Oxleas Wood Cross Country

November 23, 2025

Oxleas Wood XC – KFL 2025/26 Race 2

Well that’s more like it! Wet, muddy and cold was the order of the day for the 2nd race in Eltham. The temperature had been much colder earlier in the week so we were lucky as it had warmed up several degrees.
The journey there was rain, fog and wind. A tree down on at A2 and part of the A2 closed for a nasty accident. I was thinking this XC is not going to be pretty.

HOWEVER, when we arrived the sun came out !!

I’ve always been told this race is ‘Good character-building stuff’. I think this is the toughest race in the series, which always reflects in runner’s times, which per mile/km are much slower than any of the others.
This was definitely a race for either trail shoes or spikes. Road shoes were NOT an option. TRACies after meeting at our gazebo went on their warm ups to test the course and make that last minute shoe decision.

The mandatory team photo (I wonder what position Dan will be in next time lol). Just before the start, it was a walk to the start where there was much applause for runners who had completed there 150th KFL race. Incredible!

11am and we’re off. As usual the start is a short flat, then straight up a not very pleasant grass hill, the course then goes around and back down to the start and back up that damn hill again. You have to be careful not to blow up on these hills as the race has only just begun.

Andy Whitnell, one of our social media team, had turned up especially to video/take snaps. Thanks very much Andy.

Now starts the 1st big lap, the small wood, which was very muddy and includes a nasty gradient hill. You also have to navigate leaf covered downhill steps. If you survive this you come out the small woods to be rewarded with another steep grassy uphill stretch. This was where Andy was standing taking snaps. I was thinking, those photos on the 2nd lap will not look pretty. Well, that’s the horrible part of the big lap. It’s then flat and into the big woods, which although technical is either downhill or flat.

As you come out the big woods you turn right to go back up the grass hill (from the start) and then it’s time for big lap 2. I didn’t see anyone fall over, but it was really muddy today and everyone was plastered in the stuff.
When leaving the big woods for the 2nd time, thankfully there are NO MORE HILLS. It’s a case of veering left then a 300 meter fast flat grass finish.

So lovely to see all the finishers cheering the rest of the team in. Because this fixture had clashed with a club trip to Benidorm our numbers were greatly reduced (got to admit my life choice for Oxleas over Benidorm wasn’t one of my best!). A special mention for Aleks Plichta and Elly Maggs, who not only became new TRAC members but turned up today to provide cover for the ladies team in the v45 and v55 slot. THANK YOU SO MUCH you both did an amazing job!!

Also, a special thanks to Andy Stevens, who at short notice also turned up to put a strong performance in for the v50 mens team. As usual it was home baked goodies and hot drinks at the club gazebo with the opportunity to un-pick the race which was now thankfully behind us.

Well done to both the ladies and mens team today. It was so hard to get teams out for this fixture, with not only the long journey but the club fixture clash.

Team results for this fixture are:
Mens – 3rd
Ladies – 6th
Combined – 4th

Team standings after 2 races:
Mens – 2nd
Ladies – 7th
Combined – 3rd

See below link for FULL KFL results:

https://kfl.canterburyharriers.org/xc_result.php?id=21647