A sterling effort from Boston and District Athletic Club at the final North of England League match at Sheffield left the Gold Tops just short of the points total required to retain a place in Division Two next year.

Boston finished in fifth place at the end of a very competitive match with all clubs improving the strength of their squads for the final burst in the 2009 league programme.

Scrapping for every point the Gold Tops finished ahead of fellow relegation strugglers Chesterfield but failed to overtake Rotherham, Lincoln Wellington, Kingston Upon Hull and City of Sheffield. Despite their fifth league position, several members of the team produced some impressive top three performances.

Chelsea Brockett chalked up three third places in A events in addition to contributing to the 4 X 400m relay effort.

In the first event on the programme, the 400m hurdles, Chelsea ran strongly to record 68.3 seconds in third position before clearing 2.60m in the pole vault for another third.

In high jump she continued to contribute points with a leap of 1.55m.

Isabelle Whitehead won the B 400m hurdles race, recording 72.7seconds and Melanie Bristow secured runners up position in the B pole vault with a clearance of 2.30m.

In his first competition of the season, thrower Jake Louth excelled and finished second in two A events and third in the other.

Opening with a series of discus throws which landed well over 40 metres, Jake pressed the eventual winner right up to the final round achieving a best of 45.96m for a fine second position.

In the centre of the arena his javelin warm-up throws were outstanding as he threatened to break the 60 metre barrier.

In the A competition, Jake recorded an impressive 56.75m for another splendid second place in what proved to be a strong throwing competition.

At the shot circle, Jake's 12.19m. best effort earned him a good third position thus completing a terrific day's results.

Jake Brittain imposed himself on the B 110m hurdles race finishing well out in front in a time of 18.2 seconds, following a vault over 3.80m for a good third place in the Pole Vault A contest.

In the B vault, Stephan Brockett recorded 3.50m to clinch second place.

The jumpers added value with Mark Bridges leaping 6.55m for third in the A long jump and 12.44m in the A triple jump to claim the same finishing position.

There was excellent support from Jeremy Baily who won the B triple jump with a clearance of 12.31m and secured third position in the B long jump with a leap of 5.72m. On the track distance runner Geoff Knight recorded nine minutes 59.4 seconds for a good second place in the 3000m steeplechase and then clocked 15 minutes. 56.7 seconds for a secure fourth position in the 5,000 metres.

The versatile Chris Cope crossed the line third at the end of the A 400m hurdles in 59.7 seconds and added fourth place points in the A 110m hurdles, recording 17.9 seconds before making a significant contribution to the Boston 4 X 400m relay effort.

In the women's events there were some spirited performances both in the field and on the track.

Mel Bristow gained a third in the B Hammer with a throw of 21.02m. with Tonya Robinson securing valuable points in the A throwing events and Louise Rutt, always consistent, ran well in the 800 metres and the 3,000 metres.

Daniella Harrison, Emma Penistone, Dannielle Ballam and Zoe Ward all made a good contributions and Jasmine Orrey and Lara Busch made their mark in sprints and horizontal jumps all marshalled by captain Isabelle Whitehead who as always led by example.

The men's squad also produced some very supportive performances.

Tyrone Chase and Luke Chester gave their all in the sprints and captain Mark Bowler, Dennis Rainbow and Robert Richards added their experience to a largely inexperienced male team and were well supported by Karl Wright. Jose Ferriera contributed well over the distances and throwers Stuart Smith, Marc Bradbury and Haden Brittain were once again outstanding at North of England level.