In Fixture 4 of the Northern League Division One on Saturday at Blackpool, the Harriers needed a really good result if they were to avoid having to go to the Play Off Match. And the Team delivered, winning the fixture by twenty four points from Kingston Upon Hull in second place and Wakefield in third.
Team Manager Richard Taylor commented after the Fixture that “Overall it’s been a great spirit amongst the squad with athletes prepared to step in and cover for a late no-show, illness or injury and we had some great examples of this on Saturday with Chris Barnes competing in the Chase at 10 minutes notice and others in the squad filling slots at short notice. 30 Male and 21 Female athletes have taken part in the league this year with 18 Male and 11 Female there on Saturday. So it’s been a real squad effort right the way through. Of the 51 athletes, we had 12 x U20 and 12 x U17 that have played a major part in the Senior squads efforts whilst also carrying the UKYDL squad to a back to back promotion and you could see that despite the tired bodies and minds, there was still a strong desire from them to do the best they could for the team”.
Full Results HERE
The Throwers again picked up invaluable points in the fixture. Sarah Henton won the ‘A’ Discus with 48.18m – won the ‘B’ Hammer (33.26m) – finished 3rd in the ‘B’ Javelin (25.95m) – came 3rd in the ‘A’ Shot Putt (10.38m) and also ran in the 200m as well as a leg of the 4 x 100m Relay to add to the Team’s points total – a tremendous performance. Rebecca Orrell won the ‘B’ Discus (28.57m) with a seasons best – placed 4th in the Hammer (4kg) with 37.73m – and then like Sarah ran a leg of the 4 x 100m Relay. Rebecca Sullivan back from a long period of injury took a solid third place in the ‘B’ Shot Putt (8.29m), came 4th in the ‘A’ Javelin (26.51m), won the ‘B’ 100mH and was second ‘A’ High Jump with 1.55m.
The Male Throwers also added good points on the day. Tony Balko took 3rd place in the ‘B’ Hammer (27.62m), fifth in the ‘A’ Shot Putt (9.31m) and fifth again in the ‘A’ Discus (27.70m). Jack Vickery, home from University for the summer took a third place in the ‘A’ Hammer (39.99m) and two 4th places in the ‘B’ Shot Putt (7.56m) and ‘B’ Discus (24.57m). Joe Pearse ‘B’ 4th (32.80m) and and Paul Wilkinson ‘A’ (32.84) covered the Javelin.
In the Jumps there was another quality performance from bottom of age U20 Ben Aspinall. Ben posted yet another PB of 13.34m in the Triple Jump and won the ‘A’ competition. In addition he jumped 2.50m for a 4th place in the ‘A’ Pole Vault and jumped 6.02m in the ‘A’ Long Jump (4th). Kail Sturgess won the ‘B’ Triple Jump with 12.31m which made that a winning double and Ross Liddle took 3rd place in the ‘B’ Long Jump with 5.56m which was a fourth consecutive PB in his last four competitions and also ran as part of the Men’s 4 x 100m Relay Team. In the ‘A’ High Jump Joe Pearse took 2nd (1.90m) and Oliver Aspden won the ‘B’ with 1.75m and continued their joint success of posting a lot of points for the Club throughout the season in this event.
There were two third places in the Women’s Triple Jump for Polly Pearse ‘A’ with 9.50m and Sophie Taylor ‘B’ (8.39m). In the Long Jump there was nothing between the two athletes with Olivia Brooks taking 4th in the ‘A’ (4.88m) and Morgan Angland 2nd in the ‘B’ (4.86m). In the HIgh Jump Rebecca Sullivan in the ‘A’ placing 2nd and Polly Pearse in the winning the ‘B’ both jumped 1.55m for another good total of points.
Over in the Hurdles, both Sprint and Long, the Harriers athletes including – Oliver Aspden, Connor Makin, Joe Pearse, Katie Buckingham, Roxanne Oliver, Sophie Taylor, Kail Sturgess and Rebecca Sullivan have won a lot of points over the season for the Club. In the 400mH Katie took 2nd place in the ‘A; (72.1) and Sophie won the ‘B’ with 75.1. Sophie backed that up with a second in the ‘A’ 100mH (16.1) and Rebecca took first place in the ‘B’. Over in the Men’s 400m Hurdles Oliver won the ‘A’ in 56.3 and Connor was 2nd in the ‘B’ (58.7). Oliver with a stand out new PB by seven tenths of a second came 2nd in the ‘A’ with 15.3 and Kail also 2nd in the ‘B’ (17.5) kept the points total moving forward.
In the Sprints Paul Coffey in the ‘A’ 100m took 3rd place in 11.4 (which was won in an equaled League Record time of 10.6) and Dominic Bretherton ran a new PB by two tenths for 3rd place in the ‘B’ with 11.4. Paul ran 23.2 for fourth in the 200m and Oliver Aspden in his first appearance over 200m this season came second in the ‘B’ with 22.6. In the Women’s Sprints Morgan Angland doubled up in the 100m (4th in 13.4) and in her first ever 200m as an U17 came 5th in 27.9. Sophie Taylor ran a seasons best in the 100m (5th in 14.3) and Thrower Sarah Henton took on the 200m (5th in 35.0) after the original athlete had to pull out with injury.
From 400m through to 5000m there were some good races and a good standard of performances. Connor Makin ran 56.1 in the ‘A’ 400m (6th) and Morgan Phillips 55.1 (4th) in the ‘B’ Race. Five of the athletes in both Races ran under 52 seconds. There were two second places in the Men’s 800m for Zac Howe in the ‘A’ in 1.57.6, just two tenths off the winner and Rob Warner in the ‘B’ 1.58.0. Two more seconds for the Harriers in the 1500m with Ben Fish ‘A’ 4.05.4 and Rob Warner ‘B’ 4.12.0. Ben Fish after a tough race against Josh Bull in the 1500m remains undefeated in the Northern League with another victory in the ‘A’ 5000m (15.13.2). Returning from injury and in his first Northern League Fixture this year, Karl Billington made it a great double for the Harriers winning the ‘B’ in 15.42.8, holding off a spirited challenge from David Rigby at the end. Joseph Howe held off the Sale and Wakefield athletes in the ‘A’ 3000m Steeple Chase to finish a solid 3rd ( and more than a bit wet!!) in 10.51.4. Chris Barnes answered the call for the Team and ran with just ten minutes notice in the ‘B’ taking good points in second place (11.09.3).
Ever dependables Katie Buckingham and Phoebe Howe took on the 400m with Katie taking 5th (64.3) in the ‘A’ and Phoebe 3rd in the ‘B’ (66.5). The two athletes then swapped places in the 800m with Phoebe running the ‘A’ (4th in 2.34,9) and Katie 2nd in the ‘B’ 2.36.9. Beckie Taylor took two good second places in the ‘A’ 1500m (5.17.4) and ‘A’ 3000m (11.07.4). Rachel Wood in only her fourth competition this year backed up Beckie’s performances with wins in the ‘B’ 1500m (5.23.0) and 3000m (11.15.3).
The Team Manager taking a breather at the end of a long and hectic day
