The men’s Senior record for the outdoor 1500m at Blackburn Harriers is held by David Holman who clocked 3.39.80 in 2025. David was running in his first outdoor race of the season on Friday April 10th at the Duke International held in Durham North Carolina between 8th and 11th April. It was a great start to the season for David as he won the race in a time of 3.40 .36 – just a half a second off his best time and there is little doubt that this augers well for his forthcoming season. Speaking to the Club after the race David told us that he “opened my outdoor season tonight with a 3:40 1500 and the Win. Went through the bell at 2:43 which was slow but managed to close hard for a solid time to open the season. I ran 3:43 here as an opener so we are in a good place“.

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Combined Events were on the menu in very blustery and difficult conditions for the athletes described by one of the Blackburn Harriers athletes engaged in the Championships as “bloody tough conditions – that backwind killed discus and javelin“. The Lancashire Combined Events Championships which also included the Masters Pentathlon were held at Stanley Park Arena in Blackpool.  Tony Balko, one of Blackburn Harriers Throws Coaches took on the Masters Pentathlon and had a very good day indeed starting off with a 2nd spot in the Weight Throw (13.54m), backed up with a third place in the Javelin and a new PB (27.42m), a win in the Discus (34.62m), a win in the Shot Putt with a new PB (11.28m) and a Hammer Throw of 36.89m for a 2nd place – all of which gave hime a new PB combined total of 2899 points and a win on the day from David Brown in 2nd (2624) and Rob Huntbach in 3rd (2050). Commenting after the event, Tony said that it was “A decent days throwing in challenging conditions. Some events exceeded expectations, while others still need work — but a personal best is a personal best, and that’s something to celebrate. Plenty of improvements to focus on ahead of the British Masters Throws Pentathlon Championships at the end of May“.

Competing in the Lancashire Schools was U16 James Acton-Grieves who had a pretty good day, placing 3rd overall in the competition with a total of 2319 points behind Samuel Hodgkinson in 2nd (2333) and William Roberts in first place (2352). James started off with a bang, clipping over half a second of his 100m time to set a new PB of 12.6 in 2nd place and followed that up with a 1.54m clearance in the High Jump for 3rd spot and just one cm shy of his personal best. He followed that up with a win in the Discus throwing 24.07m, took 2nd spot in the Long Jump with a new PB leap of 5.36m and rounded the day off with a time of 16.3 in 2nd place of the 100m Hurdles – his first time over the distance. (RESULTS)

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The Stanhill 5k trail race took place on Wednesday April 8th featuring one hundred and nineteen runners with Liam Bennison and Leah Hoole from Blackburn Harriers lining up with the starters. Liam had a cracking run taking 5th spot overall and 2nd Junior man with a time of 19.40. Leah won the women’s race in a time of 20.14 as well as being 9th overall, confirming her very good form after finishing in 2nd place in the Rollercoaster Half-Marathon the week before.

Training for a forthcoming 70.3 Ironman, over in Spain, Blackburn Harriers Andrew Knowles was mixing it in the Cala Rajada Half Marathon – April 11th – along with one hundred and thirty two other runners. The winner Dan Heron posted a time of 75.46 with only one other runner under 80 minutes which said something about the course. Andrew had a good run placing 3rd in his 55yr age group and 58th overall with a time of 1hr 45.41 telling the Club after his race that it was “Run in sunny conditions on a lumpy coastal course, great atmosphere. Legs held up well after max intervals on the bike the day before. 3 Weeks to Iron Man Majorca 70.3“.

Andrew Knowles

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