PHIL WALLACE, from Chatham, won his first ever Kent title in the over 50s race at the Kent Veterans Cross Country Championships at Tunbridge Wells. The 1996 South of England M45 champion ran a patient race as Robin Cheesman (Paddock Wood) blazed the early trail around the muddy three lap circuit behind the leisure centre.

As Cheesman faded to fifth, Paul Ross-Davies (Invicta) from Maidstone suffered a heavy fall when looking very good for a medal, possibly the gold. Tony Culshaw (Invicta) took up the cudgel next and was just beginning to escape when Wallace (Medway and Maidstone) spotted the danger and worked his way up to the leader's shoulder.

The final lap became a battle of wits between the slightly built Wallace and the stocky Culshaw with the victory only being secured in the final few hundred metres by the jubilant Wallace. Cheesman, from Halling, recovered to claim a hard earned bronze in a brilliant four-way sprint involving the battered Ross-Davies, Ken Daniel (Blackheath) and John Wilkins (Invicta) who was the pre-race favourite after his recent silver medal in the southern over 50 championships.

Invicta East Kent easily won the team race from Blackheath and Cambridge Harriers.

Dave Thornby (eighth) led Maidstone Harriers to a rare defeat over Medway and Maidstone who had Paul Travil (34th) and Steve Hesketh (36th) completing the scoring and John Raines (44th) finishing fourth in the over 60 class.

Defending champion, Kevin Williams (Ashford) made a determined start in the over 40s race and quickly built a daunting lead over his rivals. However, Blackheath triathlete Nic Kinsey had not read the script and steadily whittled away at the gap before striding away to the title by a margin of just six seconds.

Five times Kent marathon champion, Steve Keywood (Tonbridge) collected the bronze ahead of another close battle involving Steve Smythe (Dulwich), Tim Soutar (Blackheath) and Alan Newman (Medway and Maidstone). Dave Davies (Maidstone Harriers) had been involved in the fight for a medal in the early stages but lost his footing several times in the difficult conditions.

Blackheath won the team race from Tonbridge with Medway and Maidstone third through the efforts of Newman (sixth), John Cosgrove (11th) and Stuart Nice (23rd) with Pat Finn (42nd) in reserve.

The women veterans ran a combined race with results split into two categories. Former world veterans 10k champion, Alison Fletcher (Dulwich) was headed to half distance by an inspired run from over-45 class winner, Liz Batty (Invicta). Fletcher took off for overall victory and the W35 title just after half way but Batty stayed remarkably close as she annexed the W45 race at her first opportunity.

Maidstone Harriers were clear team winners at W35 level with individual medallists Kim Howes (second) and Paula Stockton (third) supported by Sharon Hawkins (fifth) who finished between Jenny Brown (Ashford) from Leybourne and Istead and Ifield's sole entrant, Debbie Pearce.

With Batty home and dry, at least figuratively speaking, in the W45 race the minor medals were pocketed by Alison Wilson (Bromley) and Pat Halstead (Swanley) with Sue James (Paddock Wood) from Ditton a gallant fourth after recovering from injury just in time to compete.

Bromley Veterans just edged Invicta East Kent in the closest team results of the day.

RESULTS:

Over-50 men: 1 P Wallace (Medway & Maidstone) 35.41, 2 A Culshaw (Invicta) 35.50, 3 R Cheesman (Paddock Wood) 36.11, 4 P Ross-Davies (Invicta) 36.14, 5 K Daniel (Blackheath) 36.15, 6 J Wilkins (Invicta) 36.17, 7 S Birkin (Cambridge H) 36.27, 8 D Thornby (Maidstone H) 36.48, 9 T Edgey (Invicta) 37.46, 10 P Hamilton (Blackheath) 38.12, 11 C Marshal (Bromley) 38.46, 12 M Conway (Canterbury M60) 39.14, 13 R Maxwell (Kent AC) 39.40, 14 N Cronin (Blackheath) 39.44, 15 T Withy (Dartford) 39.50, 16 P Phelan (Blackheath) 39.55, 17 M Marchant (Tonbridge) 40.04, 18 G Coates (Blackheath) 40.07, 19 G Gee (Cambridge H M60) 40.23, 20 L Collins (Sevenoaks) 40.41, 21 R Brown (Blackheath) 40.59, 22 J Spencer-Wood (Kent AC) 41.07, 23 R Carr (Maidstone H) 41.18, 24 A Cheek (Tun Wells) 41.26, 25 D Fisher (Cambridge H) 41.34, 34 P Travil (Medway & Maidstone) 43.03, 36 S Hesketh (Medway & Maidstone) 43.16, 44 J Raines (Medway & Maidstone) 44.58.

