It was the first Match of this years UKYDL which took place at Liverpool Harriers Wavertree Athletics track. The day opened not as forecast – with sun and warmth, rather clouds and a cool wind – the sun appearing thankfully in the afternoon.
It was also another big thank you to the Officials, some of whom were out on Saturday at Carlisle int he Mid Lancs League and then again the day after.
Jean Hoyle – Stephen Brindle – Kate Taylor – Paul Smith
-Helen Dawson-Smith – Grace Bontoft – Lindsay Davies
A pretty good start to the North West Division 1 Match for the Harriers as they compete to get one of the top two spots in the League which would mean promotion to the Premier Division. The Club placed 2nd with 490 points behind host club Liverpool Harriers who won with 649.5, Southport (463), Blackpool (434), Crewe (426.5), Stockport (277) and Macclesfied (227).
It was a very good all round performance with a team put togther by Team Managers Chris & Nicola Thompson which featured a combination of new athletes competing for the very first time, athletes who had experience and others who were at the top of their age. Should also be noted that the spirit in the camp was pretty good with athletes voluneering to do events they weren’t down for just to help the team.
Hurdles & Sprints
The wind made it difficult for the athletes with very few getting much respite from its impact. In the Hurdles U15 Matthew Smith clocked 14.35 in the 80mH. U13’s Issac Brindle and Ben Laycock were running their first competitive races for the Harriers in the 150m and did really well placing 2nd (21.48) and 4th (24.07) respectively. The two of them also doubled up in the 75m – Issac taking 3rd in the A (10.99) and Ben 5th in the B (11.88) – the headwind was -2.8 in the A and -3.0 in the B which gives some idea of the conditions. Daniel Nuttall and Jacob Fisher were in excellent form in the U15 200m’s as they took maximum points with Daniel running a new PB of 23.29 into a -1.8 headwind to take the win in the A whilst Jacob clocked 25.49 into a -1.5 headwind winning the B. Pairing up again in the 100m Daniel won the A in 11.76 with a -3.4 headwind whilst Jacob placed 2nd in the B (13.1) with a -2.9 headwind. Kieran Hamilton and Ethan Cutler were running their first track races for the Club in the U15 300m – Kieran coming 5th in the A (44.11) and Ethan 6th in the B (48.78).
Matthew Smith
Issac Brindle
Ben Laycock (11)
Daniel Nuttall
Jacob Fisher
Kieran Hamilton
Ethan Cutler (11)
Ellie Charnock was competing in her second competition for the Harriers and did well as she placed 2nd out of 7 in the 70m Hurdles (14.62) and despite a -2.6 headwind, Alisha Lehner set a new PB in the U15 75m Hurdles in 3rd spot (13.49). Dana Juma – in only her second ever competition and Ellie Charnock teamed up in the 150m both placing 6th with respective times of 24.25 and 26.62. Dana then paired with Leila Pilkington in the 75m resulting in 2nd spot for Leila in the A (11.1) and 6th for Dana in the B (12.23). Millee Schofield was in fine form in the A 200 as she won the race in 27.22 with team-mate Alisha Lehner clocking 30.09 in 2nd spot in the B race – her first time over this distance. Millee teamed up with Hannah Davies in the U15 100m and took her second win of the day as she clocked 13.35 in the A with Hannah running 14.81 in the B (6th) just a tenth outside her personal best. The U15 300m resulted in Imogen Robinson running 6th in the A with 48.63 alongside Isabella Pacelli placing 3rd in the B with 48.91 – both girls setting new PB’s.
