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News
Blackburn
Harriers & AC Endurance Race Evening
Wednesday July 23rd from 7.00pm at Witton Park £3
on the night
Pre-entry for men's elite 10,000m
Seeded open 1500m races, open 3000m for u15s upwards, elite men's
10,000m (entry standard 32.00). Full details on the event
flyer (PDF - new window)
The
Blackburn Celebration 5K Run
Sunday July 13th • Results
(new window)
The Blackburn Celebration 5K elite road race produced the fastest
times in the UK so far when Antony Ford beat Andi Jones and Ben
Fish and two guest Kenyans in 14.08 on a quick town centre 3 lap
course in excellent conditions.
He took the winners prize and course record bonus of £500
in total for a pleasing consolation following his Olympic trial
effort on the track the day before in Birmingham.
Winifrida Kwamboka from Kenya took the womens title in 15.50 from
Rebecca Robinson and Louise Gardner.
Tony Wood
WITTON
PARK 50th ANNIVERSARY TRACK & FIELD CELEBRATIONS 7th June 2008
A dream come true!
If anybody had
been asked to write a script with a perfect ending for the 50th
Anniversary of the opening of Witton Park Track, then it would have
been for Blackburn Harriers to win their Northern Division 1 meeting
in style on Saturday.
The script was
written and the dream came true when Blackburn Harriers emphatically
beat the cream of the North in sensational style on this special
day.
A large crowd
massed on the embankment whilst by the side of the track a host
of special guests and members from the last 50 years gathered to
watch a new generation of Harriers defeat the best the North could
throw at them. The result takes Blackburn Harriers to the top of
the Northern League. They defeated their rivals Bolton by 70 points
with Wakefield in 3rd place, Trafford 4th Leeds 5th and Sale Manchester
in last place.
The men and
women in blue and white won 12 A string events and 11 B string events
throughout the afternoon which is very impressive given the high
level this team is now performing at. Special awards to commemorate
50 years at Witton Park were presented by Barrie Kelly the Great
Britain track and field captain from the 60's and an Olympian in
1968. The winning performances were exceptional with World Youth
Games silver medallist Alison Leonard winning the 400 metres in
55.2 seconds receiving the female track award and Paul Bradshaw,
also from Blackburn Harriers, had a brilliant day winning the 400
metres in a personal best of 48.7 seconds having already won the
800 metres. The best field performance for a female award went without
doubt to British record holder Sophie Hitchon who did not disappoint
and broke the Witton Park record for the womens hammer with a massive
throw of 59 metres 32, just 1 metre short of her own British record.
A second Witton Park record went to the winner of the mens best
field performance in the shape of Brian Hall of Bolton United Harriers
who won the high jump with 2 metres 15.
The manner of
the Harriers dominance was the most pleasing aspect of the day.
In the sprints Luke Evans won the 200 in a flying 22.3 and Jerome
Duxbury the B 100 and in the endurance events Tom Cornthwaite doubled
up to win the A steeplechase and the B 5000 metres with team mate
Ben Fish winning the A 5000. The team was lead both in action and
by his huge charismatic vocal support in the shape of Claude Peter-Thomas,
the Blackburn Track & Field Captain who notched up wins in the
triple and long jump, as well as leading the 4 X 100 metre team
to an emphatic victory in the penultimate event of the day in one
of the fastest times by a Harriers team ever of 43.7 seconds.
The womens team
confirmed their equal status in the success of this current Harriers
team. The women hurdlers impressed with wins by Christina Carr with
a rapid 65.8 seconds and Abby Edmundson in the 400 metre hurdles.
Sarah Henton covered the throws and had an excellent 2nd in the
discus backed up by a win in the B event by Rebecca McElroy. Further
big points for the Club came with Carmen Peter-Thomas winning the
triple jump. There was a senior club record for Holly Bleasdale
in the pole vault with 2m 50 and she was also part of a sprint relay
team of Sarah Haworth, Jessica Lewis and Sophie Hitchon who broke
the sprint relay record with a time of 50.4 seconds.
