PORTWAY Juniors pulled off a remarkable double trophy at the annual Andover and District Schools Sports Association's athletics championships on the local track at the Charlton Sports and Leisure Centre last week.

Dave Coombes' Portway squad won both the relay shieldy and large schools' shield to win a thrilling contest, with Anton Juniors just three points adrift in second place and Vigo Juniors a further six points behind in third spot.

Having won the relay shield six times in the last seven years, Portway were always favourites to retain the trophy for another year but in the main 32-event championship they triumphed again as parents and school-mates cheered them to victory for the first time since 1996,winning by a three-point margin from the gallant Anton team.

"It's the first time we've achieved the double for over a decade and was a good all-round team performance," said Coombes, the head of PE at Portway.

Six town primary schools took part in the competition for the large schools cup and organiser Shirley Jones from the Andover Church of England School was 'very pleased' that the programme kept to the time schedule. "The competition was pretty close, a thrilling afternoon and the effort put in by the children was tremendous," she added.

As well as the large schools competition, there was also one for the small schools and Whitchurch continued their remarkable run of form this year by also completing the a trophy double by the narrowest of margins - a single point when winning the small schools cup from St John the Baptist RC School. Final placings in both competitions were as follows:

Large Schools Cup: 1st Portway 95 points; 2nd Anton 99 points; 3rd Vigo 105 points; 4th Balksbury 116 points; 5th Shepherd's Spring 122 points; 6th Knight's Enham 131 points; Large Schools Relay Cup: Winners, Portway.

Small Schools Cup: 1st Whitchurch 75 points; 2nd St John the Baptist 96 points; 3rd Roman Way 79 points; 4th Andover Church of England 90 points; Small Schools Relay Cup: Winners, Whtichurch.