In just over two weeks Rob Warner has run two BMC Gold Standard and one BMC Grand Prix 1500m Races, getting faster at each one, earning him a hat-trick of successive PB’s. On July 8th Rob ran 3.51.34 for a then new personal best by two seconds – four days later he set another new PB running 3.51.25 and in his latest Race – BMC Gold Standard – at Stretford (July 25th) Rob broke through the 3.50 barrier coming home 8th in a time of 3.49.12.
A very happy athlete, Rob spoke to the Club immediately after the Race telling us that he “Still can’t quite believe I managed to get under 3:50! It’s been a target for nearly 3 years now and this year is the first time it actually became a realistic one! I was very nervous before the race as it was a pretty stacked field and I knew I was going to need to PB or run close to it just to avoid coming last! I started off quite steadily towards the back and went through 800 in around 2:03 – at this point I thought it was going to be difficult to get sub 3:50. On the 3rd lap I’ve really worked hard on pushing on as this has traditionally been a place where I lose a lot of time in the past, however I managed move up a few places and went through the bell in 2:49/50. So I knew I needed a big last lap! I pushed on and focused on running smooth and trying to keep increasing my pace for each 100m to finish as fast as I can. Coming into 150m to go I was on the shoulder of Ben Connor and with 100 i really thought I was going to just nip ahead of him which would have been a great head-to-head to have! Unfortunately he just managed to hold me off – until the next one! Overall I’m absolutely over the moon, really happy to be back enjoying racing over 1500m again and really looking forward to see if I can take anymore off until the end of the season!“
The current Club Record of 3.44.14 was set by Jason Lobo in July 1993 and who would bet against Rob seriously challenging that over the next couple of track seasons.
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On the same night Joe Monk ran the Grand Prix 1500m coming home in 9th spot with a seasons best time of 4.10.35, just two tenths off his personal best of 4.12.13. Ben Fish took on the 3000m featuring twenty three athletes, finishing in 7th place with a time of 8.37.75.
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Last weekend Carmen Byrne won a 10k Trail Race over in York and four days later she was on it again, this time winning the Northern Vets 5000m. Carmen speaking to the Club commented on her latest success “My second race in four days was planned to help get me a bit race sharper so was pleased to run consistent laps. Hopefully I can build on this and keep getting some speed back over the next few months”
(Results – Not Yet Available).
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Padiham Greenway 5k – July 26th
One hundred and eighty finishers in this local 5k Race won by James Hall in 15.44. Blackburn Harriers had three athletes in the top ten finishers – Shaun Livesey being the first of them in 6th place overall and 2nd V40 (17.07), followed by Ben Costello in 7th just three seconds behind in 17.10 and Derek Reilly in 10th with a time of 17.29 which was good packing by the lads.
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In the Junior U7/U9 Race Felix Thompson had a cracking run finishing 2nd out of the twenty three strong field in a time of 4.01, just four seconds behind the winner Callum Singleton. Brother Dexta Thompson just keeps on winning even though at this, his latest race, he was troubled with a dodgy stomach. Dexta won in a time of 6.44 to hold of Robbie Smedley in 2nd place. Kady Thompson ran in the same race to finish 5th girl out of 10 and 31st overall with a time of 9.05.
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Bofra at Ambleside – July 27th
One day later and Dexta Thompson is at it again – this time winning the U12’s Bofra Race at Ambleside. Ninety runners lined up in the mixed race which he won in a time of 8.36 from Charlie Almond (Ambleside AC) in 2nd place. Kady Thompson came home with a time of 13.53 in the Race (76th). Rob Hope won the Senior Race featuring ninety six runners which saw V50 John Orrell finish in 78th spot (24.06).
(U12 Girls Winner Alice Jones – with U12 Boys Winner Dexta Thompson)
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Burnley U11’s Open Meeting
There was a good turnout from the Harriers young athletes – twenty in all – at the Burnley Open Meeting including one U8G – two U9B’s – one U9G – four U10B’s – six U10 G’s – two U11B’s – four U11G’s competing for the Club
U8 Girl Lulu Sharp came 8th in the 150m in a time of 32.7 – 2nd in the Cricket Ball Throw (10.48m) – 9th in the Long Jump with a distance of 1.81m. In the U9 Boys Felix Thompson came 3rd in the 50m (9.4) followed by William Bontoft in 4th (10.3). Same two again in the Cricket Ball Throw with Felix 2nd (22.80m) and William 8th (13.18m). Rounding off the day for these two with Long Jump in which Felix placed 8th (2.42m) and William 12th (1.73m). Hannah Davies competed in the U9 Girls events winning her Heat of the 50m in 8.5 – coming 3rd in the Final with the same time of 8.5. In the 150m she came 2nd in 26.0 and finished her day with a 3rd placed jump of 2.66m in the Long Jump.
The U10 Boys were represented by Matthew Smith who won his Heat of the 75m in 11.8 with Jack Probert 5th in his Heat (14.0), Findlay Carroll 3rd in his Heat (13.2) and Joel Bladon 2nd with a time of 12.3. Sienna Wareing came 2nd in Heat (2) of the U10G 75m with Alisha Lehner 2nd in 12.6, Imogen Robinson 3rd (12.8) and Lydia Houghton 5th (13.5) in Heat (3) and Olivia Banks 3rd (13.6), Tippi Francis 5th (14.5) in Heat (4). Back with the U10 Boys and it was a win for Matthew Smith in the 600m (2.01.4) with Findlay Carroll 8th in a time of 2.15.3. In the Cricket Ball Throw – Findlay Carroll took 3rd place with a distance of 26.20m followed in 4th spot by Jack Probert (25.29m). Sienna Wareing won the Cricket Ball Throw for the U10 Girls reaching 18.35m and she was backed up in 2nd place by Alisha Lehner (15.40m), Olivia Banks (6th) with 13.17m and Lydia Houghton in 9th (10.63m). In the Long Jump Matthew Smith added to his very good day with a 3rd in the Long Jump (3.60m) with Joel Bladon in 9th (3.05m) and Jack Probert 19th (2.42m). In the U10 Girls Long Jump Alisha Lehner placed 11th with a jump of 2.70m, Imogen Robinson (12th) cleared 2.69m, Lydia Houghton (15th) with 2.28m and Tippi Francis finished in 17th spot with a jump of 1.64m. Finishing the day for the U10’s was Joel Bladon who threw 3.24m in the Shot Putt (2.72kg) in 3rd position.
Harrison Allcock and Nathan Ashworth were the U11 Boys representatives which saw Harrison take 2nd place in Heat (2) of the 75m in 10.9 and then ran two tenths quicker in the Final for another 2nd place in 10.7. Nathan Ashworth ran a time of 2.15.3 in the 600m (7th) followed by the Long Jump where he finished 10th with 3.00m. Harrison Allcock won the Long Jump with a distance of 3.80m before finishing 2nd in the Shot Putt (2.72kg) with a throw of 5.14m. Madison Bontoft won the U11 Girls Shot Putt with a distance of 4.62m. In the Long Jump Kady Thompson placed 12th out of twenty with a distance of 2.95m with Isabelle Hartley in 13th (2.94m), Caitlin Clarkson (18th) with 2.64m and Madison Bontoft 19th with a leap of 2.63m. Caitlin Clarkson and Kady Thompson finished 2nd (22.40m) and 3rd (20.77m) with Isabelle Hartley 6th (17.60m) in the Cricket Ball Throw. In the 600m Race Isabelle Hartley came 5th out of 16 athletes in a time of 2.06.4.
