This latest Club report starts with a Decathlon, contested by  at the SEAA – South of England All Ages Combined Events Championships, held over hte weekend of June 29th and 30th 2024. (RESULTS). Finishing 5th overall with a total of 4973 points, George Whittaker had a very good competition with some very good results over the ten events, including three new personal bests. . George was just two hundreths outside his best in the 100m clocking a seasons best 11.40 to win his Heat. His first PB came up in the Long Jump leaping out to 6.13m for 4th in his Pool followed by a 5th placing in the High Jump, clearing a seasons best height of 1.68m. It was a seasons best for George in the Shot Putt with a throw of 10.20m, just 18cms outside his best in 4th place. The last event of the first day came in the 400m, George clocking a seasons best of 53.40.

Kicking off Day 2 saw George in the 110m Hurdles placing 2nd in his Heat in a time of 18.34 and in the Pole Vault, George cleared 3.20m in 4th spot. On to the Final of the Javelin and it was a new PB for him with a distance of 41.43m, close to a metre and a half improvement: And in the 1500m it was another new PB by 7 seconds for George, clocking 5.04.82 in 3rd place in one of the hardest events at the end of the decathlon.

George Whittaker

George Whittaker

During the week it was the final race in this years Astley Park Trail Series run in Chorley on Wednesday July 3rd. (RESULTS). Marco Pacelli came home in 15th spot running 23.22, followed in by Louisa Powell-Smith who won the Women’s race in a time of 24.47 and 1st V40 with Rebecca Ward 2nd V40 in 2nd place with a time of 24.54 alongside team mate Hollie Cubbon in 7th running 27.52 – the three of them combining to win the Women’s team prize. There were good runs too in the Junior Race – Lyra Krige winning the F14 age group in 5.10, Amelia Pacelli placing 2nd in F11 age group (5.38) and Esme Krige 4th in the F11 category (7.13).

On the same evening – Wednesday July 3rd – Danny Maynard was out at another Triathlon this time at the Capernway Diving Centre in Carnforth. The event comprised of a 500m Lake Swim, 17.6k Bike Ride and 4.3k Run resulting in Danny posting a combined time three minutes faster than his previous appearance at the event of 1 hr 05.54 and finishing in the top 10. (RESULTS).

On Friday evening July 5th V65 John Chaplin won his age category and came 6th overall in the Baxenden 5k Trail Race with a time of 22.04 – the race being won by Paul Freary in 19.07. (RESULTS)

L-R Amelia Pacelli – Marco Pacelli -Louisda-Powell Smith – Rebecca Ward – Hollie Cubbon

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Saturday July 6th was the date of the Birmingham Uni Grand Prix featuring four athletes from Blackburn Harriers in 800m, 1500m and 3000m races. (RESULTS). First up was Dominic Walton going in the 800m Men’s B race featuring ten athletes. Dominic went into this race after suffering from a fall at the British Championships last weekend and had a very good race, clocking 1.48.75 – just two tenths outside his personal best. After the race, Dominic spoke to the Club about his race, saying that he was  “Finally back under 1:49 with my second fastest time ever. I won’t be 100% satisfied until I achieve a time I think I’m capable of but I’m heading in the right direction. I’m running smarter and can still spot areas for improvement so the next few races will be very important. At the very least that time should mean I qualify for the British Champs next year which is always a bonus.” Also going over 800m was Ben Makin in Race 5 and running consistently with a time of 1.53. 21 in 4th place, Ben telling us afterwards that he “Got after the race, going out with the pacemaker, leaving me having too much left in the last 200 and left me too far out of the front guys to catch, still happy with a pb though, definitely a step in the right direction“. Over 1500m and it was the turn of Abigail Stratton in the Women’s B Race which was a confidence boost for her after having gone through a period of injuries. Clocking 4.32.28 in 12th spot, Abigail spoke to us about the night afterwards, telling us that she was “Really happy with the result as it shows I am heading in the right direction post injury, the time was very slow however I overcame a mental block which I have been fighting since coming back from injury. This has given me a good base to work from to head towards quicker times in the next couple of races.” Final race of the night for Blackburn Harriers athletes came in the 3000m in which Matt Ramsden was hoping to improve his personal best which he did in style, knocking 16 seconds off his best to finish in 5th place with a new PB of 8.04.65. The Club record of 8.00.1, set by former World Cross Country Junior Champion – Mick Morton in 1978 is very much in Matt’s sights.Later, after the race Matt told the Harriers “It was a tough race yesterday in Birmingham but happy to come away with a pb. A pb and an England win is a nice early birthday present!”

Dominic Walton (20)

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On the same day, this years wind that seems to follow track & field athletics around the various fixtures, blew again in Lancaster where the fourth fixture in this years Mid Lancs T&F League was hosted by Lancaster & Morecambe. (PROVISIONAL RESULTS). Once again a big thank you to our volunteer officials who attended the event including: Jean Hoyle; Alison Hulme; Kevin Hogan; Linzi Lancashire; Sabrina Dewhurst and Dan Finn.

