THANET'S Tim Bailey surged to his third straight win over the 5.5 miles of woodland tracks at the Kent Fitness League meeting at Rough Common, near Canterbury.

Bailey was able to outkick his younger opponent, guest runner Jamie Atkinson, in the last 200 metres to cross the line in under 30 minutes.

Duncan Marsden (Sevenoaks) secured second place ahead of Dartford's Andrew Green with David Law (Maidstone) a slightly disappointed fourth, but Law led Maidstone harriers into fourth place, their best team result of the season.

Tim Orr (Dartford Harriers) was the leading over 40 veteran in seventh place and, apart from Davis. There were two other under-20 in the top 10 - Matthew Whiting (Medway & Maidstone) in sixth and Daniel Farrow (Thanet RR) in ninth place.

The ladies' race saw Medway's Cathy Harvey take her second win of the series, although she was pressed all the way by the rapidly improving Michelle Flaxton (Dartford RR) in second place. Veteran Liz Batty in third and 16-year-old Jenny Heaney in seventh place help set up the team win for Invicta East Kent.

The result leaves the league table wide open with just three points covering the first four clubs, Sevenoaks AC holding the slight advantage.

The next meeting is on December 29 at Avery Hill Park, New Eltham.

Leading men: 1 T Bailey (Thanet RR) 29.11, 2 D Marsden (Sevenoaks AC) 30.05, 3 A Green (Dartford RR) 30.27, 4 D Law (Maidstone H) 30.46, 5 J Davis (Invicta EK AC) 30.51, 6 M Whiting (Med & Maid AC) 30.56, 7 T Orr (Dartford H) 30.58, 8 C Desmond (Sevenoaks AC) 31.04, 9 D Farrow (Thanet RR) 31.12, 10 M Gore (Maidstone H) 31.15, 11 A Lowther (Med & Maid AC) 31.28, 12 M Clark (Sevenoaks AC) 31.29, 13 S Hargreaves (Dartford RR) 31.30, 14 M Stacey (Maidstone H) 31.32, 15 S Taylor (Maidstone H) 31.32, 16 T Yoshiwara (Invitca EK AC) 31.44, 17 P Ross-Davies 31.45, 18 N Brawn (Invicta EK AC) 31.46, 19 D Lee (Sevenoaks AC) 31.51, 20 Martin Skeet (Canterbury H) 31.53.

Leading ladies: 1 C Harvey (Med & Maid AC) 34.04, 2 M Flaxton (Dartford RR) 34.20, 3 E Batty (Invicta EK AC) 34.53, 4 B Jameson (Dartford RR) 35.27, 5 A Parlett (Istead & Ifield H) 35.48, 6 H Fitzmaurice-Cotton (Sevenoaks AC) 36.24, 7 J Heaney (Invicta EK AC) 36.41, 8 S McGuire (Canterbury H) 37.59, 9 J Cobby (New Eltham J) 38.03, 10 M Clay (Invicta EK AC) 38.33, 11 M Baker (Gravesend RR) 38.39, 12 L Clayton (Invicta EK AC) 38.48, 13 P Stockton (Maidstone H) 39.09, 14 A White (Padd Wood AC) 39.13, 15 K Lindsey (Padd Wood AC) 39.31.

Team race: 1 Invicta EK AC 164pts, 2 Med & Maid AC 280, 3 Sevenoaks AC 297, 4 Maidstone H 308, 5 Dartford RR 317, 6 Istead & Ifield H 398, 7 Padd Wood AC 417, 8 Canterbury H 429.

Team placings after two races: 1 Sevenoaks AC 44pts, 2 Dartford RR 43, 3 Invicta EK AC 42, 4 Med & Maid AC 42, 5 Istead & Ifield H 37, 6 Maidstone H 31.