The British Athletics National T&F Championships were held at Birmingham over the weekend of June 20/21st and featured four Blackburn Harriers competing – Matt Ramsden in the 5000m, Abigail McAndrew in the 800m, David Holman in the 1500m and Charlotte Williams in the Hammer. Matt went into the championships with a personal best of 13.48.12 and was looking forward to the race and went with the pace from the off, resulting in a new PB for the track 5000 of 13.41 – a seven second improvement. After his race Matt told the Harriers “At the start of the season I always look forward to the uk champs. It’s always a good test to see where I am at compared to the top guys in the uk. The heat made it tough but I can’t complain with how it went. The plan was to cover every move and stay involved for as long as I could, which is what I did. With 4 laps to go the pace increased a lot and with 3 laps to go the wheels started to fall off but I gave myself every chance to compete at the front. Definitely a tough way to run a track pb!”.
Matt Ramsden (Courtesy of janfigueroa07 on instagram)
Abigail McAndrew was in the 800m Heat and after winning the Loughborough BMC race in 2.06, she was feeling confident about running well at the British Champs. Replicating the time of 2.06 again, Abigail spoke to the club after her race had finished, commenting that it “was like a boxing match out there today, definitely need to work on my boxing skills lol, but to say my tactics was all wrong and the physical fight down the back straight, pretty happy with the time“.
The Men’s 1500m Heat was a big race with sixteen athletes involved and every chance of an accident as athletes bunched, as they tend to do in the early stages of these championship races. David Holman – home from the US – went in this one and told us afterwards that it “was a very busy race, 16 in a heat isn’t ideal but was a great experience. Felt good on the last lap, just a bit of traffic“
The Women’s Hammer saw Charlotte Williams – another athlete just home from the US, literally 48 hours previously – taking part and just missing out of the top 8 and three more throws when she threw 57.47m in her third round to miss out by the smallest of margins. Charlotte told the Harriers that she “Decided last night I may as well come and give it a go“. (VIDEO)
⇓
Ellesmere Port was the venue for the second of this seasons Northern League West Premier Division matches featuring Blackburn Harriers, Bury, Sale Harriers, Trafford, West Cheshire, Wirral. Having placed 2nd to Trafford at the first Match, the Harriers placed 2nd again to Trafford – Trafford winning the match with 404.5 points, Blackburn (357), West Cheshire (351.5), Wirral (329), Sale (301), Bury (293). For the second match in a row, the team was missing a number of athletes, however, for the second match in a row, the spirt and commitment of the athletes to do more than they would usually do, was exemplary and summed up by the comment of one of our athletes afterwards who said “Blackburn Harriers until i die“. It is at moments like this, when you are under the cosh, that the camaraderie and team spirit comes to the fore. Well done to everyone who competed on the day and to the officials who gave up their time to cover the event – Alison Hulme, Alison Heywood, Linzi Lancashire, Simon Hulme, Tammy Moffatt, Dan Finn in the Field along with Lindsay Davies on Track and Sabrina Dewhurst on Timekeeping. The day was hot – 27 degrees – so well done to all the athletes and all the teams for the way they battled the heat.
ALL PHOTOS ON BLACKBURN HARRIERS FACEBOOK PAGE – (HERE)
Linzi Lancashire – Simon Hulme – Alison Heywood – Lindsay Davies
Throws
Matthew Heywood pulled out a last round victory in the Hammer (48.47m) with Anthony Kent in 2nd in the B (46.84m). Charlotte Williams who had competed at the British Championships the previous day, came back up the motorway to compete in the Hammer, Shot and Discus – winning the Hammer with 52.94m, and placing 5th in the Shot Putt with 8.50m. Anthony also went on to Shot Putt and Discus throwing 12.04m in the Shot (4th) and 34.99m in the Discus (4th) with George Whittaker 3rd in the B (10.09m).. Matthew went in the Discus and came 3rd in the B (23.54m). Loucas Lancashire and George Whittaker paired up for the Javelin – George coming 3rd in the A with a new PB of 44.31m and Loucas 2nd in the B with a throw of 41.26m. which was also a new PB. Olivia Thomasson added to the personal bests as she threw a new PB with the senior Javelin weight of 31.01m in taking 2nd place. Rebecca Awe hadn’t been able to compete this year and this was her first comp since 2025 and on the day she added invaluable points to the team total by placing 2nd in the B Shot Putt (7.06m) and 5th in the A Discus with 16.77m.
