HAMPSHIRE will be out to rediscover their golden touch at the English Schools' Track & Field Championships, which begin in Gateshead today.

By their own high standards, the county had a lean time of it at Sheffield last year when they returned home with just five medals in the bag - three silvers and two bronze.

It was a weekend beset with injury troubles as fancied sprinter Marimba Odundo-Mendez pulled up with hamstring trouble in the intermediate boys' 200 metres final and two senior girls - Kessia Sherliker and Helen Davis - were unable to compete.

This year the injury jinx has struck again with senior boys' shot putter Alastair Davies of Lord Wandsworth College being forced to pull out.

But with 59 other athletes seemingly fit and keen for success, Hampshire are hoping their luck will turn.

Eileen Williams, chairman of the Hampshire & Vectis Schools' Athletic Association, confessed: "We didn't have a very good time of it last year. It was never a strong team and then we were hit by the injuries.

"You don't always know what shape people are in, but I'm hoping that this year we've got a fully fit team of athletes."

Although Williams is reluctant to burden athletes with the weight of expectation, youngsters like Louis Sellers (Winton), Holly Croxford (Testbourne) and Jamie Broadey (Courtmoor) must all be in with a sniff of success.

Broadey has launched the junior boys' javelin more than 50 metres, Croxford currently tops the under-15 girls' UK outdoor rankings over 200 metres (24.8 seconds) and Sellers ranks second nationally in the under-17 boys' 400m with 48.58.

Ben Harding of Itchen College steps up to the senior 800m after striking silver at intermediate level last year, and Ringwood's Susie Hignett, another 2003 silver medallist, will be aiming to go one better in the senior girls' 1,500m.

The Waterside challenge will be spearheaded by Hardley's Cassie Gear in the 300m and by fellow intermediate Hayley Pointer in the 3,000m.

Crofton's Rebecca Gough, currently third in the UK under-15 girls' 3,000m rankings, will compete in her favoured 800m event, while St Anne's student Louise Webb from Southampton goes in the junior girls' 1,500m in which she ranks tenth nationally.

The area's only gold medallist last year, Team Solent's Kieren Kelly from Lower Bemerton, near Salisbury, defends his senior boys' shot put crown.

Local triple jump hero Jonathan Edwards will be guest of honour at the two-day championships.