suffering. This could in-part have been due to not having a proper warm-up - you see, there were five portaloos available and the queue was really long when I arrived. Long story short, my warm-up lasted 2 minutes.

So continuing around the first lap, I leapt over the bales of hay and then flew along the slightly downhill perimeter of the main horse shoe-jumping training field. Then I entered the woods - the twisty path was muddy, tree roots and logs were lurking everywhere. Through another field and then out onto a straight path which was caked in mud - I remember the first time I ran here and really struggling on the path. It was similar this time, but I was wearing spikes so coped ok.

kfl

After a short, sharp incline, I entered the muddiest of all fields. It wasn't just regular mud, it was churned up mud. Each footstep was a struggle and required vast amounts of energy to wade through - it was at this point I realised that my left shoe was a little loose. There was no way I was going to stop to re-tie the shoelace, thankfully it stayed attached to my foot for the rest of the race.

Now into the second wooded section - the fun to be had in here is off-the-scale! The paths twist all over, the terrain goes up and down - it was like a muddy, slightly dangerous, rollercoaster track. At the end of this section, the bomb craters are found - three of them. I was totally knackered already, but I dropped in and powered out of each one in turn. A few more twisty paths and then it was time for the long, uphill, drag towards the end of the lap.

kfl

At the top, I swung around and headed straight back down the hill to start lap 2. Strangely, despite feeling totally exhausted, with my arms seemingly just flapping around not under my control, I did manage to continue to catch and overtake quite a few other participants during the second half of the race. Water splash, hay bales, mud, downhill, uphill, and bomb craters all over again and it was time for the final stretch back along the opening path, and with that done, some serious recovery time was needed.

I picked up 97th finish position, which I was expecting to be a little higher. But that was out of 404 runners in total, so it's still in the top 25% overall. I was a few seconds slower than the previous year, but I think the course conditions were worse this time around, so on balance I think it worked out ok.

There were a few photographers out on the course whose photos I have used here, so I'm very grateful to Dawn Granger, Brian Pitkin, Eden Summers and my wife for getting some fantastic shots of the action.

My results:

• Official time: 38.16
• Overall position: 97 / 404
• Gender position: 91 / 277
• Age group position (VM40-44): 7 / 19
• Rating: 67.51

Links:

• Nurstead Court 2017/18 Official Results Page
• My GPS Data
• The relive course flyby video
• Kent Fitness League Venue Guide

Kent Fitness League 2017/18: Fowlmead

The fourth race of the 2017/18 Kent Fitness League (my venue info page) was held at Betteshanger Park. The park was formerly called Fowlmead and, for now at least, the cross country race has retained this name. This venue is the furthest drive of the XC season for me, and it took about 1 hour and 20 minutes to travel there from Dartford.

In fact I almost didn't make it to the race at all - The day before I had an unexplained sharp pain on the inside of my left shin and thought I would have to sit this one out. Fortunately it wasn't too bad on the day and I made the last minute decision to go ahead.

The race is run on a two-and-a-bit lap clockwise course around the country park. Underfoot is mostly hard surfaces, but can be quite uneven at times. I can't imagine there would ever be any need to wear spikes on this course, but trail shoes are quite handy.

dartford harriers [photos: eden / dani]

Every time I have run this race the course has been slightly different. In previous years I remember running a short off-road section that begins with quite a steep, uneven downhill. This section was missing from the course - I'm not entirely sure why, but I would imagine that it was for safety reasons.

The big story from this year's race was the wind. The forecast predicted 45mph winds and I can confirm that it was spot on. It was blowing from the East which meant that there was a headwind along the straight at the end of each lap and it was pretty brutal.

I found that I felt ok on the first lap, but that headwind at the end of lap 1 knocked the steam out of me and I really struggled on lap 2 resulting in a positive split of almost a minute. But that was fine because cross-country can quite often work out like that. On lap two I would have preferred to have been chasing and overtaking, but instead I was the one being overtaken.

dartford harriers [photos: funkdooby]

In the end the wind took its toll and gave me an earache as I reached the final kilometre. Then it was a case of pushing into the 45mph gusts all the way to the finish line. Totally shattered, I wandered over to the cafe to get out of the wind. Yes, I was cold, but it was the earache that most bothered me. Once out of the wind it eased off and I felt fine.

Upon crossing the finish line I had been handed finishing position token 68, which was my highest finishing position of the season so far. The full results were processed and available online a few days later.