Olivia Thomasson
Jumps & Hurdles
Well done to Tamzin Osborne who came forward and volunteered to take on two extra events following her Pole Vault which she won with a clearance of 3.00m, then placed 2nd in the B Triple Jump (8.89m) and 4th in the A High Jump with a clearance of 1.35m. Well done to Isabella Finn who hadn’t done High Jump for a long time but volunteered to do the B and cleared 1.20m in 2nd followed by placing 3rd in the Long Jump (4.45m) – and great to see Claudia Longton back competing after injury as she jumped 9.20 (3rd) in the A Triple Jump. Millie Pilkington took 5th spot in the 400m Hurdles clocking 80.7. In the Men’s 400m Hurdles George Camara came 3rd in the A (59.8) with team mate Codie Dewhurst winning the B with a new PB of 63.2, following which he did the High Jump clearing 1.55m for 3rd in the B and then had to drive to Liverpool for work. Abdollh Shriha cleared 1.65m in 4th spot in the A. Keir Michie and Logan McCredie paired up for the Long Jump – Keir 5th in the A (5.40m) and Logan winning the B (4.90m) whilst in the Triple Jump George Camara placed 4th in the A (11.57m) with team mate Oliver Jones – one of a number of athletes who took on four events – placed 2nd in the B (10.62m). George Whittaker placed 2nd in the Pole Vault, clearing 3.70m and it is worth saying that George – a decathlete – always steps forward. Whilst doing the Pole Vault he was running across the track to do Shot Putt, followed the Pole Vault by placing 3rd in the 110m Hurdles (17.3), then threw a new PB in the Javelin before going on to run in the 4 x 400m Relay.
Isabella Finn
George Camara (106)
Middle Distance
Some would say the 400m is a sprint but is included in this section of the report. A very good 400m race saw Matthew Sharples clock his sixth sub 51 second 400m this season as he came home in second with 50.3 equaling his personal best of 50.33 set at Trafford. In the B Logan McCredie also had a very good race, placing 2nd in a time of 53.2. Ibraheem Kantharia clocked 2.05.9 in the A 800m (6th) whilst Joe Monk took 2nd spot in B race (2.00.5). There was double win in the 1500m as Ross Harrison took the A in 4.00.5 alongside team mate Max Cunningham who clocked 4.09.9 in winning the B. Leagues are always about accumulating points with not so much emphasis on times, but clearly, the Heat had an impact on the longer races and especially in the 3000, 5000 and Steeplechase. In the Women’s 400m races Agatha Taylor took 3rd place in the A race (58.3) with team mate Poppi Watson posting a new PB of 61.6 in 2nd spot in the B. Good points were won in the Women’s 800m as Isabel Holt took 2nd in the A (2.19.1) alongside Holly Moffatt who won the B in 2.25.9 after blasting the first lap to take an unassailable lead – the same pairing saw Isabel place 2nd in the 1500m A (4.52.7) with Holly making it a double win for her by taking the B race in 5.19.5 after volunteering to take on the 1500m on the day of the race. Unbelievably in the Heat of the day, Freya Neild set herself a new PB of 11.01.9 in 5th spot in the 3000m – also a massive well done to Bella McCredie, taking on her first ever Steeplechase over 2000m – placing 4th in 8.27.3. Kudos too for the 5000m runners where Joe Monk ran an even paced race to take the win in 15.29.1 and a big shout out too for Ibraheem Kantharia who placed 3rd in the B race to ensure good points.
Ross Harrison (115)
Bella McCredie
Sprints & Relays
Jacob Fisher and Keir Michie paired for the 100m – Jacob taking 6th spot in the A (11.6) and Keir 5th in the B (11.5) – both races having sub 11 seconds in the first two places. The same pairing took on the 200m – Jacob clocking 24.2 in the A (6th) with Keir unfortunately having to pull up coming down the home straight with a back spasm. Isabella Finn another athlete who took on four events and Agata Tomasz paired up for the Women’s 100m – Isabella coming 5th in the A (13.6) and Agata 5th in the B (13.7). In the 200m it was great to Claudia Longton back in competition after injury as she clocked 27.7 in 3rd spot with team mate Evie Fort clocking 29.3 in 5th in the B.
In the Men’s 4 x 100, the team – Jack Thompson – Jacob Fisher – Oliver Jones and George Camara (who came in at the last minute to replace Keir Michie who was injured), placed 4th in 46.0 and in the Women’s 4 x 100m, there was 3rd spot for the Harriers, clocking 53.0 – Evie Fort – Claudia Longton – Agata Tomasz – Isabella Finn.
