BARRY ROYDEN (Medway and Maidstone AC) equalled a long standing record when he won his eighth Kent senior cross country title at the Wilderness School, Sevenoaks.

Royden was presented with his winner's trophy by the Kent County AA president, Frank Sando, who also won eight senior titles between 1951 and 1961, plus two junior events in 1948 and 1949.

Royden won seven championships in the 1990s but Allen Graffin of Tonbridge AC/Belgrave Harriers won the first three events of the new century.

Graffin was not competing on this occasion but it was another Tonbridge athlete who came closest to spoiling Royden's record bid.

Huw Evans ran possibly his finest ever cross country race to push Royden all the way, finishing just six seconds in arrears after more than 43 minutes of hard graft on a waterlogged course. The break came on the third of four laps but although Royden looked confident his victory was far from comfortable.

Gareth Williams (Medway and Maidstone) enjoyed a solid performance to claim the individual bronze medal from Adrian Dunwoody (Kent AC) with Ben Reynolds (Tonbridge) and Pat Curran (Medway and Maidstone) rounding off the top six.

Louise Watson (Medway and Maidstone) is heading for a Royden-style record in the senior women's championships.

The former AAA 10,000m champion gained her sixth goal medal amid confusion over the length of the course. A marshalling error resulted in an early finish for the women who ran approximately 5,500 metres instead of the advertised 7,000 metres.

Ironically the senior silver medallist was British junior international, Lisa Dobriskey (Ashford AC), who had been given special dispensation by officials to run the longer race to aid her preparations for the world championships in March. Dobriskey finished 37 seconds behind Watson and well clear of Ashford's first official counter, Helen Wheeler.

Results:

1 B Royden (M&M) 43:23, 2 H Evans (Ton) 43:29, 3 G Williams (M&M) 44:29, 4 A Dunwoody (KNT) 44:43, 5 B Reyonds (Ton) 44:57, 6 P Curran (M&M) 45:13, 7 A Rayner (BLK) 45:47, 8 R Burn (BLK) 45:59, 9 J McGaughey (KNT) 46:02, 10 P Martin (TON) 46:11, 11 J Rendall (TON) 46:16, 12 L Reilly (KNT) 47:13, 13 T Bailey (THN) 47:17, 14 C Knight (M&M) 47:26, 15 J Morland (BLK) 47:37, 16 J Headley (KNT) 47:45, 17 T Alexander (M&M) 47:56, 18 A Styles (TWH) 48.40, 19 A Farquharson (KNT) 48:58, 20 L McMeekin (M&M) 49:14.

Teams (six-a-side): 1 Medway & Maidstone 61, 2 Kent AC 86, 3 Tonbridge AC 101, 4 Blackheath H 127, 5 Ashford AC 382, 6 Bexley AC 395, 7 Thanet RR AC 423, 8 Tunbridge Wells H 462, 9 Cambridge H 481, 10 Deal T&RC 481, 11 Ashford RR 494.

Teams (12-a-side): 1 Medway & Maidstone 279, 2 Kent AC 426, 3 Tonbridge AC 670, 4 Thanet RR 1134.

Senior women: 1 L Watson (M&M) 22:30, 2 L Dobriskey (Ind) 23:07, 3 H Wheeler (AAC) 23:30, 4 K Clarke (M&M) 24:14, 5 H Barnes (IEK) 24:30, 6 G Johnson (DUL) 24:57, 7 S Simmons (M&M) 25:15, 8 J Backley (CAM) 25:33, 9 E Batty (IEK) 25:35, 10 B Weekes (TON) 25:44, 11 H Leech (BLK) 25:56, 12 C Hawkins (AAC) 26:18, 13 C Bond (CAM) 27:05, 14 I Penner (CAM) 27:10, 15 L Hall (AAC) 27:26, 16 M Clay (IEK) 27:40, 17 F Roberts (IEK) 27:46, 18 J Brown (AAC) 27:51, 19 A Thornhill (BLK) 27:57, 20 S Payton (M&M) 28:20.

Teams (three-a-side): 1 Medway & Maidstone 12, 2 Ashford AC 30, 3 Invicta East Kent 30, 4 Cambridge H 35, 5 Blackheath H 54, 6 Kent AC 86, 7 Paddock Wood AC 88, 8 Thanet Road Runners 98.

Teams (six-a-side): 1 Invicta East Kent 112, 2 Blackheath H 154.

