Team Isle of Man made an impressive start to the Northern League Western Division One South Track and Field season by winning the opening six-team match at Leigh Sports Village on Saturday.

Conditions were cool and calm, with intermittent showers throughout the day’s competition.

Despite travelling with a relatively small squad, the Manx team secured victory by a convincing margin in the first of four league fixtures.

Following relegation from the Western Premier Division last season, the standard in some events was noticeably lower, with sparse fields highlighting the importance of Team Isle of Man gaining promotion back to the higher tier next year.

Many athletes played a major role by competing in multiple events throughout the day, with Daniel Stewart-Clague, Ewelina Hand and Ben Sinclair being especially busy.

The highlight of the meeting came in the mixed 4x100 metres relay, held for the first time in the league.

Meghan Pilley, Daniel Stewart-Clague, Lydia Morris and Ben Sinclair won the A race by a big margin in a time of 46.4 seconds, setting a new island record for the newly-introduced event.

Team Isle of Man also won the B race through Jamie Hayes, Aimee Christian, Rory Turner and Lara Smith.

Christian produced arguably the best individual performance of the day, clocking 63.9 seconds in the 400 metres hurdles, only one-hundredth of a second outside her own island record time.

There were also several encouraging comeback performances. Morris returned after missing the whole of 2025 - including the Island Games - through injury and looked to be getting back towards her best both individually and in the relays.

Molly Phillips also returned from a lengthy injury layoff to compete in the sprints and high jump.

A true legend of Isle of Man athletics returned to action on Saturday, with 66-year-old Alf Oddie travelling from his north-west home to contest several throwing events.

The 1986 Commonwealth Games decathlete, who competed against Daley Thompson in Edinburgh, was delighted to pull on an Isle of Man vest once again and still looks extremely fit.

Another 60-plus veteran athlete returning to Northern League action after several years was Gail Sheeley, who competed in the 800 and 1,500 metres.

There was excitement in the women’s triple jump competition with leader Hand recording 10.13 metres with her penultimate jump, only to be outdone by her young team-mate Jess Schreuder with 10.14m with her final leap.

Personal bests were recorded by Sinclair in both the long jump (6.07m) and triple jump (11.37m), Turner in the 100 metres (12.6), Schreuder in the long jump (4.64m), Hand in the 400 metres hurdles (78.2), Pilley in the shot put (8.61m) and Dawn Atherton in the 1,500 metres (5:24.3). Phillips also equalled her high jump personal best with 1.48m.

Team Isle of Man officials played an important role by officiating in multiple events during the meeting, while team manager Petra Atchison once again ensured the smooth organisation of kit, travel accommodation and athlete support throughout. Their efforts were greatly appreciated by the athletes.

- Match two takes place at Wavertree in Liverpool on Sunday, June 21.