DESPITE sub-zero temperatures and icy conditions, 28 Tunbridge Wells Harriers, 20 men and eight women, travelled to Swanley on Saturday for the fourth and final cross-country race in the Kent League calendar.

The route comprised multiple laps which wound their way through woodland, a farmer's land and playing fields.

In addition to obstacles, such as tree roots and steep banks, the ground was frozen solid and, in places, very slippery.

This resulted in slightly slower times than usual, but there were, nevertheless, some impressive performances.

In the women's 5k race, there were 56 finishers and first home for Tunbridge Wells Harriers, as fourth and first veteran woman, was Alice Heather-Hayes in 22min 17sec. Jeannette White, whose hacking cough could be heard on the start line, put in a gutsy performance to finish 14th in 24:06.

Hot on her heels in 15th position was Sarah Bailey, just one second slower.

These three athletes formed the Harriers' scoring team, who finished fourth out of 10, which placed Tunbridge Wells Harriers fourth out of 17 in the whole series, a considerable improvement on previous years.

Also running were Pru Clements (19th, 24:47), Kim Deeney (24th, 25:55), Siân Roberts (28, 26:21), Jillian Holford (39th, 27:43) and Lucille Joannes (46th, 30:09).

Pru Clements was the recipient of a bronze medal as third veteran woman over all four fixtures.

Two Harriers competed in the newly created male over-70 category, running with the women over a 5k course.

John Johnson finished first (33:28) and Bryon (Spud) Taylor second in 43:44. Over the series, Tunbridge Wells Harriers made a clean sweep in the male 70 category with Eric Schofield winning the gold medal, John Johnson, silver and Bryon Taylor, bronze.

In the 9.5k race, 138 senior men braved the cold.

First in for Tunbridge Wells was Chris Wolton (20th, 31:45), followed by Stuart Shields (38th, 33:57), Andy Howey (42nd, 34:14) and, completing the four to score, Dave Langridge (59th, 35:35).

This placed them as the fifth team out of 13 and secured them a very impressive fifth place in the whole series.

Tunbridge Wells Harriers also demonstrated their strength in depth in the duodec (12 to score), with the following eight men securing them third place: 64th Daryl Palfrey (36:20), 65th captain Ed Steele (36:25), 67th Matt Clements (36:36), 79th Terry Everest (37:13), 91st Mark Taylor (38:29), 93rd Alan Collard (38:34), 99th Casper Morris (39:06) and Geoff Turner 102nd (39:26)

Also representing Tunbridge Wells Harriers were George Harris 106th (39:36), Mike Russell 110th (39:59), Steve Austin 120th (42:38), Steve Bright 121st (43:07), 129th Mark Wheeler (45:45) and 132nd John Hepner (46:29).