FOLLOWING races in Switzerland and Slovakia against top class European opposition, Ilford s Scott Davis marked his return to domestic competition with third place in the Molly Barnet National Inter-Counties 10k Event at Coventry. The previous weekend he h

FOLLOWING races in Switzerland and Slovakia against top class European opposition, Ilford's Scott Davis marked his return to domestic competition with third place in the Molly Barnet National Inter-Counties 10k Event at Coventry.

The previous weekend he had finished a highly commendable seventh in 96.10 over 20k in a European Athletics Permit Meet in the spa town of Dudince, Slovakia.

Large crowds had cheered walkers from, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine, Hungary and a number of other central and eastern European countries as they sped around the town centre circuit.

The quality of opposition, the fervour of the crowd and the testing conditions made that a challenging experience and the Ilford man drew on the experience of that at Coventry where, over the shorter distance, he clocked his best time in years to finish third in 45.31.

Starting steadily, he gradually racked up the pace and, along with winner Luke Finch, was probably the fastest lapping over the closing kilometres.

Davis was also representing Essex and his performance was supported by an equally impressive 48-minute personal best from Castle Point AC athlete Phil Barnard and a strong mid-race position from fellow Ilford man, Dave Kates, returning after several months out with injury.

The three of them ensured that the prestigious News of the World Inter-Counties Challenge Cup was brought back to Essex.

ILFORD AC walkers contested the Open 3,000m Track Walk at the Lee Valley Stadium on Saturday morning.

Those who caught the eye included Steve Uttley, who clocked 15 minutes 42 seconds, and Laurence Dordoy, whose leg was heavily strapped after suffering a hamstring strain but recorded 16.24.

Former European and Common-wealth Games international Carl Lawton (Belgrave Harriers), who raced toe-to-toe with the Ilford man for three laps before using his ultra long stride to forge ahead, placed second in 16.16.

Dave Sharpe performed well despite feeling off-colour and took a high fifth placing in 16.51.

ILFORD'S ultra-distance specialist Olly Browne returned to competitive action in style on Saturday when contesting the Crawley Track 12-hour event.

The race started at 7am and Browne, a sciatica sufferer, found an ankle injury to be his undoing on this occasion but, nonetheless, covered the 49 miles in the allotted time.

The distance of travel reversed after six hours and this also saw a reversal of Browne's fortunes as an increasingly painful ankle forced him to ease off his pace.

Nevertheless, he was pleased to be second walker and is still on track to compete in July's Newmarket 100 Miles event.