English Schools Qualification
Huge congratulations to those young Blackburn Harriers athletes who won selection to represent Lancashire at this years English Schools Championships which are being held on the weekend of July 13th & 14th at the Alexander Stadium.
At the Lancashire Schools Championships Kyle Mashiter ran 11.7 to win the Junior Boys 100m (PB is 11.6), Myah Booth ran 11.7 to win the Junior Girls 75m Hurdles (PB is 11.6), Nicky Saunders threw 26.93m to win the Junior Girls Discus (PB is 28.79m), Matthew Heywood won the Junior Boys Hammer with a distance of 39.82m (PB is 41.84m) and Sam Gaskell was the winner of the Intermediate Boys Hammer throwing a distance of 65.18m (PB is 67.01m)..
(Kyle Mashiter)
(Myah Booth)
(Nicky Saunders)
(Matt Heywood)
(Sam Gaskell)
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Mid Lancs T & F League – Litherland June 30th
Yet another Track & League fixture held in blazing sunshine last weekend at Litherland with well over forty athletes competing for the Club. Some of the events didn’t have too many competitors, due in part you lots of young athletes being involved in exams and also because of the impact of things like holidays etc.The Harriers produced over twenty new personal bests on the day, with a number of them in endurance events which was a bonus give the temperatures.
The Men’s Senior 1500m was a case in point with just three athletes, the race being won by Joe Gebbie in 4.15.50 with Nicholas Smith in 2nd spot (4.51.00). Jonathan Gough won his Heat of the U17 Men’s 100m in 12.60 with Ben Whittaker in 4th place in the same Heat (12.70). Going onto the 200m Jonathan made up for his modest run in the 100m to run 25.40 in his Heat of the 200m (2nd) which was a new PB by six tenths. It was a one, two, three in the U17 Men’s 800m with Matt Ramsden (2.07.60) just holding on for the win in a new PB time from Sam Hodkinson who finishing like a train in 2nd (2.07.70 and Findlay Sullivan in 3rd place clocking a new PB time of 2.13.50 – some four seconds better than his previous best.
Heat (2) of the U15 Boys 100m had Kyle Taylor-Pomfret in 4th position (14.80), Rory Teare in 5th with a new PB by three tenths of 15.00 and Sebastian Burton 6th (15.90). The U15 Boys 200m had Zach Walmsley clocking 28.40 (4th) – a new PB by eight tenths in Heat (1) and Sebastian Burton running 32.90 in Heat (2) for 4th place. George Whittaker ventured into new territory taking on the U15 Boys 400m and taking the win in 61.50 whilst in the 800m Kyle Taylor-Pomfret ran a time of 2.29.60 (6th) just a second outside his best with Sebastian Burton clocking 2.48.30 in his first ever attempt at the distance.
U13 Daniel Smith had his first ever attempt at the 100m posting a debut time of 16.50 (6th) in Heat (2) whilst in the 200m Isaac Butler chopped a full second off his time to set a new PB of 30.50 in Heat (2). The U13 Boys 800m had thirteen runners, the biggest field of the day on the Track – four Harriers in the Race led home by new member – Theo Watson in 4th place, chopping four seconds off his previous best to set a new PB of 2.30.20, followed by Isaac Butler in 6th (2.31.10) also with a new PB by nearly three seconds, Saul Sharp in 11th (2.43.30) and Daniel Smith 12th with a time of 2.47.00.
In the Senior Women’s 800m Hannah Cookson ran a seasons best time of 2.29.30 for 2nd place whilst in the Sprints Megan Tippett finished 3rd in the U17 Women’s 100m in a time of 14.20 with Hollie Oldham taking 2nd place in the 200m Heat (2) clocking 29.00. In the 800m Hollie ran a new PB of 2.38.00 for 2nd place whilst Chloe Gardner came home 4th in a time of 3.00.80. Myah Booth ran just her second 100m race of the year clocking 13.60 in Heat (2) of the U15 Girls 100m with Abigail Armas recording a time of 14.50 in Heat (3). Rebecca Ramsden was just shy by a couple of tenths in setting a new best time in the 200m placing 6th in 29.50. The U15 Girls 800m featuring nine athletes saw a very well judged race run by Sophie Stanworth to take the win in 2.35.70 with Hollie Cubbon in 5th (2.42.30) and Rebecca Ramsden 6th in a time of 2.43.20.
The U13 Girls Track events saw three Harrier sin the 100m with Kate Cookson 5th in Heat (1) clocking 14.60, Amelia Burton (15.10) in 7th spot and Keira Haxton also 7th in Heat (2) with a time of 16.10…..Amelia then ran just outside her personal best running a time of 31.40 for 3rd place in Heat (3) of the 200m. Four Harriers in the 800m field of nine athletes which saw Kate Cookson finishing 3rd with a new PB of 2.36.30, Caroline Woodworth in 4th also with a new PB time of 2.36.90, Keira Haxton in 5th place making it a trio of new PB’s with a time of 2.37.40 and Keira Booth coming home in 7th spot (2.53.10). There was a massive new PB for U13 Molly Grimshaw in the 1500m as she knocked thirteen seconds off her time to set a new best of 5.48.60.