Official Results: KFL Fowlmead January 2018

My race stats:
Overall position: 68 / 341
Gender position: 65 / 230
Official time: 34:57
Rating: 72.17

Data etc:
My GPS course data: KFL Fowlmead January 2018
My Relive course fly-by video: KFL Fowlmead January 2018

Additional link: My Kent Fitness League venue information page

Kent Fitness League 2017/18: Oxleas Wood

The third race of the 2017-18 season was run at Oxleas Wood, which is the wooded area you can see to the side of Shooters Hill. This race marked my third outing at this venue over the last four seasons. The first two races of the season had been so-so...

The season opener at Knole Park was ruined by a pain in my stomach. Then at the second race in Swanley I got caught in congestion early on and found myself quite far adrift of where I would have liked to be.

I came into the Oxleas Wood race with more of an aggressive mindset - the previous year I had started too slowly and got caught in congestion during the early part of the wooded section. I wanted to avoid that this time around, and so did the race organisers - Plumstead Runners. So this year the beginning of the course was lengthened in order to thin the runners out before entering the woods.

oxleas wood (oxleas meadows) [photos: 7t]

The race start time was set for 11am, however a couple of minutes beforehand it was announced that there would be a 10 minute delay. The weather was pretty cold (it always is here) and there had been an early morning frost, so to keep warm I started a second warm-up session of light jogging until we had our two-minute warning.

As I mentioned, the course had changed a little this year. So the beginning was a little different and involved a large loop around a line of trees and bushes adding a couple of hundred extra metres to the course. I'm not entirely sure if it helped further down the field but I can confirm that I entered the woods and didn't have to deal with any congestion. My start had been more aggressive than before, but to be honest, I was never going to go too crazy early on.

My race featured a bit of overtaking and a bit of being overtaken. I struggled on some of the inclines but I fared better on the flatter sections. I rolled my left ankle but I appear to have gotten away without doing any damage. I wore my spikes for this race because I found them really beneficial the year before. However, the ground was much dryer this time around and I reckon trail shoes would've done the job nicely.

oxleas wood [photos: eden summers]

After 38 minutes and 14 seconds, I crossed the finish line, weaved through the funnel and collected my finishing disc, which I was surprised to see was number 80. Bear in mind that I had finished in 146th and 135th in the first two races, so to be well within the top 100 was a bit of a shock. Not only that, but I had run a new course best despite it actually being a few hundred metres longer. To be fair, the course was the driest I have ever seen it, so was a lot faster than it usually is.

Official Results Page: KFL Oxleas Wood Results 2017
Overall position: 80 / 460
Gender position: 78 / 324
Official time: 38.14

My GPS Data: KFL Oxleas Wood 2017
Video: Relive course flyby video

Kent Fitness League 2017/18: Swanley Park

Following my disastrous start to the 2017-18 Kent Fitness League season, I headed over to Swanley Park to take part in the second race of the series, hoping that I'd have a better race without a repeat of the stomach issues that ruined the season opener at Knole Park.

I started the race on tired legs that had already run a parkrun and raced the Foots Cray Meadows Kent Cross Country League race the day before. The course at Swanley was the same as it was the season before, you can read about it here, so I won't go into great detail about it.

A year beforehand, I had got a brilliant start and completed the course without encountering any hold-ups. This time around, I found myself pinned into the middle of the pack at the start and encountered a great deal of congestion throughout the first few kilometres.

This was topped off by coming to a dead stand still as the pack filtered through a narrow pinch point just over a mile into the race. This poor start meant that I was already way off where I would have expected to be (probably 40 seconds adrift after the first two kilometres).

The rest of the race consisted mostly of reeling people in and overtaking them (which was fun), but no matter how hard I pushed there was no way for me to regain the ground I had lost early on. I finally crossed the line in 136th position in a time of 38.22, which was 59 seconds slower than a year earlier.

A change I did make for this race was that I wore my trail shoes instead of my spikes, which I had regretted wearing during 2016's race. Swanley Park had not suffered much with the recent rain and the grass/dirt areas were generally pretty firm. I was much happier in my trail shoes, so was happy with that decision.

My Results:

• Position: 136 out of 566
• Gender position: 126 out of 379
• Time: 38.22

Links:

• KFL Swanley Park 2017 Official Results
• KFL Swanley Park 2017 GPS data
• KFL Swanley Park 2017 course fly-by video
• KFL Swanley Park 2016 blog post
• KFL Venue Guide

Kent Fitness League 2017/18: Knole Park

The 2017/18 Kent Fitness League cross-country season got underway at the stunning Knole Park in Sevenoaks. For details on car parking, toilets and an in-depth course description please have a look at my main Kent Fitness League information page or my blog post from 2016's race.

