MELANIE Purkiss heads into the South of England Championships at Crystal Palace this weekend encouraged by her best 400 metres form for two years.

Although the Team Southampton sprinter is slightly disappointed that three overseas races in little more than a week have failed to produce a personal best, she is more than satisfied with the way her season is unfolding.

Having posted 52.93 seconds in Norway, the 27-year-old trimmed that down to 52.78 in Italy before enthusiasm got the better of her with a 53.04 win in Geneva last Sunday.

"I overcooked it a bit in Geneva," she admitted. "I tried to skip the low 52s and get straight down to the 51s and I paid the price.

"But it's been a good series of runs in such a short space of time and it's certainly the fastest sequence I've put together for a couple of years."

Unfortunately the same cannot be said for Poole-based 400m hurdler Sian Scott, whose nagging foot problems again came back to haunt her with dismal times of 61.61 and 59.47 in Italy and Geneva.

This weekend she will be battling it out at Crystal Palace with her Team Southampton training partner Emma Duck, who is returning to action after a spell sidelined with a torn quad muscle.

With Natasha Danvers-Smith and Lee McConnell leading the British race for 400m hurdles selection for August's European Championships, there is one place remaining.

Both Southampton girls stand a decent chance if they can hit top gear again, but much depends on them steering clear of further injury.

Scott, who made England's Commonwealth Games team in Melbourne, is hoping to have an injection in her foot next week.

Meanwhile Rob Tobin, Basingstoke's European under-23 400m champion, is abandoning racing for the time being to concentrate on getting fit for next month's all-important AAA Championships/European trials (July 15/16).

The Todd Bennett-coached one-lapper finished only seventh in the British Grand Prix at Gateshead in 46.13 last Sunday and is still troubled by an abdominal problem which will require further scans next week.

"I won't be racing for three weeks.

"I want to get in a solid block of training and come out again a week before the Trials," Tobin confirmed.