Ellie Charnock
Alisha Lehner (1)
Dana Juma (1)
Ellie Charnock (11)
Millee Schofield (1)
Alisha Lehner (11)
Millee Schofield (1)
Hannah Davies (11)
Imogen Robinson
Isabella Pacelli (11)
Middle Distance
Theo Robinson and George Holman ran the U13 Boys 800, both picking up good points as Theo placed 2nd in the A (2.32.21) and George running a new PB in the B (3rd) clocking 2.44.71 – over 5 seconds improvement. U13 Tom Neild ran his debut race as well in a non-scoring 800m running 3.03.09. Kieran Hamilton and Loucas Lancashire ran in the U15 Boys 800m with 5th and 7th place finishes running 2.18.44 and 2.42.07 respectively. Thats was a new PB for Loucas by three seconds. Oliver Gill ran his third successive 1500m new PB on the day as he came 2nd in the A race with 4.26.40, knocking another 2 seconds off his previous best. Sam Aspey ran the B race – his first time over the distance and took the win, making it maxium points for the Club in a debut time of 4.39.60. In the 1200m it was a 6th and 5th place finish for U13’s Liam Bennison in the A Race (4.20.06) and 4.48.94 for Tom Hunt in the B. Team mates Charlotte Robertshaw and Freya Neild ran the U15 Girls 1500m – Charlotte coming 4th in the A (5.40.33) and Freya coming home in 4th in the B despite a bad stitch (6.44.92). One of the runs of the days came in the U13 1200m’s which saw Agatha Taylor work her way through the field to take the win in the A race, sprinting off the top bend and clocking 4.03.72 with Emma Robertshaw in 3rd spot in the B (4.36.07).
Theo Robinson (1)
George Holman (11)
Kieran Hamilton (1)
Loucas Lancashire
Oliver Gill (1) – Sam Aspey (11)
Liam Bennison (1) – Tom Hunt (11)
Charlotte Robertshaw (1)
Freya Neild
Agatha Taylor (1)
Emma Robertshaw
Throws
Leila Pilkington took on the U13 Shot Putt for the first time and came 2nd with a throw of 7.14m just 5 cms behind the winner. Alisha Lehner went in the U15 Girls Discus and won the A with a distance of 14.86m with Ellie Wilding taking 2nd in the B (8.88m) and her first time ever in competition in this event. Hannah Davies and Tamzin Osborne secured more vaulable points for the Girls Throws squad with 2nd place finishes in the A & B Javelin with distances of 17.73m and 12.89m respectively. Hannah then paired up with Isabella Pacelli in the Shot Putt, neither of whom had ever competed in this event previously and placing 5th and 6th with throws of 5.76m and 4.87m. Dana Juma and Agatha Taylor competed in the U13 Girls Javelin having never done it previously with Dana coming 5th (8.06m) and Agatha 3rd (7.05m). It was a new PB in the Hammer for U15 Harry Pilkington in placing 2nd with 16.16m and a 2nd new PB of the day for the lad as he came 2nd in the Discus with 21.08m as he was paired up with sprinter Jacob Fisher who won the B with a throw of 20.75m. Harry secured his third new PB of the day in the Shot Putt with a distance of 7.18 in 5th with Felix Thompson helping the team to gain more points coming 3rd in the B (4.41m). Felix paired up with team-mate Loucas Lancashire in the U15 Javelin which saw Loucas take 3rd in the A (21.95m) and Felix 3rd in the B (19.36m). Liam Bennison came 3rd in the U13 Shot Putt (4.44m) alongside George Holman (11.56m) and Tom Hunt (6.81m) taking on the U13 Javelin with 5th and 4th finishes.
Leila Pilkington
Alisha Lehner
Ellie Wilding
Hannah Davies
Harry Pilkington
Felix Thompson
Loucas Lancashire
George Holman
Tom Hunt
Jumps
Imogen Robinson cleared 1.35m in the U15 Girls High Jump for 4th spot and then went on to jump 3.59m in the Long Jump (5th in the B). Millee Schofield won the A Long Jump with a leap of 4.46m which was a new PB by over half a metre. U13 Charlotte Smith cleared 1.1m in the High Jump (6th) and then jumped 3.32m in the Long Jump for 4th in the B whilst in the A Leila Pilkington finished in 3rd spot with a distance of 3.98m. Theo Robinson was just shy of his best, coming 6th in the Long Jump with 3.76m with team-mate George Holman placing 4th in the B (2.99m). In the U13 Boys High Jump Theo took the win with a clearance of 1.38m which was a so a new PB. U15 Matthew Smith took another win for the Harriers in the High Jump with his clearance of 1.60m and a seasons best. Matthew then teamed up with Daniel Nuttall in the U15 Long Jump with both them winning and taking maximum points – Daniel jumping 5.41m and Matthew 4.59m.