The run up to the race had been pretty good, topped off with a sub-20 5k at Southwark parkrun just two weeks before the race - this meant I was in roughly the same shape (if not slightly faster) as I was a year earlier. 2017's event saw slightly fewer participants than the record-breaking 2016 event, but there was still a very high turnout of 493 participants.

At the starter's orders we all shot off on our first KFL outing of the year. I had already had a decent warm-up and flowed with the pack as we negotiated the early part of the course. By the time I was nearing the top of the long, gradual incline I could feel my stomach starting to tighten. I held my pace and focussed on my breathing in the hope that I could bring it under control.

It seemed ok until I hit the short, sharp downhill section at the far end of the course. At this point the feeling in my stomach changed to a stitch or possibly a stomach cramp on my left hand side, and it was the worst running pain I've ever had. My pace slowed and runners from behind started to stream past. I shuffled on, maintaining a pace, but it was not much more than what I would run during an easy run.

All the way through the second lap, runners continued to catch and pass me, and there was nothing I could do. The pain was too intense. Then, with about a mile left in the race, another pain which felt more like a traditional stitch appeared on the right hand side. I had no choice but to stop and walk - I strategically picked the incline into the woods to do this so as to lose less time than on the flat.

At the top of the incline I shuffled back into a run and before I knew it, I had completed the last kilometre and crossed finish line. I was handed finish token number 146, which is my worst ever KFL finishing position.

After looking forward to this race for so long, it was a huge disappointment that it panned out how it did. However, I mustn't linger on it and I suppose I should be happy that I finished only about two-and-a-half-minutes slower than in 2016 despite the horrendous race I'd just had.

Links:

• Official results
• My GPS data
• The relive fly-by video of the course

Kent Fitness League 2016-17: Fowlmead

The seventh and final fixture of the 2016-17 Kent Fitness League cross-country season was held on Sunday 19 February 2017 at Betteshanger Park, in Sholden, Deal. Up until last summer, the venue was called 'Fowlmead Country Park' hence the name of this cross-country race.

Out of all of the KFL race venues, this one is probably the least traditional 'cross country' course of them all. Most of the paths are compact dirt or gravel and there's only the slightest hint of mud at a few key points around the course. With that in mind, the best shoes to wear for this course are trail shoes - it's not even worth considering spikes.

dartford harriers 2016-17 kfl champions [photo: eden]

The venue has a decent sized car park - there has been a slight change in the payment system since the last time I ran here. The pay at the barrier system has been removed and there is now an automatic number place recognition system in place. Parking payments are made at one of the machines before leaving - current fees are £2 for up to 3 hours and £3 for over 3 hours. Once the payment is made, you have around 25 minutes to vacate.

Moving onto the race. The course here is run over two clockwise laps of the park with an extended finish straight at the end. As I mentioned earlier, the paths are generally pretty firm underfoot and trail shoes are the way to go where footwear is concerned. There are a couple of inclines to negotiate, but they are fairly short and not too steep. My favourite part of the course is the short section of single track which starts with a steep, rocky downhill and is followed by some fun, twisty bits.

[photos: eden / funkdooby]

As for my race, I started slowly and gradually worked my way through the field until I found myself behind two of my team mates. I've been finishing slightly behind them all season, so I knew that I was in the right place. The pace felt good and just before the end of the first lap, I decided to push a bit harder and try to move through the field a little more.

The move was successful and I found that I was catching and overtaking people throughout the second lap. By the time I reached the last kilometre, I was red-lining, but I was still catching and passing people and was pleased with the way I had executed my race plan. Although this is probably my least favourite of the KFL courses, it does seem to suit me best.

[photos: funkdooby / eden / esther]

I finished the race in 46th position which was my highest finish this season, so I was pretty pleased to end the season on a high. My club, Dartford Harriers won the combined team competition which completed a straight run of victories for all seven matches this season. Plus, after a tense wait for the official results to be published, it was confirmed that the Dartford Harriers women's team had won the women's competition.

I used Strava to record the GPS data of the route, so if you would like to see the course in detail please take a look here - KFL Fowlmead. The course had a tiny variation to the one that was used when I first ran here in 2014, but apart from the it was the same. For the record, I completed all seven of this season's races so it's nice to have a complete season under my belt at last. It was thoroughly enjoyable and I'm hoping to do the same next season (and hopefully improve my results).

If you would like some more information about the other venues please have a look at my Kent Fitness League information page.

Kent Fitness League 2016/17: Blean Woods

Match 6 of the 2016/17 Kent Fitness League cross country season was held at Blean Woods, Rough, Common, Canterbury. It was my second outing at this venue. The first being a year earlier at the finale of the 2015/16 season where I was taking part in my first race for a number of months.

