BASINGSTOKE and Mid-Hants boasts a number of new county champions after last weekend's two-day event at Portsmouth.

Joan MacPherson did a senior womens gold medal double, winning the shot with 12.29 metres and the discus with 40.14m. Other senior golds were won by Tracy Joseph in the long jump (6.05m) and Katy Watts in the javelin (41.04m).

Donna Swatheridge won the under-20 discus with 32.61m and was third in the javelin.

Lisa Mulholland did an under-17 jumps double, winning the long jump with 5.17m and the triple jump with 10.70m. She was also third in the high jump.

Gemma Hillyard won the under-20 pole vault with 2m and the 100m hurdles, where she was the only entrant, in 17.53sec.

Robert Tobin completed an under-20 sprint double, winning the 100m in 11.26sec and the 200 in 21.38. In the heats he smashed Todd Bennett's 22-year-old championship best of 21.7sec by clocking 21.33sec, which is only 1.33 off qualifying for the world championships. Todd has been helping Tobin with his sprint technique since January.

Stuart Semple won the under-20 shot with 12.76m and took silver in the discus (40.06m) after leading the competition until the last round.

At under-17, Jonathon Hiorns won the 200m in 23.02sec and Jonathan Elderfield the triple jump with 11.80m. Elderfield was second in the 400m in 52.69sec. Joanna Pett was second in the 300m in 43.68sec.

Jack Waldron won the under-13 discus with 17.63m. Laura Wright won the under-13 800m in 2:28.86 and was second in the 1,500m (5:13.77) and long jump (4.17m).

Claire Robinson was second in the senior women's 400m in 56.61 and third in the 200m. Bethan Harris was second in the 5,000m in 17:55.98.

Zoe Hillyard was second in the under-17 300m hurdles in 50.51sec and, in the same age band, Christina Carding suffered a rare discus defeat, finishing second with 34.14m.

Steve Turville was second in the senior 800m in 1:50.92 and, in the under-20 race, Dave Ragan took silver in 1:56.67. Ragan was also third in the 2,000m steeplechase, with club-mate Steve Quinn fourth.

The unluckiest athlete was Craig Sawyer, who easily came home in front of the field in the under-15 800m only to find that he had broken too early and was disqualified which was a benefit to clubmate Craig Stevenson, who the moved up from fourth to third, and second-finisher Aaron Harris of Overton Harriers, who clocked a personal best 2:14.99.

Other bronze medals were won by Matt Still (senior 100m), Rick Sumner (senior 400m), Carl Lerigo (under-15 200m), Ria Lewis (under-20 400m).

In the Hampshire multi-events championships, a week earlier, Basingstoke's Andy Waddington became the senior men's champion with a points total of 2,453. Club-mates Geoff Butler and Chris Berry were fourth and fifth respectively.

John Dickinson, who trains under Bill Jewers at Basingstoke won the under-20 gold and was third among the senior men.