TAUNTON Athletics Club finished their last track and field competition of the 2007 season on winning form with an overall team victory in the final Division One fixture of the South West League series.

They had a hard-fought victory with a win of 983 points to Cornwall AC's 971 and Poole AC's 949. There were additional age group wins for the U17 Men's and U15 Boys teams.

The 62-strong team of athletes, aged 12 through to over 50, were a dominant presence throughout the day with many picking up valuable points in often their second or third-choice event. With Taunton athletes filling almost every event, this was a genuine team effort.

There were a number of notable performances by individuals who boosted the team score by earning maximum points with event wins.

In the U15 Boys age group, Taunton athletes won nearly half of the 19 events contested by the eight competing clubs.

There was a double victory in the javelin with Robin Danahar and James Berry launching the spear to in excess of 40 metres.

Newcomer Simon Cooper took a well-earned victory at the B string 800 metres while Mr Consistent, Liam Snell, enjoyed a double victory at both 100m and 200m B string.

With the sprint king of the U15 team, Mitch York, also competing, the team had a convincing victory in the relay as well.

Not one Taunton athlete finished outside the top four in the U17 Men's age group.

Multi-eventer Henry Biss had a busy day, kick-started with a third-place finish in his first ever 400m hurdles race, to which he added another third in the discus and a win at the B string high jump.

Sprint duo Eliot Rigsby and Dan Hitchcock both picked up high scoring places in the 100m and 200m as well as in their field events.

The middle distance boys, Ben Phillips and Oliver Ager, also picked up runner-up spots in the 800m A and B string races.

Newcomer Liam Butler was a welcome addition to the team, making his debut over 3,000m, in which he picked up maximum points by winning the B string race.

The U13 Boys team proved to be a hotbed of emerging talent and there were strong performances across a range of events.

Matthew Richards excelled in the sprints, winning both the 75m hurdles and 200m B races while training partner Jack Holmes also produced some strong performances in these events.

George Searle leapt to 1m35cm victory in the high jump while Rowan Preece sped to 2m27.2 in the 800m in a time equal to that of the winner who was given the first-placed position by a whisker.

Taunton's U13, U15 and U17 girls bravely contested a number of events which were not necessarily their first choice, but in doing so probably earned the team the margin of points that made the winning difference.

U15 Rachel Spencer picked up two individual wins in the hurdles and shot putt. Metric milers Isla Ness and Rachel Langbein both collected big points for finishing runner-up in their respective A and B string races.

The stalwarts of this season's Senior Women's team played their part in the overall effort.

Helen Mullally won the B string discus, Catherine Blew the 1,500m and Rebecca Klys and Emily Chesterman enjoyed a double victory at high jump.

It was a highly successful afternoon for the club and with this overall team win to add to their victory at the previous fixture, they found themselves finishing third in the league series having banished the mid-season fears of relegation.

This was the club's best performance in the league for many years and they will be looking to make a more confident start to the season in 2008 in a bid to win the series outright.