Blackburn Harriers Men carried on with their winning ways at the weekend. After winning the first Mid Lancs Cross Country League fixture at Ulverston, they followed that up with another Team win at the Red Rose Cross Country League opening fixture at Leigh on Saturday 12th October. The Harriers took first team place with 51 points from Rossendale in 2nd place (161) and Clayton in 3rd (180).
RESULTS
Black Row L-R — John Horrocks – Paul Brindle – Chris Davies – Ben Fish – Danny Teare – Marc hartley – Allan Hartley – Craig Greenough — Front Row L-R — ‘an elongated’ Karl Billington – Paul Guinan – Calum Holmes
Ben Fish led the team home for the win after a real battle with Bolton’s Jonathan Kay – Ben clocking 31.48 and Jonathan 32.16. Ben Costello had another good run to take 4th spot in a time of 33.19 with Karl Billington in 6th clocking 33.39, Chris Davies in 8th (34.07) and taking the 1st V40 place, Marc Hartley in 14th with a time of 35.12 and John Horrocks bringing all the teams six counters home in the top 20 as he ran a time of 36.25 (20th).
Ben Costello
Just nine seconds further back came Calum Holmes in 23rd spot running 36.34 followed by Paul Guinan in 38th place (37.47), Paul Brindle running 39.35 in 56th position, in 87th spot Gary Pearse with a time of 41.42, Craig Greenough in 99th (42.37), Paul Smith (144th) in a time of 45.33, Danny Teare in 164th spot (47.56), Calvin Ferguson making his debut for the Harriers in cross country running a time of 51.58 (192nd) and Allan Hartley in 209th (54.59).
Paul Smith
Annabel Ralph led the Harriers Senior Women’s team home to a 6th place finish – finishing in 3rd place herself after a battle with Bury’s Hannah Rhys Price (2nd in 20.37) – Annabel clocking 20.44 in 3rd. Next home was Ellen Sagar-Hesketh in 21st spot out of a field of one hundred and fifty three with a time of 22.44 and followed by Lindsay Davies in 37th place running a time of 24.07.
L-R Jan Buckingham – Michelle Teare – Lindsay davies – Helen Dawson-Smith – Ellen Sagar-Hesketh – Annabel Ralph
Next across the finish line came Michelle Teare with a strong run of 26.42 putting her in 77th position, with Helen Dawson-Smith not far behind in 83rd spot (27.01) and V55 Jan Buckingham in 89th running 27.59.
The U11 Boys fielded a team which saw Sam Aspey lead the lads home with a time of 7.45 in 3rd place out of a field of 79 runners. Charlie Haworth had a solid run to come home in 15th place clocking 8.30 followed by Alexander Brien also having a good run in 23rd place (9.04), and in 33rd spot Jack Carrington running a time of 9.19 with George Holman in 37th place (9.33).
L-R Hannah Davies – George Holman – Jack Carrington – Sam Aspey – Alexander Brien – Charlie Haworth
Ninety five girls contested the U11 Race which saw Hannah Davies have another good run to place 5th overall with a time of 8.45 with the youngest member of the U11 girls team – Charlotte Smith – in 42nd spot running a time of 10.04.
Hannah Davies (228)
Charlotte Smith
Back Row – Matthew Smith – Helen Dawson Smith – Paul Smith — Front Row Charlotte Smith
In the U13 Boys race featuring seventy runners, the Harriers finished 2nd team to winners Trawden with Daniel Smith leading the Harriers home in 7th place in a time of 9.47, backed up by Ben Ham in 11th spot (10.02), Ben Livesey in 14th position running a time of 10.17, Oliver Gill clocking 10.24 in 19th spot, Matthew Smith in 27th position (10.53), Findlay Carroll with a time of 11.13 in 35th, Daniel Nuttall 37th running a time of 11.22, in 42nd spot – Harry Sambrook – in a time of 11.32 and Isaac Smith running 15.19 in 70th place. Isabelle Hartley came 47th with a time of 13.03 in the U13 Girls race which featured fifty nine runners. Kyle Taylor-Pomfret was also a sole runner in the U15 Boys for the Harriers clocking 13.40 in 15th place. Kate Cookson and Millie Sambrook were the two athletes in the U15 Girls race for the Harriers which saw Kate place 20th out of 53 clocking 14.57 with Millie placing 37th in a time of 16.15.
L-R Ben Livesey – Harry sambrook – Matthew Smith – Oliver Gill –
Isaac Smith – Daniel Smith – Ben Ham – Daniel Nuttall
Daniel Smith
Ben Ham (237)
Daniel Smith (244) – Ben Livesey (239)
Oliver Gill
Matthew Smith
Daniel Nuttall (1841)
Isaac S
Kate 
Still on the cross country last weekend – Blackburn Harriers Joe Howe (at Manchester University) and Maddie Elliott (Cardiff Uiversity) were competing in their respective Leagues. Joe ran in the Gt. Manchester League in a huge field of 416 runners finishing 59th overall in a time of 36.34, telling us afterwards that “it was a decent race and I knows there’s plenty of improvement to come. I’m only just starting my winter training so hopefully I’ll be able to move through the field a bit. All in all I’m very happy to be back running cross country”.
Joe Howe (984)
Maddie Elliott ran in the Gwent Cross Country League finishing 33rd out of another big field of 391 runners. She was 3rd counter for her university and 6th U23 overall which was a good debut for her in this years cross country season and she told the Harriers “I was quite happy with the run considering it was the first one, but definitely know I can do better next time after building my fitness up these next few weeks”.
