The British men finished overnight leaders by three points ahead of Poland and France thanks to some superb track performances highlighted by three individual victories.

 

The competition is said to engender team spirit for the both Norwich Union GB men and women's sides and with the latter lying third at the end of the opening day, that was definitely the case in both camps.

 

Tyrone Edgar, who last month emerged as Britain's sixth-fastest ever 100 metres man, was never going to match that time of 10.06 sec into a strong 1.8metres/second headwind.

 

But the 26-year-old United States-based sprinter showed the qualities that suggest he has the ability to improve on  that mark he set in Geneva, with a simple win ahead of Martial Mbandjock of France and Germany's Tobias Unger.

 

Edgar the seventh British Cup champion over the distance in 10.20, was never threatened in his quest and is now looking forward towards qualifing for the Olympic Games at next month's trials.

 

He said: "It was a great race, except for the wind everything has been perfect today and I did what I had to do to win.

 

"I'm training very seriously so I'm sure of one thing - 2008 will be my year."

 

Martyn Rooney, who came to the meeting and lived up to his title as Europe's fastest 400m runner this season, also produced a dominant run but more importantly when challenged coming into the home straight, showed spirit fending off his rivals.

 

The world junior bronze medallist's determination in the final 50m, led him to a one-and-half stride victory ahead of Claudio Licciardello of Italy with a mark of 45.33.

 

The 21-year-old Croydon runner said: "I wanted to win to bring eight poinst for the team.

 

Mo Farah, after slumping to 17th on his 5000m debut in Ostrava nine days ago, had his usual beaming grin back on his face after destroying the opposition over the final kilometre of his race.

 

The 2006 European silver medallist moved to the front for the first time after sensibly content to follow the pace with the temperature hitting 30 degrees, finished almost 13 seconds clear of runner-up, Carles Castillego of Spain.

 

Farah said: "I'm pleased after what happened last week.

 

"I don't know what it was then, my legs just went. It was my first 5000m and perhaps a reaction to my training.

 

"The race today was very tactical and the temperature very hot.

 

"It was very difficult to run in these conditions."

 

The 4x100m relay team of Christian Malcolm, Edgar, Marlon Devonish and Rikki Fifton also produced maximum points, although initially finishing second.

 

But they were eventually elevated to winners when Germany after one of its team stepped out of his lane, were disqualified.

 

It proved costly for the defending champions, dropping to fifth at the close of play.

 

While these victories were celebrated by the small band of British fans among the crowd of more than 10,000 at the French venue nestling in the shadow of the French Alps, there was an air of anticipation when Nicola Sanders stepped onto the track for the first time this summer.

 

Sanders blew away any doubts that a minor knee injury which delayed her start to the season was in fact more serious, with an exhilirating 400m display.

 

With Christine Ohuruogu who beat her for a whisker to win the world title last summer in Osaka competing over 200m on Sunday, she was a more than able deputy.

 

The 25-year-old from Amersham winged her way down the backstraight and coming into the final 100m, powered away from Natilya Pyhyda although the Ukrainian tried desperately to catch her.

 

Sanders, who clocked 51.17sec, said: This is my first rasce of the season, so it's good top start with a victory and my time is better than last year in my first race.

 

" I really wanted to have this competition behind me, be successful at my first race and trhink about the next step.

 

"I'm confident everything's gonna be in place at the right time."

 

Jenny Meadows at a stage when the women were struggling at the back of the field, produced the finest international performance of her career to win the 800m in 2min 01.20sec.

 

Her confident finish in the last 80m blew away France's Elodie Guegan and Anna Rostkowska who could not respond to the speedy break, helping Britain's women end the day in third place behind Russia and Ukraine.

 

Meadows said: "I knew that I could win this race.

 

"I just needed to be smart and make the right moves.

 

"The race happened the way I expected so I'm happy. And the time is interesting - this is a good progress for me."

 

Now tomorow both squads will be battling in earnest for more victories and hoping there may be more positive results in ther field with Phillips Idowu leading by example in the triple jump.