BASINGSTOKE and Mid Hants Athletics Club junior athletes gain overwhelming victory in their opening Wessex League match at Down Grange. writes SUE SCOULER-DAVISON.

The home team was represented by140 junior athletes the most the club have ever fielded in one match and this helped them sweep aside Team Kennet, Salisbury, Fleet, Waverley and the Isle of Wight.

Basingstoke athletes won every age group for boys and girls at under-13, 15 and 17 and amassed 612 points, 126 ahead of second placed Team Kennett.

Poppy Morris and Josephine O'Neill both ran won the under-13 girls 1,200m A and B races. Lenka Addington threw 6.73 metres to win the A shot, and Harriet Duncombe won the B shot.

For the under-15 girls, outstanding performances came from Sienna Richardson in the 800m, Ayolimde Cole was first in the 200m in 26.3 secs.

Isabel Pinder swept the board in her three event winning her 200m race in 27.6 secs, the 300m in 43.5 secs. and the high jump, clearing a height of 1.6m.

Iona Irvine achieved a personal best in the long jump, coming first with a leap of 5.09m. Irvine and Rose Cripps also had strong performances in the 75m Hurdles.

There were a string of wins for the under-17 women, notably Zoe Johnson and Macy Barrett in the 100m A and B races, Sarah Fafiade in the 200m B race and Catherine Edwards in the 300m A race.

Izzy Mannion had a convincing win in the 800m A race in a time of 2.18.9 secs. In the shot, Amy Luke came first with a distance of 8.78m.

The boys did equally well at under-13s, Tom Sheppard won both the 100m and 200m with Lochran Rowan first in the 200m B race.

Sam Graham and Oliver Marshall won the A and B 800m races, Jan Addington and Jack Hedderley also did the double in the shot.

For the under-15 boys, there were wins for Evan Jerome in the 100m and Kean Hamilton-Jones in the 200m, and the long jump.

Alex Lakeland won the 800m A race and William Parkinson the B race. In the field, Joshua Bond won the B long jump and Guy Stevens and Pravansh Kanumolu did the high jump double.

For the under-17 men, Jordan Ford and Albert Orriss McArthur won their 100m races, Kai Ruffle the 200m and Joshua Kemp took the 400m and 1500m races, along with Oli Morgan winning the 1500m B race.

Ford and Ruffle both won their long jump competitions and Will Jones won the discus with a throw of 27.96m.

In the final races of the day, the 4x100m relays, Basingstoke won in all six age groups.

In the under-11 Quad Kids competition, Basingstoke finished third.

This was a strong start for Basingstoke who have dominated the Wessex League since 2011. The Basingstoke based club has finished top of the league for the past seven years, beating competition from across Hampshire, Berkshire, Surrey, Dorset and Wiltshire, including Southampton, Bournemouth, Winchester, Oxford and Camberley.