Athletics: Downie does her very best to boost Edinburgh AC's league standing

A PERSONAL best 200 metres of 23.80 seconds from Stacey Downie helped Edinburgh AC finish fifth out of eight in the opening UK Women's League first division match at Leigh Sports Village, Manchester.

The 2009 Scottish champion, Downie clipped 0.15sec off her previous best in finishing third behind Margaret Adeoye (Enfield), who won in 23.30, fourth fastest in the UK this season.

Downie, who clocked a wind-aided 11.86 in the 100 metres, also helped Edinburgh into second place in the 4 x 400m relay.

Edinburgh's only victory came in the 3000 metres where Sarah Hood recorded 9:51.09, with Laura Dunn, who had earlier finished second in the 800m (2:10.80), making it maximum points by winning the B race (10:11.08). Hood was also second in the 2000m steeplechase in 7:05.10 and there was a season's best of 5.89m for Lisa Ferguson in the long jump.

Scottish indoor champion Guy Learmonth (Lasswade) could finish only 14th in 1:52.10 in an 800m won by 2004 Olympic champion Yuriy Borsakovsky in 1:46.57 in the Flanders International Meeting Belgium on Saturday. Meanwhile, Eilidh Child (Pitreavie) was third in the 400m hurdles in 56.08sec in Bydgoszcz, Poland.