Shaftesbury Barnet were without several top athletes, still abroad on warm-weather training, for their opening British League Division One match at the Thames Valley Centre, Eton, on Saturday, and finished fifth.

While these leading lights, with their sights set on the Sydney Olympics, enjoyed the high temperatures in countries such as Spain, South Africa, Australia and USA, the weather at Eton was glorious.

Shaftesbury will be hoping that when the sojourns abroad in the sun are over, they will be at full strength for the next league match at Wigan on Saturday, June 24, and a top three finish should be achieved.

Injuries were another problem for Shaftesbury, who had to settle for fifth place. But two 19-year-olds, Robert Mitchell and David Parker, stole the show.

Mitchell, who joined in the close season and was making his British League debut, provided an upset by winning with 2.15m. He was well supported by Tyron Peacok, winner of the 'B' contest with 2.05m.

World junior javelin champion Parker followed up his victory in the British Universites Championships the previous weekend by winning his first BAL Division One match with 75.12m.

There were also encouraging debuts at British League level by Luke Davis, and Adam Major, in the shot and discus respectively.

MATCH RESULT: 1 Belgrave 366, 2 Newham and Essex 315, 3 Sale 293, 4 Border 267, 5 SBH 255, 6 Birchfield 228, 7 Thames Valley 215, 8 Team Solent 210.

SBH PLACES: 400m hurdles A: 8 Anno Drent 61.96secs. B: 6 Ross Anderson 69.95secs. 100m A: 2 Hughes 10.98secs. B: 2 Davis 11.02secs. 200m A: 5 Davis 22.70secs. B: 2 Knight 22.51secs. 400m A: 6 Fugallo 48.44secs. B: 8 Craig Erskine 51.49secs. 800m A: 6 Greg McEwan 1min 57.70secs. B: 6 Andy Renfree 1min 59.36secs. 1,500m A: 5 James Trapmore 3mins 56.08secs. B: 4 David Bullock 4mins 1.2secs. 5,000m A: 6 Anton Van Zyl 15mins 24.4secs. B: 1 James Fitzsimmons 15mins 37.1secs. 3,000m steeplechase A: 5 Drent 9mins 29.7secs. B: 3 Ewan Malloch 9mins 43.81secs.

Relay 4x100m: 1 SBH (Davis, Fugallo, Knight, Hughes) 41.07secs. Relay 4x400m: 6 SBH (McEwan, Stern, Erskine, Fugallo), 3mins 18.26secs.

High jump A: 1 Mitchell 2.15m. B: 1 Tyron Peacock 2.05m. Long jump A: 8 Dean Lewis 6m. B: 8 Knight 4.59m. Triple jump A: 7 Lewis 12.67m. B: 6 Oteng 12.49m.

Pole vault A: 4 Neil Young 4.40m. Discus A: 5 Thompson 49.49m. B: 2 Major 47.61m. Javelin A: 1 Parker 75.12m. B: 3 Tim Eldridge 58.57m. Shot putt A: 5 Major 14.39m. B: 6 Mark Leitch 11.97m. Hammer A: 5 Graham Holder 60.39m. B: 3 Chris Walsh 55. 93m.