OXFORDSHIRE'S under 15 athletes proved they are capable of taking on the best in the country when they represented the South of England at the National Indoor Sportshall finals in Birmingham

The day started well with Abingdon's Luke Chown winning his two-lap race in a time of 20.6secs, with his Witney teammates Rob Gunn and Sven Bayliss recording times of 21.4 and 22.5 respectively.

Lewis Warren claimed the silver medal in the four-lap event with his time of 42.3, only a tenth of a second away from the gold.

Warren and Gunn later picked up a bronze medal in the energy-sapping eight-lap paarlauf relay.

Chown and Bayliss were partnered by Alec Warriner and Adam Croft for the 4 x 2 lap relay finishing in fifth position.

Off the track, Adam Sambrook leapt to a personal best of 2.22 metres in the standing long jump, while in the girls event, Rebecca Marsh's mark of 2.32m landed her the bronze.

Oxfordshire manager Mike Miles said: "This was the first time that we had represented the South of England in both the boys and girls sections.

"Each athlete competed in three or four events in front of a 2,000-strong crowd, and all gave good performances."