THE WOMEN'S team from Basingstoke and Mid-Hants travelled with only 10 athletes for their opening British League division three match at Stoke-on-Trent.

The fixture completed a busy weekend for the team with three of the athletes in competition at Colchester the previous day. Some contested the maximum three individual events to help the team secure sixth place out of eight.

Joan MacPherson, despite aggravating a back injury in the previous day's competition, managed to secure 25 points out of a possible 27, with wins in the hammer and discus and a second place in the shot.

Katy Watts won the javelin with her opening throw and went on to win the B-string shot, before helping the 4x100 metres relay team to sixth spot.

Under-20 Ria Lewis, in her first season of British league, had a difficult task in the sprints against older athletes but did well to finish sixth in the 100m and seventh in the 200m, before running both relays.

Team manager and Scottish veteran Andrea Keough opted for the shorter middle distances of 800 and 1500m and managed to record sixth places in the A-strings, as well as picking up another three points with sixth place in the B-string javelin.

Tracy Cornell, because of a knee injury, decided to switch from her usual sprints to run the B-strings of the 800 and 1500m. She recorded personal bests, finishing second in the 800m in 2min 23.4sec and third in the 1500m in 5:15.6. Earlier, she earned three points in the B hammer.

The only other athlete to record a personal best was Bethan Harris in the A-string of the 3000m. After her silver medal-winning performance at the Hampshire championships over 5,000m, she was third in 10:25.8. She then assisted the 4x400m relay squad to sixth place. Amanda Cornell was third in the B-string 3000m after taking fourth place in the 400m hurdles.

Claire Robinson was fourth in the A-string 100m and third in the 400m. She also ran in both relays.

Emma Pell had only to travel from nearby Keele University and, despite a lack of training, did well to finish B-string fourth in the 400m, seventh in the B-string 200m and eighth in the triple jump, before running both relays.

With no pole vault, veteran Anna Clarkson switched to the B-string long jump, triple-jump and discus, picking up valuable points.

Points: Border 191.5, Liverpool Harriers 191, Kingston upon Hull 176, Swansea Harriers 164, Wigan 159.5, Basingstoke and Mid-Hants 127, Peterborough 100, Middlesborough and Cleveland 11.