SOUTHAMPTON AC’s men have been crowned Hampshire Veterans League champions, sealing their place in the Southern Counties final at Ashford on September 4.

Andy Morgan-Lee and Simon Hargreaves opened the points account at Aldershot, placing third and fifth respectively in the M35 and M50 2000 metres walk in 12 minutes 36.7 seconds and 14.18.1.

The M35 800m was an extremely close affair with Matt Hibberd battling all the way to the line. He was given second place, posting the same time (2.11.7) as winner Darren Symes of Aldershot and third-placed Paul Mitchinson of Havant AC. David Blackman produced a fine sprint finish as runner-up in the B string (2.16.2).

Jon Grainger timed his finish to perfection to take victory in the M50 800m (2.13.9), with M60 Ed Connolly, taking a brilliant second (2.42.2) on his return from injury.

In the field, Graham Lay threw the discus 29.58 metres for second place and Steve Dobson 26.17 as third M50.

Decathlete Derek Warn was victorious in the M35 pole vault with a three-metre clearance, while M50 Nick Bryant came sixth (1.60).

Back on the track, M35 Mark Collins stormed to 200m glory (24.7) with Simon Ciaravella as B-string runner-up (26.6).

Steve Beak led the M50 200m (25.8) before leaping 9.15 for third in the M35 triple jump, and there a season’s best win of 9.96 for Mike Coker in the M50 triple jump.

Veterans League debutant Andy Griggs and Jon Hannan took matching fourth places in the M35 A and B 3000m with 9.45.0 and 10.29.7.

M50 Paul Johnson and M60 Pete Staunton were fifth in their respective 3000m races (11.11.9 and 12.28.9), while Gordon Westley clocked a season’s best 11.53.4.

More field points were forthcoming with Lay claiming javelin victory (38.05), M50 Dobson placed third (28.56) and M60 Mike Smears throwing a personal best 11.18 for sixth.

The evening's final event, the 4x200m relay, saw Collins, Beak, Ciaravella and Warn speed to glory in 1.45.5.

*SOUTHAMPTON AC ladies were the only team to field an athlete in every event and age group in the Hampshire Veterans League at Aldershot.

Their reward was their first ever match victory, clinched by a convincing eight-point margin over regular winners Winchester.

It was a remarkable achievement given that only two seasons ago they only had a handful of veteran athletes regularly turning up.

Tracey Bezance gained W50 wins in the 200m (29.4 seconds) and long jump (4.01 metres, personal best).

All-rounder Janet Dickinson brought home three second places to gain 21 points overall with 8.00 metres in the shot, 25.60 in the discus and 29.3 seconds in the 200m.

Christine Smears, in her first season of athletics, threw 3.72 in the W50 shot to snare seventh place and two valuable team points.

Astrid Mangel jumped a fantastic pb of 2.46 in the W60 long jump, coming 3rd. She also did the 2000m walk for the first time ever, coming fifth (W50, 15.32.2).

W35 Amanda Pinckney wished she had gone off faster in her first ever 2000m walk, but still managed a fine second place in 14.44.2.

Nicci Blandford (A) and Hannah Coombes (B) won the W35 3000m in 11.30.9 (season’s best) and 12.28.6 respectively and both fared well over 800m with Blandford third (2.40.0) and Coombes fourth (2.57.1).

Paola King was fifth in both the W50 3000m (17.20.4) and 800m (4.05.8) and third in the discus (16.46).

Last but not least, Mary Axtell sprinted home third in the W60 200m in 41.3.