Northern 12 & 6 Stage Road Relays – Birkenhead Park – Sunday March 24th
A fine but windy day greeted the athletes for this years Northern 12 & 6 Stage Road Relays at what has become a very popular venue for the event. Closed roads and a scenic route help to add to the attractiveness of the races too.
Run way winners by over five minutes of the Men’s 12 Stage were Leeds with an accumulated time of 3hr 06.43 with City of Sheffield in 2nd place and Salford in 3rd. Blackburn Harriers had two teams out with the ‘A’ team placing 6th overall and the ‘B’ team 38th out of the sixty four complete teams contesting and in the Women’s 6 Stage, Rotherham pipped leeds on the final Leg to take the title.
Men’s Team Manager – Paul Guinan – was really pleased with the performances of his Teams and told the Harriers “What a fantastic day at the 12 Stage Road Relays both teams running hard and getting great results. A special day for the A Team finishing 6th and equalling the position we had in the early 2000s it has taken some time but I believe now we are ready to move on again and finish in the top 5 in the next year or so, the team spirit and cohesion is all there to see, we have built this up over the last couple of years and now really making our mark both locally and nationally, a big thanks to the athletes who train extremely hard, push boundaries and keep on looking forward. Big thanks to John Chaplin and Ben Fish for supporting me in my role as Team Manager, once again the future is bright with no doubt some big results to come”.
The ‘A’ team started off in 7th spot, getting to 5th on Leg 4 before holding onto 6th place for the last six Legs. Great consistency throughout the team, both th in the Long and Short Legs. Tim Raynes ran a grerat first Leg clocking 23.47 with Rob Warner on Leg 3 running a time of 23.54, Jack Hindle on Leg 5 (24.53) and Ben Fish with the fastest Long Leg, clocking 23.44.
Tim Raynes (4)
Rob Warner
Jack Hindle
Ben Fish (4)
The Short Legs saw Marc Hartley run 11.54 on leg 2 – the fastest Short Leg for the team, backed up by Josh Holgate Leg 4 in 12.09, Ben Costello Leg 6 (12.36), Tom Blaney Leg 8 (12.32), Tom Marchant Leg 9 (12.29), Jacob Watson Leg 10 (12.13), Chris Davies Leg 11 (12.33) and Karl Billington on Leg 12 (12.52).
Matc Hartley
Josh Holgate (4)
Ben Costello
Tom Blaney
Tom Marchant
Jacob Watson
Chris Davies (4) 
Karl Billington
Similar consistency too in the ‘B’ Team with Long Leg times. Paul Brindle ran the fastest on Leg 1 with a time of 26.28, backed up by Joe Howe on Leg 3 (27.01), Calum Holmes Leg 5 (27.41) and Paul Guinan on Leg 7 (28.16).
Paul Brindle (5)
Joe Howe (5)
Calum Holmes
Paul Guinan
Danny Maynard ran the first short Leg 2 clocking 13.54 followed by Joe Gebbie with the fastest short leg of the ‘B’ team – Leg 4 (12.45), John Cookson Leg 6 (15.35), Matthew Poole Leg 8 (14.42), Paul Jeffries Leg 9 (15.01), John Chaplin Leg 10 (14.46), Mark Almond Leg 11 (14.03) and John Foster Leg 12 (14.21).
Danny Maynard Joe Gebbie
John Cookson Matthew Poole
Paul Jeffries John Chaplin
Mark Almond
John Foster (5)
Unfortunately we weren’t able to be able to field a full Senior Women’s team but that didn’t stop Jess Judd having a blinding run on the first leg as she clocked the fastest Long Leg of the day in the 6 Stage with a time of 25.43 – over half a minute in front of the 2nd placed Claire Duck from Leeds (26.21). Joanne Nelson took over on Leg 2 which was a short leg and ran good time of 15.11 to hand over to Lindsay Davies on leg 3 in 3rd place – Lindsay clocking a solid time of 16.57.
Jess Judd
Joanne Nelson
Lindsay Davies
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Northern 5k Road Championships for U15 and U17 Athletes
Four races in the U15 and U17 championships with 44 athletes in the U17 Men; 20 in the U17 Women; 58 in the U15 Boys and 51 in the U15 Girls.
Sam Hodkinson placed 35th (18.17) in the U17 Men’s Race with Jamie Teare in 36th (18.23) and Harry Wilkin running 19.22 (43rd). Amy Davies came home in 10th spot in the U17 Women’s race clocking 20.18. Kyle Taylor-Pomfret ran a time of 19.03 (42nd) in the U15 Boys race with Rory Teare in 53rd (20.36) and Sebastian Burton (56th) in a time of 21.13.
Sam Hodkinson (36) – Jamie Teare (38)
Harry Wilkin (39)
Amy Davies (215)
Kyle Taylor-Pomfret (435) 
Rory Teare (436) 
Sebastian Burton (434)
The U15 Girls had Leah Hoole coming home in 26th postion in a time of 20.49 with Hollie Cubbon just behind in 29th place (21.14) and Rebecca Ramsden clocking 23.22 in 46th spot.
