After two very close encounters in the first two matches of this years Premier West Division of the Northern Leage – the Harriers inning the first on by just four points and the seocnd by just half a point – Match 3 hosted at Robin Park, Wigan proved to be a tight afair throughout the day and mid way through the day, just 20 points separated the first two Clubs. In the end, the Harriers succeeded in keeping their unbeaten run going, winning the match by 34 points, with a total of 444.5 in front of the Isle of Man with 411.5, West Cheshire 383.5, Sale 272, Wigan 192.5 and Preston 130.The conditions were not at all conducive for the distance athletes with the temperature getting up to 25 degrees during the day. Nevertheless the Harriers put in some very good performances resulting in 26 wins and 11 new PB’s. The final match of the season is to be held at Witton Park on Saturday August 6th with the Grand Final taking place on Saturday August 27th in Doncaster featuring the top two teams of each of the three Premier Divisions – North West, North East and East.
The Club’s Hammer Throwers got the team off to a good start with Matthew Heywood and Anthony Kent making it a double win – Matthew taking the A with 46.78m and Anthony the B with 45.00m. In the Shot Anthony threw 11.14m for 4th in the A whilst team mate Tony Balko placed 3rd in the B with 9.31. Charlotte Williams took 2nd place in the Women’s A Hammer with a distance of 53.64m after a good battle with Sale’s Hannah Blood and backed up well by Grace Bontoft in the B as she won that with a distance of 35.23m. Teaming up with Sarah Henton in the Discus, Sarah came 2nd in the A with 38.69m, just 38 cms behind the winner as Grace came 4th in the with 15.19m. Sarah then joined Charlotte Williams in the Shot resulting a in a new PB for Charlotte of 9.32m – 4th in the A alongside Sarah who came 3rd in the B with 8.37m. In the Men’s Javelin, new member Oliver Palk was throwing the Senior weight for the very first time and did really well on debut placing 4th in the A with 34.51m as George Whittaker came 3rd in the B with 33.67m. Millie Coy made it a pretty good day for herself and the team as she won the Women’s Javelin with 31.05m with team mate Kady Thompson – making her debut in the Senior League – placing 3rd in the B with 21.76m.
Matthew Heywood
Anthony Kent
Charlotte Williams
Grace Bontoft
Sarah Henton
Oliver Palk
George Whittaker
L-R Millie Coy – Kady Thompson – George Whittaker – Oliver Palk
On to the track and it was very good start for Ben Boocock who won the 400m Hurdles in a big new PB time of 59.8, an improvement of 3.5 seconds followed by smashing his 100m personal best by six tenths as he clocked a new PB time of 11.7 in the non-scoring 100m. Charlie Coy set a new PB by some five seconds as she took 3rd place in the Women’s A 400m Hurdles (77.5) and Isabelle Hartley backed that up with a 4th place in the Women’s 100m Hurdles in 22.3. One of the first events of the day is Women’s Long Jump which turned out to be very good for the Club – Millie Coy setting a new PB by 23cms as she won the A with 5.25m with great support from Lucy Rishton who took 2nd place in the B with 4.45m. Kara Dacosta and Poppy Preece were in good form over the High Jump posting wins in the A and B with 1.56m and 1.50m respectively – Poppy adding a 3rd place in the Women’s Pole Vault too with a clearance of 2.30m. Millie and Eleesha Charnley paired up in the Women’s Triple Jump resulting in 4th place and another new PB for Millie in the A (9.49m) and 7.56m for Eleesha in the B (3rd).
Ben Boocock
Charlie Coy
Isabelle Hartley (3rd from the right)
Millie Coy
Lucy Rishton
Kara Dacosta
Poppy Preece
Poppy Preece
Harrison Allcock and Samuel Mutombo kept the points total moving as Harrison leapt out to 5.64m in the A Long Jump and a new PB by 14cms alongside his team mate Samuel who came 2nd in the B with a leap of 5.50m. Rory Teare wasn’t far off his personal best as he cleared 1.75m in the High Jump A for 3rd spot with Daniel Smith clearing 1.60m in the B in 4th place. Harrison and Samuel teamed up again in the Triple Jump Samuel jumping 11.52m in the A for 4th place as Harrison leapt out to 10.81m in the B for 2nd position and just 3cms outside his best. The Pole Vaulters for the Harriers have added really good points to our totals over this season and again today with Poppy in the Women’s followed by George Whittaker clearing 3.40m in the A for 2nd place and Hayden Mercer winning the B with 3.00m.
