The 2022 North West Road Relays returned to the Course used previously at Edge Hill University on Sunday September 11th – for a day which was warm and windy for the athletes from Lancashire, Cheshire, Merseyside and GT Manchester Clubs. The Harriers had teams out in U13 Girls, U15 Girls, U17 Women, Senior Women, U15 Boys, U17 Men, Senior Men.

(RESULTS)

Our U13 Girls – Agatha Taylor who ran the 5th fastest leg in 10.48 with Charlotte Smith (11.54) and Emma Robertshaw (11.46) placed 8th overall and 4th lancashire Team. One team in the U15 Girls who finished in 21st place overall and 4th Lancashire Team had Hannah Davies on Leg 1 (12.05), Tamzin Osborne Leg 2 (13.27) and Charlotte Robertshaw on the final Leg with the fastest time oif 11.33.

Agatha Taylor

Charlotte Smith (B212)

Emma Robertshaw

Hannah Davies

Tamzin Osborne

Charlotte Robertshaw

Isabel Holt led off the U17 Women’s Team posting the fastest Leg of the day in 9.43 at that stage which was overtaken on the final Leg by Wirral’s Gabrielle Phelan (9.41). On the 2nd Leg for the Club was Evie Taylor who clocked 10.59 with team mate Keira Haxton bringing the team home (10.41) in 4th position overall and 1st Lancashire Club which gave them the Gold Medal. Kiera Booth (12.51) and Millie Pilkington (14.08) ran as an incomplete team.

Isabel Holt

Evie Taylor (B511)

Keira Haxton

Millie Pilkington

Three teams out in the Senior Women’s Relays resulting in a 7th placed finish overall and a Lancashire Team win and Gold Medal for Abigail Stratton (19.00), Eleesha Charnley (18.56) and Amy Davies (19.41). The Harriers 2nd Team consisting of Katie Buckingham (21.20), Rachael Gavin (22.08) in her first race since March 2020 and Joanne Nelson (20.07) finished in 20th place overall and 4th Lancashire team whilst our third team of Lindsay Davies (23.07), Hollie Cubbon (22.58) and Charlotte Atkinson (21.40) placed 23rd overall and 5th Lancashire team.

L-R Abigail Stratton – Eleesha Charnley – Amy Davies

Abigail Stratton (A725)

Eleesha Charnley (B725)

Amy Davies

Katie Buckingham

Rachael Gavin (B726)

Joanne Nelson (C726)

Lindsay Davies (A727)

Hollie Cubbon (B727)

Charlotte Atkinson

L-R Katie Buckingham – Joanne Nelson – Charlotte Atkinson – Rachael Gavin

Oliver Gill, Sam Aspey and Matthew Smith had a very good day taking Silver for 2nd Place overall and Gold for being the 1st Lancashire Team – Oliver running 9.01 on the first Leg handing over to Sam clocking 9.35 and Matthew running 9.41 on the final Leg. Our second team had Kieran Hamilton on Leg 1 with a time of 9.59, handing on to George Ramsden (10.55) on Leg 2 and Ethan Cutler (11.04) on the last Leg – the lads coming 16th overall and 4th Lancashire Team.

L-R Sam Aspey – Oliver Gill

Oliver Gill

Sam Aspey

Matthew Smith

Kieran Hamilton (A611)

George Ramsden

Ethan Cutler

Two teams also in the U17 Men’s – Dexta Thompson (17.18), Codie Dewhurst (18.02) and Ben Stratton (18.12) coming home in 5th spot overall and 2nd Lancashire Team for a Silver Medal alongside our second team of Daniel Smith (17.39), Jack Lamb (18.14) and Jack Paget-Fowler (19.41) in 9th position and 4th Lancashire team.

L-R Codie Dewhurst – Dexta Thompson – Ben Stratton

Dexta Thompson (A809)

Codie Dewhurst

Ben Stratton

Daniel Smith

Jack Lamb

Jack Paget-Fowler (C810)

Three teams for the Club in the Senior Mens which featured 77 Clubs in total. Matt Ramsden, similar to Isabel Holt in the U17 Women’s, ran the fastest Leg of the day in 14.46 which you didn’t think would be beaten until it was – by just one second, posted by Wirral’s Joseph Wigfield (14.45). David Holman took over on Leg 2 running 16.28 followed by Joe Gebbie (16.49) and Ben Makin on the final Leg (16.00) which meant the team placed 4th overall and 1st Lancashire Team and the County Gold Medal. Sam Hodkinson (18.01), Nick Gaskell (17.16), Chris Davies (17.24) and Tom Blaney combined to come home in 22nd spot overall and 7th Lancashire team. Matt Nuttall led off for our third team running 17.44 with team mates David Almond (18.49), Matt Poole (18.59) and Daniel Maynard (19.52) placing 42nd overall and 14th Lancashire team.

Matt Ramsden (A939)

David Holman

Joe Gebbie

Ben Makin

Sam Hodkinson (A940)

Nick Gaskell

Chris Davies

Tom Blaney

Matt Nuttall (A941)

David Almond (B941)

Matt Poole (C941)

Danny Maynard

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U17 Isabel Holt won selection to represent England at the British and Irish Junior Mountain Running Championships run on Saturday September 3rd at Ambleside Cumbria — (RESULTS) — and had a great race to come home in 28th place and 3rd woman overall with a time of 24.57 alongside team mates Amelie Lane (1st) and Georgia Bell (2nd) which meant that Isabel won an Individual Bronze Medal and Team Gold. Delighted with the performance she spoke to the Club after the race saying  that she was “really pleased with my race today and to come away with individual Bronze and team gold, an amazing experience!”

