Having won the Rockingham Trophy last year, Cheshire had another good weekend at Bedford, matching their points total from 2005, which which was good enough for third place in the Middlesex/Surrey Trophy. Star of the team was David Brackstone who ran a controlled race in windy conditions in the 400m hurdles to catch the leader in the last few strides to regain the title he won in 2004.Also scoring big points for the county was 41 year old Bashir Hussain, who narrowly missed out on a medal in the 10000m - an event he won 12 years ago - and then returned the following day to compete in the 5000m. Bashir now tops the UK veterans rankings at both events. Even busier was international decathlete Roger Skedd, who competed in 3 events, and was unlucky not to make the final of the 100m hurdles, missing out by 2 1/100's of a second. A small women's team also performed well, with every athlete having at least one top 10 finish. Busiest athlete was Jemma Kelly, who was 6th in the hammer, and 9th in the shot and the discus. The two Cheshire steeplechasers, Becky Ellis and Emily Brown had to contend with a hailstorm on their way to 6th and 7th places respectively.

Results:

Men:

100m 5th heat 3 Darren Scott (V35) 10.74 (+4.6); 8th SF 2, 10.90 (+3.9)

200m 5th heat 1 Scott 21.88 (+2.4)

5000m 10th Bashir Hussain (V40) 14:51.2310000, 4th Hussain 31:25.03

110mH 5th heat 2 Roger Skedd 14.83 (+4.4)

400mH 2nd heat 2 David Brackstone 54.14; 1st final 52.71

3000m walk 18th Tony Bell 16:33.58

Pole Vault 10th Skedd 4.10

Long Jump 15th Skedd 6.77 (+3.2)

Discus 10th Roger Bate 43.45

Hammer 12th Bate 49.41

Javelin 13th Dave McKay 59.78

Shot 7th John Nicholls (V40) 15.08

Women:

100mH 3rd heat 1 Katey Read 14.32 (+3.3); 8th Final 14.42 (+1.9)

2000m s/c 6th Becky Ellis 7:24.83, 7th Emily Brown 7:26.99

Pole Vault 10th Clare Neve 3.40

Hammer 6th Jemma Kelly 47.28

Discus 9th Kelly 42.51

Shot 9th Kelly 11.49

Full results at http://www.british-athletics.co.uk

Pictures