BRONWEN Cardy limbered up for the World Veterans Championships in Australia by guiding Bromsgrove & Redditch AC to an excellent performance at Birmingham's Sutton Park.

Cardy helped the women's over-35s team to a splendid seventh place in the British Veterans Athletic Federation National Road Relays and collected a silver medal in the process after running the second fastest leg of the day.

The World title hopeful ran the opening leg in 16.44 to bring the team back as leading women's team and with only eight men's team in front of her.

Kate Haley, returning after a long absence due to injury, ran well with a time just outside 20 minutes and the team was brought home by Julie Appleby in 20.42.

Paul Knight ran a good opening leg for the men's over-50s in 17.04 and handed over to Tony Woodward.

As Clive Brown took over, Bromsgrove & Redditch were 26th. He ran a solid 17.39 before handing over to Pete Hawcroft, who gained seven places with his 17.59.

Steve Bach was as dependable as ever and ran 18.20, handing over to Ellesmere on the 'glory' leg which he duly completed in 19.21.

The men's over-40s were looking forward to a tough battle with local rivals Halesowen but B&R's overall strength in depth saw them finish well clear in an excellent 21st place.

Phil Carbutt got the team off to a flying start on the opening leg, coming back in 7th place in a time of 15.33 and Steve Clews only lost one place with his time of 16.32. New veteran Russell Rawlings showed he has lost none of his talent, despite seven years away from the sport and his time of 16.17 shows he will be a valuable member of the Vets team.

Bob Kesterton, still not back to his best after London, did his bit for the team with a 17.15 leg, while Chris Taylor ran 17.03 to keep the club in the top dozen teams after five legs.

Dick Tyler, another of those making a comeback, struggled a little but still managed 17.37 and handed over to Phil Anderson who, as ever, gave 100 per cent effort with his 17.31 leg before handing over to Dave Cleverley to bring the team home.

Having completed his marathon debut at London three weeks ago and then the 400 metres on the track on Thursday, Cleverley showed what a versatile runner he is, bringing the team home in 17.40 for a total time of 2hrs 15mins 28secs.