LEO RICE starred on debut for the Sportingbet Channel Islands Athletics Club who got their national leagues campaign off to a solid start on the weekend in both the men’s and women’s meetings.

The men finished fourth at the opening British Athletics League Division Four meeting in Pitreavie, while the women took fifth place in their opening UK Women’s Athletics League Division Four match in Stevenage.

The men’s result could have been better still, with the combined Guernsey and Jersey team still in with a chance of second place going into the relays.

Although Yeovil were clear winners, just nine points covered the next four of the remaining five teams going into the last two events on the track.

However the CIAC, missing both Tom Druce and Dale Garland, finished a disappointing fifth out of six in the sprint relay, dropping them out of contention and leaving them equal on points with Havering going into the final event.

The 4x400m came down to a straight head to head with Havering to decide who would finish fourth and fifth, and the CIAC quartet of Lee Garland, Rice, Peter Irving and David Martin did just enough to edge out their Essex rivals with a third-place finish.

Rice (pictured) had earlier recorded two of the outstanding performances of the day. In his first match for the club, the 17-year-old set a new personal best of 56.96sec. to finish second in the 400m hurdles B race, and went one better over the shorter distance.