IFAM Outdoor – Oordegem, BEL May 24th
Alison Leonard has started the season really well having won her second consecutive 800m Race in Belgium at the weekend – May 24th – following her victory at the Trafford BMC Race the week before (2.01.25).
In Belgium she won in 2.00.50. Her first 800m of the season at Trafford on May 5th produced a 3rd placed 2.05.60 which means that in three weeks she has progressed by over 5 seconds. Alison now ranks 2nd nationally behind Jenny Meadows.
The Club spoke to her after the Race in Belgium and asked her how she felt about this latest outing “I’m pleased with the time, it was a bit quicker than I thought I might run but it’s still very early in the season and lots of people are yet to start running fast times, so I need to make sure I keep progressing and getting quicker to stay ahead of the game! Very happy with it but not getting carried away, there’s lots can happen in the rest of the season, but all going in the right direction”.
Full Results HERE
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Lancashire County Championships at Blackpool – May 23rd & 24th
A cracking weekend for the Harriers at this years County Championships yielded 29 Medals including 14 Gold, 10 Silver and 5 Bronze as well as English Schools and National Standard qualification standards alongside twenty one PB’s.
Day 1 Results HERE (Saturday)
Day 2 Results HERE (Sunday)
Seven of the Gold Medals went to the Club’s Hurdlers including U13 Sam Farnworth in his first outing over Hurdles this year. His previous best going into the Championships was 16.9 and he blasted that to pieces winning in 13.9 for a great new PB. Having already won four 100m & 200m races this year, Sam is clearly in good form. Sam also equaled his 100m PB (13.8) in taking a Bronze Medal in this event. Nick Massey won the U15 80m Hurdles in a time of 11.6 to set a new PB which places him 8th in the National Rankings – a National Standard – and – all this after getting injured in the warm up, forcing him to withdraw from all other events over the weekend. U15 Emily Warren missed out by 0.1 getting an English Schools qualification when she won the 75m Hurdles in 11.9, a massive increase in her PB of nearly a second.
U17 Morgan Angland ran the National Standard with another big improvement knocking three tenths of a second off her previous time to set a new PB of 11.7 when she won the 80m Hurdles. She then went on to win the 300m Hurdle title on Sunday in a time of 47.4 which gave her a Hurdles double Gold.
The advantage of being able to train Indoors with the athletes who are involved in technical events throughout the winter is obviously paying big dividends. Hurdles Coach Bob Groves said after the Championships that having the Indoor facility mean that “Training throughout the winter makes such a difference to hurdles training and the athletes have done us proud”. Indeed they have.
U17 Ross Liddle took the individual 400m Hurdles Race with 61.1 in what can only be described as the worst of the conditions over the two days, conditions which made quite a difference. Cameron Massey took Silver in this Race which unfortunately only had the two Harriers entered. In the Women’s 400m Hurdles it was again a first and second for the Harriers with just the two of them entered resulting in a win for Roxanne Oliver in 66.4 – a new PB by one second – and 2nd for Katie Buckingham in 66.8 – just a tenth outside her PB – both agonisingly just short of the English Schools qualifying standard of 66.0sec. Why does the win blow at these times?
Ross Liddle – in cutting four tenths off his previous best time – added a Silver to his tally in the 100m Hurdles with a new personal best time of 14.3 in a really competitive Race with the winner. Oliver Aspden had a real battle in the 400m Hurdles with Michael Haslett from Manx Harriers. Oliver ran 57.7 to be edged out of Gold Medal position by three tenths.
Archie Braysford was delighted with his win in the U17 Mens 100m in a time of 11.2 and is reward for persevering through some injuries this year. Qualifying in 2nd place in the Senior Men’s 100m Heats (11.5) – Dominic Bretherton took Bronze in the Final with 11.4. Liz Greenwood had a win double to pick up two gold medals, running her fastest 1500m for a couple of years to set a new PB of 4.45.9 and then won the U17 3000m in a time of 10.25.4 placing her over the weekend at 19th in the National Rankings for the 3000m and 29th in the 1500m. Maddie Elliott had a great run in the U15 Girls 3000m to win in 10.48.9 and this, her first ever attempt at the distance and which, over the weekend, put her at 4th in the National Rankings which is a brilliant achievement.. Emily Raine (U13) took a great Gold Medal winning the 100m in 13.8.
In the Throws, Rebecca Orrell won the U20’s Hammer with a throw of 39.80m which comfortably achieved the English Schools Standard with her PB leaving her at the top of the North West Rankings and 12th Nationally. U15 Eloise Littlefair won the Shot Putt with a throw of 9.75m – a new PB by three quarters of a metre. She then added another 34cm to her Discus (24.17m) for another new PB and Silver Medal. Charlotte Williams also set a new PB in the Discus when she finished in Bronze Medal position (23.84m) but her outstanding event had to be the Hammer where she threw an amazing 35.28m (Silver Medal) for a massive new PB in only her second ever attempt at the event – a throw which was over a metre inside the English Schools qualifying distance and taking her into 16th in the National Rankings.
U17 Connor Davison set a new PB in the Shot taking the Bronze Medal with 11.47m and looking to close in on the 12m mark. A big new PB for U17 Cameron Massey too. His throw of 30.04 to take Bronze in the Discus saw him add over 7 metres to his previous best of 22.74m with the 1.5k weight.
U17 Grace Handley won two Silver Medals, first in the 1500m with a time of 4.56.0 and then in the 3000m with 10.34.4, a time which puts her in at 29th in the National Rankings. Amy Davies ran a cracking race in the U13 Girls 1500m to knock six seconds off her time in setting a new PB of 5.20.1. Amy and the eventual winner – Kirsty Hamilton – ran neck and neck to the final bend when the winners kick just took the race away. Jamie Teare chopped six seconds off his 1500m best to set a new PB of 5.06.1 and win the Bronze Medal to boot.
As with all Championships, not everyone gets a medal but that doesn’t mean they haven’t competed really well. Morgan Phillips in the U20 Men’s 400m set a new PB of 51.2, cutting nearly a second off his previous best. Jamie Teare set a new PB in the 75m Hurdles of 14.7. Emily Warren set a new personal best of 27.4 winning her heat in the U15 girls 200m and was unable to contest the Final. Hannah Cookson ran a good race in the 800m Heats – (2.32.7) – to be placed third but with the same time as the 2nd and winner of the Heat and couldn’t go through to the Final with only two to count. Cameron Massey threw a new PB in the U17 Javelin with 31.72m. Esme Pearse placed 5th in the U17 High Jump (1.40m) – Daniel Brown ran 5.33.4 in the U13 Boys 1500m – Mya Booth just missed out on a Medal in U13 Girls 70m Hurdles finishing 4th in 13.6, as did Emily Raine in the U13 Girls Long Jump where she set a new PB of 4.20m to finish just 3cm off the Medals. Lucas Davies placed 5th in the U15 Boys Shot Putt but threw a big new PB which was nearly two metres further than his previous best. Emily Warren set another new PB in the U15 100m Final when she finished 5th in 13.5.
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