A SEASON'S best clearance of 3.96m gave Olympic hopeful Louise Butterworth (above) her first win of the 2010 indoor season in Cardiff last Sunday, writes Chris Rogers.

Paignton's Butterworth was representing UWIC against Wales, Scotland and Ireland in the Celtic International Cup at the National Indoor Athletics Centre.

Her vault beat Scotland's Kim Skinner and Wales' Jessica Abraham, who both cleared 3.86m to claim second and third respectively.

However it was Scotland who won the Senior Celtic Cup. UWIC were fourth.

Butterworth's Cardiff win came a week after her sixth-place finish at the Aviva World Trials and UK Championships in Sheffield.

The Birchfield Harrier, who turned 25 on Monday, was one of five athletes to claim a share of sixth with jumps of 3.80m.

Kate Dennison won gold after being the only competitor to match the World Indoor Championships qualifying standard of 4.40m.

Butterworth became the first member of the Torbay Olympians Fund last year after being identified as one of the region's top hopes to make the London 2012 Games.

She has also been named as one of a dozen athletes in a similar scheme run by her Birchfield Harriers club, called 12 For 12, and claimed a bronze medal earlier this month at the Birmingham Games.

TWO Torbay Athletic Club members have been competing in the Winter Indoor meetings.

Sophie O'Neill started her 2010 campaign with a trip to the National Indoor Arena, Birmingham, to take part in the Midland Championships, which also incorporated the South West Indoor Championships.

In the U17s Sophie recorded a Personal Best 8.31 seconds in the 60m to finish 2nd in her heat. Later in the afternoon she placed 7th in the Final, collecting the silver medal for 2nd-placed South West athlete.

In her specialist events - long and triple jump - Sophie had mixed fortunes. She recorded an excellent indoor Personal Best with a leap of 4.92m in the long jump, placing 6th overall, but winning the South West title. Problems with her run-up in the triple jump meant she had to settle for 5th overall, but 9.67m was good enough to win the South West title.

Owen Styler, now moving up an age group, was competing as an U20 at the University of Wales Indoor Centre. Impressive indoor times and Personal Bests - the 60m (7.40 seconds) and his main event the 200m (23.2 seconds) - all point to a good outdoor season. Owen is the current County champion in the 200m at U17 level - he will be targeting the 200m title at U20 level this summer.