Leigh Sports Stadium was the venue for this years U14/U16 Northern Athletics T & F Championships, held in warm temperatures in line with what everyone has been experiencing over this last week and featuring a number of Blackburn Harriers on both track and field events. On Day One and startng off with the U14 Boys High Jump – Harry Mitchell and Oliver Holden were competing in this field of eleven athletes – Harry clearing 1.40m in 8th and Oliver 11th clearing a new PB height of 1.30m. On the Track, the first medal of the Championships to go to the Harriers came in the U16 Boys 300m Hurdles Final where Kai Addison equalled his personal best of 42.70 to take the Silver Medal. In the U14 Boys 100m Heats – Billy Rowbottom qualified for the Final, taking 2nd place in 12.60 with Noah Briscoe in the same Heat clocking 13.58 in 5th place. Niamh Boland qualified for the Final from the U16 Girls 100m Heats with a time of 13.45 in 3rd place. Kai Addison and James Astley lined up in the U16 Boys 100m Heat 4 and clocked 12.27 (5th) and 13.14 (7th) respectively.
Kai Addison (50) Photo courtesy of Northern Athletics
Going on to middle distance and Mya Chadwick ran 2.38.86 in the B Final of the U14 Girls 800m in 7th place whilst in the C Final, Lily Mae-Newton clocked 2.31.65 in 8th spot; And, in the D Final of the U14 Girls 800m, Georgia Brambles ran 2.20.64 in 5th place. Thomas Stewart was on the start line for the U14 Boys 1500m C Final and ran 4.40.28 in 7th spot out of a field of eleven young athletes – the race being won in a Championship Record time of 4.20.99. Back to the sprints and in the U16 Girls Semi-Final 3, Niamh Boland clocked 14.00 in 6th spot. In the U16 Boys Long Jump Final featuring eight athletes – James Astley leapt out to a new PB of 4.74m in 7th place – all of the athletes in this event savouring some helpful wind conditions. Second Medal of the Championships came in the U14 Boys 100m Final where Billy Rowbottom took the Northern Title with a time of 12.54 and afterwards, a delighted young athlete told the Harriers “I feel very happy with my achievements this weekend it is something that I will remember for a long time and includes one of my best races this season“.
Billy Rowbottom (249) Photo courtesy of Northern Athletics
Day 2 started off well for the Harriers as Madeline Partridge took the Silver Medal in the U16 Girl’s Hammer throwing 43.19m. Continuing with Throws Events – Dana Juma, Madeline Partridge and Marika Behnke were among sixteen athletes in the 3kg Shot Putt Final – Dana winning the fourth medal of the Championships as she took Bronze with a new PB throw of 11.08m and telling the Club after the presentation “I’m very happy to have achieved a new personal best and won a bronze medal. The competition was enjoyable, and there were lots of friendly people there. It was also great to see my coach, Tony, cheering me on and giving me helpful tips throughout the competition.” Dana was followed by Madeline in 5th spot throwing 9.87m and Marika in 12th spot with a distance of 8.45m. Staying on Throws and this time in the U14 Boys Javelin (500g) Final with Matthew Griffiths and Henry Iddon in the field of nine -.Matthew threw 30.29m in 4th place whilst Harry placed 7th with a distance of 24.97m.
Madeline Partridge (520) Hammer Silver Medal
Madeline Partridge (520) Discus Gold Medal
Dan Juma (445)
Back to the track and there was a huge new PB of 26.79 (5th) run by Noah Briscoe in the Heats of the U14 Boys 200m – some two seconds faster than he has run previously whilst in Heat 2 Billy Rowbottom – 100m Gold Medallist from the previous day, qualified for the Final with a time 25.55. Back on the Field and Throws again where U14 Matthew Griffiths won the Harriers 5th Medal when he threw 11.61m for the Bronze Medal in the Shot Putt (3kg). Georgia Brambles was just a second outside her personal best as she clocked 4.48.10 in fourth spot in the U14 Girls B Final of the 1500m – the fastest times all coming in the B Final. In the 80m Hurdles Final Oliver Holden placed 4th clocking 14.33 in his second event of the weekend. The U14 Boys Long Jump was a big competition featuring seventeen athletes in which Noah Briscoe placed 6th with a leap of 4.56m and Harry Mitchell in 11th spot jumping 4.39m. Staying on the Field with the U16 Girls Discus, again a competition with quite a lot of athletes – thirteen in total – Madeline Partridge in her third event of the weekend and Marika Behnke in her second. Madeline threw a Championship Record and a new PB of 35.77m to win the Gold and take the Harriers medal count to six whilst Marika was very close to her best, throwing 19.63m in 11th spot whilst in her second event – Javelin – she threw 26.40m. Following the event Madeline spoke to the Club about her weekend commenting “It has been a fantastic day at Leigh Sports Village, with amazing competitors and as always, superb support from both of my coaches. I finished with 2nd in hammer and 1st in discus (with a new PB of 35.77cm). It was overall an amazing experience with the perfect weather for it“. Medal number seven came when Millie Jordan took 3rd spot in the U16 Girls 800m with a fine run, clocking 2.14.84 – 20 athletes in total in the two Finals. Final event of the day came in the U14 Boys 200m Final where Billy Rowbottom who had won the 100m title the day before, was trying to make it a double sprint win – in the event, Billy did himself proud by placing 4th in the Final clocking 25.29.
Millie Jordan (414)
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Peter Sagar-Moss ran in the Resevoir Fell Race on Friday June 26th with 25 runners in the race which was won by Tom Passco (45.47) followed by Andy Collier in 2nd (47.04) and Peter in 3rd place and 1st Junior with a time of 48.12. (RESULTS).
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Sunday June 28th was the date of the Trawden 7 and Junior Races and in the U16/18 race Liam Bennison came home in 4th place overall and 1st U18 with a time of 13.44 and in the same race Amelia Pacelli came 7th in the Girls race running a time of 18.27. (RESULTS). In the U12/14 Race Edward Russell-Blackburn had a fine run to take the win in a time of 6.07 out of a field of 52 with Harry Lowde behind him in 4th spot running 6.21. Theo Addy was next across the finishing line in 8th place running 6.39 whilst team mate Ryker Hanson made it four Harriers in the first 10 places as he came 10th in 6.49. In 17th spot came Hugh Russell-Blackburn in 17th place running 7.02 followed by George Lowde in 22nd spot overall and 5th in his age category (7.17) and Pippa Blackburn who was 3rd U14 Girl in a time of 8.16. (RESULTS)
Edward Russell-Blackburn (247)
All photos courtesy of David Belshaw
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For something different – Congratulations to U16 Charlotte Smith who had qualified to compete in Biathle-Triathle-Laser Run European Championships in Madeira recently for the U17 women’s age group category. Posting a combined time of 9.40.60, Charlotte took 4th place overall which was a great performance by her – she was in 8th place after the first run (800m), gained 1 place in the swim then another 3 places on the 2nd 800m run to finally take 4th spot in the European Championships. (RESULTS)
Charlotte Smith