Over-60 men: 1 M Conway (Canterbury) 39.14, 2 G Gee (Cambridge H) 40.23, 3 P Ould (Cambridge H) 43.13, 4 J Raines (Medway & Maidstone) 44.58, 5 R Pitcairn-Knowles (Sevenoaks) 46.20, 6 R Farrish (Bromley) 46.44.

Teams: 1 Invicta East Kent 12 pts, 2 Blackheath Harriers 29, 3 Cambridge Harriers 51, 4 Maidstone Harriers 62, 5 Medway & Maidstone 71, 6 Tunbridge Wells Harriers 83, 7 Paddock Wood 90, 8 Kent AC 92, 9 Canterbury Harriers 93, 10 Bromley Vets 94, 11 Sevenoaks 109, 12 Bexley 179.

Over-14 men: 1 N Kinsey (Blackheath) 33.34, 2 K Williams (Ashford) 33.40, 3 S Keywood (Tonbridge) 34.54, 4 S Smythe (Dulwich) 35.02, 5 T Soutar (Blackheath) 35.05, 6 A Newman (Medway & Maidstone) 35.15, 7 C Griffin (Blackheath) 35.19, 8 D Davies (Maidstone H) 35.26, 9 P Gaden (Cambridge H) 35.30, 10 R Pearce (Istead & Ifield) 35.45, 11 J Cosgrove (Medway & Maidstone) 35.56, 12 B Hutchinson (Kent AC) 36.04, 13 M Stacey (Maidstone H) 36.17, 14 B Sutherland (Tonbridge) 36.20, 15 C Bradley (Tonbridge) 36.24, 16 I Stokes (Invicta) 36.48, 17 M Watling (Blackheath) 36.57, 19 T Lavender (Tun Wells) 37.02, 20 J Neighbour (Dulwich) 37.05, 21 B Buckwell (Tonbridge) 37.07, 22 P Tee (Ashford) 37.13, 23 S Nice (Medway & Maidstone) 37.21, 24 P Gibson (Istead & Ifield) 37.51, 25 M Ellsmore (Cambridge H) 37.57, 42 P Finn (Medway & Maidstone) 40.26.

Teams: 1 Blackheath Harriers 30 points, 2 Tonbridge AC 53, 3 Medway & Maidstone 82, 4 Ashford AC 103, 5 Cambridge Harriers 109, 6 Dulwich Runners 121, 7 Invicta East Kent 124, 8 Tunbridge Wells Harriers 133, 9 Maidstone Harriers 133, 10 Canterbury Harriers 150, 11 Paddock Wood AC 161, 12 Kent AC 185.

Over-35 women: 1 A Fletcher (Dulwich) 21.46, 2 K Howes (Maidstone H) 23.54, 3 P Stockton (Maidstone H) 24.04, 4 J Brown (Ashford) 24.15, 5 S Hawkins (Maidstone H) 25.10, 6 D Perce (Istead & Ifield) 25.21, 7 C Grady (Kent AC) 25.41, 8 A Jeffries (Kent AC) 25.43, 9 A Cilia (Blackheath) 25.43, 10 C Emery (Paddock Wood) 25.51, 11 Z Gaffen (Kent AC) 26.22, 12 R Clrke (Invicta) 28.52, 13 M Brooker (Paddock Wood) 31.26, 14 J Woods (Paddock Wood) 33.39.

Teams: 1 Maidstone Harriers 10, Kent AC 26, Paddock Wood 37.

Over-45 women: 1 L Batty (Invicta) 22.36, 2 A Wilson (Bromley) 23.27, 3 P Halstead (Swanley) 24.01, 4 S James (Paddock Wood) 25.42, 5 P Clayton (Invicta) 26.15, 6 A Fraser (Bromley) 26.43, 7 P Woodward (Bromley) 27.10, 8 V Linsey (Paddock Wood) 27.13, 9 C Burnett (Maidstone H) 27.29, 10 J Bright (Maidstone H) 27.42, 11 A Ross-Davies (Invicta) 28.17, 12 R Kay (Invicta) 30.16, 13 P Roberts (Paddock Wood) 30.58, 14 J Elliott (Paddock Wood) 32.51, 15 A White (Paddock Wood) 37.34, 16 J Sheldon (Paddock Wood) 39.18.

Teams: 1 Bromley Vets 15, 2 Invicta East Kent 17, 3 Paddock Wood 25.