The parking situation here is not ideal and pretty much involves arriving early enough to grab one of the roadside spaces on Rough Common Road. Once I had found a spot, I headed into the Village Hall to use the toilet - some people get changed in here, but I wanted to keep my jumper and trousers on until the last possible minute.

The approx 8.4km (5.2 miles) race starts and finishes on Moat Sports Ground which is adjacent to the woods. After a little warm up with my daughter, me and my Dartford Harriers team mates gathered for the customary pre-race team photo.

dartford harriers [photo: eden]

The opening section of the race features 1.5 laps of the perimetre of the sports fields. The last time I was here, the fields were very boggy in certain sections, but this year they were much dryer. I started out at a slower pace than I had done at the last few races because I wanted to try out a pacing different strategy.

By the time I made it into the woods, I felt very quite adrift from where I would have usually expected to have been. The course undulates as it works its way through the woods. Underfoot varies between regular muddy trail paths and slightly firmer, stonier paths. I had chosen to wear my cross-country spikes despite previously writing that ' a really aggressive pair of trail shoes would have been ok for this course'.

start [photos: 7t]

As I followed the course around, I remembered why I wrote that. A fair amount of time was spent on the harder surface paths and I did my best to stay to the edges where there was a little more forest debris for my spikes to grip onto. On the other hand there were also sections where I was actually really pleased that I was wearing spikes.

I had a few dodgy moments where I almost rolled my ankle. This was mostly caused by my spikes slipping on tree roots, of which there are a lot and stepping in puddles that were covering uneven or boggy ground. I'd say that out of all of the Kent Fitness League courses, this one possibly has the highest risk of causing an injury. However, it was also a lot of fun.

into the woods [photos: esther / eden / dani]

I continued to make progress through the field of runners, and made it through the half-a-dozen or so small water splashes around the course. During the race I found myself in the company of a couple of team mates and that really helped to keep me motivated to keep pushing as hard as possible.

For the first seven-or-so kilometres, I was feeling pretty damn good. But for the last kilometre, I suffered from a stitch, which made it very difficult to push as hard as I would have liked as I reached the exit of the woods and had to negotiate half-a-lap around the playing fields.

back on the playing fields / finish [photos: esther / dani]

Before I knew it, I had crossed the finish line and managed to hold off any attempts by competitors to snatch my position at the finish line. I worked my way along the finish funnel and was quite amused to be handed raffle ticket number 73, which was exactly the same position that I had finished in at Nurstead Court just a week earlier.

The full results had been processed and published by the end of the day and my club had, yet again, won the combined competition, making it 6/6 wins for this season. I had recorded the course using Strava on my phone and you can see the course data, here: KFL Blean Woods 2017.

post-race [photos: dani]

As I had run this race the previous year with a diminished fitness level, I had wondered how much quicker I might be able to make it around the course. It turns out that the answer was 6 minutes and 13 seconds faster, which I really wasn't expecting, so it was really nice to come away with a new course best time [36.27] by such a large margin.

Official results: KFL Blean Woods February 2017 Full Results

Kent Fitness League 2016/17: Nurstead Court

Fixture 5 of the 2016-17 Kent Fitness League season took place at Nurstead Court, Meopham. This was the second time I had run at this venue, the first being 2 years earlier during the 2014-15 season. This venue is regarded as ‘proper’ cross country and features pretty much everything you could ask for in a cross-country race. It is held in the grounds of Nurstead Court, which is a grade 1 listed medieval building dating back to 1320 with a Victorian façade that was added in 1825.

On race day, one of the open grass fields just off of Nash Street is put aside for car parking and there is ample space available. After a walk along a muddy, splashy path, the race HQ is found in a marquee which is pitched directly in front of the house and some portaloos are usually found just behind it. There is no other changing space available so bear that in mind when you arrive.

[photo: eden summers]

I find this course to be quite a tough mix of all of the various elements of cross-country racing. This is the only course in the entire KFL series which is 100% off-road, so I'd recommend sticking your cross-country spikes on for this one. The start of this 2-lap-course is outside the house, which is at the highest point of the course. After a hundred metres or so, the runners head downhill on a fairly wide grassy section which gets steeper towards the bottom.

At the bottom, the course heads straight back uphill for a short stretch and crosses into an adjacent field. The notable thing here is the very heavy camber which you could find yourself running on – I found it quite uncomfortable in places, but if you get your positioning right, you can find a nice flat groove to run along.