In the Throws events Anthony Kent threw Senior Shot Putt taking 3rd place witjh 10.07m and then went onto Discus where he paced 2nd with a throw of 33.34m just one place in front of Tony Balko in 3rd with 33.08m. The Javelin saw Anthony throw 36.35 for 3rd place which was a new PB by nearly two metres and Tony won the Senior Men’s Hammer with a throw of 34.40m. Just one U17 Javelin Thrower on the day – Cameron Harris – who threw 44.20m. U15 Matthew Heywod took on three Throws events coming 2nd in the field of ten in the Discus (29.27m) – a new PB by two metres; 3rd in the Shot Putt with a throw of 8.78m and first in the Hammer with a distance of 39.70m. George Whittaker just missed out on a new best in the Discus with a 4th placed throw of 28.93m – Zach Walmsley tried the Javelin for the first time placing 3rd in the U15 Boys competition with 20.76m and Kyle Taylor-Pomfret finished 2nd in the Hammer with 24.25m. Isaac Butler finished the Throws events off for the Harriers as he took 3rd place in the U13 Boys Javelin (19.52m).
Just one Throws event for Anna Peers on the – Senior Women’s Javelin – which she won with a distance of 36.45m. Grace Bontoft was very close to her Shot Putt PB as she threw 6.66m in the U15 Girls Shot Putt before going onto the Discus placing 4th with 15.10m before finishing off with a new PB in the Hammer of 29.18 in 2nd place. Nicky Saunders was in very good form winning the U15 Girls Discus with a new PB of 28.79m, better by a metre than her previous best, came 4th in the Javelin with 24.08m after having won the Hammer with a throw of 29.60m – a massive new PB by three metres. In the U13 Girls Throws events Madison Bontoft set a new PB in the Shot Putt (5th) with 5.94m, set another new PB in the Javelin with 12.99 as well as throwing 11.91m in the Discus. Amelia Burton had her first attempt at the Shot Putt achieving a throw of 4.36m in 7th place and Caroline Woodworth was just outside her presonal best with a 2nd placed throw of 22.14m in the Javelin.
Not many athletes in the Jumps events on the day which saw U17 Ben Branton in only his second ever Long Jump competition leap to a new PB by over 20cms of 5.38m to finish in 2nd place with Benjamin Whittaker in 3rd (5.20) which was a massive new PB for him by nearly half a metre. Ben Branton then tried the Triple Jump for the first time and was just shy of the 10m mark as he jumped 9.97m (2nd). The U15 Boys Long Jump saw Rory Teare place 6th with a new PB leap of 4.30m in 6th place with Zachary Walmsley in 8th (4.07m) in his first ever attempt at the event. Theo Watson and Saul Sharp were two of eleven Long Jumpers in the U13 Boys which saw Theo take the event on for the first time finishing 6th with a jump of 3.68m and Saul jumping 3.60m in 7th spot. Twenty five long jumpers in the U13 Girls event – so spare a thought for the officials in the heat of the day – which saw Kiera Booth finish in 17th place with a jump of 3.48m and her first ever attempt in the discipline.
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Astley Park Trail Race (3) – Wednesday July 4th
Race (3) in the Series saw more good runs for the Harriers with Chris Davies and Tom Blaney, neck and neck at the finish with Chris taking 3rd spot overall in 24.57 with Tom just two seconds further back in 4th clocking 24.59. Paul Guinan came in 10th with 26.55 to make it three Harriers in the first ten which gave them the Team win. Allan Hartley came home in 60th place (34.44) followed by Mick Nolan in 64th (35.08), Helen Dawson-Smith making her debut for the Harriers in 79th with a time of 40.08 and David Morris in 103rd position (46.22).
The Junior Race featured 100 youngsters aged from 7yrs through to 14yrs. The Harriers had seven youngsters running with Codie Dewhust the first one of them across the finishing line in a time of 5.47 and 3rd in his age category (M12). Matthew Smith was next home in 15th overall, running a time of 5.51 and was 1st in his M10 category – also in the same category – came Oliver Gill in 18th with a time of 5.54 just three seconds down from Matthew. In the M8 age category William Grundy ran a great time of 6.08 to place 2nd and 24th overall. There were three girls running for the Club with the first one Hannah Davies placing 54th overall and 1st in her F9 category with a time of 6.47 and she was followed by Isabelle Hartley in the F11’s 62nd overall and 2nd in her category (7.13) and Charlotte Smith in the F7 age group – 84th overall and 4th in the category with a time of 8.29.
