BASINGSTOKE and Mid Hants Athletics Club won their opening Southern Athletics League match against visiting Aldershot Farnham and District, Hillingdon and South London Harriers, writes SUE SCOULER-DAVISON.

Basingstoke swept the board in the 400m with Amber Clare coming home first for the women’s A stream race in a personal best time of 58.24 secs, followed closely by Lydia Sommers, first in the women’s B race.

Harry Richardson achieved a personal best performance for the men, finishing first in the A stream 400m race in a time of 50.07 with Joe Flitcroft first in the B race.

These performances were backed up in the 4x400m relays with both the Basingstoke men and women had a winning double.

Basingstoke women dominated the middle distance races with Rebecca Bullock and Gemma Bigg successful in their 800m races and Izzy Mannion and Rebecca Poole won the 1,500m races.

Earlier, Poole came first in the the 400m hurdles race. In the field events, Emily Cornwall and Hannah Haugvik both performed well in the long jump, winning their respective competitions with 5 metre jumps.

For the men, Caius Joseph was outstanding in the pole vault, clearing a height of 4.45m; a personal best and new Junior Men club record.

Joseph along with fellow Basingstoke athlete Ryan Bonifas, both cleared 1.8m in the high jump, gaining two first places.

Other wins in the field came from Joe Flitcroft in the hammer, Ben Hazel in the javelin and Nicolas Gerome in the shot put.

On the track, Nicola Gerome and Josh Strudwick achieved first place in their respective 400m hurdles races, Ryan Bonifas won the 110m hurdles, and Rob Wood and Justyn Moore complete the double in the 5,000m races.