STEPHANIE Clitheroe smashed her 60m hurdles best at the prestigious London Indoor Games at the Lee Valley Indoor Athletics Centre.

Her first round saw the U20 athlete compete against an all senior field, but she responded to the challenge by running a season’s best time of 8.86 seconds, only five hundredths of a second off her personal best.

But in the second round, the Windsor, Slough, Eton and Hounslow AC member came to life.

First to the first hurdle as she likes to be, she held pole position to the finish and clocked a superb new best of 8.71 seconds propelling her up into fourth place in the UK rankings.

Also in great form was Olivia Caesar making her season debut over 400m.

In a top quality U20 race featuring several upcoming stars, Caesar ran well to hold off quality opposition and claim third spot.

Despite being drawn in lane one, a major disadvantage to 200m and 400m runners, she focused on chasing a good time to launch her 400m programme.

A surge in the home straight saw her slash her indoor best by almost a second and earn her second fastest time of 56.91.

Like her training partner Clitheroe, Caesar also made her mark on the UK rankings rising to sixth place on her opening race.

Another of their U20 training partners, Sophie Street, made a winning return to the indoors over the four-lap 800m race.

She ran a superb tactical race, breaking to the shoulder of the leader off the first bend.

She held that position until the final lap, when she eased in front and then kept winding it up to hold off a strong finish from another of her rivals.

Another win was recorded by Ciaran McGuire in the U20 mens 60m, where his best time of the day was recorded at 7.36 seconds.

He was partnered by Steve O’Hara who was very consistent with two races of 7.53 seconds over the two rounds.