One of the highlights
of the day was a firework display in the middle of the arena which
was quickly put together in between the womens hammer and the mens
discus. The presentation party of members of the Harriers both old
and young came down to the track side with Tony Wood, the Club Chairman,
who gave the crowds a brief history of the track.. Importantly he
introduced the Harriers President George Kirby who had been involved
in the formation of the Club after the Second World War and who
is still involved with the Harriers as Club President and now in
his 80's. It was an emotional day for George but he, more than most,
appreciated how significant this milestone was. There was no prouder
man at Witton Park on Saturday especially because he saw the Club
thriving more than ever, its success ever increasing and its place
at Witton Park being not only part of history but part of a bright
future.
Tony
Wood
Photos:
The excellent photo of Claude (above) is one of many that can be
viewed/purchased at the Heart
to Heart Photography website.
Lancashire
AA Track and Field Championships 2008
May 10/11th 2008, Stanley Park Blackpool.
Saturday
Results • Sunday
Results • Report
(PDF files)
| Photo
taken at Lancs Champs (by George Davies ) 11.5.08 Alison Leonard
towards the end of the first lap in her 2.03.3s 800m time -
Lancashire CBP beating Laura Finucanes record, top of the UK
rankings and 2nd in the IAAF junior world rankings. |
Northern Division 1 Track & Field League
Leeds 3rd May 2008
1 Leeds 389 pts
2
Blackburn 381 pts
3
Sale 350 pts
4
Trafford 336 pts
5
Wakefield 318.5 pts
6
Bolton 308.5 pts
Full
Results • Report
(both are PDFs open in a new window)
Lancs
Schools Combined Events Championships 2008
April 26/27th 2008, Stanley Park Blackpool.
2 champions and 2 club records! u17 Heptathlon Holly Bleasdale and
u15 Pentathlon Oliver Aspden Results
(PDF file)
Lancashire
Cross Country Championships
Saturday 5th January 2008, Witton Park.
Results
(42K PDF file)
RIBBLE
VALLEY 10K
Sunday 30th December 2007
(click photo for larger image)
Results
(UKresults website - new window)
With over 1000 entries for this popular and fast 10k race spectators
saw Antony Ford national UK 5k track medalist beat off the challenge
of fell international Andi Jones winning in 29.51. Perfect conditions
in the shadow of Pendle Hill saw Ford pull clear of Jones after
a sub 4.30 first mile. Rob Berry held off Blackburn Harriers Ben
Fish for 3rd with Fish and Tom Cornthwaite 5th leading the host
Blackburn club to the team title. European u23 medallist Ben Lindsay
came off the country to record 31.21 in 6th. Fellow GB international
Helen Clitheroe picked up the winners cash prize with a seasons
best of 32.42 just missing the course record bonus. She outpaced
Aldershot's Vicki Gill who ran 33.28 and Clare Entwistle of Wigan
34.12s.
PRESENTATION
NIGHT
Friday 7th December 2007
St Marks Club was packed to the rafters for the Harriers 2007 presentation
night - almost 150 attended. View
photographs (new window)
Mick
Morton 1978 World Junior Cross Country Champion presented the awards
30 years after his greatest race in particular to Alison Leonard
World Youth Games Silver medallist 2007 - a film was shown of her
triumph this summer to a cheering audience as well as a clip from
Micks win in Glasgow.
Aaron
Hargreaves was presented with his road award by international John
Calvert a Harriers stalwart from the 1970s and Tom Cornthwaite his
fell running award by former Harrier and 3 time 3 peaks winner Harry
Walker.
A great
night for the Club looking back on a very successful year.
See
full list of award winners at the foot of
this page.
SCHOOLS
CROSS COUNTRY
2007 Blackburn & Darwen Schools Cross Country Championships
Dec 1st Witton Park Blackburn
Full
Results (26K PDF file - opens in new window)
North
West Champions 2007
Blackburn
Harriers enjoyed an extremely successful day at the North West Road
Relays at Sefton Park, Liverpool on the 15th September.
 The
4 counties of Lancashire, Cheshire, Merseyside and Greater Manchester
come together and in addition to the overall North-West title, the
teams are competing with their own county rivals for the County
Title. Our headline team were undoubtedly our Senior Men who became
North West champions as well as collecting the Lancashire title.
