Kent resist marauding Bels

 The SOT 5m team race may not quite pack the gravitas punch of its big brother in three weeks’ time, but this is still a fiddly fish to fry due to just 4 scorers being required which opens up a whole world of weird and wonderful winners, from as far afield as Cardiff and including the likes of Elliott AC, GEC Avionics, and who can forget the 2^nd Battalion Connaught Rangers’ win back in 1914.  But some things remain ‘as you were’.  On that day 103 years ago, Belgrave lost to Kent by the narrow margin of 4 points.  Fast forward to 2017 and the margin is 6.But what a race.  We came to Beckenham Place Park’s superb course with a team as rich in talent as last year’s 24-pointer and they squeezed every last shred of equity out of the contest; but on their home patch, Kent were everywhere and closing in with a 31:39 10k man was a tough proposition.Paskar had a vintage battle with Chris Greenwood who threw the kitchen sink at our man, and at one stage built up a lead of 50 yards, but PO clawed things back and was then joined by another ‘toughie’ in Jordan Weaver.  But approaching his 37^th birthday, the Lion remains the best kicker in town and with great surety ran to his 3^rd title in as many attempts.Andrius celebrated his 3^rd birthday with the Bels with yet another pitch perfect run.  What a stellar contribution he continues to make to our teams; whilst a mere 19 seconds behind Nick Buckle showed his season is entering into white hot territory at the right time.  With Andy Fyfe kicking brilliantly on the downhill finish to exterminate five we had posted a total that wins more often than not, but on this occasion Kent were very keen to regain the title we took off them last year.We placed 2^nd in the 8 to score too, with Nick Bundle having a cracking run on little background, and Ross Finlay having a promising debut.  The Silver foxes finished our work just a small way back.Many thanks to Don Anderson managing both us and Mhairi in the women’s on the day, and to Alan Black for his work on the funnel.1 P Owor (Belgrave H) 27:39; 2 J Weaver (Ken) 27:40; 3 C Greenwood 27:49; 5 A Jaksevicius 28:14; 9 N Buckle 28:33; 14 A Fyfe 29:31; 24 N Bundle 29:58; 43 R Finlay 31:31; 52 W Cockerell 32:09; 57 P McDougall 32:28.  191 finished1 Kent 23; 2 Belgrave H 29; 3 Tonbridge 64; 4 Kent B 82; 5 Herne Hill H 91.  40 teams closed in.8 to score:  1 Kent 105; 2 Belgrave 205; 3 Tonbridge 261.  14 teams closed in Women:  1 G Bruinvels 31:32; … 9 M Hall 35:29.  73 finished. **Have you "Liked" our Facebook page?  We're breathing fresh life into our Social media, so do Like the page here and tell family and friends to as well!**