Good weather and good results for the Harriers at this years Lancashire Fell Championships held at Pendle on Saturday. Matthew Smith won the U11 Race – featuring forty four runners – in his first ever fell race. His mother watched the race and commented that he “was lying in 4th or 5th position by the turn (at the highest point in the race), but then flew down through the gates, past the sheep and through the mud and stream, to win by 4 seconds”. Great start for the young athlete to come away with a Gold Medal. His sister Charlotte had a good run too in the U9 race placing 16th out of thirty runners. In the U13’s Race with forty runners – Libby Neal came home in 36th spot (21.38) in her first ever run at Pendle and only her second ever fell race. Thirty nine runners contested the U15 Race which saw Umair Rafiq come home in 22nd spot in a time of 24.53. The second Championship Medal of the day was won by Eleesha Charnley in the U17 Race as she came home in 3rd place with a strong run to take a Bronze Medal (28.38).
The Senior Race featured one hundred and seventy seven athletes which saw Rob Hope take the win and the Gold Medal in a time of 31.24 – just 11 seconds in front of Blackburn Harrier Steven Snape who took the Silver Medal in 2nd spot clocking 32.33 with Callum Davidson in 3rd place (32.44).
Steven was very happy with his run for the Silver and the fact that he had been selected to run for Lancashire at the Inter-Counties Fell Championships as he told the Club “Great race to hold the Lancashire team selection. The fast start on road quickly turns off onto the fells with steep climb up Big End always in the back of your mind to come. 4 of us quickly broke away then it was me and Rob. He was too strong on the smaller climb but I’m very happy with my progress so far in the season with more to come and can’t wait to represent Lancashire in the inter counties come May”.
(L-R Steven Snape – Rob Hope – Callum Davidson – Photo courtesy of www.woodentops.org.uk)
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Mid Lancs T & F League – Witton Park Saturday April 7th
It turned out not to be as bad as feared but nevertheless it was a wet and grey day that greeted the athletes gathered for the first fixture of the season which saw a great turnout by Blackburn Harriers with over seventy athletes from the Club competing and setting thirty two new personal bests.
The Club’s Sprint Squad had a number of athletes out in the different age groups from U13’s through to Seniors. The Squad’s Coach – Ramzi Dabbar – was particularly pleased and commented at the end of the day “It was a day full of personal bests and I couldn’t be prouder of all of my athletes at the club. They all performed outstanding on the day! It just goes to show what hard work and resilience can do, Well done everyone”.
Harrison Allcock placed 3rd in Heat (1) of the U13 Boys 100m with 14.60 and Aidan Downes clocked 15.50 in Heat 2 as these 11yr olds sampled their first outdoor fixtures after several years in Sportshall – Aidan went on to record a run of 31.80 in the 200m (4th). There was a big new PB for George Whittaker in U15 Boys 200m (27.00) in 3rd place with Zachary Walmsley in 5th (29.90). There were two wins in the U15 Boys 100m with Ethan Downes clocking 12.30 in Heat (1) – a new PB by three tenths – and Kyle Mashiter 12.20 in Heat (2) – equalling his personal best. Ben Whittaker placed 3rd in the U17 Men’s 200m with 25.20 after posting 12.40 in the 100m (3rd) with Jonathan Gough 4th in the same Heat in a time of 12.40 – this was just a tenth outside his personal best and after missing a huge amount of training because of injury, this was a very good result. In the Senior Men’s 200m John iLunga placed 3rd in Heat (2) with 27.30 after recording a new PB in the 100m (12.80) in 4th with Daniel Hamilton also setting a new PB in the same Heat (12.80).
