A great start to this years Division One campaign in the Northern League for Blackburn Harriers after a very good day of Track & Field competition which saw the Club win the match with a total of 396 points from Team Isle of Man in 2nd (375), West Cheshire 3rd (343), Wakefield 4th (334), City of York 5th (288), Wigan 6th (263). In winning the match, the Harriers recorded 20 wins, 9 second and 14 third places.
TRACK
Solomon Brown and Ben Whittaker got the day off to a good start with Solomon running just outside his best time, clocking 59.80 in the ‘A’ 400m Hurdles whilst Ben in his first ever race over Long Hurdles won the ‘B’ in a solid 65.10. Charlie Coy was running her first ever 400m Hurdle race placing 5th (85.80) to help the team out. The flat 400m races were pretty rapid as the Men’s ‘A’ race was won in 48.90 and the ‘B’ 52.30. Zac Howe ran 54.00 in the ‘A’ (5th) with Karl Billington also 5th in the ‘B’ (61.00). Charlie Coy ran 62.90 for 5th spot in the Women’s 400m as Ellen Sagar-Hesketh, flew out of the blocks over the first 200 to establish a big lead and hung on to win the ‘B’ in 63.60.
Solomon Brown
Ben Whittaker
Charlie Coy
Zac Howe
Karl Billington
Ellen Sagar-Hesketh
Charlie Coy
The Sprint Hurdles witnessed more progress for Ben Whittaker as he won the ‘B’ race with 17.90 and a new PB with Nick Massey clocking 19.80 in the ‘A’ race (3rd). Chloe Bleeks placed 3rd in the ‘A’ 100m Hurdles (19.70).
Ben Whittaker 
Nick Massey
Chloe Bleeks
Similar story in the Men’s 800m won in 1.53.7 and 1.56.7 with Zac Howe 3rd in the ‘A’ (2.07.0) and Joe Gebbie 3rd in the ‘B’ (2.02.8). Ellen Sagar-Hesketh clocked 2.25.9 (5th) in the Women’s ‘A’ 800m as Eleesha Charnley ran a tactically perfect race in the ‘B’ to win in 2.25.3. Dominic Walton and Marc Hartley delivered wins in the Men’s 1500m Which saw Marc take on the race with some 500m to go splitting the field up and allowing Dominic to put in a huge kick from 300m out to come home the winner in 4.09.40 with Marc making it a double by winning the ‘B’ in 4.12.6. Amy Davies ran a time of 5.15.8 for 4th spot in the Women’s ‘A’ Race and Freya Black 5.33.20 in 3rd place in the ‘B’.
Xac Howe 
Joe Gebbie
Ellen Sagar-Hesketh 
Eleesha Charnley
Annabel Ralph made a bid for the lead half way through the 3000m, finally placing 3rd in a time of 10.34.50 in the ‘A’ with Maddie Elliott winning the ‘B’ in 10.42.20. Jacob Watson and Tom Blaney stepped into the 5000m and had very good runs, both running the distance for the first time on the track, and gaining valuable points as Jacob clocked 16.06 in the ‘A’ (2nd) and Tom won the ‘B’ in a time of 16.26. The 3000m Steeplechase saw Joe Howe and Chris Davies pair up again as they have in previous seasons, winning big points as Joe clocked 11.02.60 in the ‘A’ (2nd) and Chris 11.06.30 in the ‘B’ for a win.
Annabel Ralph (1) & Maddie Elliott (11)
Jacob Watson (1) & Tom Blaney (11)
Joe Howe (1) 
Chris Davies (11)
In the Sprints Brandon Zinyemba had a very good day as he won the ‘A’ 100m in 11.2, came 4th in the ‘A’ 200m (23.20) as Dominic Bretherton ran 11.60 (5th) in the ‘B’ 100m and 24.40 in the ‘B’ 200m (5th). Bailey Madden ran 12.70 for 5th in the ‘A’ 100m with Chloe Bleeks clocking 13.90 in the ‘B’ also 5th. Bailey then ran a big new PB by eight tenths clocking 26.20 in the ‘A’ 200m race (4th) as Millie Coy was just outside her best in 4th with 27.20 in the ‘B’.
Brandon Zinyemba (1) 
Dominic Bretherton (11)
Bailey Madden
Chloe Bleeks
When it came to the 4 x 100m Relay, Dominic had to withdraw with a sore hamstring, so the team became Chris Brand on Leg 1, Kyle Mashiter on Leg 2, Ethan Downes on Leg 3 and Brandon Zimyemba on the final leg and they ran a fine race with good handovers to take the win in 45.00. The Club Record has stood since 1971 at 43.1 – set in the BAL – and these lads are young enough to go on and challenge that in the future. The Women’s 4 x 400m team – Maddie Elliott – Eleesha Charnley – Charlie Coy – Ellen Sagar-Hesketh – placed 4th in a time of 4.10.4 with amzingly consistent splits of 62.5, 62.7, 62.7 and 62.5 and the time was just 2 seconds outside the Club Record set in 2005. In the Men’s 4 x 400m – Marc Hartley – Solomon Brown – Dominic Walton – Joe Gebbie – the team clocked 3.35.40 in 3rd place with Dominic Walton clocking 49.9 on the third Leg.
