The Kent Fitness League is an enjoyable cross-country series for non-elite athletes, each one measuring about 5-6 miles. Races are staged across Kent from October to March and the league has currently 18 clubs competing. Expect to be cold, muddy and exhilarated at the end!
Runners must be current members of their Club and also be personally affiliated to England Athletics.
Teams
Runners must be 17 or over. Any participants under 18 years of age must provide a Parental or Guardian permission form in advance of their attendance. This shall be held by the cross country representative of their respective club.
No headphones of any type are allowed.
Sub-34 minute 10k men and sub-38 minute 10k women are barred.
Competitors will pre-register for the series via the Club Cross Country Captain and will be allocated a race number, which is theirs for the season and cannot be transferred.
Each team will be 8 male scorers and 5 female scorers with the following age categories required (age on the day of the event applies to Team awards, and age on the first date of the series is used for Individual awards):
For men there will be 2 aged 40+, 2 aged 50+, 1 aged 60+ and 3 others of any age.
For women there will be 1 aged 35+, 1 aged 45+, 1 aged 55+ and 2 others of any age.
Five female runners will now be required to score for each team. As before there must be three veterans (one 35+, one 45+ and one 55+) but now there must be two others rather than just one. The two others may be senior women or they may be vets.
Scoring – watch an informative video here recorded by Kevin Howarth of Petts Wood Runners. Please note that some of his remarks mainly apply to the scoring and competitions as they stood for the 2021-2022 season. Since then there have been two changes: there is now a men’s team competition and, also, there are now five female scorers required rather than four.
Fixtures
Deal Tri host one of the events every year, usually at Betteshanger Park, Sandwich Rd, Deal CT140BF.
Fixtures 2025-2026: some are TBC – keep checking or subscribe to our Calendar to get updates:
11 January 2026 – Betteshanger Park – Deal Tri are the host club.
25 January 2026 – Allhallows, Hoo Peninsula.
22 February 2026 – Canterbury – Blean Woods.
Cross Country Running Through Woodlands
When running through woodlands there is always a risk of being bitten by ticks etc. and therefore insect repellent containing DEET is a good idea. Unfortunately if the tick is infected with Lyme disease then it can be passed on to runners. If after having been on a run you notice a red circular rash around a bite mark (examples here) you may want to get it checked out sooner rather than later. Further details can be found at http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Lyme-disease/Pages/Introduction.aspx