The Barcelona half-marathon took place on Sunday February 16th featuring just under 27,000 runners and what a race to be involved with as it was won in a world record time of 56.42 by Jacob Kiplimo. Rob Warner-Judd had a great run smashing his former personal best of 67.03 with a new PB time of 64.37 – nearly two and half minutes improvement and missing the Club Record by just three seconds. Next home came Jess Warner-Judd, running her second successive half-marathon in 69 minutes as she finished in the top ten in the Women’s race, clocking 69.37 in 7th position.
All photos from Barcelona by Lindsay Davies
Rob Warner-Judd & Jess Warner-Judd
Next across the finishing line in Barcelona was Paul Bradshaw running a new PB time of 76.57, over a minute faster than his previous best and this, 12 years after he ran 1.47.37 for 800m. V55 Paul Guinan was next home for the Harriers in 86.28 followed by V45 Chris Davies in 86.07, V45 Richard Addy running 87.55, V65 John Chaplin had a good run with 1hr 30.39m and 3rd V65 overall, followed by Anna Greenwood in 1hr 31min as Katie Buckingham ran a solid race in 1hr 31.52 followed by Danny Maynard running 1hr.35.08 in his first half-marathon. Tanith Jade-Ellis ran 1.40 alongside Gina Kelly running 1hr 51.
Paul Bradshaw & Paul Guinan
Chris Davies & John Chaplin
Tanith Jade-Ellis & Danny Maynard
Katie Buckingham and Gina Kelly
L-R Danny Maynard – Richard Addy – John Chaplin – Chris Davies – Tanith Jade-Ellis – Paul Bradshaw – Katie Buckingham – Gina Kelly – Anna Greenwood
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Matt Ramsden had been selected to run for England at the Armagh 5k Road International which took place last Thursday – February 13th. (Race Finish Video). Two hundred and nineteen athletes lined up for the 5k race which was won by Andrew Colley in 13.33 with Jack Kavanagh in 2nd spot (13.35) and U17 Sebastian Larstad in 3rd olace with a remarkable time of 13.36. Matt had been looking forward to this race and missed some training over the previous couple of weeks, but still had a fine run as he clocked 14.02 in 26th spot – the first 22 athletes all clocking sub 14 minutes, 61 athletes then ran sub 14.30 – which showed the calibre of the race. (RESULTS)
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After racing twice last weekend – running his first sub four minute mile indoors which included a 3.44.44 split for 1500m, following that up with a leg in the distance medlay relay the following day, David Holman was out again this weekend – Friday February 14th – over 3000m indoors. The race was part of the David Hemery Valentine Invitational which took place over two days – 14/15th Febriary with the 3000m races on Friday 14th. David did it again – setting a new PB by some four seconds as he came home in a time of 8.04.38 in his race – just 0.18 off the Club Record set by Mick Morton at the National Indoor Championships in 1980 – and afterwards, David spoke to the Club about his race and the next month telling us that it was “Another great race this weekend. Felt a bit tired from last weeks mile but got the job done again today. Happy with the pb but always hungry for more. Now a full block of training before nationals in a months time.” (RESULTS)
David Holman (1631)
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The Bucs Indoor National Championships took place at the EIS stadium in Sheffield over the weekend of 14/16th February. Blackburn Harriers George Whittaker, Dexta Thaompson and Abigail McAndrew were all taking part. Decathlete George excelled in the first round of the 400m as he set himself a new PB of 51.72 in placing 2nd and qualifying for the semi-final. That took place the day after where George placed 5th in his Heat clocking 54.49. Dexta won the third of four qualifying heat sof the 3000m on Saturday 15th clocking 8.32.72 which took him into the final and it was similar run for Abigail on Friday 14th as she ran 4.42.91 in the second of three heats and qualified for the 1500m Final run on Sunday. George contested the Lomg Jump on Sunday leaping out to 5.80m followed by Abigail and Dexta in their respective Finals. The Men’s 3000m Final had a runaway winner – Thomas James Bridger who took the win by nearly 10 seconds (7.58) from Rowan Miell-Ingram in 2nd spot (8.07.68) as Dexta clocked 8.32.34 (11th). In the Women’s 1500m Final, Abigail was getting shoved around a bit in the early stages of the race and then had to jockey a bit for her place at the front as she came home in 4th spot clocking 4.27.51. (RESULTS)
Abigail McAndrew (846)
Dexta Thompson (883)
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The Hale 10k was held on Sunday February 16th which had close to 1400 finishers and among them three Blackburn Harriers athletes – Ross Harrison, James Bretherton and Chris Marsden. Ross was running his first ever 10k on the road and what a debut he had – winning the race in a time of 30.50, Also having a fine run in the race was V45 James Bretherton who ran a new PB time of 34.02 – over half a minute improvement in 20th spot. Chris Marsden kept the personal bests coming as she clocked a new PB time of 37.08 – a full minute better than his previous best in placing 75th. (RESULTS). Following the race, Ross spoke to the Harriers about his race telling us “Yes it was a decent first crack at 10k on the road, after about 1km I started pulling away from the rest of the field opening up a 50mtr gap, and from then it was solo to the finish line. That was tough as it was very windy with some tough hilly sections, from about 4km there was a headwind to fight against for 3km! But considering the conditions I’ll take that.”