Isabel Holt

Still on fells and another great run from Helen Leigh at Ben Nevis which featured 360 finishers and won by Lochaber’s Finlay Wild (1hr 28.15) followed by Helm Hill’s Rob Jebb in 2nd spot (1hr 38.59) and another Lochaber athlete, Ewan Thorburn in 3rd place (1hr 40.39).

(BEN NEVIS RESULTS) — (BEN NEVIS WINNERS LIST)

Helen came home in 104th place running 2hr 14.45 and was 3rd Woman overall, being very pleased with her run as you could imagine, Helen told the Harriers that she was “Pretty chuffed with my Ben Race yest, few seconds off my pb from 2015. Had a steady climb and hit the top about 6th/7th, then my best ever descent off there got me into 2nd by just after Red Burn. Unfortunately I absolutely bonked on the last mile run in on the road and I lost a place and narrowly hung on for 3rd. Left it all out there for sure.”

Helen Leigh

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Back on the road and over the Half-Marathon distance with Josh Birmingham, V50 Nick Gaskell and V45 Dan Grundy. Josh had targeted the Great North Run and had a good run to place 61st overall with a time of 71.56 telling us after the race that it was a “A tough race after pulling my glute but a brilliant experience with the elite runners“.

Josh with Ethiopian Legend Keninisa Bekele

Nick had a cracking run at the Village Bakery Wrexham Half-Marathon run on Sunday September 4th won by Chorlton’s Gavin Tomlinson in 68.01 — (RESULTS). Finishing in the top 20 – 17th overall – with a time of 73.58, Nick set himself a new PB by 18 seconds, was 1st V50 in the Race and now stands at number 8 in the National Rankings for the Half-Marathon in his age group. Nick had recently finished 4th overall in the 2022 Burnley & Pendle Grand Prix Series as well as being the winner of the V50 age category. Dan ran at the Cheshire Half-Marathon on Sunday September 11th — (RESULTS) — starting the race with a best time of 77.18 from 2021, he had a very good run to knock a whopping 49 seconds off that time to set a new PB of 76.29 finishing in 12th spot overall – the race being won by Chorlton’s Thomas Charles in 66.49.

Dan Grundy

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The weekend of September 10th and 11th had a Combined Events Classic and Open meeting taking place at Longford Athletic Stadium at Stretford featuring a number of young athletes from Blackburn Harriers finishing off the Track and Field season. (RESULTS).

U13 Caris Peter-Thomas broke the Club Record for the 75m which stood at 10.40 and belonged jointly to her her mum, when she ran a new PB of 10.05 to win her Heat with U13 Jayden Dacosta clocking 11.10 (6th) in the same Heat. In Heat 2 Abdolih Shriha posted the second win of the day for the Harriers as he clocked a new PB of 10.56. Onto the 150m races and Caris took a 2nd place with a time of 20.35 for her second new PB of the day alongside Jayden who ran 21.47 in 4th place. Abdolih backed up his win in the 75m by taking the win in the 150m and setting another new PB of 20.83. Jayden was the only athlete in the U13B 75m Hurdles and ran 17.95 as Abdolih went on to place 2nd in the Long Jump with 4.36m.

One of the performances of the weekend came from U17 Kara Dacosta as she came 2nd in the U17 Women’s Heptathlon with a points total 3915 which was a new PB by nearly 300 points – the Club Record being held by Holly Bradshaw with 3998 points (2008). In taking 2nd spot Kara ran 26.13 in 2nd in her Heat of the 200m, set a new PB in the Javelin winning with 22.68m, set a new PB in the 80m Hurdles with 13.23 in 2nd, won the High Jump with a clearance of 1.62m, set a new PB in the Long Jump with a leap of 4.19m (4th), threw 6.56m in the Shot Putt (4th) and finished off running 2.27.81 in 3rd in the 800m.

U15 George Camara entred the Pentathlon where he finished in 8th place totalling 1261 points in his first ever attempt in the event consisting of the 80m Hurdles where he placed 3rd in 13.72, High Jump clearing 1.32m in 8th spot, Long Jump with a new PB distance of 4.01m in 9th place, Shot Putt (4.98m) in 9th and the 800m in a time of 2.58.15 (7th).

 

 

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On to Triathlon which saw V45 Mark Taylor take on the Belvoir Castle Middle Distance Triathlon in Leicestershire on Sunday September 4th – the event comprisinga 2k open water swim, 85k bike ride and a 21k run to round off with. Mark came home in 8th place overall and 4rd V45 — (RESULTS) — and told us afterwards “2k swim in 40 mins in very, very murky water, 85k bike on a nice, testing very undulating course in 2hrs 49 and a 21k run…5 laps of a hilly course including one horrible 1k ramp. I went over on my ankle on lap 1 then had a couple of bouts of killer cramp because of the way I was having to run, but did it in 1hr 45mins.“

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Running for charity Lindsay Davies last weekend joined two other local runners to help in raising money for the Rosemere Cancer Cancer fund. Race format was 3 stages over the same route approx 5k distance. Teams had to be mixed with minimum of one lady member. 

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