A depleted Braintree Athletic Club squad had only seven athletes available for the Southern Women's League meeting at Ipswich.

However, the quality of the results showed in the final position of fourth in the competition against strong opposition from the host club, Ipswich,Victoria Park and Tower Hamlets, Newham, Huntingdon, Biggleswade and Cambridge.

Katie Bright, an under-13 athlete, was promoted into the under-15 age group.

She gained a personal best (PB) in the 100 metres and equalled her PB in the 200m.

Bright then went on to take third place in the long jump A, while team-mate Lucina Rolewicz claimed second place in the B string long jump and was placed third in the shot.

Another young Braintree athlete, Kara Hannon, usually competes in the under-17 section.

However, she ran a good 400m in the senior ladies race to clinch third place in a time of 61.3 seconds.

The versatile and much improved Lisa Potter accumulated valuable points in the 100m, long jump and javelin, while she claimed first place in the 100m hurdles.

Louise Deer went from the short 100m to the 3000m to improve Braintree's score together, with Gemma Jarvis showing a strong throwing arm in the javelin and discus (first place) plus strength in the hammer.

Braintree ladies captain Vicky Brockbank recovered from an ankle injury to brave the 800m and then turned her throwing prowess to the shot and discus.

The club also gained some extra well-needed points at the end of the meeting in the 4x100m and 4x400m relays.

At their Southern Mens League meeting in Harrow, Braintree's men's team claimed second place in their keenly-fought fixture.

The host club had several ex-national league athletes in their ranks and were a major force throughout the competition.

With a smaller team than usual, Braintree's athletes spread their talents over several events to accumulate as many points as possible.

Reliable senior athletes Damien Hartshorne and Leighton Green covered 13 different events between themselves.

Damien won the 400m A race and was second in the 200m B and 400m hurdles A, while also finishing third in both the 800m A and javelin B.

Green took on eight events and claimed the javelin A title.

He was also second in the 100m B, 110m hurdles A, high jump, pole vault, hammer and third in the shot A and discus A.

Youngsters Mitchell Jarvis, Michael Cole, Richard Pollitt and Richard Nott followed their peers' example with much-needed points over a variety of events.

Jarvis was second in the 100m and 200m shorts sprints and produced a consistent 6.10m in the long jump, together with victory in the triple jump with a new PB of 11.37m.

Cole, who is now showing his true ability over the middle and longer distances, turned his efforts to the long jump and triple jump to amass further points. Richard Pollitt who stepped up to the senior group from under-17, won the 400m B race in a time of 54s and then jumped a respectable 1.55m in the high jump.

Richard Nott ran a very good 3000m steeplechase to claim third in the B race, before sharpening his skills in the 100m and long jump as a non-scorer.

Veterans Joe McEwan, Simon Mennell and team manager Danny Perkins stepped forward to add their contribution to the final points tally.

McEwan claimed second in the 5000m B race and in the shorter 1500m as a non-scorer.

Preferring the middle and endurance events, Simon Mennell performed well in both the 1,500m and 5,000m, combined with Danny Perkins covering a multitude of track and field events.