A rather depleted Belles team braved difficult showery conditions in a stadium with little cover but nevertheless showed typical team spirit with some excellent performances.

On the track perhaps the highlight was the 3000m in which both Sophie Harris and Sam Amend secured second places. Sophie, in only her third ever track race wisely decided not to follow the blistering first lap of the eventual winner, (sister of Beth Potter), but gave chase after 3 laps and whittled a ten second lead down to just over 4 at the end finishing in just over ten minutes, a terrific performance.

Just as remarkable was the run from Sammi Amend just two weeks after having to pull out of the UK 100km Championships with an injury  after leading the race for 65km. Her powers of recovery are legendary and here she was finishing strongly in the 10.30's and she would have been happy to run the 1500m if needed as well.

Unfortunately, Saron Haileselase was bulked at the start of the 1500m, pulling her hamstring and was reduced to jogging round after the first lap. Keri MacKenzie battled away well in the 800m despite not feeling 100%.

Our Masters superstar, Nina Anderson did her usual 200m/400m double against some very quick younger athletes but ran her usual reliable times. Sanda Dike was unlucky to pull a muscle in the 100m so could not compete in the 200m or the relays.

As usual, Mia Callenburg and Leanne Bettis were as reliable as ever and picked up many points in the throws with Leanne winning the B Javelin.

With many of the team missing for one reason or another we were unfortunately not able to compete in either of the relays and some of the other events  At the end of the day Belles came 5th with 124 points but not far behind Herne Hill Harriers.

Results: Match 3 RugbyPic Below: Sophie Harris "striding out" in the 3000m        Pic Below : Sophie Harris & Sam Amend after the 3000m