WITH the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham little more than a week away and the indoor season reaching it's climax, three of our local stars returned top notch performances over the weekend.

Matt Wood made a winning debut for England in the six cornered Under-18 International at Ghent in Belgium, while there was a AAAs title for Kerry Gillibrand and two silver medals which included a personal best performance for Rebecca White.

For 16-year-old Wood, from Blackburn Harriers, he was handed a tough baptism in the 1500m in a match which pitted England against Holland, France, Germany and two Belgian regions.

With six athletes on a tight 200m track, space would always be at a premium, but four second string runners were allowed to race too and inevitably there was some bumping and barging in the early stages.

As the race progressed the runners found more room and the Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School student won the race with an extended sprint finish over the last 300m.

A final surge in the last 100m brought him home over a second clear in four minutes 8.24 seconds.

At a venue which has staged a European Grand Prix Meeting, the England Team won the fixture by 35 points.

Winning the Women's 3,000m in the AAAs Indoor Championships at the Birmingham Indoor Arena was a bitter-sweet experience for Baxenden athlete Kerry Gillibrand.

After reaching the Commonwealth Games Final in the 1500 metres at Manchester last year in her first major Championship, she has set her heart on reaching another.

The AAAs doubled as the World Championship Trial and she plumped for the 3,000m - only to find that there were just three entrants.

With neither of her rivals able to chase the qualifying time of 9:10, the race became a time trial.

During the second half inevitably she fell behind schedule and was even caught before her final sprint brought her to victory in 9:39.56. She has already decided that she will revert to the 1500m this summer.

Becky White, who had no World Championship aspirations, nevertheless enjoyed a splendid weekend which reflected her recent good form.

The long jump brought her a new personal best of 6.09m, which is better than she has achieved outdoors.

The Haslingden ace was beaten only by this winter's top ranked Briton Ruth Irving and finished a single centimetre ahead of second ranked Kelly Sotherton as she rises to third in the rankings herself.

In her favoured event, the triple jump, another second with a distance of 12.94m made her the highest placed Briton, as the Belgian Sandra Swennen took the title.

Encouragingly, Michelle Griffith who competed for England in the Commonwealth Games was in her wake.