SOUTHAMPTON Running Club finished sixth in the senior event at the Nike South of England Road Relay Championships in Aldershot - only to be disqualified.

South African Emil de Jong ran a fast third leg over the 6x6-kilometre race but then discovered he was ineligible to compete because he had not been resident in this country for long enough.

Southern Counties rules state that runners must have nine months continuous residency to qualify and SRC's Malcolm Price admitted: "The general rule for qualification is three months and the club was not aware that there was a difference between the national and regional rules."

It was a disappointment for the team - and particularly Rod Finch who ran a tremendous fifth-stage leg of 18 minutes and five seconds to move Southampton up to fourth.

The disqualification took the gloss off an otherwise satisfactory afternoon for SRG who took seven teams to the north of the county covering all men's age categories.

Over recent years Southampton athletes have established a strong pedigree in this Championship and they did not disappoint this time round.

Despite a decimated squad, the veterans returned some solid team positions to maintain the club's overall standing.

The over-49s A team finished 17th, the B team 26th (2nd club B team), while the over 50s came 11th in fields of 70 and 50 respectively.

Individual SRC times

Senior men A (disqualified): Paul Ashley 19.30, Simon Plummer 19.12, Emil de Jonge 18.05, Mark Cooper 19.09, Rod Finch 18.05, John James 20.57.

Vet-40 Men A: Steve Torrance 21.23, Richard Walley 20.46, Neil Hotson 20.47, Noel O'Dowd 21.50.

Vet-40 Men B: Ian Richardson 21.39, Peter Kidwell 21.39, Keith Taylor 21.56, Alan Tulip 22.41.

Vet 50 A: Mike Smith 21.36, Alan Noblet 23.02, Richie Pearson 23.16, Alan King 25.23.

SRC members are holding a quiz evening at Bowlers (Southampton Golf Club) on Friday, October 13 from 7.30pm.

Stubbington Green Runners made a clean sweep of the senior team prizes at the Butser Hill Challenge near Petersfield.

With husband and wife Barry and Beverley Hards finishing second in their respective events, SGR topped the male, female and veteran categories.

Another team prize came SGR's way in the junior section where Paul Swanwick was fourth overall and ten-year-old Matthew Hardman finished a superb seventh. Owen Wylie was ninth, Sarah Gibbs 18th (4th girl) and Natalie Hall 21st (6th girls).

SGR senior placings - Men: 2 Barry Hards (2nd vet-40), 4 Alasdair Ewing (4th vet-40), 7 Zippy Grice, 10 John Rawlins, 14 Ken Griffiths (1st vet-50), 16 Chris Hall, 21 Mike Harper (6th vet-40), 31 Graham James (8th vet-40), 35 Mike Bird (10th vet-40), 38 John Exley (12th vet-40), 50 John Tusseler (5th vet-50), 75 Richard Mackrory (9th vet-45), 158 Michael Aimable (8th vet-60, 1st vet-70).

Women: 2 Beverley Hards, 18 Caroline Street (2nd vet-40), 21 Heather Brown, 28 Debbie Woolnough.

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.