KENT'S Denise Farnham added another medal to her collection when she finished runner-up in the masters’ 40 to 50 women’s age group at the world biathle championships.

Farnham, a member of Medway and Maidstone AC who lives at Sturry, was part of an English clean sweep in Cagliari, Sardinia, with Dorset’s Carol Smith claiming gold and Julie Pyms, from Manchester, taking the bronze.

The event comprises a 200m swim sandwiched between two runs over 1,000m and only two seconds separated the top two, Smith clocking 12 minutes dead and Farnham 12.02.

At 47, Farnham is the most senior of the English trio, and she admitted she was delighted to have pushed 45-year-old Smith so close.

Farnham, who won gold at the 2001 championships in Germany, said: “ It was a fantastic race and Carol deserved the gold. I did my best but she literally took me in the last 20 metres. She’s an 800m runner and I think she just had that sprint strength in her legs."

Farnham is back in action on the athletics track on Sunday when she runs over 1500m in the Kent Veterans Championships at Erith.