 

(ALL PHOTOS ON BLACKBURN HARRIERS FACEBOOK PAGE)

SPRINTS

Two Heats in the Senior Men’s 400m – run into a horrible wind on the back straight – which saw U20 Oliver Palk win his Heat and run the fastest time of both Heats (53. 7). Jacob Fisher replicated that result in the U17 Men’s 100m, winning his Heat and the fastest of both Heats with a new PB of 11.4. Jacob then made it a really good day for himself by winning his Heat of the 200m and fastest of both Heats with a time of 23.5. Three Heats in the U15 Boys 100m – all three Heats being won by Blackburn Harriers – Tomi Birch winning Heat 1 in 12.1, a new PB by three tenths, Isaac Brindle winning Heat 2 in 12.4 and Jack Thompson taking the Heat 3 win in 12.9. Tomi Birch and Jack Thompson also won their Heats of the U15 Boys 200m – Tomi running the 200m for the very first time, winning in 25.7 whilst Jack won his Heat in 27.0 – a new PB by 1.5 seconds. Taking on the 400m for only the second time, James Acton-Grieves ran 68.0 (8th) in the U15 Boys 400m, a good time given the wind. Imogen Robinson clocked 54.2 (6th) in the 300m, starting off with a 100m of head wind down the back straight. Isabella Finn and Imogen Boardman went in the 100m – Isabella clocking 13.7 in 3rd in her Heat and Imogen a massive new PB by 8 tenths with her time of 13.6 in 3rd. Imogen then went and won the 300m Heat 2 in a time of 46.9 which was her debut over the distance. U13 Anvitha Reddy who runs everywhere with a smile on her face clocked 14.4 in Heat 2 of the U13 Girls 100m for a new PB by half a second finishing 9th fastest overall out of 28 athletes racing in 5 Heats. Anvitha then made it a double new PB as she knocked half a second off her best in the 200m clocking 30.6 in 3rd spot Heat 2 and 8th fastest out of 22 girls running in 4 Heats.

Tomi Birch (54)

Imogen Boardman (26)

MIDDLE DISTANCE

The wind made new personal bests very difficult to achieve as Ethan Cutler and Locus Lancashire found out in the U17 Men’s 800m – Ethan clocking 2.12.6 in 4th and Loucas 2.23.6 in 6th place. Logan McCredie defied the odds in the U17 Men’s 1500m running a new PB by 8 seconds with 4.33.2 in 3rd spot. George Holman ran in 4th place in the U15 Boys 800m with a time of 2.24.8 followed by Theo Robinson placing 6th in the U15 Boys 1500m with 5.05.4, just over a second outside his best. U13 Max Unthank ran the 1500m in 5.11.5 (4th) and told us he may well have a go at the 800m race next time. 1st and 3rd for the Harriers in the Senior Women’s 800m, Leah Hoole coming with a really strong and determined finish to win the race in 2.30.0 with V40 Rebecca Ward in 3rd spot in a time of 2.33.5. Lottie Smith was very near to her personal best as she won the U17 Women’s 800m in 2.31. 7 alongside team mate Isabelle Perry running 2.40.0 in 4th. U15 Millie Jordan set off in determined fashion in Heat 1 of the 800m which she won comfortably in a time of 2.21.8 – the fastest time of the two Heats featuring 18 athletes. Lyra Krige ran a controlled race to win the U15 Girls 1500m in a time of 5.09.4, working her way through the field.

Ethan Cutler (66)

Millie Jordan (60)

FIELD EVENTS

Loucas Lancashire threw a new PB in the U17 Men’s Javelin as he won the event with a throw of 38.60m whilst in the U15 Boys Long Jump, James Acton-Grieves was just three cms shy of his best in placing 2nd out of 17 athletes with a leap of 4.56m and Zakariya Haq placed 7th out of 19 athletes in the U13 Boys Long Jump with 3.48m. Zakariya tried the Discus after this and on his debut, threw 15.78m in 2nd spot as well as placing 2nd in the Javelin with a new PB distance of 27.59. U17 Imogen Robinson cleared 1.35m in the High Jump (2nd) with team mate Isabella Finn clearing 1.25m in the U15 Girls High Jump followed by a win for Isabella in the Long Jump – jumping 4.23m alongside Imogen Boardman jumping a new PB of 3.89m in 4th. Olivia Thomasson carried on her winning ways taking the Javelin with a distance of 33.50m.

Imogen Robinson

Isabella Finn

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Sunday morning July 7th saw V45’s Chris Davies and Stephen Hall take on the legendary Gerry McCabe’s Hendon Brook Race starting at 11.00am in the morning. (RESULTS). The race was won in an impressive time for the 13.4 mile tough course by Chris Holdsworth in 75.53 from Tom Corrigan in 2nd (81.31) and Jonathan Cleaver in 3rd (83.06). Chris and Stephen had top ten finishes with Chris running 88.14 to place 8th and 1st V45 whilst Stephen was in 9th spot running 89.13 and 2nd V45.

After the race had finished Chris told us about the race commenting “I’ve always enjoyed this race, even though it’s very tough. It was a very good field today. It was an amazing time from Chris Holdsworth. Don’t know how he does it. I went into it wanting to get under 1hr 30 mins and managed a 1hr 28 mins and finished 8th and 1st Vet45. I’m pleased with that. I got a good training day out of it as well. Well done to Stephen Hall as well. We had a good tussle all the way round. It was worth getting out of bed for in the end.” Stephen added his thoughts about the day telling us “I’m somewhat disappointed, I was hoping for around the 1.25 mark but wasn’t feeling great and my legs just gave up on me around ten miles in. Up until then it was a great battle with Chris but he dropped me on the lenches climb and off he went!

Stephen Hall (75) – Chris Davies (51)

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