Witton Park was once again home to an Open T & F Meeting on Wednesday May 24th, greeted as it was with a warm evening and conducive conditions for good competition and new personal bests in the various events including Sprint and Long Hurdles, Hammer, Discus, 1000m and 1 Mile Races.
One of the highlights of the evening came in the U15 Girls 75m Hurdles won by Abigail Pawlett from Stockport Harriers in 11.3, where 4th placed Myah Booth ran an English Schools qualifying time of 11.7 with the three girls in front of her clocking 11.3 – 11.4 – 11.6 and every girl in the Race earning a new personal best. Queen Tanimowo even though finishing in 6th still ran a PB of 12.5.
In Heat 2 there was a win and a new PB for Christie Sturgess (12.) followed in 2nd spot by Caiden Hesketh in her first attempt over the Hurdles with 13.1 and definitely one to watch and another new PB for Liberty Thompson in 3rd place (13.6).
In the 70m Hurdles U13 Girls Race won by Tamalyn Dickinson (12.7), there were good runs from the Harriers Lily-Mae Thomas setting a new PB in 3rd (13.3) and Lucy Ramsden posting 17.6 in her first time over the Hurdles. The U13 Boys 75m Hurdles was won by Hayden Middleton of Preston Harriers in 13.3 with Rory Teare in 2nd (13.6).
U17 Emily Warren had to run solo in the 300m Hurdles and recorded a time of 49.7 as did Curtis Mitchell in the Senior Men’s 110m Hurdles with a clocking of 15.6 – Edward Coles (Preston Harriers) and Nick Massey battled out the U17 Men’s 100m Hurdles with Edward taking it in 14.1 and Nick in 2nd (14.4) – Solomon Brown set a new PB for himself in the U17 Men’s 400m Hurdles of 65.2 as did John iLunga in the senior Men’s race with 66.9 – Laura Hickey of Leigh ran a time of 12.1 in the U17 Women’s 80m Hurdles with Harry Jackson recording 15.8 in the U15 Boys Race.
Tim Raynes had his first outing over the Mile on the track to record a winning time of 4.28.9, just heading off Steven Snape from Salford on the last lap in 2nd place with 4.31.3. There were some very good times for Blackburn Harriers athletes over this track distance too as they improved on their one mile road times which saw Matt Ramsden run 4.45.6 (3rd) and Sam Hodkinson 4th in the same race with 4.51.7. U15 Amy Davies did the same in the second Heat of the mile with a time of 5.26.3 (2nd), 10 seconds faster than her road time with U13 Hollie Cubbon knocking eighteen seconds off her road one mile time, recording a new time of 5.48.9 whilst Kyle Taylor-Pomfret (U13) recorded the biggest reduction in his time by 26 seconds setting a new time on the track of 5.39.7. U13’s Caroline Woodworth tried to out sprint a senior athlete on the home straight and just missed out clocking 5.52.9 (7th) with U13 Boy Saul Sharp bravely finishing the race with an injury in a time of 6.34.9.
Nick Smith won Heat 3 of the Mile in 4.53.7 after overtaking Bradley Meikleham in 2nd who had run a 64 second first lap, finishing with a sub five minute time of 4.56.1. There was first Race over any distance for Sipan Ramzi (7th) in 5:53.1 and good times for U15 Jackson McKay (4th) in 5.12.5, U13 Dexta Thompson 5th in 5.14.4 and Harry Wilkin (U15) in 6th spot (5.25.4.
The 1000m distance is a new one for most people and even rarer than the Mile on the Track and was split into two heats with Luke Minns recording an impressive time of 2.27.7 to win his Heat followed by Karl Darcy (2nd) in 2.35.8. Karl Billington (4th) in 2.56.4 and U17 Tom Betty (5th) in 3.19.3 ran for the Harriers. Heat 2 saw an impressive win by U13 Isabelle Merritt in 3.16.4 with Kate Cookson in 3rd (3.37.5), Molly Nicholls 4th (3.42.0, Keira Haxton nearly catching her on the line in 5th (3.42.0) and Eva Knowles in 6th with 3.47.6.
New personal bests weren’t just recorded on the Track – U17 Anthony Kent set a new PB of 44.31m – a National Standard qualifying distance – in the Discus with Lucas Davies just under his personal best in 2nd (27.34m). U13 Girl Nicky Saunders set a new PB and a new Club Record in the Discus with a distance of 28.82m and this from a young athlete who took four County Championship titles in all Throws at Blackpool just a couple of weeks ago. U13 Kyle Taylor-Pomfret added a metre to his Hammer to set a new PB of 24.75m and threw 17.40m in the Discus along with Kieran Carroll (U15) reaching 17.57m.
Jacob Roberts set a new PB in the U20 Men’s Hammer adding over a metre to set a new distance of 65.03m, a distance which broke his own Blackburn Harriers Club Record – Edward Jeans of Preston winning with 68.49m and a new PB for him too. Charlotte Williams took the U17 Girls Hammer with a throw of 57.56 – Nicky Saunders took yet another new PB in the U13 Girls Hammer with 20.84 me and there were new personal bests also for two Preston athletes in the same competition, Tamalyn Dickinson (20.14m) and Rhiannan Lowe (U17) with 39.04 and U13 brother George Lowe (18.63m). Sam Gaskell threw 48.61m in the U17 Men’s Hammer.
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