Maddie Elliott 4th from the Left
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Hammer Circle Reunion Weekend
The Hammer Circle Reunon is an annual event and takes place in Hull usually, in October. Throws Coach Malcolm Fenton had this to say about the event on the Facebook Page of Friends of the Hammer Circle which sums up the ethos of this organisation “What other events out there, have an annual reunion, where Olympians, current and former Commonwealth Record Holders and Commonwealth Champions attend? Even more remarkable is that they, like all other attendees, pay to attend and make themselves available to chat and offer advice!”
Three Blackburn Harriers and their Coach attended this weekends event – U20 Sam Gaskell, U17 Matthew Heywood and U20 Charlotte Williams.
Sam added a massive 4.72m to his previous best to smash his 6kg Hammer record winning his event and setting a new PB of 69.39m – a throw which put him at No.3 in the National U20 Rankings. In 2nd place came Shaun Kerry (Hull) with 69.17m and Jack Lambert (Kidderminster) with 55.78m.
Sams New PB Throw Video
Matthew – currently ranked 8th Nationally with 53.38m – in the 5kg Hammer won his competition with a throw of 52.17m in front of Hull’s Antony Mould (48.19m) and Border’s Damon King (46.48m).
L-R Damon King – Matthew Heywood – Antony Mould – GB Senior Hammer Thrower Nick Miller
British No. 1 Charlotte Williams made it three wins for the Harriers on the day as she finished in 1st place with a distance of 55.98m in front of Jasmine Routledge of Charnwood (46.68m) and Hull’s Sarah Robinson (45.47m). The day finished really well for Charlotte as she was awarded Trophies firstly, for the longest throw of the year and secondly for the most improved thrower of the year.
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National Road Relays – Sutton Coldfield Sunday October 6th
Seventy six teams qualified for this years Men’s 6 Stage National Road Relays which were eventually won by Leeds with a lead of 33 seconds over 2nd placed Aldershot and 51 seconds lead over 3rd placed Cambridhe & Coleridge – for whom Marc Scott ran the fastest Leg of the day in 16.46.
Our men’s team finished 27th over all with a collective time of 1.53.56 headed by Rob Warner on Leg 1 who had a cracking run to come back in 12th spot in 17.46. Leg 2 saw Chris Davies clock 19.49 to hand over to Tim Raynes on Leg 3 in 40th position – a Leg which saw Tim recover 12 places with his clocking of 18.27 – handing over on Leg 4 to Ben Costello in 28th. Ben ran 19.44 to hand over to Karl Billington on Leg 5 in 29th which ended in a run of 19.46 for Karl, finishing in 32nd. Ben Fish went on the final Leg and ran 18.24 to take back five places – coming home in 27th overall.
Back Row – Jess Judd – John Chaplin – Rob Warner – Chris Davies – Ben Costello – ‘mystery guest’ – Front Row L-R Ben Fish – Lindsay Davies – Tim Raynes.
Chris Davies (B11)
Ben Costello (D11) 
Ben Fish (D11)
Unfortunately, the Harriers Senior Women’s 4 Stage Team finished up as a part team due to illness on the eve of the Relays which left Alison Lundy and Lindsay Davies running Legs 1 & 2. Alison had a very strong Leg 1 run to clock a time of 15.40 coming back in 21st place to hand over to Lindsay who ran a time of 19.36.
Alison Lundy (A113)
Lindsay Davies (B113)
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Lancashire Sportshall League – Sunday October 13th
The first meeting of this years Lancashire Sportshall League took place at Uclan in Preston rather than at the usual venue in Blackpool. It also took place at a time when many people within athletics and Sportshall were mourning the passing of Preston Harriers Coach Bob Welfare. A hugely popular and respected man in the sport, known to many around the county and country for his unfailing enthusiasm, commitment, dedication and work in developing and promoting our sport. A massive loss and he will be very sadly missed.
Blackburn Harriers U11 Boys (111 points) had a great day as they won ahead of Broughton Primary (102), Preston Harriers (88), Chorley A&TC (65), Kendal AC (24) and Blackpool (10). The U13 Boys didn’t fare as well as they placed 6th in their competition but in the U15’s they placed 2nd behind Blackpool who were the very clear winners.
In the Girls competitions, the U11’s finished in 4th place behind runaway winners Broughton Primary and in a relatively close contest between 2nd, 3rd and 4th. The U13 Girls finished in 3rd spot behind winners Preston and 2nd placed Blackpool.
Blackburn Harriers Sportshall Team
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Other Results
…………………..Starting off with the Manchester Half-Marathon – (RESULTS) – run by three Blackburn Harriers – Tom Blaney, Matt Poole and Daniel Whittaker on Sunday October 13th along with thousands of other runners. Having run his last Half-Marathon in 2012 with an 88.44 clocking, Tom posted a massive new PB with his 64th placed time of 76.02 – an improvement by 12 minutes. Matt was making his debut over the distance and ran strongly to post a time of 88.32 whilst Daniel posted a time of 94.20 which was outside his previous best set in 2017 of 88.41….pictured below with his Race Medal………..
………….Next up in our results round up was a very good performance from U15 Saul Sharp who won the Yorkshire Regional Biathlon at the weekend which took place in York (October 12/13th). On a very wet track he ran 1600m in 5:38, followed by a 100 metre swim in 1:05. He took 1st place by just a single point. This puts him in a really good ranking position going into the National Finals in Nottingham on 24th November. He was wearing his Harriers vest today with pride and also got a medal for the fastest run in the under 14 catagory.
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