Neil McLellan regained his South of England senior javelin title at Crystal Palace. The Stevenage and North Herts AC member won with a second round throw and lifetime best of 71.84m on Sunday. He had an excellent round of throws, each exceeding 68m, and t

Neil McLellan regained his South of England senior javelin title at Crystal Palace.

The Stevenage and North Herts AC member won with a second round throw and lifetime best of 71.84m on Sunday.

He had an excellent round of throws, each exceeding 68m, and two beating his previous personal best.

Neil, who had been runner-up and silver medallist last year, first won this title in 2001.

This was his third time of winning the Southern title.

The championships returned to Crystal Palace after a long absence and the local club responded by winning two golds, a bronze and notching up one fourth, one fifth and one seventh place.

Louise Shortland picked up the under-20 pole vault title on Sunday afternoon by clearing 3.50m and then she only just failed in attempting to beat the championship record at 3.73m.

Laurie Pirie was the bronze medal winner in Saturday's under-20 high jump event, leaping 1.85m.

Neil McLellan's sister, Shelley, just missed out on a bronze medal in the senior women's shot put with a throw of 12.34m.

She held third place right up to the second from last throw of the competition and was beaten into fourth place by one centimetre.

In the heats of the senior women's 400m, Emma Kemp won her heat in a personal best time of 55.03 and in the final three hours later clocked 55.38 to be fifth.

Sara Bailey, in her under-20 1500m race, finished in a highly creditable seventh place, clocking 4:51.11. Every girl in front of her was an under-20 international at either cross-country or track.

* The younger club members were competing well at St Ives, finishing runner-up in the six-team match behind the mighty Essex club Havering/Mayesbrook AC.

The girls posted 15 first places, under-17 Bunmi Awokoya leading the way with three wins (100m A in 13.0, 200m A in 26.1 and shot A with 9.55m).

Three girls picked up two first places - under-17 Francesca Witney (300m A 45.9 and 800m B 2.32.5); under-17 Sam McCormick (300m B 46.0 and triple jump B 5.56m); and under-13 Alice Rackham (long jump B 3.68m and high jump A 1.20m).

The other winners were under-13s Alex Gates (200m A in 29.8), Monica Hamilton (shot B 6.59m), and Claire Webb (high jump B 1.20); under-15 girls Hannah Sweetman (75m hurdles B 13.9), Frances Gross (discus A 23.46m), and Chloe Vernon-Hamilton (discus B 16.82m); and under-17 Loren Scanes (shot B 5.86m).

The other girls in the team were Sarah Pike, Georgie Larkins, Laura Saxon, Ashleigh Clarke, Natalie Wilcox, Julia White, Karen Meadows, Jess Bishton and Bethan Scanes.

The boys had 11 first places with under-13 Ben Auburn getting two (75m hurdles B 15.6 and high jump A 1.30m); plus under-13 Matt Hodgeson (high jump B 1.20); and under-15s Glen Turner (400m B 55.7), Jack White (shot A 9.76m), David Saxon (shot B 8.35m), Tan Choudury (javelin B 14.11m) and Nick Stoppard (long jump A 5.51m).

The three winners in the under-17 boys were Zikri Elias (100m hurdles B 18.0), Aaron Reynolds (400m 56.0) and David Paar (long jump B 5.23m).

The other boys in the team were Billy Vernon-Hamilton, Ben David, Paul Spicer, Ed Vanderburg, Sam Pollard, Glen Turner, Lewis Keeble, Cameron Webb, Josh Saydraouten, Callum McKechnie, Jamie Judge, Glen Begley, Peter De'ath, Tom Sheren, Jack Gates, Matt Darnell, David Pickett, Daryl Safee, Conor Winters and Josh Moss.