Imogen Robinson
Theo Robinson
Theo Robinson
George Holman
Imogen Robinson
Daniel Nuttall
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Still on Track & Field it was the seond fixture of this years Mid Lancs League on Saturday May 7th at Carlisle (Sheepmount Stadium) which was an unfortunate clash with the UKYDL on the same weekend. (RESULTS). Just four athletes from the Harriers making the 200 mile round trip for this fixture hosted in pretty ideal conditions by Border AC – all four of them setting new personal best performances.
Codie Dewhurst (U17) doubled up in the 800m which he won in a new PB time of 2.05.3, running 60.8 for his first lap and then just missed another new personal best in the 200m clocking 26.1 in 3rd place. Daniel Smith (U17) raced the one event – the 1500m – and set himself a new PB by some eleven seconds as he placed 3rd in 4.33.1. Isabelle Hartley ran 14.9 in the 100m (2nd) then set a new PB in the 200m (30.7) in 3rd. Isabelle and Kady Thompson went in the Javelin which saw Kady set a new PB in winning the event with a distance of 26.43m and Isabelle also setting a new PB with 21.22m in 2nd spot.
Codie Dewhurst (18)
Daniel Smith (61)
Kady Thompson
Isabelle Hartley (23)
Isabelle Hartley
Blackburn Harriers Officials Christine Smith & Sabrina Dewhurst
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Luke Betts headed over 800 runners as he took the win at the Chorley 10k (RESULTS) over the weekend running 31.41.93, close to 2 minutes in front of Neil Pendlebury in 2nd (33.31.74) and Jack Hughes in 3rd (34.44.00). Posting on social media post race Luke commented that it was an “Unreal atmosphere for todays race! Big thanks for the support on the course. It was lovely, after a really difficult few years of running, to enjoy the crowds in my hometown!Also, shout out to people who came out to the Euxton Mills, your energy gave me a real boost for today!“
On the same weekend Blackburn Harriers trio – Joe Bridge, Katie Buckingham and Gary Pearse ran the Hierro New Balance Trail Race with just under a hundred runners taking part (RESULTS). Joe took the honours as he won the race comfortably with a time of 26.37 with Alex Curran in 2nd (27.48) and Richard Shuttleworth in 3rd (28.17). V55 Gary ran 33.29 to finish in 15th spot and 2nd V55 whilst Katie took a break from organising races to actually run one with a time 34.43 in 23rd place and 2nd woman overall.
Joe Bridge (34)
Gary Pearse (181)
L-R Gary Pearse – Katie Buckingham – Joe Bridge
Chris Walton just missed out on making it a weekend hat-trick of wins for the Club as he placed 2nd in the Blacksticks Blue 10k race on May 8th running 36.17 behind the race winner Robert Affleck (36.03). V55 Jan Buckingham was also in this race and ran 53.55 in 108th spot and telling the Club after the race finished that it was a “great local race, very hilly and well organised. Well done to Chris on getting 2nd overall”.
Chris Walton
Jan Buckingham (41)
There is nothing easy about the races that Helen Leigh runs and her latest was no different, with the Ben Lomond run over near 13k and close to 1000m of ascent – the race being won by Lochaber’s John Yells (1hr 09.38). (RESULTS). Helen came home in 28th spot overall running 1hr 32.42 and 3rd Woman in the race behind Catriona MacDonald and Ella Peters. Helen spoke to the Club about the race saying that it was “Another tough race! I never got to do Ben Lomond the whole time I lived in Scotland so I was so pleased to have crack at it finally. It’s an out and back route, mostly on the tourist path and just shy of 8 miles makes for a killer climb with a lot of it being runnable. I was passed by a few girls on the way up but I felt quite strong and knew that the almost 4 mile descent would play to my strengths and I was right. Getting to the top in 6th or 7th position I turned and went hell for leather manging to finish 3rd! “
Still on the Fells – Isabel Holt, Evie Taylor and Jack Lamb in the next round of the Junior FRA Championships on May 7th at Todd Crag covering 6.5k and 360m of ascent. (RESULTS) Running U17 and U19’s together, Isabel came home in 7th position overall and 3rd in her U17 age category with a time of 34.43 with Evie placing 11th overall and 6th in the U17’s with a time of 38.44. Forty two runners in the combined U17/U19 Men’s race which saw Jack run a time of 34.29 (35th) and 20th in the U17’s age category.
Isabel Holt
Evie Taylor
