Havering Mayesbrook's youngsters battled not only against strong opposition but also against the elements on the South of England Championships at Watford on Saturday and Sunday. But despite showing up strongly in several finals in these rain-lashed championships, they came home with just two medals.

Sprint ace Matthew Kelsey showed his ability on the big stage with a superb silver in the Under 15 men's 100m with an excellent Grade 1 time of 11.5 secs, equalling the time set by his older brother Ross in the same competition three years earlier. In the 200m event Matthew was the fastest qualifier in the heats but was unable to repeat his medal feat in the final held just over an hour later, placing fifth.

Newcomer Scott Keating also gained silver for his triple jump performance in the U-15 boys event and he also recorded a new personal best in the long jump where he was a finalist.

Talented all-rounder Kate Brewington was the other medallist, claiming bronze in the U-20 Long Jump and going close to second medal in the 100m hurdles, placing fourth in a new personal best of 15.35, the fastest time ever club junior athlete.

Good performances by club athletes in other events just failed to win their rewards. In the 800m events Laurie Cossey and Sara Luck were both fourth, in the u-20 and u-15 respectively, with Sara claiming a new personal best. Middle distance star Faye Fullerton, opting for some speed work in the u-17 800m rather than in her favourite 1500m, found that her main opponents had made the same decision and had to settle for fifth in a tactical race. Another fifth placing went to Glen Coppin in the junior men's 800m.

In the u-15 girls discus Melanie Harrison was unable to repeat her personal best of the previous week and finished sixth, one places ahead of Lynsey Clark.

Other finalists were Sarah Deacon, sixth in the u-20 ladies hammer, and Hannah Gamester, eight in the 100m in the same age group. Such was the standards that good performances by other athletes failed to gain a final place.

The next major challenge for the Havering Mayesbrook youngsters comes in two weeks time, when they take on the best in Essex at the County schools championships at Basildon, although before that the boys u-17 team travel to Croydon next Sunday for their McDonald's league Premier Division league match.

U-20 men:
800m	6th	Glen Coppin	1m 57.85 secs (1m 57.4 ht)
200m	7th heat	Jo Crane	24.2 secs w/a
Javelin	5th	Sam Harrison	47.71m
Long Jump	8th	John Davies	5.93m w/a (5.91m)
U-17 men
Shot Putt	6th	Kevin Deacon	11.51m
U-15 boys
100m	2nd	Matthew Kelsey	11.5 secs
200m	5th	Matthew Kelsey	24.17 secs (23.46 secs ht)
400m	7th heat	Scott Keating	60.0 secs
400m	8th heat	Terry O'Leary	60.1 secs
Triple Jump	2nd	Scott Keating	11.23m
Long Jump	6th	Scott Keating	5.11m
High Jump	4th	Scott Keating	1.50m
Discus	5th	Scott Keating	23.62m
Shot Putt	6th	Terry O'Leary	10.05m
U-20 Ladies
100m	8th	Hannah Gamester	13.16 secs
100m hurdles	4th	Kate Brewington	15.35 secs
800m	4th	Laurie Cossey	2m 13.68 secs
800m	5th heat	Lydia Comley	2m 26.0 secs
Long Jump	3rd	Kate Brewington	5.02m
	4th	Hannah Gamester	4.86m
Hammer	6th	Sarah Deacon	30.42m
Discus	4th	Sarah Deacon	30.64m
U-17 Ladies
800m	5th	Faye Fullerton	2m 12.33 secs
U-15 Girls
100m	4th heat	Laura Jones	12.89 secs w/a
200m	4th heat	Nicola Schofield	27.71 secs
800m	4th	Sara Luck	2m 18.77 secs
800m	4th heat	Caroline Smith	2m 26.30 secs
75m hurdles	4th heat	Nicola Schofield	12.45 secs
75m hurdles	7th heat	Katie O'Sullivan	13.41 secs w/a
High Jump	9th	Katie O'Sullivan	1.40m
Discus	6th	Melanie Harrison	27.70m
Discus	7th	Lynsey Clark	26.97m
Discus	9th	Caroline Smith	23.16m
Javelin	5th	Melanie Harrison	28.33m
Shot Putt	11th	Caroline Smith	8.48m