Website reports have been sparse over these last few weeks so this latest report is a round up of what has gone on over the previous few weeks. Apologies to any athlete who has been missed off and hopefully, the site will be back up and running on a regular basis as in the past soon.

We start off with excellent news emanating from the Trafford 10k (RESULTS) which featured over 1300 runners amongst whom were ten athletes from Blackburn Harriers. With the first thirty athletes all under 30 minutes in finishing, the race lived up to its reputation for fast times – Richard Allen (Leeds) taking the win in 29.03 from Paul Pollock (Kent AC) in 2nd (29.07) and Bristol’s Daniel Studley in 3rd with 29.16. Daniel Bebbington was the first Blackburn Harrier across the line in 4th place overall in a time of 29.20 setting a new PB by 22 seconds and breaking the existing club record held by Michael Green (29.31) for the last 16 years. Also breaking the old record was Rob Warner-Judd who in clocking 29.22 in 5th position, set himself a new PB by 23 seconds. Following the race, Rob spoke to the Club about the day telling us that he was “Really pleased with the race on Sunday, I’d ran just inside 30 mins on a few occasions over the last year or so, so wanted to attack this one a little more. Perhaps went off slightly too hard as I went through 5k in 14:35 and really started to feel it at about 7k!. Very very happy with a big pb and my first one in 4 years! Massive well done to the rest of the Harriers and especially to Dan nabbing the club record off me in the last 200m haha!”

All photos from Trafford 10k courtesy of Mick Hall Photos

Daniel Bebbington (1742)

Rob Warner-Judd (1736)

Next across the finish line came Callum Davidson who was the third Harrier to run a sub 30 minute race on the day as he finished in 30th place with a time of 29.58 for an excellent run following his bouts of illness. In the middle of a hard block of training at the moment, Jess Warner-Judd came 2nd in the Women’s race in a time of 31.16 behind the winner Samantha Harrison 67th (30.55). Good to see Josh Birmingham back racing after his period of injury, posting a good time in 102nd position of 31.44, commenting afterwards to the Club that “It was an enjoyable race after being out of action for a while, glad to be back racing for Blackburn again“. Tim Baldwin was running his first race since June 2022 and clocked his fastest 10k time for a while of 32.44 in 169th. Next in was Ben Walmsley running himself a new PB time of 32.55 – an improvement of 12 seconds – telling the Harriers that he “was really pleased with this as it’s right in the middle of a tough marathon block.” The hugely consistent V50 Nick Gaskell set himself yet another new PB by 11 seconds as he came home in 207th position with a time of 33.36 and 1st V50 overall. Also taking 1st Prize – this time for the Women’s U20 category – was Eleesha Charnley who has made big improvements in her time over the distance. Running 38.13 and then 37.10 at the end of 2022, Eleesha clocked 36.31 in February this year and has now taken that down with a new PB time of 36.09 – a 2 minute improvement since October 2022. She also set a new record for Blackburn Harriers over 10k in the U20 Women’s age category. V55 David Almond had a very good day, running 36.27 (376th) and his fastest time for a number of years as he explained when speaking to the club after the race “Was a great race this morning, fantastic performances all round for the Harriers. I was really pleased with my run, good quality training starting to pay off and my quickest 10K since 2017“.

Callum Davidson (1753)

Jess Warner-Judd

Josh Birmingham (1345)

Tim Baldwin (2345)

Ben Walmsley (1408)

Nick Gaskell (1963)

Still on the road and this time over the half marathon distance at Haweswater in Cumbria with a total of 401 runners crossing the finishing line – the race being won by Eden Runners Harry Lancaster (71.49) followed by Border Harriers pair James Salth (74.04) and Paul Graves (74.23). (RESULTS). Stephen Hall took 9th spot in the race in a time of 78.30 telling us that it “a hilly bugger of a course but fantastic scenery and managed to nab 9th place.”

Stephen Hall

↵

A change of scenery and surface at the ECCA National Cross Country Championships – Saturday February 25th – at the new venue of Bolesworth Estate in Cheshire. (RESULTS)

Matt Ramsden and Sam Hodkinson ran in the the Junior Men’s race – 167 athletes in total taking part. Matt who had recently won the Northern XC Championships had been contending with illness but still managed to make the start, just missing out on the top 10 with a time of 33.44 in 11th position with team mate Sam running 38.47 in 121st. Theo Robinson ran 11.42 in 100th position out of a field of 287 in the U13 Boys race whilst in the U13 Girls Race Agatha Taylor finished in 45th place out of 254 with team mates Lottie Hesketh in 89th spot (12.39) and Charlotte Smith in 219th with a time of 14.19.

Matt Ramsden (3627)

Sam Hodkinson (3626)

 

Theo Robinson (1522)

L-R Lottie Hesketh – Charlotte Smith – Agatha Taylor

Oliver Gill bagged himself a top 30 position in the U15 Boys race out of a 289 strong field – coming home in 26th place in a time of 15.35 with team mates Sam Aspey running 15.46 in 37th and Matthew Smith 17.05 in 159th place. Tamzin Osborne ran in the U15 Girls race finishing in 269th in a time of 22.15.