Aaron Hargreaves headed the race after leg 1, Dave Thornton ran
a great 2nd leg to keep us in 3rd place. Ben Fish then quickly recovered
the lead and opened up a 40 second gap with Tom Cornthwaite extending
the lead a little more to bring us home well clear of runners-up
Liverpool Harriers with Salford Harriers in 3rd. To further emphasise
their dominance, Ben ran the fastest leg, Aaron 2nd fastest and
Tom 3rd fastest.
Club
Track & Field Championships & BBQ Night
6th Sept 2007 Witton Park
Results
(PDF
- new window)
Thanks
to everyone who came to our Club Track and Field Champs and BBQ
night. The weather was fortunately favourable, but the traffic unfortunately
not. For those that didn't manage to make it, I'm sorry that you
missed a good night. We held up the events programme as much as
we could to allow people to get to Witton.
It
was great to see all sections of the Club together, and some great
performances right through from U9 to Senior level. As well as thanking
the athletes for a super night, I would like to thank all the officials
and helpers on the BBQ that allowed us to put on such a great event.
I
hope that you all enjoyed it, and hopefully we will hold the event
again next year.
Richard
Taylor
PROMOTION
IS SWEET....
NoEAA Athletics League Qualifier 1/9/07 Wavertree,
Liverpool
Full
Results (PDF
- new window)
After
winning Division 2 of the Northern Senior Track and Field league
for the 5th time this decade Blackburn Harriers Senior team finally
succeeded in gaining promotion to the top division when on Saturday
1st September at Wavertree Liverpool they came a close second to
rivals Bolton in the play off match and defeated their other 5 rivals
Preston Middlesbrough Rotheram Boston and West Cheshire for the
coveted top two spots in the match needed to gain promotion.
There was no
knowing the final result until both leading teams pulled away two
thirds through the meet. At one point Blackburn had a 26 point lead
after a fantastic set of wins on the track mid way through the afternoon.
This rich vein of form came with wins in the steeplechase Ben Fish
and Aaron Hargreaves and both the mens and womens high hurdles in
the shape of multi eventers on the day Sarah Haworth Christina Carr
Paul Whittle and Claude Peter Thomas. The hurdles wins were much
to the delight of coach Bob Groves watching from the stand. The
Harriers gathered at both ends of a crowded stadium erupted with
shouts and cheers as the scores were announced and promotion suddenly
became a live prospect. Bolton were always gong to be strong having
won the National Plate the week before but Blackburn despite notable
absences were not going to let this chance go.
Early on good
points were earned by club record holder Holly Bleasdale and Toni
Aldridge in the pole vault as did Abby Edmundson in the 400 hurdles.
This was followed up by dominant wins for World Youth games silver
medallist Alison Leonard in the 800 and 400 a fitting end to the
season according to her coach Arthur Almond. In the throws, injuries
to stalwarts Mark Birchall and Alf Oddie were being patched up by
the club’s travelling masseur during the day with so much
success that Mark took second in the mens javelin with a final crucial
throw over 50metres. Sarah Henton, Blackburn’s top thrower
was crucial in massing the points on the field backed by Becki McElroy
in the shot and discus. To add to that Carmen Peter Thomas won the
triple jump and the B high jump at an important time towards the
end.
Back on the
track Rachel Wood doubled up in the 1500 and 3000 hauling in the
points as did Paul Bradshaw. He is currently the clubs top middle
distance prospect and showed big commitment by travelling from Cardiff
to win the B 800 and the A 400 as well as vital points in the 200
and both relays. The day was rounded off with fell international
Tom Cornthwaite winning convincingly the 5000m .
Tony
Wood team manager said ‘This was a big day for the club and
the culmination of a number of years work by our athletes to move
up to the top division. I cannot mention all of our athletes this
season and today who have contributed to this success but it has
needed a good squad to do it. With the young team we have, combined
with the quality amongst our seniors we hope to stay there and consolidate
over the next few years. I want to thank all the coaches for their
work at the club and if I was to single out one individual it would
have to be our track and field captain Claude who is not only a
fine athlete but an inspiration to all the team.’
Well
done Alison!