Some very good performances in the Women’s Sprints too. In the Senior Women’s 100m there was a new PB and win for Roxanne Oliver (12.90), a new PB and 3rd for Charlie Coy (13.50) with Chloe Bleeks in 4th in a time of 13.80. The new PB’s and wins kept coming when Teigan Fawcett won the Senior Women’s 200m in 29.10 Heat (1) and Charlie Coy won heat (2) also in a new PB time of 27.50. Bailey Madden won the U17 Women’s 100m Heat (1) in 13.00 with Emily Warren in 2nd place (13.10) – great battle between them. Megan Tippett took 2nd place in Heat (2) with a time of 13.80, also a new PB whilst yet another new PB was set by Aysha Karolia in Heat (3) as she placed 2nd in 14.00 – an improvement of three tenths. It was one/two again in the U17 Women’s 200m with Bailey Madden securing her second win of the day in a new PB time of 26.50 with Emily Warren in 2nd (27.20). Another new PB by three tenths saw Millie Coy win Heat (2) of the U17 Women’s 200m as she clocked 27.20. Aysha Karolia topped off her day with a win in the U17 Women’s 300m running a time of 46.60 – her first time ever over the distance. Amy Wiggans equalled her personal best (14.1) placing 4th in the U15 girls 100m whilst Leah Hoole ran her first ever 200m to record a time of 30.20. Four Heats of the 100m in the U13 Girls which saw Kate Cookson set a new PB by over half a second placing 3rd (14.50) in Heat (1) with Isabelle Hartley in 6th (15.90) and also a new PB. A very good debut for Niamh Gater over the 100m as she placed 2nd in Heat (4) in 15.70 with Keira Haxton finishing 2nd in the U13 Girls 200m (33.50) and Kady Thompson 4th in her first effort over the distance in 36.70.
In the Throws events – Anthony Kent threw 9.65m in the Senior Men’s Shot Putt for 3rd place and then went on to win the Senior Men’s Discus achieving a distance of 32.09m with Tony Balko in 2nd spot (30.56m) and Lucas Davies in 6th with 20.95m. It was a second win of the day for Anthony as he won the Javelin with 31.79m – Lucas Davies finishing 2nd with 27.64m. Tony Balko threw solidly in the Hammer to post a distance of 34.51m (2nd). Cameron Harris carried on where he left off last season as he stepped up to the new weight in the U17 Men’s Javelin – winning with a throw of 44.35m. U15 Matthew Heywood set a new PB in the Shot Putt with 8.77m (3rd) before placing 4th in the Discus (21.88m) with George Whittaker in 5th, setting a new PB of 19.69m. George cracked on from there and set yet another new PB in Javelin by nearly two metres as he placed 3rd (26.60m). It was a one / two in the U15 Boys Hammer as Matthew Heywood won the event with a distance of 31.01m whilst Kyle Taylor-Pomfret set a new PB in 2nd place (24.68m). In the U13 Boys Throws Harrison Allock 5th (5.35m) and Codie Dewhurst 6th (4.24m) had a go at the Shot Putt. Moving up in weights didn’t seem to be much of a problem for Millie Coy as she came in 3rd in the U17 Women’s Javelin (32.91m) whilst Abigail Brown finished 2nd in the U17 Women’s Hammer with a huge new PB of 33.38m. Myah Booth kicked off the U15 Girls Throws as she won the Shot Putt with 9.86m with Izzy Thompson in 8th spot (7.21m). Nicky Saunders set a new PB in the U15 Girls Discus as she placed 2nd with a throw of 26.07m as Izzy Thompson placed 3rd with a distance of 21.24m. Nicky was just cms shy of a new personal best in the Javelin as she finished 2nd (24.71m) and just missed a new personal best in the Hammer by 2 cms as she came 4th with 21.07m.
Some very good results in the events from 400m upwards. U17 Solomon Brown just showed what solid Winter training can do for you as he smashed his 400m time to set a new PB by nearly four seconds in winning the 400m in 55.90. In the Senior Men’s 800m Joe Gebbie just blew his personal best time away by nearly ten seconds as he came home in 3rd place with a new PB time of 2.05.70 with Aqua Damour in 4th place (2.06.90) and Marco Maggio in 6th posting 2.13.80. Bradley Meikleham chopped over six seconds of his time to set a massive new PB of 2.06.30 as he finished 2nd in the U17 Boys 800m with Sam Hodkinson also running a new PB time by three seconds of 2.08.90 in 3rd spot with Leon Thomas in 4th (2.10.10) and Jamie Teare 8th (2.22.70) which was a good run after a period out with injury. Matt Ramsden was tenths outside his personal best in the U17 Men’s 1500m as he ran solo from the end of the first lap to win the Race in 4.27.10. U17 Harry Wilkin also got amongst the new PB’s as he ran 4.54.50 knocking over three seconds off his previous best time.
In the U15 Boys 800m Kyle Taylor-Pomfret set a new PB time of 2.29.20, some three seconds faster than he has run previously to place 5th with Zachary Walmsley in 7th (2.34.20) – his first time over the distance. David Holman place 6th in the 13 strong U15 Boys 1500m race in a time of 5.15.50. There was a new PB for Saul Sharp in the U13 Boys 800m as he clocked 2.42.30 in 5th place with Daniel Smith (9th) in 2.50.40 and Harry Sambrook 10th (2.52.40) – the first time for both of them over the distance. Dexta Thompson was back to form as he had a great battle with George Denye in the U13 Boys 1500m placing 2nd in 4.58.40. Great effort by Codie Dewhurst too as he tried the U13’s 1500m for the first time and running well for 6th place in the 15 strong field for a time of 5.24.80.
