Longridge 7
In his debut Race for the Harriers Chris Arthur won the Red Rose Cross Country League fixture at Witton Park comfortably and then followed that up with a Bronze Medal at the Northern 10mile Road Championships at Stockport. His latest outing for the Blue & White came at the Longridge 7 – three hundred and thirty one finishers – which he won in a time of 37.57 some two minutes clear of Rob Affleck in 2nd place.
Chris commented to the Club afterwards “I was looking forward to this being one of the hilliest road races I’ve seen and it didn’t disappoint. I thought under 39 would be a good target so very pleased to get another minute off that. Need to compile a list of other hilly races”.
Next in was V40 Shaun Livesey who had a very good run to come home in 4th spot and 2nd V40 in a good time of 41.36 and he told the Club that “With the Ribble Valley 10km only a few weeks off I decided to give my legs one last race before then. The last time I ran this race was a good few years ago and I can remember posting a time of 42mins flat. Even though I’m getting older I still felt that I could break 42mins. Conditions felt good in Longridge and I set off well within myself, within half a mile myself and a red rose runner soon established our positions. As I turned to go up Jeffrey Hill the wind suddenly became another obstacle to contend with. The final 2 mile were great all downhill and I managed to put a bit off daylight between me and 5th place running a 5:12 last mile and finishing in a time of 41:38. All in all quite pleased with my effort”.
(Nice Prize for Shaun)
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Telford 10k
One thousand three hundred and seventy finishers at the Telford 10k, a race with a reputation for fast times which was proven once again when it was won by Joshua Grace in a time of 29.21 from Tom Lancashire who ran 29.22. Jake Shelley came home in 3rd (29.23) and there were 27 runners home in 30.30 or better which demonstrated the quality of the Race which can be seen in the Front end of the Race VIDEO
The Harriers had two great performances from Rob Warner and Joe Monk, with new PB’s for both athletes and there is no doubt that the two of them are in good shape.
Rob Warner hadn’t run a 10k on the Roads since 2012 when he set his then PB of 33.52 at the Ribble Valley 10k. At Telford he literally smashed that to pieces coming home in 39th, nearly three minutes better than his previous best and a new PB of 31.00. A delighted Rob spoke to the Club after the Race and said he “was really happy with how it went, I don’t often do 10ks on the road so wasn’t really sure what to expect. I hadn’t really targeted the race but after how well Liverpool went I thought I might as well give it a go! The first mile was always going to be quick but I found it difficult to overtake on the narrow path at the start which was a bit frustrating! Managed to move through nicely and only really started to tire in the last couple of K. Overall really happy though, even if it would have been nice to dip under 31! I’m still praying that the chip timings are gonna come through and I’ve managed to sneak under! Great event though and happy with how the winters gone so far!”
The second PB of the day went to Joe Monk who has been prolific this year in setting new PB’s at 3000m, 5k, 5miles, 10k and 10 miles. At Telford Joe placed 75th in 32.11 nearly half a minute quicker than his previous best. When asked what he thought about his run, Joe told the Club that he was “over the moon with today, knew I was in PB shape and wanted to get a quick one in before the end of the season. Went through 5k in 15:41 (unofficial PB), really hope to break 32 at Trafford, looking like we have a strong team for Lancs Champs”.
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Track & Field
Joe Pearse has kicked off his Indoor Season in great fashion clearing a new PB height in the High Jump of 2.05m, winning the competition in Cardiff last weekend. A very happy Joe remarked to the Club when the competition was over that he “Absolutely loved the Cardiff Met Christmas Classic competition, which was a really good standard with a brilliant atmosphere. For me to jump so high in such a hard block of training and so early on is very exciting. Hopefully this is a performance I can build on”.
On November 27th, some of the Junior Harriers athletes started their Indoor season at the Sale Indoor Winter Series held at Sportscity. U17 Luke Kenyon jumped 5.47m, just two centimetres off his PB to finish 4th in a competition of 17 athletes and then set a new PB in the High Jump (6th) clearing 1.75m, a 25cm improvement. Bottom of age U17 Nick Massey was off to a good start too, winning the 60m Hurdles in 8.89sec and finishing 5th in the 60m flat with a time of 7.96sec. Another bottom of age U17 Chloe Bleeks and competing Indoors for the first time, took on the 300m placing 2nd in 47.57sec and the 60m coming home 6th in a time of 8.86sec.
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