L-R and photo bombed by 1500m winner Dominic Walton – Ramzi Dabbar (Sprints Coach) – Solomon Brown – Dominic Bretherton – Kyle Mashiter – Chris Brand – Brandon Zinyemba – Ethan Downes
L-R Maddie Elliott – E;leesha Charnely – Charlie Coy – Ellen Sagar-hesketh
L-R Dominic Walton – Joe Gebbie – Marc Hartley – Solomon Brown
FIELD
Great to see Joe Pearse back in action for the Harriers in his first competiton since February 2018, well over a year ago, as he has battled with a bad ankle injury. Neverthless, he came up with a good win to clear 1.90 and in the ‘A’ High Jump with Nick Smith clearing 1.60m in the ‘B’ (4th). Charlie Coy who last did a High Jump in 2013 as a junior, helped the team out, clearing 1.35m for 5th in the ‘A’ with Imogen Mansfield who has never done High Jump, did the same in the ‘B’ with a 1.25m clearance for 3rd place. Great spirit by the girls to step in to help the team in the way they did. There was a big plus in the Pole Vault too with three beginners, two of whom hadn’t ever pole vaulted in a competition previously.
Joe Pearse
Charlie Coy
Imogen Mansfield
George Whittaker cleared 2.20 in the ‘A’ men’s Pole Vault for 4th place, the event being won by a Vault of 4.40m by Wigan’s Chris Lamb whilst new members of the Club Katie Mitchell cleared 2.00m for 2nd in the Women’s ‘A’ and Poppy Mae Preece got over the opening height of 1.70m to win the ‘B’ – invaluable points won for the team by these athletes.
Katie Mitchell
Poppy Mae Preece
Jonathan Gough was just short of his previous best leaping out to 12.56m for 2nd place in the ‘A’ Triple Jump with Nick Smith also in 2nd in the ‘B’ with a distance of 10.66m. Ellen Sagar-Hesketh jumped 9.83m for 3rd spot in the Women’s ‘A’ Triple Jump with Eleesha Charnley also taking 3rd in the ‘B with 8.21m and the first time she has has tried the event. There was a new PB for Imogen Mansfield in the Long Jump with a 4.87m leap in 4th in the ‘A’ as Bailey Madden came 4th in the ‘B’ with 4.38m. More Long Jump new PB’s as Jonathan Gough and Ben Branton both leapt out to a distance of 5.86m which had Ben in 3rd in the ‘A’ and Jonathan winning the ‘B’.
Jonathan Gough 
Nick Smith
Imogen Mansfield 
Bailey Madden
Anna Peers and Millie Coy are a formidable pair in the Javelin which saw Anna win the ‘A’ with a distance of 37.40m and Millie win the ‘B’ with 30.24m. English Schools Finalist Cameron Harris from 2018 won the ‘A’ Javelin with a throw of 51.66m – the first time he has thrown the 800g weight in competition with Nathan Billington placing 4th in the ‘B’ (28.48m) and a new PB by nearly two metres.
Anna Peers
Cameron Harris
Anthony Kent set a new PB by three metres throwing 45.22m in the ‘A’ Hammer in 2nd spot with Nathan Billington making it a good haul of points for the Club with his throw of 35.14m to win the ‘B’. Emily Taberner (5th) in the ‘A’ (26.41m) which was a new PB by some four metres teamed up in the Hammer with Abigail Brown – 2nd in the ‘B’ (24.10m).
Anthony Kent 
Nathan Billington
Emily Taberner
It was a win double for Anna Peers and Emily Taberner in the Discus with Anna winning the ‘A’ with a distance of 36.80m and Emily winning the ‘B’ (28.18m) and in the Men’s Discus – Anthony Kent threw 34.82m for 3rd in the ‘A’ as Tony Balko threw 30.01m for 2nd in the ‘B’ – the same pairing in the Shot Putt had Anthony in 3rd in the ‘A’ (11.81m) and Tony in 2nd in the ‘B’ (10.02m) and once again evidence of the major contirbution that the Throws Squad plays in the success of the team overall. Emily Taberner and Abigail Brown joined up again in the Women’s Shot Putt with Emily placing 6th in the ‘A’ (8.96m) and Abigail 6th in the ‘B’ with a new PB of 7.23m.
Anna Peers
Emily Taberner
Anthony Kent 
Tony Balko
Emily Taberner 
Abigail brown
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