BEN Cole heads to the London Marathon on Sunday in buoyant mood after celebrating a famous victory in one of the most iconic events on the British club athletics calendar.

The 32-year-old, from Shaw Ridge, helped his Kent club Tonbridge AC win the English 12-stage senior men’s road relay title for the first time in their history around Sutton Park, Birmingham, last weekend.

The event, which sees 12 runners combine in a relay team to race over four hours, is regarded among club circles as arguably not just the most prestigious to win, but also the most difficult, so it is little wonder that Cole has been buzzing since the triumph.

“It is massive,” said Cole, who also competes for Swindon Harriers.

“As the team manager said, it is the biggest test of a club’s strength in depth. That requirement to get out 12 good guys out on one day and getting everyone to perform.

“We knew we had a strong team but we were deliberately cagey before the event. But on the day, everyone put in a solid leg and no one had a bad run.

“It was an enormous win and I will always savour the moment because it is the nearest that athletics, which is an individual sport, comes to a genuine team competition where everyone has to rely on their team-mates.

“It was brilliant.”

As the oldest member of the team, Cole, who works at Network Rail HQ in Swindon, was given the daunting task of running stage one, well aware of the saying that while the race isn’t won on this stage – it can be lost.

“I think stage one sets the tone and if you do well, it can psychologically give everyone a real lift,” added Cole.

“I don’t normally get nervous before a race but I was nervous on Saturday. I knew that if I screwed up, heads would go down.

“Fortunately, I came in sixth and that proved to be the lowest position we held all day as we quickly improved into the top three, and then took the lead to win by over a minute.”

With his own job done, Cole was able to enjoy the rest of the day supporting his team-mates and getting in some extra miles ahead of his date with the London Marathon on Sunday.

It will be his fifth marathon and fourth time in London, where he set his personal best of 2hrs 27mins 16secs in 2015.

“You can never second guess the marathon, but my performance in the relay and earlier this year shows I am in my best-ever shape, so fingers crossed that it translates into a solid performance," said Cole.

“I am not looking to slash minutes off my best – just a marginal PB of seconds would do me.”

If there is any justice, then Cole will clip a few minutes off that 2015 time to complete one of the best sporting weeks of his life.