Charlotte Williams – 2nd in the U17 National Rankings – has had a great week winning Silver in the Hammer at English Schools and then being told she was selected to compete for England in the SIAB International. On Saturday in Dublin Charlie won the Bronze Medal after throwing 55.64m and placing 3rd Charlie told the Harriers when she got home that she “Had such an amazing weekend at SIAB international’s in Dublin. The whole experience will stay with me forever. Coming third in an international as an athlete at the bottom of the age group was so exciting as I know I still have another year. I know I could of thrown further but it’s not always how you want so hopefully, next year I can come bag bigger and better”.
It had been a pretty good week for Jacob Roberts – 4th in the National Rankings – as well finishing 4th at English Schools in the Senior Boys Hammer Final he was then told he had been selected to represent England North in the U20 at the Welsh Athletics Outdoor International held in Cardiff on Wednesday (July 12th). Jacob had another very good competition resulting in him placing 2nd with a throw of 62.86m and afterwards he told the Club that “it was a great day and a great experience to be able to throw for England again”.
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Fixture (3) of the Northern League Division 2W was held at Bebington as was Fixture (2) because the Wavertree Track wasn’t ready to be certificated in time. The Harriers team was severely depleted in terms of numbers but not in spirit as athletes stepped out of their comfort zone to try and make up where we were lacking.
That spirit was typified in a whole number of ways not least by the Men’s Team Captain – Ben Fish. He ran the ‘B’ 800m winning it in a time of 2.03.06, had just twenty minutes rest and then came 2nd in the ‘A’ 3000m Steeplechase in 9.53.4 and rounded off his day in the 5000m winning the ‘A’ Race in 15.12.6 – an incredible piece of endurance running.
The sprints saw Brandon Zinyemba being given 6th placing (11.4) in the ‘A’ 100m even though others saw him finish in 5th spot and emphasised the point in setting a new PB by four tenths in the 200m (5th) in 23.00. Paul Coffey showing a return to form was 2nd with a seasons best of 11.2 in the ‘B’ 100m and then ran another seasons best in the 200m ‘B’ (3rd) in 23.3. Ross Liddle came back from competing at English Schools and ran a cracking race in the ‘A’ 400m winning with a new PB of 50.6, bettering his previous best by four tenths. U17 Solomon Brown showed the spirit of the Team again taking on the 400m ‘B’ for the first time and ran 59.3 for 5th spot in the ‘B’. In the Women’s Sprints Morgan Angland ran a brilliant new PB by half a second to finish 5th in 12.8 as did Emily Warren who knocked three tenths of her previous best time to set a new PB of 12.9 (5th) in the ‘B’ Race. Then there was another new PB for Roxanne Oliver in the ‘A’ 200m placing 4th in 26.3 with Chloe Bleeks running 27.9 for 5th spot in the ‘B’.
Joe Monks was after a new PB in the 800m and duly delivered by a full two seconds with a 3rd placed 2.04.3 in the ‘A’ Race. Joe doubled up in the ‘B’ 1500m and gained good points with a clocking of 4.12.6 in 2nd spot whilst Tim Raynes ran a new PB in the ‘A’ Race taking 3rd place in 4.06.3. Chris Davies set a new PB in the 3000m Steeplechase ‘B’ Race taking the win for invaluable points in a time of 10.30.8 – bettering his previous best by six seconds. Andy Buttery who had been out for some time with injuries nevertheless turned out for the Team by running the 5000m ‘B’ and coming home 4th in 18.15. A very big special mention must got to U17 athletes Emily Warren and Chloe Bleeks. For the first time ever, the Women’s Team had no athletes at 400/400mH/800/1500 and 3000m. These two young sprinters stepped forward and took on the 400m, a distance they have never done or trained for before, just to help the Team. Emily finished 6th in the ‘A’ with a time of 64.3 and Chloe 3rd in the ‘B’ (66.8) and you can’t speak too highly of them.
The 400m Hurdles saw another good run from U17 Solomon Brown who is growing with each fixture against Senior athletes – Sol finished 2nd in the ‘A Race with a time of 64.5 with John ilunga 3rd in the ‘B’ (69.8). John then tackled the 110m Hurdles placing 3rd in the ‘A’ in 22.04 – John is an athlete that we can’t think too highly of as once again he took on the maximum seven events to help the Team on the day. Another great run from Roxanne Oliver in the 100m Hurdles saw her set a new PB of 14.9 to win the ‘A’ Race and her first time under the 15 second barrier. Morgan Angland made it a double win for the Harriers taking 1st place in the ‘B’ (15.9).
The Teams Throwers were also depleted with some having been at English Schools and others not available through work. In stepped V50 Tony Balko who took on all four Senior Men’s Throws to support the Team – in the Hammer Tony came 3rd with a throw of 32.09m in the ‘A’ – then came 4th in the Discus ‘A’ (28.59m) – 5th in the ‘A’ Shot Putt (9.02m) – 6th in the ‘A’ Javelin (28.36m). Chris Davies an endurance runner by trade put his hand up for the Throws with a 5th placed 13.76m in the ‘B’ Discus and had to be ‘restrained’ from volunteering for more Throws!! John iLunga came 5th in the ‘B’ Shot Putt with 7.06m. Anna Peers and Holly Brooks took on the Women’s Throws in Discus, Shot and Javelin which saw Anna win the ‘A’ Shot Putt (10.74m), took another win in the ‘A’ Javelin (36.64m) and then threw 34.03m for 2nd place in the ‘A’ Discus. Holly backed that up with a 4th in the Discus ‘B’ (21.59m) – 4th in the Javelin (14.72m) and 5th in the Shot (7.10m).
Good to see Oliver Aspden back in action for the Harriers with a 4th place 5.41m in the ‘A’ Long Jump and 4th again in the ‘A’ High Jump (1.65m). U17 Nicholas Smith made his debut for the Senior Team jumping 4.63m in the ‘B’ Long Jump (4th) and 10.74m in the ‘A’ Triple Jump (5th) two very good results considering that he has never done these events outside of school athletics and when asked if he would do both Relays didn’t bat an eyelid as they say and ran in both teams. U17 Solomon Brown also rowed in here to jump 10.73m for 2nd spot in the ‘B’ Triple Jump in his first ever competitive effort – Great team contribution. John ilunga placed 4th in the ‘B’ High Jump with a clearance of 1.55m. In the Women’s Jumps there was a 3rd place for Morgan Angland in the ‘A’ Long Jump (4.92m) backed up by a 3rd spot for Chloe Bleeks in the ‘B’ (4.14m). Roxanne Oliver came 6th in the ‘A’ Triple Jump with 8.34m and Anna Peers rowing in with a 3rd place 7.66m jump in the ‘B’ – Roxanne was also out in the ‘A’ High Jump (4th) clearing 1.40m.