Just four athletes in the Senior Women’s 800m Race which saw the Harriers take first (Maddie Elliott in 2.25.20), second (Katie Buckingham 2.26.90) and third Freya Black (2.31.20). Freya was particularly delighted as she chopped over six seconds off her time to set a new PB. Five runners in the U17 Women’s 800m Race which saw the Harriers finish 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th. Amy Davies came 2nd in 2.34.70 followed by Hollie Oldham in 3rd (2.43.30), Liberty Thompson 4th (2.51.40) and Alex Taylor 5th (2.54.20). Leah Hoole placed 4th out of 12 in the U15 Girls 800m (2.40.60) with Rebecca Ramsden running her first ever 800m in 7th place (2.46.80) and Ella Hardman in 12th (3.27.20. In the U15 Girls 1500m Sophie Stanworth placed 3rd in 5.20.70 with Hollie Cubbon in 4th (5.25.70) and Megan Jones 8th in 6.38.30. There were two new PB’s for Kate Cookson in the U13 Girls 800m as she came home 5th in 2.42.50 followed by Caroline Woodworth in 6th (2.44.20). In the U13 Girls 800m there were debuts for Caitlin Clarkson (11th) in 3.17.10 and Kady Thompson (7th) in 3.05.50 as they moved up from U11’s and Kiera Booth who finished 8th in 3.07.70. Molly Grimshaw tried the U13 Girls 1500m for the first time and finished 3rd in 6.27.40.
In the Jumps John iLunga came 2nd in the Senior Men’s Long Jump (4.41m) as Jonathan Gough came 3rd in the U17 Men’s event with a leap of 5.45m. There was a new PB for Rory Teare in the U15 Boys Long Jump – 8th (4.19m) and a personal best equaling clearance of 1.40m in the High Jump (=6th). Aidan Downes and Harrison Allcock teamed up in the U13 Boys Long Jump with Aidan setting a new PB by half a metre (8th) with 3.54m and Harrison finishing 9th with 3.49m. Emma Love moved up to U15 this year and started off well with a clearance of 1.35m in the High Jump for 3rd place. Niamh Gater and Caitlin Clarkson competed in the massive field of 29 youngsters in the U13 Girls Long Jump which saw Niamh place 13th with a leap of 3.46m for a new PB and Caitlin in 27th clearing 2.44m.
Great to see Hurdles competition being retained by the League which saw two Heats of U13 Girls over 70m with Kady Thompson making her debut, finishing 5th in Heat (1) in 17.60. Myah Booth won the U15 Girls 75m Hurdles very comfortably in a time of 12.00sec. The irrepressible Codie Dewhurst finished 3rd in the U13 Boys Hurdles in a time of 17.60 and in the U15 Boys Hurdles Ben Boocock placed 3rd (13.30), Rory Teare (4th) in 15.80 and Kyle Taylor-Pomfret 5th clocking 16.80.
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Podium 5k – Saturday April 7th
The Race Record was broken for the second consecutive time as Tom Lancashire won the ‘A’ Race in 14.19 from Matthew Crahan in 2nd (14.22), Dane Blomquist in 3rd (14.33), Marc Brown 4th in 14.47 and Rob Danson 5th (14.48). Altogether fifty one athletes contested the ‘A’ Race with another thirty seven in the ‘B’.
Photo’s courtesy of David Belshaw
Jack Hindle was the first Harrier home in 14th place in a massive new PB by 24 seconds of 15.36. Tom Blaney who is now getting back into regular training and racing was next across the line in a time of 16.25 and followed in by Matt Nuttall in 34th place (16.34), Josh Holgate in 35th with a time of 16.37 and Karl Billington in 36th (16.41) a half a minute quicker than his previous Podium 5k run recently. Paul Guinan also ran nearly half a minute quicker than his previous Podium race finishing with a time of 17.37.
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And finally…..Paul Bradshaw who is down in Australia to watch his wife compete in the Commonwealth Pole Vault Championships couldn’t resist entering a Half-Marathon in Brisbane as part of his build up to the Liverpool Marathon and ran well considering the travel involved to get there as well as the impact of surfing all day, the day before. That lad really knows how to taper!! Paul finished in 88.06 which was pretty solid running.
