The Harriers made a dream start to the match, as double British Universities champion Matt Douglas stormed to a superb victory in the opening track event, the 400 metres hurdles, in a lifetime best of 49.98 sec.

He beat the 50 second barrier for the first time in his career and was tantalisingly close to the Sydney Olympics qualifying mark of 49.90.

Just back from winter training in Australia, European 100 metres champion Darren Campbell piled on the points as he took the 100 and 200 metres in 10.68 and 21.54, both into stiff headwinds.

For Campbell, it was more like a training session than a competitive event, but his coach, Linford Christie, seemed well satisfied with his efforts.

Campbell later anchored Belgrave to second place in the sprint relay.

Marlon Dickson secured maximum points in the 100 metres taking the B string in 10.99.

Discus throwers Kevin Brown (55.67 metres) and Lee Newman (54.96 metres) also secured maximum points in filling the top two places in their events.

Ian Tullett was another Belgrave winner, clearing five metres in the pole vault while Lee Hurst gained a narrow victory in the 3000 metres steeplechase in 8:55:50, stretching Belgrave's lead after six events to 25 points.

British number one, Mike Jones, took the hammer with 74.39 metres and the Belgrave quartet of Richard David, Andrew Walcott, Tom Lerwill and Michael Parper edged home ahead of Newham and Essex Beagles to win the 4x400 metres relay in 3:11:33.

Belgrave won the match despite some serious weaknesses in their team. It prompted Belgrave team manager John Jeffery, who has been involved in the sport for over 30 years, to reflect.

"It was the poorest Division One match ever. Every team manager felt the same. Standards seem to be falling across the board. But, of course, we were delighted with the result."

K&P start with a bang

There was an encouraging start to the new Southern Men's League season for Kingston and Polytechnic.

Despite having to make the long trip to Great Yarmouth for their opening Division Three encounter, they were only just beaten by the host club.

Adam Page gained a hat-trick of wins in the jumps, taking the high, long and triple jumps with 1.80, 6.53 and 13.31 metres respectively.

Mark Roberts won both the sprint and 400 metres hurdles in 16.1 and 58.7 sec, and junior international Nick Owens won the shot (14.87 metres) and discus (39.67 metres).

Kingston and Polytechnic scored 138 points, just three behind Great Yarmouth and ahead of Stevenage and North Herts (114), Walton (101) and Queen's Park Harriers (60).

For Walton, James Harvey won the 800 metres and 3000 metres steeplechase in 2:04:4 and 10:27:3, and Jon Hamblen took the 5000 metres in 16:10:1.

In contrast, Hercules Wimbledon had a torrid time in their Division Three match at Oxford finishing last with 81 points behind Chichester Runners (125.5), Newquay and Par (120), East Grinstead (112.5) and Oxford City (85).

Despite having plenty of winners, Sutton had a tough time in their Division Two match at Sutton Arena where they were fourth with 92 points behind Winchester (125), Enfield and Haringey (116) and Ipswich (111) beating Chelmsford (83).

International Richard Ward made a solid start to his summer with a middle-distance double, winning the 800 and 1500 metres in 1:55:1 and 4:02:9.

Gary Cook also gained a double in the throwing events taking the shot (13.17 metres) and hammer (58.51 metres). He was also second in the discus (40.70 metres). Steve Radwan won the javelin (56.04 metres)and Mike Mason won the 400 metres hurdles in 56.7.

Junior Joe's top spot

Kingston produced their best individual performance in the history of the event when Joe Ive became the borough's first winner in the Times Mini Marathon junior boys race, crossing the line in The Mall in 15 min 52 sec.

The mini-marathon involved all 33 London boroughs and the City Corporation. Five local boroughs Kingston, Merton, Richmond, Sutton and Wandsworth.

Daniel Hooper led Sutton's squad in finishing 18th with Jamie Lee Carley first for Wandsworth in 24th place.

Richmond's best placed runner was Scott Overall who took third in the senior boys race in 13:06. Sutton's Gareth Parr was 24th and Wandsworth's Tahir Fayyaz 26th.

Merton's best placed runner was Leanne Harvey, who finished 10th in the senior girls race. Sutton had two in the top 30 in the junior girls race with Kira Fairclough 23rd and Jade Locke 30th.

Kira's brother West was 21st in the intermediate boys race ahead of Wandsworth's Aldis Ulrych (25th) and Merton's Dave Godden (25th).

Kingston's Charlotte Wilson pipped Wandsworth's Emily Gomme to take 28th place in the intermediate girls race.