[photo: dawn granger]

Turning for another short climb, the course weaves around and drops back down to the lowest point where the headline course feature is to be found – this is of course, the water splash. It’s always cold and it’s always splashy, but you will find a lot of support here because what could be more fun for the spectators than watching a bunch of grown adults grimacing as they splash their way through a huge, freezing cold, knee-deep puddle. Plus if they’re really lucky they might even get to see a few people fall in.

After this, it’s time for another climb and this one can be quite exhausting with freezing cold feet to deal with at the same time. At the top another course feature can be found – the hay jump. Quite simply a couple of bales of hay across the path which require a little jump to negotiate. With that out of the way, there is some relief as the course heads downhill for a while.

[photo: dawn granger]

Once at the bottom, the runners swing to the right, through some trees and again sent back uphill along the edge of an open field. A brief section through some more trees brings them out on a very muddy, energy sapping, footpath – this must be a couple of hundred metres in length and finishes with a tight left-hander and a short, sharp incline.

Another, shorter section across a field and the runners head into the woods where the path twists and turns. There are all sorts of hazards to look out for such as log jumps, tree roots and low hanging branches. While the kilometre-or-so section in the woods undulates, there is a very nice stretch early-on that is ever-so-slightly downhill and I found this part felt amazing to run along (flying along, twisting, turning, hurdling, and ducking). More course features are found deeper in the woods – the bomb craters: If I remember rightly, there are four of them and all involve a very steep downwards entry followed by an equally steep exit.

[photo: dawn granger]

At the end of the section in the woods, there is another field to circumnavigate. This is followed by a tough incline to negotiate along the footpath which runs adjacent to the long downhill section from the very beginning. Once this section has completely broken you, you’ll have the pleasure of repeating the whole lap one more time before heading back along the flat start straight, and into the finish funnel.

I found the course really tough. I’d probably even go so far as saying that it was brutal and it hurt like hell. It undulates the whole way round, so whenever things start to feel good you know that another uphill section is surely right around the corner. While I was two-and-a-half minutes slower around the course than I was last time, it looks like I managed to pace myself better (there were only 30 seconds difference between my two lap times this year, whereas last time there was a full minute).

[photo: studio gecko]

My club, Dartford Harriers won the combined team competition and that makes it 5/5 wins so far this season. The full results were published the day after the race and I finished in 73rd position overall out of 356 competitors (65th male out of 246). My official time was recorded as 37.42.

Full results: KFL 2016/17 – Match 5: Nurstead Court
GPS data: KFL Nurstead Court

Kent Fitness League 2016/17: Minnis Bay

The fourth match of the 2016/17 Kent Fitness League cross country season took place at Minnis Bay, which is in Birchington on the north coast of Kent. I first ran this race in 2015, so if you want to know a bit of history and have a more detailed course description please have a look at my Minnis Bay 2015 blog post.

dartford harriers [photos: becca / 7t]

At my only previous race here, I did pretty well - finishing in 36th position in a time of 42.16. I suspected that I wouldn't be able to match that performance from 2015, but I made a note of that finish time so I could compare at the end of the race.

The race started fairly well for me, with no holdups. The very splashy opening four kilometres from 2015 were almost bone dry due to the lack of rain this winter, so I was pretty happy to be running a cross country race with dry feet for a change. One thing I had forgotten was how monotonous this course is. There's a lot of running-in-a-straight-line to do and there's nothing more than open scrubland to look at.

during the first few kilometres [photos: funk dooby / becca / 7t]

I suffered from a stitch a few kilometres in and it made it difficult for me to sustain my pace, so I had to relinquish a few positions during the 3rd and 4th kilometres as my pace slowed. By the start of the second half of the race, it had subsided enough for me to push a little harder, so I did and I was slowly gaining on the group of runners in front of me.

Minnis Bay's 'course features' - the water dykes (or ditches) were coming up and I left the main path to negotiate them. The first two were bone dry, but the third one was full of very sticky mud. At this point I was side-by-side with one of my team mates and he got through without any trouble...

gettin' dirty pt.1 [photos: funk dooby]

However, when I stepped in, my foot kept going down deeper and deeper into the abyss. It was soon joined by the other foot and I had to claw my way out of it while it clung onto my lactate-filled, achy legs. Fortunately my shoes managed to stay attached to my feet.

The next few ditches were also muddy, but I got through with creating any more incidents. After the drama in the ditches, my rhythm had been broken and I found it really hard to get going again. A few runners caught up with me, but I just couldn't switch my legs back on, and so inevitably they passed me.

gettin' dirty pt.2 [photos: funk dooby]

Inside the last kilometre, the legs felt like they had partially woken up, but a large amount of the end of the race is run on single-file paths. The places where I felt strong enough to pass, I just couldn't squeeze through and by the time the course opened up, it was for the final 100 metre finish.