Fixtures 2 & 4 have mixed 4 x 400m Relays – A & B Races. In the A race, the team of Matthew Sharples – Agatha Taylor – Poppi Watson – Logan McCredie clocked 3.41.6 in 2nd place whilst in the B Race, the team of George Whittaker – Bella McCredie – Evie Fort – Oliver Jones ran a time of 4.02.4 in 4th spot.
Back Row (L-R) Matthew Sharples – Logan McCredie – George Whittaker – Keir Michie – Oliver Jones — Front Row (L-R) Poppi Watson – Agatha Taylor – Evie Fort – Bella McCredie
Ξ
Over in Boston Jess Warner-Judd was running in the 10k road race – a race which featured over 5000 women and won by Kenya’s Sharon Lokedi in 31.48. Jess was 20th in the race and first British woman, posting a time of 33.55. (RESULTS). The Men’s race had over four and half thousand in it and was won by Kenya’s Patrick Kiprop in 27.55 with Rob Warner-Judd running 31.24 in 29th spot and again, the first British athlete home. (RESULTS). Rob & Jess spoke to the Harriers after their race, telling us “We knew we weren’t ready for quick times but we wanted to get a good run out so job done for us! The course was a bit more twisty and undulating than we thought it was going to be but we both really enjoyed it!”
Rob & Jess Warner-Judd
⇓
Sunday June 21st was the date for the latest running of the Freckleton Half-Marathon in repressively hot conditions – something coincidentally that usually is the case with this race. The Freckleton Half Marathon, held in the charming village of Freckleton in Lancashire, is not just any race — it’s a historic journey. Proudly recognised as the oldest half marathon in the UK, this iconic event has been inspiring runners since its inaugural race in 1965.Over 500 finishers in the race is testimony to the Race longevity. Just two Blackburn Harriers in this race – Ben Fish and Adrian Shorrock. Ben went into this race as the winner of it on eleven previous occasions and he made in 12 wins in total as he came home in a time of 74.00.99 and told the club after his victory “ I knew it would be tough in that heat and was getting cooked in those last few miles, but did enough to get the job done“. Adrian placed 21st overall running 89.35.90 and was 2nd V55 – Ben took the 1st Vet prize too. (RESULTS)
⇓
The Preston Fast 5k on Wednesday June 17th featured three Blackburn Harriers in the line up for this road race – won by Nathan Postil in 15.11. First home for the Club was U20 Matthew Smith in 10th spot, 1st U20 and posting a time of 16.48 followed by team mates V50 Stephen Hall in 18th spot, 2nd V50 and running 17.19, along with U18 Tom Falencki just one place further back in a time of 17.23 and 1st U18 home. (RESULTS).
Tom Falencki (242) – Matthew Smith (246) – Stephen Hall (213)
⇓
The Moleside Fell Race was run on Tuesday June 16th and was won by Darwen’s Joshua Turner in a time of 22.48. (RESULTS) – (MALE SERIES STANDINGS). Peter Sagar-Moss finished with a top 5 placing and 1st Junior in the race with a time of 23.53 alongside team mate Liam Bennison who placed 14th overall, 2nd Junior, running 26.48. After seven races in the Series, Liam lays at number 4 overall with a points total of 595.33 as Peter is at number 12 (545 points) having six races rather than seven.
Peter Sagar-Moss
⇓
Charlotte Smith recently competed at the European Qualifier for Biathle (Run–Swim–Run) in Cheltenham and finished in 5th place, earning her automatic qualification for the European Championships in Madeira next week! We wish Charlotte all the best in Madira.
⇓
On Saturday June 20th Anton Krige was competing in the Cholmondeley Castle Super Sprint Triathlon Race which had a 400m open water swim, a 28km bike ride and a 4k multi-terrain run in the grounds of Cholmondeley Castle. Anton had a very good competition, winning the event in a combined time of 1hr 23. 33 – posting 8.51 for the swim, 25.08 for the bike ride and 18.31 / 19.26 for the two laps of the run. (RESULTS)
At the same event Blackburn Harriers Junior athletes – Harry Lowde and Edward Russell-Blackburn also competed in the Tri Star 3 Draft Legal which covered a 400m swim in the lake, had a bike ride of 8.4km and a run of 2.2km. Harry came home in 10th spot overall with a combined time of 36.59 alongside team mate Edward placing 15th in his combined time of 41.04. (RESULTS)
Edward Russell-Blackburn
In the Lakesman Half Triathlon – Leah Hoole – a last minute entry – took 4th place overall in the Women’s race on Sunday June 21st, with a combined time of 5hr 03.12 – her swim time being 36.43, her bike ride 2hr 42.11 and her half-marathon run 1hr 36.45. Leah also took 1st place in her age category. (RESULTS)
Leah Hoole
