Trafford Open Meeting – Saturday April 24th
The latest in the Trafford Open Series of Meetings produced some brilliant results for the Harriers on the day. Ten athletes competed at 200m through to 1500m which produced eight new personal bests and six wins.
Matt Ramsden entered the 1500m with a current personal best of 4.04.13. Twelve athletes lined up with the first ten all running under 4 minutes which included the first six home under 3.53 or better. Matt arrived late because of a motorway crash and had no time to warm up, going straight into the race – and what a race he produced – chopping a huge four and a half seconds off his previous best to set a new PB of 3.59.67 in 10th place. He told the Club after his Race “I think the adrenaline from the stress got me that time. We was at a standstill on the motorway for about an hour so I got to the track 10 mins before my race, only managed 3 sprints as my warm up before the race started.”
In his 1500m Heat Ben Makin had a field of ten athletes as he went into the Race with a best time of 4.11.38 and he didn’t hang around, winning the race with a massive eight second new PB time of 4.03.55 with Sale Harriers Evan Savage in 2nd spot (4.09.14). A very happy athlete, Ben told the Harriers that it was “great to get racing in the 1500 again, my Heat however never seemed to get going, leaving me having to push the pace from the front, which wasn’t ideal, however very happy with a huge pb and a 59 last lap”.
The second win on the day for the Harriers was posted by Harry Wood in his 1500m Heat which had eleven athletes lining up. This was Harry’s first track race since June 2019 when he clocked 4.26.9 in the Lancashire County Schools Championships. He just kept the momentum going as he chopped a huge nine seconds off that time in winning the race, setting a new PB of 4.17.57.
Continuing with the 1500m Abigail Stratton made it three wins in the Meeting as she knocked a second and a half off her previous best time to set a new PB of 4.41.19 in a mixed race with LPS athlete – James Read in 2nd spot (4.42.45). Abi commented after the race that she “Felt good In the race and very happy to come away with a pb.“ In the same Race, bottom of age U17 Codie Dewhurst with a best time of 5.16.10 as an U15, battered that time when finishing in 3rd position and setting him self a new PB and benchmark of 4.43.93 – an improvement of over half a minute. Speaking about his race Codie told us that he “Felt strong and really pleased with results but need to work on my finish“.
Abi Stratton
Codie Dewhurst
Bottom age U17 Jack Paget-Fowler took the fourth win of the competition for the Harriers clocking a time of 4.50.64 in his debut over the distance from Trafford’s Jack Haworth in 2nd spot (4.52.64), thanks to a front running performance – telling us afterwards “I felt really good with it being my first race back and I put in a pretty good sprint finish.” Isabel Holt is another bottom of age U17 who is experiencing her first season on the Track which has seen her make her debut at Trafford over 1500m on April 3rd (5.00.56) and then over 800m at Trafford on April 10th (2.30.58). Isabel knocked another half second off her previous best to set a new PB of 4.59.53 as she placed 5th in another mixed race.
L-R Isabel Holt (146) – Abi Stratton (3) – Codie Dewhurst (55) – Jack Paget-Fowler (157)
Onto the 800m which had U17 Hayden Mercer in a nine strong field in his Heat – eight of whom set new personal best times. Hayden was one of them has he reduced his personal best from 2.03.44 to 2.01.61 finishing in 6th spot. His season had opened on April 10th at Trafford where he posted a time of 2.06.80 – his time today representing a five second improvement in the two weeks and another happy athlete told us that “It was a really nice day to race and the field of athletes all had similar PBS making it a close race but I’m really pleased with my time.”
Hayden Mercer
Two Blackburn Harriers entered the 400m – first year U17 Thomas Monks and bottom of age U20 Eleesha Charnley. Thomas hadn’t had a track Race since September 2020 and that was over 200m and had never run 400m previously. Well it was a pretty good opener as he took the win in a mixed Race, clocking a time of 55.8 and commenting afterwards that he was “Happy with my first race of the season, especially with all the setbacks this season. Now I just need to work on with what I have”. Eleesha ran in the same race – only her second race on the Track since Feb 2020. Her first was at Trafford on April 4th where she set a new personal best time of 61.7 and in finishing 3rd in the race she set a new PB of 61.5 and this, after setting another new PB in the 200m which she won in a time of 27.42.
400m Race Video (Thomas Monks)
Thomas Monks
L- R Isabella Merritt (Horwich) — Eleesha Charnley (Blackburn Harriers)
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Cheshire Elite Half-Marathon & Marathon – Sunday April 25th
Ben Fish had another very good run in a Marathon, the latest being the Elite Marathon in Cheshire which was won by Jake Smith in a time of 2.11 with Serpentine RC’s Callan Moody in 2nd (2.11.38) and Belgrave Harriers athlete – Reece Edwards in 3rd spot (2.14.43).
Ben went into the race with good early season form behind him having posted 14.33 at the Podium 5k (April 3rd) and 31.49 at the Run Through 10k (April 10th), which he won . Today he came home in 16th position clocking a time of 2hrs 23.58 and amazingly, is his fastest time since 2012 in a Marathon and after the race he spoke to the Club saying that it was a “Great course and good conditions. I went through halfway as planned just under 69 mins. The pace was already starting to bite though and it was a very tough last 10 miles, just hanging in there to keep the time respectable. I’m confident I can improve on this performance later in the year.”