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Stoodley Pike Fell Race – Tuesday July 3rd
Every endurance race at the moment is being run in tempeatures, the like of which haven’t been seen for a long while and certainly not in the sustained way that they have been over the last month. Conditions like these add their own pressures to what are already tough events to do. Eighty one runners tackled this Fell Race on Tuesday night won by Martin Howard in a time of 20.26.
John Horrocks Had a very good run to come home in 4th place in a time of 21.50 commenting to the Club after the race that it was a “Cracking little race tonight. Good runable climb with a tricky but fast decent. Happy with how my race went, just managed to catch Tom at the top of the climb after his electric start and felt good to push on to the pike and down. Well done Tom, good running”
Right behind John came U20 Thomas Marchant in 5th place in a time of 22.08 and he told the Club afterwards “I decided to take the lead and make it a fast race, however with a fast climb I started to tire roughly 80 meters from the top losing a few places, the conditions were not too bad still warm but with a nice breeze on top but not too windy. It was a fast race from start to finish and feel like I performed well and maintained a decent position”
(Thanks to Richard Marchant for the Photos)
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Cuerden Valley Badger 10k Race 2 – Thursday July 5th
After running Stoodley Pike on Tuesday, John Horrocks was back out again racing on Thursday night at the Cuerden Valley Badger 10k in Bamber Bridge which had a field of one hundred and fifty six runners.
The Race was won by Richard Howarth in a time of 36.09 with John in a very fine 2nd place running 37.02 and managing to hold off Karl Hodgson in 3rd place – just one second behind.
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Don Ashton Memorial Tockholes Fell Race – Thursday July 5th
This race, held in memory of Don Ashton and known to many over the years for his competitive nature and achievements in endurance running, attracted one hundred and forty two runners on the night and was won Josh Boyle who broke the Course record with his time of 35.42 with Rob Hope in 2nd place (35.55). Richard Taylor was running for the Harriers nad came home in 90th spot with a time of 55.21.
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Skiddaw fell Race – Sunday July 1st
John Orrell and Ian Clarkson are getting their build up in for this years Fell Championships underway with their latest venture, the Skiddaw Fell Race won by Orlando Edwards in a time of 72.07 at the head of a ninety eight strong field. and run over a nine and half mile course with over 3000ft of climbing. John finished in 83rd place (2hr 01.24) with Ian in 91st (2hr 10.40). After the race, both of them spoke to the Club about the day
John commneted “Two of the Harriers ‘Blue and White Fell Bashers’ Relay team took to the Lakeland hills on Sunday. Ian Clarkson and myself did Skiddaw Mountain Race. I think he is sending his report and photo soon and here’s a few words from me. It was blisteringly hot, touching 25 degrees on the start line. Temperatures soared as we climbed around Latrigg and made our way up Jenkin Hill. It’s a 4 mile slog to the summit, then round the trig and back down. The steep stoney path was unforgiving, legs turned to jelly, both heels blistered and shoes ripped apart. It felt more like 30 degrees in places too. So close to my target time of 2 hours. Another Grand Day Out!”
(Thanks to Stephen Wilson for the Photo)
Whilst Ian told us “John Orrell, aka Fell Captain, and myself decided to have a run out at Skiddaw Fell Race, cat AM, 9.6 miles, 3150 ft, 12.30pm start and a on a very, very hot day!! Mmmm, physical draining and mentally demanding to keep climbing, at one point about 1000ft in about a mile or so. Plan was to tap away and see what happens, having had dodgy knee syndrome for a month or so, I wasn’t sure what would happen, knee feels good, quads and thighs NOT!! This was a straight up and up and down affair that was relentless on the feet and legs and the sun on the head. Keeping hydrated was the main issue of the event and thankfully I took on enough fluid. Finished in about 2:10 ish at the back end of the field, with the leaders in about 1:10 ish, brutally demanding and fine athletes they are. Hoping to get a couple more Lakeland races in before the Fell Relays in October, and we’ll see what happens. Should be fun!!”
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And finally – congratulations to Mark Wilkin – at the Trailblaster – who took on the challenge of the 24 relays this weekend with mixed local running clubs running for the Running4CF charity. Mark covered nearly 25 miles as part of his contribution to the Teams effort in raising money for this very worthy cause. Also a mention to Paul Clarke who didn’t finish in his attempt at the 12 hour solo run, but put in a great effort, commenting after the event “My first DNF, ran 31 miles in 5.32.50, heat got too much just feel battered………….. Enjoyable day though I’d like to thank Greg, Julie, Deborah, Mark and Vicky for their support. Finally would like to thank Jayne for putting up with me and letting me do these races love you babe xx”.