I'm not a great sprint finisher so I just pushed a little harder, but didn't break into an all-out sprint. I crossed the line and worked my way around to the end of the funnel where I was issued with raffle ticket number 75.

the last part of the race [photos: esther / eden]

This is the highest finishing position I have had this season, so I was pretty pleased to be within the top 100 again. My time was around a minute slower than my 2015 time, and while disappointed to not be a little closer, I wasn't surprised.

Something that did surprise me was that when I looked at the official results, it turns out that I actually scored for my club, which is something I was not expecting and it hadn't even crossed my mind. It looks like some of the good Harriers runners were either injured or hadn't turned up. Had I realised this beforehand, I might have been a little more aggressive in the closing stages of the race.

minnis all done for another year.. [photos: adam / 7t]

Last time at Minnis Bay, I didn't take any technology out on the course with me. However, this time around I wanted to gather the course data, so I ran with my phone in its case on my arm. I fortunately managed to keep it out of the mud and I now have the course GPS data to share with you all - Kent Fitness League: Minnis Bay 2017.

My club, Dartford Harriers won the combined (male and female) team competition despite coming second in both of the individual male and female competitions. This makes it four straight wins out of four races this season - the other three so far have been Knole Park, Swanley Park and Oxleas Wood. The remaining fixtures of the season are Nurstead Court, Blean Woods and Fowlmead.

Kent Fitness League 2016/17: Oxleas Wood

The Kent Fitness League race at Oxleas Wood is a special one for me as it is the venue that I made my KFL debut at back in 2014. This year it marked the first venue that I have run at twice - the good thing is that I had a benchmark to compare myself to. The bad news is that my running was going much better back at that first race, so my expectations were pretty low for my return visit.

The race coincided with the Storm Angus weekend, which brought with it heavy rain and winds gusting at 50mph or so. Fortunately the worst of the storm had passed by the time the race started and despite being very cold while hanging around beforehand, the conditions for racing were spot on. The rain had made sure we had plenty of mud to play in and the woods provided shelter from the remaining gusts of wind.

pre-race [photos: dani / 7t / jonathan pegg]

After the previous weekend's cross country race at Swanley, my calves had been left in tatters, so I was a little nervous about running in my cross country spikes again incase they made them even worse. However the conditions seemed right to choose the spikes over my standard trail shoes, and as my calves had been sore all week, I started the race quite conservatively.

The course here consists of the start and finish area on the large, open grass area (Oxleas Meadows) at the bottom of the hill, and the rest of the race run in two separate sections of the woods with a little gap in between where the runners pass the cafe at the top of the hill - this is great because it allows spectators to hang out near (or in) the cafe (also has toilets) and pop out to cheer and then get back in the warm if they prefer.

start [photos: studio gecko / dani]

So, back to my expectations. In November 2014 I ran this race in 39.45 and at the same time I was running 5k in just over 19 minutes. On the day of the 2016 race I was capable of running 5k about a minute slower than that, so I worked out that I should expect to complete the race in just over 41 minutes. I lined up quite close to the front, but not so close that I'd be forced to go off very fast - remember, my calves were of concern to me.

By the time we reached the top of the hill and weaved around to the entrance to the woods, things were pretty congested. The next couple of kilometres, run on mostly fairly narrow trail paths through the woods were a little slow and even featured a few points where the sheer number of runners meant that we were forced to slow to walking pace. This first section of woods features the steepest of the inclines.

out on the course [photos: studio gecko / becca]

As we went into the second section of woods, the field had spread out enough to allow runners to maintain their preferred paces. My main memory of this section was the stunning yellow and orange leaves of the trees which created a beautiful glow above our heads. At the end of this section of woods, the runners pop back out onto Oxleas Meadows and head back up the hill for a second lap.

The conditions underfoot were soft and muddy, but not quite as splashy as it was the last time I raced here. Wearing spikes was the right decision, but there were some stony paths and tree roots to keep an eye out for. With the congestion gone, the second lap was much more enjoyable and I was pleased with my last couple of kilometres, where I managed to catch and pass a few other runners.

around the course / end [photos: eden / becca / studio gecko]

My calves, while sore, were just about behaving themselves, but I was still happy to exit the woods for the last time and head towards the finish. Once across the line, I was handed my raffle ticket, which had number 117 on it. This was upgraded to 116 out of 428 (gender placing: 105/291) in the official results. I was given an overall rating/score of 64.26.

