SOUTHAMPTON'S sea air must agree with junior women's duo Jade Lucas-Read and Sian Scott.

Both girls came away from the weekend's AAA Under-20/23 Championships with gold medals in tow - plus comfortable qualification times for next month's European Junior Championships in Tampere, Finland (July 24-27).

Poole-based Scott, 19, has come on in leaps and bounds since hitching up with Southampton-based coach Todd Bennett last September.

She went into the Bedford meeting ranked fourth in her age-group in Europe and came away with the continent's third fast time of the year - a storming 58.36 seconds which tore another huge strip off her personal best.

"Sian lives in Poole and travels 45 minutes to train in Southampton, which is a big commitment, but it seems to be paying off," said Bennett. "I'm not a hurdles expert. All I've helped her do is get faster and stronger. She believes in herself now."

Sprinter Lucas-Read has also benefited from her new-found Southampton links, having switched clubs from Hercules Wimbledon to Team Solent last summer. The 18-year-old still lives in south London, but has opted to don the red and white stripes of Solent to get higher quality competition in the UK Women's League.

On Saturday's evidence, the move is paying big dividends. Lucas-Read's razor-sharp 100 metres win of 11.59 seconds catapulted her to the top of the national under-20 rankings, well inside the 11.80 qualifying mark for Tampere.

The Isle of Wight's Frost twins can also get their passports out for Finland, even though they were less than happy with yesterday's 2000m steeplechase showing.

Neither sister ran as fast as she had in qualifying for Tampere at Eton two weeks ago, although Kathryn's winning time of 6.55.52 goes down as a Championship best because the under-20 women's 'chase is a new addition to the AAAs time-table.

Bryony, the younger of the twins by less than 15 minutes, was back in third in 7.00.24 and reflected afterwards: "Our times were a

bit slower, but we felt a little tired today. We've eased back on training because Geoff (coach Geoff Watkin) didn't want us to overdo it.

"You can pass your peak by overtraining and we want to make sure we're at our best for Finland."

Despite their petite statures - at just 5ft 2in, Bryony is an inch taller than Kathryn - the 'Frosties' were the only athletes in the race to hurdle the water jump.

The talented sisters are also accomplished on the flat, but Bryony said: "We like the steeplechase because it's different. It's a bit more interesting than just running round the track."