The seniors may have been making light work of the opposition in the Surrey League, but down in Tunbridge Wells the clubs vets once again put on a good show – but one that could have been even better had it not been for Len Reilly taking a tumble on the treacherous woodland part of the course. (but more of that later)

The first race of the day featured the over 50’s. In the run up to the race there had much talk of how well David Childs was going to fare in the race then much talk of whether David would shake of his injury problems. David left it late but decided that he couldn’t shake of his injury so the three 50’s who contested last years race featured again, plus the welcome addition of Andy Sellars. Amazingly, Andy told us this was his first race as a vet.

Last year the 50’s came away with the silver team medal, and were to repeat the feat this year. This was no mean achievement considering Tim Connell had been touring in Germany and as a result of travelling and weather conditions had been able to get very little training in. Whilst Bernie was some way of full fitness having been plagued by injury in recent months. Then yours truly Andy Gardiner had had a bout of illness and had doubts about making the start line.

In the event Tim ran a highly creditable race coming home in fifth position. He reported that his lack of training told on the last couple of laps but he nevertheless improved several places on last years showing. Perhaps next year with an uninterrupted build up he might feature in the medals. Tim was backed up by myself and Bernie coming 21st and 22nd respectively, which was good enough for us to come home as second team again. I crept past Bernie near the end but know I wouldn’t have a chance of keeping up with him when fully fit.

For those of you who remember Andy Sellars of old he didn’t disappoint. He went charging off at the beginning of the race and for a fleeting moment was up with the leading pack. A lap and a half into the race and Andy’s familiar heavy breathing was alarming fellow runners. Despite hitting the wall Andy seemed to enjoy his day and we hope he will turn out again.

Over 40’s

As many will be aware the vet 40’s have had great success in the County in recent years - almost making the Team prize their own. With the welcome addition of Steve McGrory hopes were high that Kent would retain the team prize. With no Andy F and Simon Loach, the Team wasn’t the one that perhaps would have won certain gold. But after a couple of laps things were looking good for another team victory.

Unfortunately, though, as mentioned earlier Lenny went over in the rutted section of the woods and the jolt he received meant he couldn’t carry on. Before the fall Lenny was looking good, moving through the field and not far from Luke who had a storming run - eventually taking the bronze medal after shadowing the runner from Dartford who’d held third for much of the race.

Kent’s other two scorers were a (reportedly) hung over Stuart Scott and Jules Gevers. Despite their solid efforts the Team prize eluded us due to the strong packing of Dartford Road Runners. However, pride of place on the day must go to Steve McGrory and his victory in the race. Not only a victory in the race but a victory over county legend Barry Royden. It was a great race from a spectator’s point of view as you could see on the first couple of laps that Barry was trying to test out our man. But Steve remained strong and pulled away to win the race with a quite commanding lead at the end.

A mention must also go to Andrea Jeffreys our only woman flying the flag for the club on the day. Andrea came home 18 th in her race.

An excellent day was concluded in the Opera House – Yes the Opera House! The local Weatherspoons where we were, of course, joined by a certain M Barlow.

Also, many thanks to Luke for chasing everyone up to make sure we completed teams in the m40 and m50 races.