Ross Harrison
James Bretherton (1420)
Chris Marsden (1188)
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Still on the road and it was great to see Maddie Elliott back racing and free from injury this weekend as she traveled over to Spain to run in the Valencia 10k on Sunday February 16th to a race which featured close to 2500 runners. It was won by Yomif Kejecha in a very fast time of 26.30 with Kuma Girma in 2nd (26.57) and Brian Kibor in 3rd (27.04). The Women’s race was won by Likina Ambebaw in 29.39 which is becomming more and more the standard for senior elite women. Maddie had raced just three times in 2024 and had run one cross country race this year, foloowing a bout of troublesome injuries which hopefully, are now behind her. Maddie had a fine run, finishing in 27th place with a time of 37.44 – just six seconds outside her personal best and clearly a good sign for the future. After the race, Maddie spoke to the Club, telling us she was “Really enjoyed the 10k out in Valencia today! Didn’t expect much coming off the back of injury, so it was a massive surprise seeing the time on the clock at the end & being close to my PB! Looking forward to finally getting back racing for the harriers again this season” (RESULTS)
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Back to Indoors and it was the penultimate fixture at Sportcity in the Indoor Winter Series put on by Sale Harriers. Lots of Blackburn Harriers athletes at this one. Starting off with the 60m races, the Club had athletes in ten of the Heats. Charlie Unsworth won Heat 1 in a time of 7.01 alongside team mate Charlie Palich clocking 7.29 in 5th. Heat 5 had Matthew Fairbother placing 2nd in a new PB of 7.60 with Harvey Holden taking 3rd spot in 7.71. Charlie Palich ran a second 60m race (Heat 8) clocking 7.29 again in a mixed race of seniors and U20’s – Charlie being first U20. Alisha Lehner ran 9.02 in 6th place in Heat 15 whilst in Heat 16 Isabelle Hartley won that one in 9.30, equaling her personal best. Keir Michie set himself a new PB of 7.61 in 3rd spot in Heat 17 whilst Heat 19 had Harvey Kinder clocking 7.95 in 2nd place alongside team mate Jack Thompson in 3rd spot (8.10). Isabella Finn set herself a new 60m PB time of 8.37 in Heat 22 (3rd) whilst Claudia Longton also took 3rd spot in Heat 24 in 8.73. The final Heat for the Harriers – (25) – saw Holly Moore place 2nd in a new PB time of 8.84 alongside Grace iLunga placing 4th in 8.91 – her first time ever over the distance.
Moving up in distance to the 200m – and again – Harriers athletes in nine of the Heats on the day starting with a 2nd place in Heat 2 for Charlie Palich clocking 22.85 followed by Harvey Holden in Heat 5 running 25,23 in 3rd and a new PB by a full second. Millee Schofield took 2nd place in Heat 10 with a time of 25.56 whilst Isabelle Hartley ran 30.97 in Heat 12 (3rd). Heats 13 and 15 produced two more wins for the Harriers – Keir Michie winning Heat 13 in 23.89 for a new PB by over half a second, followed by George Camara competing for the first time this year, winning Heat 15 in 24.97 and a new PB by over 2.5 seconds – in the same Heat Jack Thompson placed 3rd in in another new PB of 25.91 alongside Harvey Kinder who took 4th spot in 26.10. Claudia Longton placed 2nd in Heat 19, running 28.29 and her first time over the distance whilst in Heat 20 Grace iLunga clocked 30.21, also in 2nd. In the final Heat for Harriers athletes saw Holly Moore take another win for the Club by clocking a new PB of 29.15 in winning Heat 21 with team mate Bella McCredie in 2nd place clocking 29.91.
Moving up again in distance to the 600m and there was another win for the Harriers, this time in Heat 3 – Logan McCredie winning in a new PB time of 1.26.56 – an improvement of a second and a half. Bella McCredie then added another new PB in Heat 9 of the 600m races, clocking 1.50.90 in 4th place. Millie Jordan ran Heat 12 of the 600m finishing in 2nd spot with yet another new PB of 1.40.28. Over the Hurdles – 60mH – George Camara placed 2nd in his Heat clocking 9.07 – a new PB by close to three tenths and in her Heat Isabella Finn ran 10.17 in 3rd place in her first ever race over hurdles. In the field events Isabella Finn capped off a good day when she set a new Long Jump PB of 4.87m, an improvement of 9cm. Well done to new member U15 Mohammad Ali who was competing for the first time for the Club in the Shot Putt – placing 3rd overall with a distance of 11.21m placing him at number 13 in the National Rankings.
All Sportcity Photos by Georgina McCredie
Logan McCredie
Mohammad Ali
Final event of the weekend report features Fell Racing in the Helm Hill Winter League at Sedbergh (RESULTS). Theo Robinson was running in the U17 Boys race which was won by Helm Hill’s Will Brayshaw in 13.45 – Theo running 14.41 in 4th place.
Theo Robinson
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