I was disappointed as I seem to be going backwards in terms of overall placing this season (100th, 103rd, and now 116th). Still, there was a silver lining in the fact that my finishing time was recorded as 40.03 which is only 18 seconds slower than my time from 2014. To see the course in detail please take a look at my GPS file on Strava - Kent Fitness League: Oxleas Wood 2016

post-run [photos: dani]

My wife and daughter had come to support me and they were waiting at the finish line with some warm clothes for me to put on, which was absolutely essential as it was freezing out on that field. After a brief period congratulating and chatting to my running buddies, it was time to get out of the cold so we headed off back to the car which was parked on Rochester Way (adjacent to the start/finish area).

With the third race of the season completed, there is a short break as the usual December fixtures have been moved to January. It's a good opportunity to get in some more training or have some rest before part two of the season gets underway in January, which I'm really looking forward to.

Kent Fitness League 2016/17: Swanley Park

Round two of the 2016/17 Kent Fitness League cross country season took place on Sunday 13 November 2016. It was my first time running at this particular race and doing so meant that I have now run at all of the current venues [more info on venues here], albeit over three different seasons.

I had spent the week leading up to the race avoiding training as my chest had been a little congested and I was worried that I could be getting a chest infection. However, on the morning of the race, things felt fairly clear so I felt that it would be fine to go with a full race effort.

swanley park

I had also been a little concerned at a strange sensation I could feel around my right knee which started after the previous day's Dartford parkrun. On the morning of the race, the sensation was there but wasn't too noticeable when running.

Although the weather had been fairly dry during the weeks leading up to the race, the day beforehand had seen quite a prolonged period of heavy rain. With this in mind, I had arrived at the venue with a selection of four different pairs of shoe options; my old trail shoes, new trail shoes, light trail shoes, and my spikes.

course map and start [photos: 7t / valentino]

There are two car parks - the largest of the two is accessed from New Barn Road and the smaller one is found just off the side streets near the town centre. Once I had spent some time wandering around, I registered my attendance with my team manager and popped into the gents, which are next to the cafe, and then went off to get changed. Even though the ground was still fairly firm, there was a layer of water on the grass which was a little slippery. With this in mind I picked my cross country spikes.

Being remembrance Sunday, the 11.05am race start time was preceded by a minute's silence. This was followed by a second period of silence for the two members of Aldershot, Farnham and District AC who were tragically killed in an accident during a training run a few days earlier.

around the course [photos: 7t / becca]

I got myself into a better starting position than I had at the first race of the season and made a fairly good start with no hold-ups or congestion to worry about. The route weaves around quite a bit, crosses a few paths and the railway track as it progresses through the park.

At the 2016 race, the route was adjusted slightly from the previous year and consisted of one shorter lap of the main body of the park, followed by two longer laps which took in the far west side of the park. The west end of the park features a more natural-type of terrain and a short section through some woods.

around the course [photos: becca]

Very soon after starting, I realised that going with the spikes was probably not the best decision and that trail shoes would have been the better option. My race was incident-free and I was pretty happy with my relatively even paced splits.

Despite being passed by a few people on the way round, I did end on a high when I made back a couple of places during the last kilometre. I finished the race in 103rd position out of 469 finishers, which was again a little disappointing, but it's all I have in me at the moment so it's a fair reflection of my current fitness level.

the final few metres (it felt like a strong finish to me) [photos: valentino / 7t]

I recorded the course using the Strava app on my phone (I still haven't got a computer that is compatible with my Garmin) and you can see my GPS data, including the route and the hill profile in detail, here; KFL Swanley Park 2016.

The full results were available online the day after and my official finishing time was 37.23. I was the 92nd male over the line, which is an improvement on the first race of the season (I'll take what I can here). However, due to the lower amount of runners overall, my score/rating was a little lower at 71.11.

hoooops [photos: 7t]

The morning after the race, my calves were in absolute agony and I'm putting this down to wearing my spikes on ground that was too firm for them. So I'm going to have to keep that in mind for future races and I think my policy is going to be that I wear trail shoes unless the conditions are so bad that they I'd be sliding all over the place without spikes.

Kent Fitness League 2016/17: Knole Park

I've done a few training runs and races in Knole Park over the last few years, but this was the first time I had been in a position to run the Kent Fitness League cross country race here. I won't waste any time talking about the history of the building or the park as I have covered these details in previous posts:

• Sevenoaks Rotary 10k 2011
• Sevenoaks Rotary 10k 2014
• Sevenoaks 7 2016

After missing almost all of the previous season's races, I was fired up and ready to go by the time this race came around. I parked the car in the Sevenoaks Leisure centre car park (free-of-charge on Sundays), popped in to use the facilities, and headed into the grounds of the Knole Estate, which covers 1000 acres of beautiful parkland. It's stunning setting for a race and at this time of year the trees and foliage are looking great as their autumnal colours are starting to emerge.

knole park

The weather had been dry and fairly mild for the time of year so the ground underfoot was actually pretty firm and the course itself has a long section on a stony path, so I had brought my trail shoes with me rather than my spikes.

