Kent won the UK Inter-Counties title with a historic victory at the Bedford International Stadium.

They also took home both the Achilles men’s trophy and the Gemini trophy for combined scores after the women’s team had finished third in the Bedford Plate competition.

The men won comfortably from Essex and Yorkshire but the combined scores could hardly have been closer, with Kent the champions on 151.5 points from Yorkshire (149), Essex (122) and the rest of the 40 competing county teams.

There were some surprises along the way but none more delightful than a first senior national title for Welsh indoor champion, Darren March, of Medway and Maidstone, with a windy personal best (15.26m) in the triple jump.

More predictable winners for Kent were Conrad Williams (47.49sec) in the 400m and Loughborough student Matt Burton with a PB (7.67m) in the long jump.

Typical of the fighting spirit in the men’s squad was the rash of personal best performances by Darren Green in the 100m heats (10.65sec), Nick Leavey for bronze in the 200m final (21.48sec), Steve Fennel of Tonbridge who was fifth in the mile (4min10.13sec), Tom Bosworth of Tonbridge for silver in the 3000m walk (11.43.44) and David Coleman of Tonbridge with sixth in the discus (53.72sec).

Highlights from the women’s match included fifth places for Blackheath and Bromley athletes Elaine Murty in the 800m (2.13.45) and Shavaun Henry in the 3000m steeplechase (12.02.77).

This performance was matched by Shaunagh Brown (pictured) in the discus (47.39m) and shot (14.13m) but Liz Hughes of Blackheath and Bromley gained a share of the bronze with a leap of 3.60m in the pole vault.

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