KENT'S Georgina Harland gave herself a belated 29th birthday president by winning gold in the Modern Pentathlon World Cup at Millfield School in Somerset on Sunday.

The Athens 2004 Olympic bronze medallist whose family home is at Waltham, near Canterbury, won the title in what was her first competition of the year, a significant event as it represented the start of the qualifying process for next year's Beijing Games.

Harland was understandably delighted, said: "It means an awful lot to win on home soil surrounded by my family and everyone that has supported me over the past few years."

Team manager Dominic Mahony added: "It's an absolutely tremendous result, and brilliant to see Georgina take gold at her first event of the year. We are extremely proud of her performance."