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 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 2014/15: Oxleas Wood

The 2014/15 Kent Fitness League season consists of a series of seven 5-6 mile cross-country races over the winter months and is only open to non-elite runners who are members of one the 18 affiliated clubs. My first claim club, SLGR, are not one of the league's affiliated clubs, but I am able to take part in the series by running for my second claim club, Dartford Harriers (Hoops!).

the famous 'hoops' vest [photo:7t]

The 2014/15 series had started before I had joined Dartford Harriers so I was not eligible to enter the first two races (Knole Park / Swanley Park). So the third race of the series, hosted by Plumstead Runners at Oxleas Wood became my first appearance in the famous hoops vest! Oxleas Wood is one of the few remaining ancient deciduous forests in the Royal Borough of Greenwich and is nestled onto the southern face of Shooters Hill.

On the day, I arrived at the venue, parked on Rochester Way (the old A2) and headed up towards the cafe, which is where the rest of the Harriers had planned to meet. The weather was a bit nippy, but actually quite mild considering this race was held in mid-November. And it rained non-stop for the entire morning.

I had my name added to the official list of Dartford Harriers runners that were competing on the day and after a quick pit-stop in the toilets behind the cafe, I joined some of the other Hoops for a warm up on part of the course within the woods. Returning to the cafe covered in mud, I dropped off my completely non-waterproof jacket and headed down towards the start line.

The start was at the lowest point of the wide triangular shaped grass area called Oxleas Meadows which conceals an underground reservoir that provides fresh water to the local area. As I looked around and saw a lot of runners wearing spikes, I did start to worry that I could find myself on the wrong end of one of them in the stampede through the waterlogged grass that followed when the race was started at 11am sharp.

the official colours of the eighteen affiliated clubs [image: swanley and district ac]

With this thought in my head, I probably took too much of a cautious approach at the start and as the course took us all to the top of the hill before swinging us around and sending us back down it, I found that I was miles adrift from where I thought I might be in the pack.

A minute or so later the course crossed over the footpath and into the western half of the wood which involved everything you might expect to find on a course that goes through the woods. There were tree roots, stones, logs across the path, branches and twigs trying to poke your eyes out. There were slippery paths that went up and down as well as twisting all around. There were mini streams running down the inclines, there was even some steps to run down, then there were puddles and plenty of MUD - this is cross-country after all!

The first half of the wood contained a few steep inclines and eventually the course popped out of the western half of the woods, up another incline, and round the back of the cafe before heading down into the eastern section of the woods. This section featured more of the same features and after lots of splashing (some of those puddles were a lot deeper than they looked!), twisting, sliding and weaving, the half-way point was reached.

Rain and glasses don't mix very well (I really should try wearing a cap) so I found myself with reduced vision due to them being covered in rain water. Common sense probably suggests taking them off, but the world is just as blurry without them. So I ended up just leaving them on and doing my best to negotiate the course without falling over and hurting myself. As the race progressed I was slowly moving through the field, but not quite enough to give me a great finishing time and position.

part way through lap 1 (let's not talk about my facial expression!) [photo:brian page]

The second half of the race was a repeat of the first lap, and it was back onto the waterlogged grass for second helping of the opening hill (which felt steeper now that the fatigue had begun to set in), down the hill and back through both sections of the woods with the other tough incline in between them. Once reaching the exit of the eastern woods for a second time, a friendly marshal pointed in the direction of the finish - at least I think they did, I couldn't actually see much at all at this point.

Somehow I managed to find my way towards the finish, but I was really just winging it and hoping for the best! I made out an image of what looked like the finish area so headed straight for it. Thankfully it was the finish and once across the line and in the funnel I was marked in and handed a raffle ticket with my finish number on. I had to give this to my team captain so he could collate our results.

I met up with a few of the other Harriers runners and headed back up towards the cafe to retrieve my jacket. By this stage I was covered in mud, shivering uncontrollably and putting on a dripping wet, completely non-waterproof jacket didn't really help much. So instead of hanging around for a tea and chat, I sensibly got myself back to the car where I put the heating on full blast and got changed into some dry clothes.

It turns out that one of my Dartford Harriers team mates won the race [results] in what must have been quite an exciting finish as the top three were separated by only 3 seconds. We were also first placed team overall. My own run was somewhat disappointing as I finished way back in 82nd position out of 384 runners. Such is the strength of the team, I was way off being in with a chance to actually contribute to the team's overall score.

post-run in the car trying to get warm (it took twelve attempts to take a photo that wasn't blurry due to me shivering)

It was great to finally be able to participate in the league and I really felt a sense of pride in wearing the team's colours - it's difficult not to feel this pride when you consider the history of the Dartford Harriers goes back to 1922 and has produced some amazing athletes. I really hope I can make it to the rest of this season's Kent Fitness League races and I hope that I can improve on this performance as the season progresses.

#Hoooops!