BOTH Basildon AC’s men and women’s teams will face a one-off crunch promotion match after rounding off their regular season in fine fashion.

The men’s and women’s team combined to finished second in their final Southern Athletics League match of the season at St Albans.

And that meant they finished third in division two north east of the league in their debut year.

Both teams will now head to Abingdon, Oxfordshire, for a make or break qualifier.

The men will be looking for promotion into the British Athletics League and the women will be looking to secure a place in the UK Women’s League.

Yet more club records tumbled in St Albans.

Under-17 athlete Emily Bullis improved her 1,500m steeplechase record to 5m 35.1s, Tariq Martin threw 12.78m to better his junior men’s shot putt (7.26kg) record and Shannon Connolly equalled her under-17 pole vault record with 2.30m.

The unlucky team of the day were the senior men’s 4x100m who missed out on breaking the 29-year-old club record by a mere tenth of a second when running 43.5s. The team of Mark Dyble, James Gillingham (under-17), Oliver Best (junior men) and Lee Dollard will surely be targeting the record once again in Abingdon.

Both the men’s and women’s 4x400m teams won their respective races. Sade Bailey, Karen Whitmarsh, Louise Douglass and Kaylee Dodd clocked 4m 15.3s in the women’s race and Mark Dyble, James Gillingham, Oliver Best and Lee Dollard 3m 28.6s in the men’s event.

Other A-string wins came from Heidi Nicholas (100m 12.8s), Emmanuel Nanang (400m hurdles 59.1s) and Alex Wright (javelin 48.44m).

But the performance of the day went to Louise Douglass who competed in the 400m hurdles (67.9s), 800m (2m 34.3s) and 400m (63.0s) all within an hour – winning all three.

Douglass then went on to help the 4x100m team to second as well as help the 4x400m girls to victory.

PBs: Eleanor Johnson (1,500m s/c 5m 49.6s), Sade Bailey (HJ 1.65m), Katherine Ellis (SP/DT, 8m/18.30m), Lee Dollard (100m/200m; 10.9s/22.1s), Theo Woodridge (100m 11.3s), Kevin Bates (800m 2m 18.6s), James Tydeman (5,000m 15m 31.8s), Emmanuel Nanang (110mh 19.6s), Steve Surety (HJ/PV/TJ; 1.30m/2.60m/10.93m), Michael Bartlett (SP 11.61m), Chris Woodger (HT 20.35m).

l A handful of south Essex athletes were in action for Chelmsford AC in their Southern Athletics League Division One match at Peterborough.

Stanford-le-Hope teenager Hayley McLean bagged a hat-trick of wins for her club, taking first place in the 200m (26s), 400m (57.6s) and 400m hurdles (60.6s).

Rochford ’s Chelsea Coker won both the A-string hammer (49.50m) and discus (37.56m) while Rayleigh ’s Mitch Etheridge took two second places (pole vault 4.20m, long jump 5.62m).