Leah Hoole (632)
Hollie Cubbon (631)
Rebecca Ramsden (633)
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Cheshire 10k – Arley Hall Saturday March 23rd
What a start to the weekend for Jess Judd and Rob Warner at this 10k race run at Arley Hall featuring over 1200 finishers and won overall by Mohammad Abu Rezeq in 29.21.
Jess won the Women’s Race in a PB equaling time of 32.42 in 15th place overall and was clearly pleased with her run as she told the Club “Really happy, haven’t done a 10k in a while and never done the course before so was a bit unsure what to expect but felt really strong and really enjoyed the race!“
Rob had a great run too as he placed 4th in a new PB time of 30.17 – 25 seconds faster than his previous best et at the RV10k held in December 2018. After the Race, Rob commented to the Club that “After a bad run at inter counties it was good to get a good run in today! Was hoping to try and get towards 30:30 so really happy to get a long way under it! Hopefully it will translate onto the track now”.
Jess Judd with champers & prizes.
Blackpool Open Meeting – Saturday March 23rd Blackpool
The traditional Open Meeting at Stanley Park took place at the weekend and saw a fabulous start to the new season for U20 Thrower – Anthony Kent. In the Discus he threw a new PB of 46.89m and a new Club Record to win the event and an improvement of close to seven metres! Similarly in the Shot where he won the event with a new PB throw of 12.83m just over a metre improvement on his previous best, breaking the existing Club Record which belonged to him.
U17 Matt Heywood was in very good form in the Throws setting a new PB in the 1.5kg Discus throwing 29.26m – a new PB by 6m and followed that up with a new PB of 5m as he finished 2nd in the 5kg Hammer with a throw of 46.08m finishing the day off with his first attempt at the 5kg Shot where he placed 4th (8.48m).
Many of the youngsters at the fixture today were competing for the first time in Track & Field and in some cases, for the first time in their event. Charlotte Smith and Alex McKinlay entered the U9 competitions and did really well with Charlotte winning the 80m in a time of 13.9 coming 5th in the 600m 2.20.4 and 2nd in the Long Jump with a leap of 2.63m – Alex placed 3rd in the 80m in a time of 14.2 and 4th in the 600m in 2.19.9.
Charlotte Smith 
Alex McKinlay
There were some outstanding performances by the young athletes too and none more so than by bottom of age U13 Matthew Smith who entered three events and won them all. He won the 800m, a distance he has never raced before in a time of 2.31.4 and followed that up by winning the High Jump with a clearance of 1.50m – a new PB by 7cm and a win in the Long Jump, leaping out to 4.41m – a new PB by over half a metre putting him at number 16 in the National Rankings.
Matthew Smith (296)
U11 Loucas Lancashire had a very good day too, winning the 600m in a new PB of 2.04.6 – bettering his previous best by over 12 seconds, set a new PB in the 80m of 13.3 (4th) and finished with a further new PB in the Long Jump of 2.88m (8th out of 21). U11 Liam Bennison came 6th in the 80m (14.2), 3rd in the 600m (2.08.9) and 15th in the Long Jump (2.31m). Lulu Sharp, also an U11 ran 15.1 in the 80m, 2.19.6 in the 600m and jumped 2.40m in the Long Jump. Imogen Robinson competed in the U11’s and ran 15.6 in the 100m (2nd) and 2.52.5 in the 800m (4th) which represented her first time at both distances.
Loucas Lancashire (250)
Liam Bennison (240)
Lulu Sharp (26)
Imogen Robinson (68)
In the U13 age group – Isaac Smith ran 37.3 (6th) in the 200m and 3.28.0 in the 800m, whilst Findlay Carroll came 3rd in the 200m (33.8), 11th in the 800m (2.55.6) and jumped 2.98m in the Long Jump. Three U13 lads ran the 1500m which saw Ben Stratton win the race in 5.03.9 – a new PB by 21 seconds with Oliver Gill in his first ever effort over the distance placing 3rd in 5.27.6 and Daniel Smith in 4th (5.36.8) – Daniel went on to set new PB’s in the 70m Hurdles coming 2nd in 13.7, some 3 seconds faster than his previous best and clearing 1.33m in the High Jump – a new PB by 3cm. Kady Thompson set two new PB’s, the first in the 70m Hurdles clocking 16.9 (5th) and placing 3rd in the High Jump with 1.25m.