L-R Matthew Smith – Sam Aspey – Oliver Gill

Tamzin Osborne

Just under 250 athletes took part in the U17 men’s race which saw Daniel Smith have one of his best races as he took a top 20 spot, coming home in 16th running 21.50. Team mate Jack Lamb had a strong run too posting a time of 23.56 in 114th place.

1400 finishers in the Senior Men’s race with the Harriers highest finisher – Joe Gebbie – placing 200th in a time of 41.06 with V45 Chris Davies in 384th place running 43.55, V50 Nick Gaskell in 389th (43.59) and V50 Matt Nuttall 656th in a time of 47.22. Becky Shorrock had a strong run in the Senior Women’s race featuring 773 finishers as she ran 38.58 (293rd).

Joe Gebbie

L-R Sam Hodkinson – Chris Davies – Matt Nuttall – Nick Gaskell

Still on cross country and there was a good run from Logan McCredie in the Kendal Winter League race at Giggleswick recently – (RESULTS) – in the U17 Boys race which was won comfortably by Settle’s Jack Sanderson (12.03) with Stafforsdshire’s Oliver Bailey in 2nd (12.50) and Leven Valley athlete Max Hazlehurst in 3rd (12.57). Logan finished in 4th spot running 13.30.

Flying high – Logan McCredie

↵

Back on the Road and this time at the record attempt on the European 10 mile best time held by Richard Neuraker (46.02) at the set of Podium races – (10 Mile Results) –  also featuring races over 1 mile. Leeds City athlete Emile Cairess was one of four athletes lined up for the attempt resulting in him breaking the record by 5 seconds, coming home in 45.57 with Derby AC’s Hogo Milner in 2nd spot (49.23) and Birchfield’s Kadar Omar in 3rd (51.02).

All Photos from Podium courtesy of David Belshaw

Added to the record attmept were two other Races over a mile – one for Elite Men (RESULTS) and one for Elite Women (RESULTS). Thirteen athletes lined up in the Men’s Race which was won by Shaftesbury & Barnet athlete Henry McLuckie in a time of 4.07. Three Blackburn Harriers ran in this race which saw David Holman finish in 5th spot and equaling his personal best of 4.18. Dexta Thompson was next in 7th place running 4.27 which was a not unexpected big new PB for him – having run his last mile in 2017 (5.14.4). In 9th spot came Oliver Gill clocking 4.37 and again a massive new PB as his last mile was run in 2019 (5.44). Just 10 athletes in the Women’s race won by Hallamshire’s Calli Thackery in 4.41. Abigail Stratton ran for the Harriers and came home in 4th with a time of 4.54 in her first ever attempt over the distance. There was an Open Race over 1 mile attarcting 10 male and 1 female athlete resulting in a win for Blackpool’s Luke Minns in 4.22. Blackburn Harriers V55 James Bretherton placed 6th in a fine time of 5.10.

Dexta Thompson (15) – David Holman (9) – Oliver Gill (6)

Abigail Stratton (30)

James Bretherton (57)

↵

Over on the Fells with Blackburn Harriers Josh Holgate who, following his 2nd place to Chris Holdsworth at Flower Scar recently, was back out at the Stan Bradshaw Pendle Round on Saturday March 4th. (RESULTS). In this race, Josh went one better, taking a notable win in a time of 62.20 from Bowland’s Ellis Bland in 2nd (62.31) and Bingley’s Ian Holmes in 3rd (64.38). And it was a welcome return to racing by Blackburn Harriers Ian Clarkson who has been troubled by health and injury problems over the last three years. Ian was just happy to be back and finished 193rd place (1hr 46.06) and told the Club after he had finished that “It’s been quite a while, 3 years since I’ve taken part in a race !! COVID and then a year ago I ended up with a dodgy disc and trapped nerves in my lower back,  right leg and torso resembling an ‘S’ shape. It wasn’t good !!
Never give up. Anyhow, Stan Bradshaw Round fell race was a case of have a go and see what happens, favourable conditions with good  underfoot and the weather was pretty decent. I was very apprehensive, but settled down and came out with 1:46:06 over 9 miles and 1800 feet of climbing. A massive well done to Josh Holgate who took an impressive win.”

Josh Holgate

↵

A change of competition and this time to the Throws Championships with Blackburn Harriers Tony Balko competing at the Winter Throws Championships held in Oxford on March 4 & 5th.  (RESULTS). Tony had placed 2nd in the Shot Putt at Sheffield in the British Masters Indoor T&F Championships on February 18th and was following that up with 5 events at the British Championships – Shot Putt; WT11.34k; Discus; Hammer and Javelin – recording a win, two 2nd and two 4th places. His win came in the Shot Putt with a distance of 10.47m followed by 2nd in the Hammer (37.08m), 2nd in the WT11.34k (13.09m), 4th spot in the Discus (32.99m) and 4th again in the Javelin (29.09m).

♥