 Probably
the best performance by a female athlete in the history of Blackburn
Harriers took place in Ostrava on Sunday 15th July when Alison Leonard
representing Great Britain took the silver medal in the 800m final
of the World Youth Games 2007
Congratulations
Alison from all of us at the Club – we are extremely proud
of you and your tremendous efforts to get through your heat, semi-final
and then medal in the final against the best in the world!
Tony
Wood - Club Chairman
Read
the full
report (link to UK Athletics website)
New
Training Top
Click
here to order our new club training top (pdf
file - new window)
Order early for £10 discount!
Big
success for the Harriers at County Championships!
Lancs AA Track & Field Championships
Stanley
Park Blackpool, Saturday 12th/Sunday 13th May 2007
Weblinks: Saturday
results - Sunday
Results
Northern
12 stage success!
North
of England Road Relay Championships
Silksworth, Sunderland on Sunday 1st April 2007
Full
Results link
Although
it was April 1st 2007 Blackburn Harriers senior road teams were
nobody’s fools in Sunderland when the A team produced the
best relay performance by the Club since 1981 coming a magnificent
6th!
6th
Blackburn Harriers & AC 'A' 2:48:35
Chris
Hart (5) 20:18
Matt Wood (3) 10:16
Ant Gotts (9) 11:39
Tom Cornthwaite (9) 20:34
David Thornton (7) 10:14
Richard Stones (8) 10:41
Paul Guinan (8) 21:34
Aaron Hargreaves (7) 10:10
Adrian Shorrock (7) 11:47
Ben Fish (6) 20:11
Matt Nuttall (6) 10:44
Paul Bradshaw (6) 10:27
Much
appreciation to our university young lions Braddy, Harty, Woody
and Stonesy for making the trip from the South for the race and
good luck to those guys for the track season until we see them again
in May and June.
The
B team ran very well taking 36th overall and 4th B team and first
from the North West:
36th
Blackburn Harriers & AC 'B' 3:24:34
Mark Almond (42) 24:37
Richard Taylor (43) 12:37
Etienne Sharrocks (42) 12:34
Roger Schultz (40) 24:31
George Woodburn (40) 12:54
Mark Emmett (37) 12:15
Matt Cooper (39) 27:02
Evan Cook (38) 12:36
John Aldridge (37) 13:12
Mick Blackburn (36) 25:39
Allan Hartley (36) 13:03
Tony Wood (36) 13:34
It
was a great day from start to finish - the coach trip, the race,
the constant support from all of you for the teams and finally the
Kings Head post race feast!
Michael
Green top of Power of 10 - 10km rankings
(This article- dated Feb 26th 2007 - is reproduced from
the uk:athletics
website)
"News arrives from the USA that Michael Green (Blackburn Harriers)
has gone to the top of this year’s 10km rankings on the Power
of 10 website, devised by UK Athletics and its governing partners
to generate raised standards in every event in every age group in
every region on the way to London 2012.
"Green,
who is currently based in Atlanta and is preparing to run in this
year’s Flora London Marathon, clocked 29 minutes 31 seconds
in winning the Charles Harris Run for Leukaemia 10km in Tucker,
Georgia, on Saturday February 24.
"He
is the first UK runner under 30 minutes on the Power of 10 website
this year but is still below UK target of 29:15.
Well
done Michael !
17
Harriers Selected for Lancashire!
The Club are pleased to announce that 17 Blackburn Harriers
have been selected to run for Lancashire in the Inter Counties Cross
Country Championships in Nottingham on February 24th and 12 athletes
are selected to run for Lancashire Schools in the English Schools
Cross Country Championships in Leeds on March 24th.
Blackburn
Harriers success in the Lancashire Cross Country Championships 2007
Witton Park Sat 6th Jan 2007 RESULTS
LINK
The day started with the U13's. Kieran Monaghan led home the boy's
team in 8th place for a team Bronze with Josh Robinson 9th, Ryan
Hurley 11th and Ashley Allen 19th. James Gaffney provided back up
in 31st place.
In the girl's race Beckie Taylor picked up a silver medal for her
2nd place and led the Girls team to Gold. Charlotte Atkinson 6th,
Naomi Thompson 7th and Megan Searson 9th capped off an excellent
team performance to get all 4 girls inside the top 10.
