Blackburn Harriers David Holman is running really well and continued his indoor form – which saw him break 4 minutes for the mile recently – at the South Atlantic T&F Indoor Chammpionships over the weekend of March 1st and 2nd. Running the 800m Heat on Saturday, he qualified for Sundays Final as fifth fastest with 1.55.96, setting himself up for the Final on Sunday where he took the Silver Medal in a time of 1.53.00 – the race being won in a time of 1.52.74. After the Championships, David shared his thoughts with the Club telliing us that he “Qualified for the final yesterday. Today was the final. I came 2nd in the final, I ran 1:53.00, which the time converts to 1:51 low because it was a flat 200 track. I went through 400 in 54.6 and I just had to hold on. Also had to use it as a workout before nationals in 2 weeks. Was a good result as well as I’ve been sick all week.”. (RESULTS) – (CLOSING STAGE OF FINAL VIDEO)

L- R David Holman – Aleix Lago – Levente Palvolgyi

With the Inter-Counties Cross Country Championships a week away and the English Schools Cross Country Championships just two weks away, the Harriers turn out at the final Mid Lancs Cross Country League fixture in Skelmersdale was impacted – a pity because the day was a glorious one for cross country racing on a tough undulating course. (Provisional Results).

All Photos on Blackburn Harriers Facebook Page – HERE

Our U17 Men’s team confirmed the Series Win as they won again on the day with 24 points from Sedbergh in 2nd (29 points). Jack Wood led the team home in 3rd place followed by team mates Ethan Cutler in 5th and a shout out to Logan McCredie in finishing 17th after having a foot problem, ensuring the team won on the day and took the Mid Lancs title. Jack also finished joint 2nd in the individual table fpor the Series. U15 William Grundy with a 3rd place finish on Saturday cemented his place in 2nd spot of the Series table, and runner up in the battle for Mid Lancs U15 Boys Individual title. Liam Bennison came home in 24th spot in the same race. Anton Krige placed 66th in the Senior Men’s Race out of a field 162 strong.

Sophie Douglas and Pippa Blackburn ran the U11 Girls race – Sophie placing 14th and Pippa 24th whilst in the U11 Boys race Harry Holden with a sprint finish took 17th spot out of a field of 50. Edward Riussell-Blackburn had a good run too, finishing 19th in the U13 Boys race whilst in the U15 Girls race, Hetty Green had one of her best runs of the season, also placing 19th in the U15 Girls race.

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The Flower Scarr Fell race (RESULTS) took place on Saturday February 22nd – won by Todmorden’s Doni Clarke in 61.43, with Calder Valley’s Martin Howard in 2nd (61.56) and Pudsey’s Joe Baxter in 3rd (63.37). Marc Hartley had a good run on the day among the close to 200 runners in the field, taking on the 13k long course with over 660m of climb and finishing in 23rd place with a time of 76.35. Afterwards, Marc spoke to the Harriers about his race and the day commenting “I did Flower Scar last year as part of the English Championship but it didn’t really go to plan so I wanted to rectify that. Learning from the previous year I set off more conservatively and started to make progress from the top of the first climb. Overall happy with the result and made more enjoyable by the early spring weather.“

Still on the Fells and V60 Ian Clarskon was out at the Stan Bradshaw Round on Saturday March 1st – a race won in record time by Chris Holdsworth (61.55) –  Ian came home in 201st spot in 1hr 54.35 – 251 runners finishing the race. (RESULTS). Moving on to the Road – V45 James Bretherton lined up in the New Longhton 10k on Sunday March 2nd alongside two hundred and thirty seven other runners. The race was won by Southport’s Ben Johnson in 33.05 with Richard Booth in 2nd (33.51) and just one second further back in 3rd place came James in 33.52 and 1st Vet in the race. This was new PB for James – his previous best being 34.02 set at the Hale 10k in February.

Marc Hartley

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Helen Leigh goes from strength to strength. After winning the Scottish Masters Cross Country Championships, Helen was out in the Scottish National cross country championships on Saturday February 22nd and what a run she had in the Senior Women’s race. With nearly 300 runners in the field, Helen just missed out on the top ten, placing 11th in 38.41 – the same time as given to 10th place and another quality run from her. (RESULTS)

Helen Leigh 1136

Helen Leigh 1136

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