Harrison Allcock
Samuel Mutombo
George Whittaker
Hayden Mercer
Lewis Slack and Charlie Unsworth led from the front in the Sprints as Lewis won the A 100m in a new PB of 11.2 with team mate Charlie also winning the B in 11.3 – equaling his personal best. The same pairing took on the 200m with Lewis clocking 22.8 in 2nd in the A but being disqualified for stepping out of his lane and Charlie making it a double win for him on the day with a 23.3 clocking to win the B which was also a new PB by a tenth. Amy Wiggans and Lucy Riston took 4th in the A and 2nd in the B in the Women’s 100m with respective time sof 13.2 and 13.6 which equaled Lucy’s personal best. Onto the 200m which saw Kara Dacosta knock two tenths off her previous best to duck under 26 seconds for the first time as she won the A in a new PB time of 25.8 and Amy Wiggans clocking 27.3 in the B for 3rd place.
Lewis Slack (1)
Charlie Unsworth (11)
Amy Wiggans (1)
Lucy Rishton
Kara Dacosta (1)
In the Relays the Club won both the Men’s 4 x 100m (44.6) and 4 x 400m (3.39.1) and in the Women’s Relays the team took two second places in the 4 x 100 (51.5) and 4 x 400m (4.18.0).
There was a good battle in the Men’s 400m as Dominic Walton finished 2 tenths ahead of Sale’s Jacob Lingard with a 49.8 clocking in taking the win as Daniel Smith ran 57.8 to take 2nd in the B. Matt Ramsden and Ben Stratton made it maximum points in the 800m – Matt winning the A in 1.59.6 and Ben winning the B in 2.05.6 in a hell of a tussle with the Isle of Man athlete Samuel Perry who was just one tenth behind in 2nd. Tim Raynes kept the wins coming as he won the A 1500m in 4.14.7 alongside Chris Davies who stepped in at the last minute to take 2nd place in the B with 4.38.3. Ben Fish and Jacob Watson took on the 5000m in the worst posisble conditions as it was around 25 degrees at the time the race started. So great times in that heat as Ben finished 2nd in the A with 14.53.5 and Jacob clocking 16.12. 2 to win the B. Ben Makin and Tom Blaney made it a great haul of points from the middle distance races as they won A and B in the 3000m Steeplechase – Ben clocking 9.55.8 in the A and Tom, the only B athlete 10.38.9 in the B and 2nd overall.
Dominic Walton
Daniel Smith (11)
Matt Ramsden (1)
Ben Stratton
Tim Raynes
Chris Davies (11)
Ben Fish (1)
Jacob Watson
Ben Makin
Tom Blaney
Keira Haxton was our only 800m runner in the Women’s team and ran well to finish less than a second outside her personal best in a time of 2.25.8 for 2nd place in the A race. Eleesha Charnley set a new PB in winning the Women’s 1500m A in 4.58.5 alongside Amy Davies who won the B race in 5.10.9. Another double win and maximum points for the team, this time by Joanne Nelson and Ellen Sagar-Hesketh with respective times of 11.02.8 and 11.26.7 in the 3000m.
Keira Haxton (1)
Eleesha Charnley (1) – Amy Davies (11)
Joanne Nelson (1) – Ellen Sagar-Hesketh (11)
Ellen & Joanne
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V50 Nick Gaskell was out again at the weekend, this time at the Wilmslow Summer 10k on Sunday July 10th) featuring over 2000 runners – (RESULTS). Times, as with all distance races were very much affected by the heat – the race being won by Sale’s Nigel Martin in 30.27. Nick came home in 31st place overall with a time of 34.10 which puts him at number 12 in the National Rankings.
Nick Gaskell (7503)
On to a different surface and this time at the Burnley 10k run on Sunday July 10th where Junior athletes Alex Rothwell and Agatha Taylor ran in the U15/U17 Race. Alex placed 5th overall in the M15 age group with 11.45 and 4th in his age group, whilst Agatha finished 6th overall and 1st F15 with a time of 11.49. Forty five youngsters ran un the U11/U13 race which saw U11 Charlotte Rothwell run a time of 8.42 and in 40th spot and 14th in her age group. (RESULTS).
Photos courtesy of David Belshaw
Alex Rothwell
Agatha Taylor
