Five Blackburn Harriers – Ross Liddle, Nick Massey, Cameron Massey, Polly Pearse and Josh van der Linde – competed at Bebington in the North West Schools Combined Championships last weekend and between them set a whole load of new PB’s
Full Results HERE
Ross competed in the U17 Mens Octathlon and finished in 3rd place overall with a points total of 3645, just four points short of a PB for the event. In amassing the total he set four new PB’s in Discus (8th) with 22.19m; 3rd in the 800m with 55.1; 6th in the 1500m with 5.06.5 and 2nd in the High Jump with 1.68m. Reflecting on the Championships Ross said “Overall it was a good competition however my javelin let me down massively due to my inexperience with the throws, I threw two no throws and so needed to get points on the board so I speared it in the ground to get 38 points!! This was made worse by the fact that Lancashire trailed by 100ish points behind the winners Cumbria so we couldn’t qualify for English schools as a team! Although, I did improve on most of my other events from the Lancashire trials so I’m happy with that and I have lots of improving to do for English Schools in September as an individual”.
Also in the U17 Octathlon was Cameron who set four new PB’s in 1500m with 5.26.9; 100m Hurdles with 16.6 and in the Javelin with a throw of 33.47m. He set a seasons best in the Shot Putt with a 2nd placed throw of 9.81m. Commenting Cameron said it was a “Decent weekend which has motivated me further for next season”. His final PB came in the announcement of the finishing positions where Cameron placed 7th overall with a new points PB total of 3412.
Nick “I had an alright weekend getting a pb in only my shot put and equalling my 800m time of 2.23 I was 2nd after my hurdles then remained in the top 5 for all my events, I knew exactly who I had to beat to get to English schools as an individual and unfortunately it was a 2.10 800m runner but I only just got in as the second individual, but it was an all round good day against some strong competition“.
In the U20 Women’s Heptathlon there were three athletes with Polly finishing in 3rd place. She set three new PB’s in the 100m Hurdles (16.6), the High Jump with a clearance of 1.59m and the 200m (28.7). She also set two seasons bests in the Shot Putt (6.96m) and Javelin (23.26m). “was extremely pleased with coming 3rd and getting through to English Schools Championships. The weekend overall was promising with 3 pb’s which I hope to improve over the rest of the season”.
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At the BMC fixture at Stretford during the week, Rob Warner was at it again, setting yet another new PB by over a second, this time in the 1500m with 3.53.53 (7th) which was a great run considering the heat. Rob had a definite plan going into the Race and told us that “I was really happy with the race, knew it was going to be difficult because there was a few guys who would be looking towards 3:45 so I made sure I didn’t get carried away and settled in a nice group and managed to put in a strong last 400 so very happy to come away with a nice pb! Especially with how hot it was!! Not used to racing when it’s a touch under 30 degrees but was quite fun!”
Full Results HERE
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Oxford & Cambridge – v – Harvard & Yale
at Iffley Road, Oxford
Monday June 29th
Full Results HERE
Zac Howe – who is studying at Cambridge University had the opportunity to compete in this fixture between leading Universities on the famous Iffley Road track where the four minute mile was broken by Roger Bannister. Zac finished in 6th place in the 800m with a time of 1.54.24 – just three tenths outside his PB for the distance.
He enjoyed the Race and the fixture and told the Club that “It was a really hot day in Oxford, the match was Cambridge and Oxford uni vs Harvard and Yale, last Monday on the track where Banister did the 4min mile. It was a great event, felt laid back but there were loads of quality athletes competing. In my 800 I took the lead at 300 to go having been last just before the bell, but didn’t have enough to hold on and got passed on the final bend. I really enjoyed the race, felt I gave it a good go, would have loved to have won it though with my mum there in the crowd. Still looking to knock a second or two off my time this season, so will keep training hard.
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