Isaac Smith (295)
Findlay Carroll (266)
Ben Stratton (297)
Daniel Smith (294) – Oliver Gill (270)
U15 Jasmine Schoefield jumped out to 3.69 in the Girls Long Jump whilst Jessica Cole, also U15 – ran 29.7 in the 200m (3rd), clocked 13.6 in the 75m Hurdles (4th) and cleared 1.35m in the High Jump (4th). Abigail Stratton knocked a huge chunk off her previous best in winning the U15 Girls 1500m in a time of 5.07.7, 11 seconds quicker than here previous best time. Leah Hoole and Keira Haxton took on the U15t Girls 800m clocking 2.35.2 and 2.42.3 respectively in 2nd and 3rd places – Keira then ran the 300m for the first time and clocked a time of 50.9 in 5th whilst Codie Dewhurst finished 2nd in his 300m with 50.2 followed by a 2.39.1 clocking in the 800m (6th).
Jessica Cole (106)
Leah Hoole (126) 
Keira Haxton (122)
Codie Dewhurst
Dexta Thompson ran a solid 5.02.2 in the U15 Boys 1500m (4th) whilst Ethan Barbarewicz chopped a massive 27 seconds off his 1500m personal best to set a new PB of 4.55.2 and Saul Sharp made his debut over 3000m to clock 11.20.4 in 3rd spot. U17 Liberty Thompson equalled her personal best in the High Jump with 1.45m and came 5th in the 80m Hurdles in 14.0.
Ethan Barbarewicz
Saul Sharp (340)
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Regional SportsHall Finals – Sunday March 24th
After winning three events and setting two new personal bests, Matthew Smith then turned his attention to the Regional Finals of Sportshall as he represented Lancashire along with a number of other young Blackburn Harriers in the different age groups – eleven in all:
In the U11 Teams, Matthew Smith, Alfie Ward, Alisha Lehner and Alesha Hindle were selcted for the County, as were Niamh Gater, Isaac Butler, Codie Dewhurst and Aidan Downes in the U13’s and Eleesha Charnley, Myah Booth and Hayden Mercer in the U15’s.
The Regional Finals is a competition between the four Counties – Lancashire – Gt. Manchester – Cheshire – Merseyside
Eleesha Charnley was the 2nd U15 Girl overall in the Regional Final – beaten by just one point by the winner Katie Pimblet of Gt Manchester with the U11 Boys and U13 Girls winning the Team events to qualify for the National Championships. The U11 Boys won by amassing 473 Points to Gt. Manchester’s 465, whilst in the U11 Girls Lancashire placed 4th. The U13 Girls won as they totalled 626 Points to Merseyside’s 591 with the Boys placing 4th. The U15 Boys finished 3rd as the U15 Girls placed 2nd behind Gt Manchester by just 13 points.
Matthew Smith with the U11 Boys Team Winning Shield
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Buttermere Trail Race – Sunday March 24th
Chris Steele won this Race run over 20k at the head of a field numbering one hundred and forty six, in a time of 1hr 15.34.
Victoria Mousley saying “it was nice to run a tough off road route” had avery good run to place 11th overall and 2nd Woman with a time of 1hr 28.37 behind the 1st Woman – Lou Stbbings 1hr.27.07 (8th).
Photo Courtesy of Stephen Wilson
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Causey Pike Fell Race – Sunday March 24th
Exactly 100 finshers in this race run over 4.5miles with close to 1800 feet of climbing won by Borrowedale’s Kim Collison in 35.25. V50 John Orrell came home in 87th positoon with a time of 63.36.
And afterwards John spoke about the day and the race saying.“With 1781ft of up, steep and rocky terrain, followed by a short ridge run, very steep grassy descent and then the rough miners track back, it was a ‘pleasant’ way to spend an hour in the Lakes! My first run for 3 weeks. 3 minutes quicker than last time and just 40 seconds shy of my best set in 2016. Suffering now though as my legs have taken a real battering”.
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Heptonstall Fell Race – Sunday March 24th
Two hunded and seventy nine finishers in this very tough race run over a distance of 15.4 miles and involves nearly 1000metres of climbing.
Over such a distance just 10 seconds separated 1st and 2nd in the Race with Phil Marsden (Horwich) taking the honours in a time of 1hr 50.22 from Robin Howie in 2nd (Wharfedale) clocking 1hr 50.32 with Max Wainwright (Dark Peak) 3rd (1hr 53.40).
Three Blackburn harriers tackled this one – John Horrocks, Gary Pearse and Matt Nuttall. John Horrocks was the first one home in 36th place with a time of 2hr 11.10 and afterwards told the Harriers “Two mile in to Heptonstall fell race and I wasn’t feeling great so I knew it would be more of a mental battle to keep pushing and finish. Very runnable course and surprisingly dry most of the way around. Came too a bit after 10 miles and started to pick people off but then the steep stepped last climb finished me off! Mixed feelings about how my race went today, just hope I pick up in time again ready for the three peaks. Well done to all the Harriers who ran at the weekend. Some top results!“
V50 Gary Pearse was next across the line in 100th spot clocking 2hr 30.04 with V50 Matt Nuttall in 163rd place running a time of 2hr 45.48.
Photo courtesy of www.woodentops.org.uk
John Horrocks
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