KFL Cross Country: Knole Park, Sevenoaks

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Standing in the drizzle in the beautiful Knole Park, I wondered what on earth I'd been thinking. This was my first cross country since 2019, and I was a little nervous about my fitness levels. But needs must; I had been looking forward to the cross country series for some time, and had promised myself I'd get to at least four of the seven events in the KFL series.

Knole Park kicked off the cross country season. Because of parking restrictions, there's a long walk from Sevenoaks town centre into the Knole Park estate. I walked in with a few other members of Thanet Road Runners, chatting about the rubbish weather and spotting deer roaming the parkland in its autumn colours. A decent turn out for Thanet Road Runners meant that we were in with a reasonable chance of scoring some points. I was under no illusions that I'd perform particularly well, but it was really good to be back out doing a cross country.

The pre-race information included a rough map of the course. The shape of the course became etched in my mind; a semi-butterfly shape with a long, straight start down the middle, followed by a loop on each 'wing', finishing back on the long straight.

9am hit, and to the sound of a failing airhorn, we were on our way. I held back, staying amongst the middle section of the pack. The long, straight start is up hill on a tarmac road, so people jostled a lot to find their positions. Eventually, after around half a mile, the pack started to separate just before the first big right-hand bend. On the curve to the right, all height is once again lost as the course sweeps down into a grassy deer enclosure. The grass was easy enough to run on, and runners traded places as they got into their stride. Before long, the route takes a steep right-hand curve to form the top of the first 'butterfly wing' before curving back through the woods where you then run parallel with the earlier section of the course. This section was tough; approximately half a mile of gradual climbing before hitting the hard left-hand bend back up the hill we came down only ten minutes ago. I looked at my heart rate: high 170s. I was very much out of condition. On the steep hill I opted for the fell technique of hands on knees fast walk. It worked as I was able to regain some pace as we crossed through the middle and onto the right-hand 'wing', This section was easier as it was both flatter and marginally shorter. It was also more wooded, meaning that there were fewer opportunities to see how much of the course was left. In the distance I could hear the cheering and shouting of the finish line, so I knew I only had a small portion of the 'wing' to go. Before long I emerged back out onto the long, straight drive way; this time down hill. I built up as much of a sprint as I could muster. I crossed the finish line in 35 minutes 51 seconds in position 101. 

This was by far my greatest cross country performance, and I could certainly feel the lack of fitness on the climbs. Added to that, my achilles was throbbing a lot throughout the race. Still, it was great to kick off the new season of cross country in lovely surroundings, and it was also really good to score points for the team.


Well, I thought it looked like a butterfly.

 

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