After disappointing Results in Rounds One and Two this year, the Harriers bounced back at Derby on Sunday having more athletes involved than was possible at the first two fixtures to finish third, just nineteen points behind second placed Sale. Posting eleven wins, seven second and seven third places allied to eleven Personal Bests and and fourteen seasons bests, Team Manager commented that “It was a great team effort and finally we got the rewards for our efforts, with a very strong 3rd place.”
Full Results HERE
Starting off with the Throws Sarah Henton won the Discus ‘A’ with 48.06 and took more valuable points in the ‘B’ Hammer 5th with 30.83m. Rebecca Orrell came 4th in the ‘A’ Hammer (40.05m), took a third place in the ‘B’ Discus (21.94m) and then finished with a seasons best of 7.24m (6th) in the Shot. On the Mens side, Jack Vickery finished 4th in the ‘A’ Hammer with 38.77m and set a seasons best 23.45m in the ‘B’ Discus in 4th. Tony Balko threw 28.68m in the ‘B’ Hammer for third place points and a seasons best 9.35m in the Shot Putt for another third place. Corrie Shorrock set a seasons best 9.70m in the ‘A’ Shot Putt (6th) and took 6th spot in the ‘B’ Javelin with 19.79m. Joe Pearse came 5th in the ‘A’ Javelin with 32.47m. Christina Carr another athlete who has been out a long time with injury stepped in to support the Team with a 4th placed 16.22m Javelin in the ‘B’ and 6th in the ‘A’ Shot Putt (8.15m).
In the Jumps bottom of age U20 Ben Aspinall who has been setting PB’s all season had an inspired day setting three PB’s in the Long Jump (6.35m) for 4th place – 2.60m (5th) in the Pole Vault and 13.20m (2nd) in the Triple Jump. Another athlete setting continuous PB’s this season was Connor Makin and posted another in winning the ‘B’ Triple jump (11.60m). Polly Pearse back in regular training posted a new PB in the Triple Jump winning the ‘B’ with 9.96m and then equalled her PB in the Pole Vault (2.20m) for fifth place and later set a seasons best 22.11m in the ‘A’ Javelin (4th). Olivia Brooks set a new PB in the ‘B” Long Jump with 4.94m and gets ever closer to that 5.00m mark. Hurdler Oliver Aspden took to the High Jump and ‘shocked himself’ with a 1.80m clearance and a new PB in winning the ‘B’ event – it is the highest he has jumped since 2011. Roxanne Oliver won the ‘B’ High Jump with 1.35m which gave the Team important points. There was a welcome back too for Abby Leigh-Edmundson after a long absence, a real stalwart of the Club over the years and she showed why competing in the ‘A’ Triple Jump taking second place with 10.37m, a third placed 5.24m in the ‘A’ Long Jump, battled into a minus 4.2 wind to take second place in the ‘B’100m Hurdles (19.10) and then won the ‘B’ 400m Hurdles (78.1). Not bad for an athlete who hasn’t competed all year and come Blackpool on August 9th will obviously be much fitter. Kail Sturgess, back in training recently and taking on his first competition since 2011 pulled up with a quad problem in the Long Jump after a first effort of 4.71m which was way below what he is capable of.
On the Track conditions were not good either for the Sprinters, Hurdlers or Middle Distance and Endurance athletes with an unrelenting wind blowing down the home straight. Nevertheless, there were some good performances. Dominic Bretherton set PB’s in the ‘B’ 100m (4th in 12.1) and in the 200m (6th in 25.6). Paul Coffey took the ‘A’ 100m (4th in 11.9) and ‘A’ 200m (5th in 23.8). Olivia Brooks set a seasons best 14.2 (5th) in the ‘A’ 100m and another in the ‘A’ 200m (6th in 28.6). Phoebe Howe set another seasons best in the ‘B’ 100m (14.5) and then took 5th spot in the ‘B’ 200m in 29.4. There were seasons bests in the ‘B’ 400m’s for Phoebe with 65.1 (4th) and Roxanne Oliver (6th in 65.8). Jack Lonsdale got among the seasons bests with a 4th placed 53.6 in the ‘B’ 400m with Connor Makin finishing 6th (56.0) in the ‘A’ Race.
Zac Howe posted seasons bests in the 800m ‘B’ winning in 1.59.7 impressively after taking it on at the bell and in the 1500m for 3rd place in 4.17.8. Rob Warner ‘fresh’ from running at Trafford the previous night finished 4th in the ‘A’ 800m with 2.01.6. Ben Fish in the Harriers Endurance squad took on the ‘A’ 1500m finishing a fine second in 4.07.3 before going on to win the 5000m (15.31.8) in not very good conditions at all for endurance runners. Chris Barnes set a seasons best in the ‘B’ 5000m taking 4th spot in 17.21.8 for more good points. The women’s 800m Race proved to be pretty swift indeed (won in 2.09.0) with Liz Greenwood running a seasons best finishing 4th (2.23.9) in the ‘A’ Race and Grace Handley carrying an injury – 5th in the ‘B’ (2.34.8). Liz doubled up in the 1500m for a solid 4th place (5.04.4) and Beckie Taylor went in the ‘B’ (5th in 5.32.5) another seasons best.
Over at the Steeple Chase Joseph Howe ran in the ‘A’ Race taking a good 3rd place (10.56) and Chris Davies won the ‘B’ Race with a seasons best of 11.08.1. Maximum points were gained in the 400m Hurdles with Oliver Aspden winning the ‘A’ Race by seven seconds in a time of 57.4 and Connor Makin equally impressive in the ‘B’ winning by six seconds in 60.9. In the 110m Hurdles Oliver took 3rd in the ‘A’ (17.6) and Joe came 2nd in the ‘B’ (19.7). Roxanne Oliver finished 3rd in the 100m Hurdles (18.8) with Abby Leigh-Edmundson taking 2nd spot in the ‘B’ (19.1) to add good solid points to the team score.
