POLE vaulter Laura Patterson equalled her personal best as she came second in the Home Countries Under 23 international in Derby.

The Wycombe Phoenix athlete, who hails from Amersham and was wearing the South of England vest, equalled her best jump of 3.60 metres as she finished runner-up to Sonia Lawrence of Wales.

Patterson now faces an anxious wait to discover if she has been selected to appear for the Great Britain U23 team in their match against the United States on August 18 ahead of the South of England Senior Pole Vault Championships.

Nicola Sanders, who was also representing the South of England, also had to settle for second place.

She ran a sound race in the 400 metres but it wasn't enough to land her pole position.

She then picked up her second runners-up spot of the meeting when she helped the 4x400 relay team into second place.

Her Wycombe Phoenix colleague, Simon Plaskitt, running for the Midlands, ran the race of his life and although he had to settle for fourth place, his time of 47.18 seconds was another new personal best.

The competition pitted the North, The Midlands, The South, Wales and Ireland together in the battle for the Cleveland Cup.