18 January 2023
This year’s Knole Run was made all the more challenging due to the heavy rainfall in preceding days and the lack of availability of three of the Senior team that won a silver medal at the English Schools Cup in December. This iconic race is run over a gruelling 9.4km on a brutal course in the beautiful surroundings of Knole Park, Sevenoaks. The team ran doggedly and there were a number of good performances from up and coming squad members and course debutants. Unfortunately, reigning champion Will d’Arcy succumbed to a calf injury and was unable to finish. This left Johnny James to take on the might of the Judd School and the rest of the leading contenders. Johnny ran a tactically superb race and tracked a strong runner from the Coopers’ Company & Coborn School until the final steep hill on which he accelerated into the lead. He won the prestigious race in a time of 32:03 which is outstanding in such wet underfoot conditions.
Full results:
1st Johnny James
20th Jacob Charity-Williams
45th Ben MacLennan
75th Nick Gurney
80th Freddie Bower
DNF Will d’Arcy