THREE Basingstoke and Mid Hants AC athletes are placed in the top 6 national rankings for 800m race, with the Commonwealth Games just around the corner.
Ben Pattison has been ranked second after he ran a club record of 1:45.16 at the Sollentuna Grand Prix held in Sweden last weekend.
Three days later, Thomas Staines finished third at the World Athletics Continental Tour Challenger held in Marseille with a time of 1:46.87.
He recorded a good time in his first race of the season in Europe as he prepares for the UK trials in a week's time.
Staines has just returned to the UK from the USA where he lives with his mum Linda Keough and dad Gary Staines.
Linda is a former Olympian and World Championship medal winner and star Basingstoke athlete, while his dad Gary is a British former long-distance runner.
The winner of the race was Alvaro De Arriba of Spain in 1:46.35.
These two performances, along with Reece Sharman-Newell who recently ran 1:45.56, mean they occupy second (Ben), third (Thomas) and sixth (Reece) in the national rankings.
Next weekend all three will run the trials in Manchester as they battle it out for places in either the World, Commonwealth or European Championships coming up this summer.
Other Basingstoke athletes running next weekend are Gemma Finch and Rebecca Bullock (both women's 800m), Maddie Deadman (women's 1500m), Caius Joseph and Tom Chandler (decathlon) and Laura Darcey (Heptathlon).
Commonwealth Games will be held from July 28 to August 8 in Birmingham.
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