MICHAEL COLEMAN (Medway & Maidstone) produced a typically assured performance to secure his hat-trick of Kent titles in a thrilling senior men’s race.

A quality quartet broke away from the 200 strong field on the first of four laps with eight times champion Barry Royden (Medway & Maidstone) mixing it with Coleman, Jermaine Mays (Kent AC) and Dean Lacy (Cambridge Harriers).

Into the final lap at Saturday’s meeting, Coleman was controlling the race from the front with Royden on the shoulder of Lacy and Mays looking like the one who was going to miss out on a medal.

The final few hundred metres were a frantic affair behind Coleman who was seven seconds clear of the main battle.

Britain’s 2005 Europa Cup steeplechaser, Mays came from behind to snatch the silver medal in the same time as Lacy with Royden missing the bronze by four seconds after a fine effort.

"Not bad for a 39-year-old," was Royden’s immediate reaction after failing to get a medal for the first time in these championships.

Royden and Coleman were rewarded for their efforts by leading Medway & Maidstone to both the four-to-score and 12-to-score team titles over defending champions Kent AC.

Tonbridge AC, with Huw Evans (6th), Julian Rendall (7th) and Nick Barrable (9th) in prominent positions took the bronze team medals after a hard race with Blackheath & Bromley Harriers.

Steve Fennell (Tonbridge AC) was the most impressive winner, with a margin of 68 seconds over Ben Tyler (Medway & Maidstone) and James Poole (Blackheath & Bromley) in the junior men’s under-20 race.

The team result was the exact reverse of the individual order with Tyler’s superb sprint to pip Poole on the line not quite enough to take his club to the gold medals.

Jack Tyler (Medway & Maidstone) was equally as convincing with 51 seconds to spare over Robert Dennis (Thanet Road Runners) in the under-17 men’s race.

Blackheath & Bromley scraped home by a few points from Tonbridge AC and Medway & Maidstone in the team race.

Tonbridge AC athletes dominated the under-15 boys’ championship with Kurt Wolfe, Seb Harding and Andrew Combs taking the only clean sweep of the individual medals in any of the 10 races.

Tonbridge were well ahead in the team event from Blackheath & Bromley with Judd School in for the bronze medals.

Tonbridge nearly repeated their whitewash with Josh Bentham and Elliott Slaughter separated by three seconds in the under-13 boys’ race.

Adrian Ross of Invicta was a further three seconds in arrears for the bronze in one of the most exciting finishes of the day.

Tonbridge athletes packed another set of gold medals into their kit bags ahead of Blackheath & Bromley with Invicta in third.

Natalie Gray ran a mature race to take her first junior under-20 title for Medway & Maidstone with plenty in hand over Stephanie Magrath (Sevenoaks School) and Hannah Miller (Medway & Maidstone).

With Louise Davies (6th) in support, Medway & Maidstone were team champions from Sevenoaks School who were running on home soil.

Lily Martin (Invicta) ran away from the under-17 opposition to finish well clear of Sorrell Hunter (Ashford) and Kate Murray (Blackheath & Bromley).

The closest race in this age group was for the team medals with six points between Blackheath & Bromley, Tonbridge and Invicta East Kent.

Amy Smith (Blackheath & Bromley) pulled away from Beth Carter (Invicta) and Amy De Matos (Blackheath & Bromley) in the under-15 girls race with Blackheath & Bromley team champions.

Mary Edmonds (7th) and Sophie Regis (9th) led Medway & Maidstone and Tonbridge to the silver and bronze team medals.

Camilla Freeman was a predictable under-13 champion given her form going into this race but chose to represent Cranbrook School rather than Invicta East Kent who lost the team race to Tonbridge AC as a result.

Michelle Fewster (Blackheath & Bromley) and Emily Hosker-Thornhill (Invicta) won the minor medals with Annabel Shepherd-Barron (4th) leading Tonbridge to the team title.