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Run Tatton Half-Marathon Results
New personal bests kept coming – and this time on the Road for Tim Raynes and Chris Walton. Tim had targeted a Half-Marathon and manged to get into the Run Tatton Race on Sunday and what a run he had in a field of some 900 runners. Tim’s personal best going into the races was 68.40 set in 2019 at the Barcelona Half-Marathon where he placed 59th. Today Tim knocked a full minute of that previous best to set himself a new PB of 67.41 as he placed 2nd in the race overall behind the winner – James Scott-Farrinton (67.20) with Ian McBride in 3rd (70.43). Tim was pretty happy with his race as he explained to the Harriers later saying “With no racing on the calendar, I had been specifically training for the half marathon over the last few months (I was hoping to get a place at the Cheshire Elite Half but that wasn’t to be). Felt fairly confident coming into the race that I was in good shape, but wasn’t entirely sure what time I could hit on the course. Thankfully it was near-perfect conditions for racing and I soon found myself working together with James Scott-Farrington at the front. He started to put the squeeze on at around mile 6, when I made the decision to back off slightly. I felt I might be able to reel him in on the second lap, but he proved to be too strong. As it happened, though, we both broke the old course record. All in all, I’m really pleased with my run and it gives me confidence that I can run quicker in the Autumn. Well done to Chris Walton, who ran a big PB in his first race as a Blackburn Harrier and also to those who did the 10k on Saturday. Great to see Ben Fish’s result in the marathon as well – inspiring to see him consistently running well year in, year out.”
Tim Raynes
Chris Walton was running for the Harriers for the first time since he joined a few short months ago and it has certainly paid off for him finishing 38th with a time of 78.50, some 18 minutes faster than when he ran his last one which was his personal best going into the race. Later he spoke to the Club about the day telling us “I’ve not been at Blackburn that long but I can tell the difference all ready and After 3 and a half months of no racing I wasn’t expecting that much plus to come out with a PB of over 2 mins I was over the moon“.
Chris Walton
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Run Tatton 10k – Saturday April 24th
More new personal bests at Tatton – this time in the 10k where a number of Blackburn Harriers made the trip on a lovely sunny day – Mark Magee, Ryan Bradshaw, Lee Casson and the Buckingham twins – Daughter Katie and mum Jan.
Mark Magee had been looking to attack his 10k personal best of 32.50 and his recent form in the Podium 5k was a pointer to improving his time – and that is exactly what happened as he placed 2nd overall out of 671 finishers, knocking nearly a minute off his previous best time to set a new PB of 31.54, behind the winner – Jacob Cann (31.14), with Leo Cossham in 3rd (32.10). Speaking to the Harriers after his race, he was clearly delighted as he told us “I was 50/50 about racing at Run Tatton 10k with Mid Cheshire 5k planned in 6 days but with the lack of races and a chat with Nick, we decided it was good chance to get another race under my belt. I wasn’t expecting too much with it not being the fastest course around but the plan was to set off giving myself a chance of sub 32, which I did hitting the 5k marker in 15.47. I was really happy to hang on with the second 5k of the course being tougher. I managed to hang on to sub 32 coming home 31.54!“
Mark Magee (3)
Ryan Bradshaw was sitting on a best time of 35.24 for the 10k , but that was shattered yesterday as he placed 11th overall and blew his old time away by a minute and half to record a new PB of 33.53, telling the Harriers that it was “Great to get another race done and in ideal weather conditions. Really pleased to have a new 10k PB and see good performances from my club mates, especially Mark with his 2nd place and PB!”
Ryan Bradshaw
Lee Casson was the Harriers third senior man in the Race and came home with a time of 35.49 in 26th place commenting after the race “It was great conditions and a well run event at Tatton Park, though I started well and went through 5k on target pace, ultimately it wasn’t my day and legs just didn’t want to respond after the hill at 6k. Still its another run banked and was great to see the other Blackburn athletes run well and get PBs!”
Lee Casson
Katie Buckingham had wanted to do the first of the Tatton races and was training really well before having the setback of another ankle injury. Without the training under her belt that she had hoped for, she nevertheless decided to run and did very well given what she had, had to endure over these recent months. Her time of 41.27 was pretty good and she told us about the day after saying she “really quite enjoyed it, didn’t want to go off too hard and die/hate it, so eased off in the middle maybe slightly too much, but chased a few girls down in the last 2k so quite pleased with it. Can’t wait to be running sub 40s again, but 41.30 will do for now all things considered”.
Jan Buckingham had a very good day finishing as the 2nd V55 Woman and posting a time of 50.23 and told the Club that she was “Very pleased with Tatton 10k today. Perfect conditions and a 50.23 result, 2nd Vet 55. One and a half mins faster than I did it in October last year, how does that work!! Well done to other Harriers Mark, Ryan and Katie. Great organisation, well done to Run Through for getting these events back up and running.”
Jan Buckingham