I met up with my Dartford Harrier team mates and the chat instantly turned to shoe choice. We had all sorts being used. I had already decided to wear my light trail shoes as I had come to the conclusion that as we had had barely any rain in the last month that the course would be dry enough for them. Plenty of other runners had gone for spikes - if the weather had been wetter I would probably have chosen spikes as well.

I soon set off for a warm up jog up to Knole House to find a toilet, and then back along The Gallops which is the valley that runs north-south along the western side of the park. 11 o'clock soon came around and after a quick team photo, the runners assembled for the start of the 2016/17 KFL cross country season.

dartford harriers

The start is at the northern end of The Gallops at the lowest part of the course. The first 300 metres are almost flat, but then the next 2km are all uphill, starting with a steep section that leads up to the level of Knole House. Here the runners run parallel to the wall that surrounds the formal garden. 

This eventually leads the runners onto the perfectly straight, central avenue of the park, Broad Walk. This path is all uphill and is where the gravelly path is found, however any runners that have opted for spikes can take to the wide grass verge on either side of this path.

The end of Broad Walk marks the end of the long uphill climb and after a curve at the southern tip of the park, the runners head down a very steep slope into The Gallops where they head north for about 400 metres before heading off to the left to go through a wooded section which lasts for about 600 metres.

around the course - the gallops and the short, sharp incline

Dropping back down into The Gallops, the runners soon rejoin the uphill section to start a second lap of the main loop. At the end of the second lap, the runners head back towards the start area which is now the finish.

My race: I lined up quite close the the front, but wasn't aggressive enough with my start and before I knew it I was trotting along at fairly sedate pace behind the hoards of runners that had streamed past me in the first 50 metres. By the time I reached the first short, sharp incline, I knew what a huge mistake I had made and had to now try to recover as many positions as possible.

I made good progress along Broad Walk where I made up quite a few places. Then as we went through the single track wooded section, I got caught behind some more runners that were slowing and had no choice but to wait until we rejoined the wider path in order to move in front.

around the course - section near the house

The second lap was much less congested, but the damage had been done. I continued to make up places during the second lap, but suffered a stitch during the last 2 kilometres, which I pushed really hard to get through. As I entered the final 400 metres I glanced to my left and saw some runners coming out of the woods at a different point to me. It turns out that a whole bunch had taken a wrong turning in the woods and added an extra half-mile to their races.

In the last 200 metres, I got involved in a crazy sprint finish with another runner, but it turns out that we unleashed our inner Bolts way too early. We both kept pushing really hard and as I crossed the finished line I was convinced that I was going to see my breakfast again. Luckily, I didn't. I recorded the route on Strava so if you're interested in that, you can find it here: Strava - KFL Knole Park 2016

I picked up my raffle ticket and saw that I finished in 100th position out of 561 which initially I was fairly happy with as my goal before the race was to finish in the top 100. However after thinking about my poor start and seeing how much difference even 20-30 seconds would have made to my finishing position, I became a little disappointed with my performance. Another runner I know, who I would have expected to have been very close to, finished almost 50 seconds ahead of me. That's what happens when you start poorly in a cross country race.

around the course - finish approach

Disappointment aside, I really had enjoyed the race. I've always known that cross-country races have very aggressive starts and I know how important it is to get a decent position early on, but somehow I managed to forget this detail whilst waiting for the race to start. I'm making a mental note for the rest of the season.

The amount of runners at this race was unprecedented and it looks like it has not only surpassed the previous highest attendance at this venue by more than 100, but it also became the highest attended race in the history of the Kent Fitness League, beating the previous record by 24. Usually the most popular event is at Swanley Park, so it's possible that we could see another attendance record in a few weeks time.

the finish area

The official results are now online, here: KFL - Knole Park 2016. I finished in an official time of 39.25 in position 100 overall. My gender position was 95th out of 371 and that gave me a rating/score of 74.66. The rating is based on the percentage of the field that a runner finishes ahead of - so I finished ahead of roughly three-quarters of the male runners and ahead of over 80% of the entire field, which doesn't seem so bad.

Lastly, the photos in this blog have come from many different sources and I have lost track of who took each one, so a big thank you to everyone that has been kind enough to take and upload the photos.

Link: For details on all of the Kent Fitness League courses please see this post: Kent Fitness League