Under-20 men: 1 J Mays (KNT) 28:59, 2 D Lacy (CAM) 29:00, 3 T Hawkey (BLK) 29:07, 4 N Renault (M&M) 30:45, 5 J Connor (KNT) 31:06, 6 J Atkinson (SEV) 31:28, 7 R Slade (M&M) 32:00, 8 M Whiting (M&M) 32:04, 9 B Cole (TON) 32:23, 10 R Perkins (BLK) 32:29.

Teams: 1 Kent AC 18, 2 Medway & Maidstone 19, 3 Blackheath H 26, 4 Tonbridge AC 38, 5 Invicta East Kent 51.

Under-20 women: 1 J Pereira (M&M) 25:43, 2 C Harvey (M&M) 27:10, 3 K Buchan (M&M) 27:45, 4 J Trowbridge (SLH) 28:02, 5 N Fullman (M&M) 29:30, 6 L Crow (IEK) 29:38.

Teams: 1 Medway & Maidstone 6, 2 Invicta East Kent 22.

Under-17 boys: 1 O Freeman (IEK) 21:32, 2 A Welch (AAC) 22:03, 3 A Lowicz-Brady (IEK) 22:07, 4 J Davis (IEK) 22:23, 5 T Collins (M&M) 22:58, 6 G Evans (DAR) 23:41, 7 M Beckett (M&M) 23:51, 8 D Spashett (M&M) 24:15, 9 L Hayes (M&M) 24:16, 10 C Elsey (M&M) 24:18.

Teams: 1 Medway & Maidstone 29, 2 Dartford H AC 49, 3 Ashford AC 63.

Under-17 girls: 1 E Fisher (BRO) 16:17, 2 T Wiley (IEK) 16:21, 3 E Bugler (BLK) 16:33, 4 J Heaney (IEK) 16:40, 5 L Fawke (AAC) 16:51, 6 R Ward (DAR) 17:27, 7 H Friend (IEK) 18:04, 8 S Cowdry (DAR) 18:38, 9 A Ragouzaridis-Clarke (AAC) 18:42.

Teams: 1 Invicta East Kent 13, 2 Ashford AC 24, 3 Blackheath H 33.

Under-15 boys: 1 B Tyler (M&M) 14:42, 2 T Ford (TON) 14:43, 3 J Tyler (M&M) 14:48, 4 J Tanega (CAM) 15:15, 5 D Casey (BLK) 15:16, 6 J Fairclough (AAC) 15:22, 7 D Brewer (BLK) 15:24, 8 B Tupping (M&M) 15:27, 9 S Phillips (KNT) 15:33, 10 S Jasnoch (M&M) 15:34.

Teams: 1 Medway & Maidstone 22, 2 Blackheath H 54, 3 Kent AC 69, 4 Ashford AC 86.

Under-15 girls: 1 J Roberts (DAR) 14:03, 2 N Gray (M&M) 14:37, 3 L Collier (M&M) 15.01, 4 C Saville (M&M) 15:08, 5 L Davies (M&M) 15:15, 6 H Miller (M&M) 15:18, 7 S Hunter (AAC) 15:27, 8 S Duffell (DAR) 15:53, 9 M Tapley (IEK) 16:08, 10 H Hayworth (TON) 16:14.

Teams: 1 Medway & Maidstone 9, 2 Dartford H AC 25, 3 Ashford AC 32, 4 Tonbridge AC 51, 5 Cambridge H 77.

Under-13 boys: 1 C Haines (M&M) 12:32, 2 A Bellinger (M&M) 12:46, 3 M Thorpe (BLK) 13:07, 4 I Harland (TON) 13:03, 5 S Simpson (BLK) 13:04, 6 W Funnell (AAC) 13:09, 7 J Bright (IEK) 13:13, 8 K Wolfe (TON) 13:13, 9 L Easterbrook (BEX) 13:16, 10 A Weaver (TON) 13:18.

Teams: 1 Medway & Maidstone 33, 2 Tonbridge AC 39, 3 Blackheath H 46, 4 Invicta East Kent 50, 5 Ashford AC 91, 6 Beths Grammar S 105, 7 Cambridge H 123.

Under-13 girls: 1 R Taylor (BLK) 13:17, 2 M Edwards (DAR) 13:39, 3 H Garcia (BRO) 14:16, 4 G Twist (IEK) 14:26, 5 S McLellan (DAR) 14:32, 6 K Saul (M&M) 14:37, 7 H Fairhurst (AAC) 14:44, 8 L Smith (DAR) 14:59, 9 A Tuner (BEX) 15:07, 10 R Geroski (CAM) 15:10.

Teams: 1 Dartford H AC 15, 2 Bromley AC 29, 3 Medway & Maidstone 36, 4 Blackheath H 39, 5 Ashford AC 45.