NESTLE Rowntree Athletic Club got the track and field season under way at Cleckheaton in the Pennine Division of the National Junior League.

The club's Under 20 and U17 athletes found themselves up against strong teams from Leeds City, Bingley, Rotherham, Spenborough and Trafford but acquitted themselves well with the women's team coming third and the men's team finishing fifth.

Good points were scored in the women's field events Emily Gibbons's hammer throw of 23.30m getting her off to a flying start.

In the triple jump, Alice McCabe (9.75m) and Alice Bean (9.12m) were both second in the 'A' and 'B' string and Jess Taylor (5.13m) and Laura Jarvis (5.01m) were both third in the 'A' and 'B' strings. Jarvis was also second in the high jump with a clearance of 1.60m.

Jess Taylor was second in the 100m (12.9secs) and won the 200m convincingly in 26.3secs.

Amy Bird, in her first season as an U17 won both her 'B' string races in the 100m (13.9secs) and 200m (28.4secs). Alice Bean was fourth in the 400m in 67.7secs.

Despite a shortage of middle distances runners, Rowntree's women managed to pick up useful points thanks to Nicola Lampard's second place in the 1500m when she clocked 5mins 7.7secs. Emma Willits was just behind her in a new personal best of 5mins 8.9secs to win the 'B' race.

Willits also won the 3000m 'B' race in 11mins14.4secs while Charlotte Maxted was runner-up in the 'A' race in 11mins 20secs.

Alice McCabe was third in the hurdles and the day finished well for the women with the 4x100m relay team finishing second and the 4x400m relay team coming in third.

Pick of the men's performances included third place in the hammer for Will Steel with a throw of 36.02m.

Alistair Smith also came third in the high jump with a jump of 1.60m.

Performance of the day came from Richard Buck in the 400m where a time of 48.1secs left the field trailing. It won him the Athlete of the Match award and he also did well when dropping down to 100m, clocking 11.4secs to finish second.

Tom Iles came fourth in the 100m 'B' race with 12.4secs and recorded 25.3secs for the 200m.

The versatile Steel put in two good sprint performances, coming second in the 400m 'B' race in 52.2secs and winning the 200m 'B' race in 23.6secs.

Alistair Smith was fifth in the 800m with a time of 2mins 7.2secs and Andy Fawcett ran well for third in the 'B' race.

The best distance running of the day was by Tom Bean, who shattered his personal best times for both 1500m and 3000m.

In the 3000m, he was came third in 9mins 8secs, his first sub 10 minutes run, and at the shorter distance came fifth in a time of 4mins 20.2secs.

The men finished with a third place in the 4x400m relay.

The next fixture is at Rotherham on Sunday. May 23.

Updated: 11:15 Wednesday, April 28, 2004