The 18th annual Sevenoaks 7 mile race, sponsored by Bat & Ball Sports, was held on Sunday in perfect conditions with 260 runners lined up for the start in historic Knole Park.

James Trapmore from Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers led most of the way to win in an impressive 38min36sec from Kent cross country league stalwart, Huw Evans (pictured) (39.07) from Tonbridge AC and Tom Fewster (39.25) of Great Western Runners.

Local runners in prominent positions included the winning Sevenoaks AC men’s team of Chris Desmond (44.08), Andrew Mead (44.31), Kevin Thorp (47.29) and James Wright (47.38).

Desmond was the leading M40 and the remaining masters’ category winners were Mark Taylor (M50, 48.14) of Tunbridge Wells Harriers; David Thornby (M60, 47.24) of Maidstone Harriers and Peter Chittenden (M70, 67.52) of Tone Zone Runners.

The women’s race was won in a new course record of 41min31sec by Abby Settle from Tonbridge AC who placed fifth overall, ahead of the experienced W40 masters Maria Heslop (43.06) and Tina Oldershaw (44.26) of Paddock Wood AC. The women’s team event was won by Larkfield AC, with Nicola Groom (46.22), Sarah Mooney (47.22) and Abi Johnson (52.05) collecting the awards.

Perhaps the most impressive run of the day was produced by W55 Sally Musson (47.55) from Tonbridge AC, who is in exceptional form at the moment having broken her own national age group record in the London Marathon.