The U15's races were next. Jordan Cowell produced probably his strongest
race yet for the Club, gaining 8th place , and hopefully his 1st
county vest. Twin brother Johnny was next in 14th and Jamie Gallagher
20th, despite the loss of a spike on the saucer.
Lucie Patry was our only U15 Girl, but produced her best XC race
to date, winning a bronze medal in the U15 Girls race.
The U17 Men had a successful day. Tom Melody was the lead runner
in 4th, Adam Hurley 7th, and Peter Matthews in 8th for team gold
with Jamie Jordan in his 1st County Champs running an excellent
11th place.
The U17 Women went slightly better with Rachel Searson in 2nd taking
an individual silver medal, Alison Leonard ran a fine 4th but is
not yet qualified to count for the team, so Holly Robinson 6th and
Melanie Taylor 7th brought home the team gold.
Richard Stones ran an excellent race to take 2nd in the finishing
straight of the U20 Mens race whilst Katie Morris ran a good race
coming back from illness to take 6th in the U20 Womens race.
The day was capped off fantastically in the Senior races.
Although our lone Senior Lady, Pauline Powell produced a top class
performance. She ran away from Vicky Gill on the 2nd lap to open
up an impressive gap and leave the field strung out behind.
Ben
Fish had a similarly impressive race in the Senior Mens and like
Pauline, will hopefully have a successful campaign in the Regional
and National races to come. Going to the front from the start, his
lead extended with each of the 4 laps to win the race by over a
minute from a strong field, the first individual County title ever
by a senior man from Blackburn Harriers. He lead the Men's team
to a convincing Gold Medal, defending the title they took last year.
With Tom Cornthwaite 6th, Brian Cole 7th, Scott Monk 10th, Paul
Guinan 21st and Jonathan Bridge 24th we should also be well represented
in the Lancashire Team. Gary Pearse, Craig Greenough, Mick Blackburn
and Allan Hartley all completed for the Harriers.
The final tally of 6 Gold Medals was double that of our nearest
rivals Lancaster & Morecambe and with 3 silver and 2 Bronze,
we took more medals in total than any other club. Well done everyone
who took part.
Richard Taylor.
Ribble
Valley 10K Road Race
Sunday 31st December 2006 from Roefield Leisure
Centre, Clitheroe.
Full RESULTS
are published on the UK Results website (new window).
GB
International Stuart Stokes of Sale Harriers won the last big domestic
10K of 2006 holding off Inter Counties 10000m track champion Ben
Fish of Blackburn Harriers in an exciting finish ahead of a field
of almost 1000 starters at Clitheroe Lancashire on New Years Eve.
The leaders had gone through the first mile in 4.29 with a group
of 5 which included Stokes and Fish, Matt Barnes Altrincham, Andi
Jones Salford and Steve Hepples of Newham & Essex Beagles. Fish
took up the lead from 2 to 4 miles until Stokes and Barnes pushed
on near the Whalley junction. Soon Barnes and Jones slowly dropped
off the pace as Fish tucked in behind Stokes. Stokes drew away for
a 5 second win at the finish at Edisford Bridge in a time of 30.13
with Fish at 30.18. Mark Buckingham 7th of Holmfirth lead his team
to a victory just edging out Sean Dirrane of Leeds.
The bad weather held off but the race had blustery conditions which
just prevented another international Helen Clitheroe of Preston
Harriers breaking her own women’s course record after going
through the first fast mile in under 5 mins. She won in 32.32 to
go 5th in the UK 2006 rankings beating Jenny Blizard Rotheram Harriers
34.08 and Vicky Gill Chorley Harriers 34.14 with ease.
It was her 3rd consecutive win in the race.
Blackburn Harriers senior men took second in the team race with
Ben Fish Brian Cole and Scott Monk whilst Pauline Powell Rachel
Searson and Rachel Wood took the womens team title
Tony Wood
Race Director
Blackburn Harriers
"Transforming
Athletics by 2012" - Power of 10
Visit the Power
of 10 website to find out more. You can see the current target
for your event and check out the current ranking tables (all sorted
by region, gender and age group).
Best
Ever Season for Young Athletes...
Blackburn Harriers Track and Field young athletes team had their
best ever season when they came 6th in the Northern
Premier Division of the National Young Athletes League - a great
performance!
...
and we are the Top Club in Lancashire!
To add to the success the young athletes combined with the seniors
to become the top club in Lancashire winning the Mid
Lancs Track & Field league division 1 titles for men and women
- another first for the Club!
Silver
Tom
Cornthwaite - Senior Men 5000m
Claude
Peter-Thomas - Senior Men Long Jump
Richard
Taylor - Vet Men 5000m
Paul
Bradshaw - U20 Men 400m
Adam
Hurley - U17 men 1500m & 800m
Mohammed
Moosa - U17 Men 100m Hdls
Kieran
Monaghan - U13 Boys 75m Hdls
Sarah
Haworth - Sen Women - 100m Hdls
Holly
Robinson - U17 Women 1500m
Abby
Edmundson - U15 Girls 75m Hdles
Holly
Bleasdale - U15 Girls Javelin
Bronze
Liam
Barton - Senior Men 400m Hdls
James
Wisdom - U17 Men 400m
Michael
Carr - U17 Men 400 Hdls
Tom
Melody - U17 Men 1500m Steeplechase
Josh
Robinson - U13 Boys 1500m
Kieran
Monaghan - U13 Boys High Jump
Christina
Carr - U17 Women 300 Hurdles
Carmen
Peter-Thomas - U15 Girls 75m Hdls
Lucie
Patry - U15 Girls 3000m
Bracken
Sturgess - U13 Girls 70m Hdls
National
12 Stage Road Relay Championships
Sutton Park, Birmingham : Saturday 8th April 2006
Results
link
Blackburn
Harriers Senior Mens team produced the best ever performance
by a Lancashire Club since the creation of the new county
placing 16th in the National 12 Stage Road Relays at Sutton Park
on Saturday.
It was a performance
that bettered their previous best form of 23rd place set way back
25 years ago in 1981. Peter Banks and Kieron O’Connor were
the stars then and who ran the fastest long and short stage for
the team. The squad that year included Mick Morton World Junior
Cross Country Champion. The team 25 years on contained a whole new
generation of up and coming Harriers distance prospects, although
there was one common link. In 1981 present team manager Tony Wood
ran 16.15 for the short stage and 25 years later his son Matt Wood
ran 6 seconds faster in a time of 16.09. Times can be compared because
the course is exactly the same. All the greats of Britain’s
distance running are contained in the top 10 best ever performances
on that course, including David Moorcroft who was present on Saturday
and Brendan Foster.
Having taken
7th place at the Northern 12 stage two weeks previously, the Harriers
team management expected a top 20 place was possible but this position
was beyond their expectations. The team was strengthened from the
team that performed well at Heaton Park by the inclusion of GB Junior
international Chris Hart who ran a solid first leg for them. Matt
Wood, Max Colligan and Richard Stones, another addition to the Northern
squad, allowed them to set up Ben Fish who ran the fastest long
stage for the Harriers of the day in a time of 27 minutes 35 seconds.
Excellent runs from Mark Almond, Paul Bradshaw Matt Nuttall and
in particular the ultra distance international Brian Cole set up
the fastest short stage runner Toby Banfield in a time of 15.53
and Tom Cornthwaite to bring the Harriers up to 16th place with
a time of 27 minutes 54 seconds on the long stage. The icing on
the cake was that Scott Monk ran the glory leg in isolation but
by then deteriorating weather conditions to hold on to 16th place
with a very pleased Harriers team cheering him on at the finish.
The result was that they were 6th Club from the North to finish
just behind relay giants Salford Harriers who finished in 15th place.
The
quality of the racing on the day was excellent with Mo Farah, fresh
from the Commonwealth Games leading the Newham & Essex Beagles
team to victory. Fellow Commonwealth competitor Stuart Stokes took
the first leg for silver medallists Sale Harriers, which team ran
in memory of former Blackburn Harrier Frank Starkie, their secretary
who had died the week previous. It was a wonderful day’s athletics
and Blackburn Harriers are now confident that their improving form
can continue in the years to come.
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