The final Match of the West 1 Division in the UKYDL (Upper Age Group) took place on Sunday July 6th at Ellesmere Sports Village – the home of West Cheshire AC; And it was Blackburn Harriers and West Cheshire AC who had finished first and second in Matches 1 and 2 who would fight it out for the Division title on the day. Although Blackburn Harriers had League and Match points in hand going into this final match, it became clear early on that the gap was closing rapidly as unavailable athletes on the day for the Harriers saw West Cheshire leading the field by over 50 points at one stage. The spirit and determination to extract every point was exemplary by our athletes and meant that we finished in 2nd place, beaten by just seven points – but had won the Division title and promotion to the Premier Division in 2026. Thanks to all the athletes who have competed in the team over the season, team managers, Coaches who have supported them and last but by no means least, our Officials.
Blackburn Harriers – Divsion One Champions – Promoted to the Premier Division
Blackburn Harriers UKYDL (UAG) PHOTOS available onf our Facebook Page — (HERE)
SPRINTS
Daniel Nuttal and Keir Michie started the day well for the Harriers on the track – Daniel placing 1st in the 100m A (11.60) and 2nd in the 200m A (24.1) whilst Keir won the B 100 (11.8) and the B 200 in 24.8. Like may other athletes, they had to combat a pretty difficult wind at times. In the U20 Women’s sprints Alisha Lehner placed 4th in the 100m A (14.1) with Isabella Finn 2nd in the B (14.2) whilst in the 200m Claudia Longton clocked 27.6 in 3rd in the A alongside team mate Annabelle Partridge – 3rd in the B (29.6). Ben Stratton took on the 400m for the first time clocking 52.00 (2nd), the same time as the winner alongside team mate Oliver Gill winning the B in 53.2 and just his second ever race over the distance. Ernie Hobson clocked a new PB of 12.0 in the U17 Men’s 100m – 2nd in the A whilst Harvey Kinder clocked 12.6 in 2nd spot in the B Matthew Sharples and Jack Thompson teamed up for the 200m – Matthew winning the A in 24.4 and Jack taking 2nd in the B with 26.6. Matthew was out again in the 400m clocking 53.8 in 2nd in the A alongside Jack Wood winning the B (58.3) and his first time ever over the distance. Claudia Longton clocked 13.7 in 3rd in the A 100m with team mate Agata Tomasz 4th in the B race (14.8). Evie Fort and Grace iLunga took on the 200m – Evie 3rd in the A with 28.5 and Grace 4th in the B (29.6) — Evie and Grace teamed up again in the 300m – Evie clocking 45.1 in 3rd in the A alongside Grace also 3rd in the B (47.4).
Daniel Nuttal (1)
Isabella Finn (11)
Middle Distance
Oliver Gill and Logan McCredie took a double win in the U20 Men’s 800m – Oliver winning the A in 2.02.4 and Logan the B in 2.08.7 whilst in the 1500m Adam Nott placed 2nd in the A (4.27.1) – a new PB by six seconds with team mate Ethan Cutler winning the B in 4.36.4. Isabella Pacelli came 2nd in the U20 Women’s 800m with 2.29.4 as Freya Neild also took 2nd in the 1500m running 5.33.5. Run of the day came from Sam Aspey in the U17 Men’s 800m winning the A race in a new PB of 2.00.1 – an improvement of nearly three and a half seconds with team mate Loucas Lancashire taking 3rd in the B (2.22.2). In the 1500m Will Grundy clocked a new PB of 4.17.6 in 2nd place in the A alongside Jack Wood winning the B race in 4.19.7. Bella McCredie came 3rd in the A 800m for U17 Women in 2.33.2 alongside Lily Jane Green winning the B race in 2.46.4.
Sam Aspey
Jumps
Logan McCredie set a new PB in the Long Jump for U20 Men in 3rd place (5.41m) whilst in the U20 Women’s Long Jump – Millie Pilkington took it on to help the team witn a 4th place (3.21m) – and in the High Jump, Imogen Robinson cleared 1.30 to win the event as the only athlete entered into it. Lincoln Briggs came 2nd in the U17 Men’s High Jump clearing 1.55m as Matthew Sharples leapt out to 11.09m in the Triple Jump to win it and again, no other competitors in the event – this was also the first time that Matthew had done this competitively. Isabella Finn and Grace iLunga went in the U17 Women’s Long Jump – Isabella 4th in the A (4.35m) and Grace winning the B with 4.23m. Claudia Longton and Tamzin Osborne won good points for the team as Claudia came 3rd in the A Triple Jump with 9.60m alongside team mate Tamzin who won the B with 9.13m and this after earlier winning the Pole Vault.
Tamzin Osborne
Throws
In the U20 Women’s Shot Putt – Isabelle Hartley threw 7.33m in 3rd spot, Bella McCredie throwing 12.81m in the Discus (4th) and Isabella Hartley winning the Javelin with a throw of 26.73m added more points. U17 Lincoln Briggs took a good 2nd place in the A Shot Putt with 11.73m whilst Jack Wood threw 5.81m in the B (2nd) having never been near a Shot Putt circle previously – great attitude. Lincoln then went on to back that up with a new PB in the Discus taking 2nd place with 36.75m in the A whilst team mate Loucas Lancashire won the B with 23.96m – a new PB by close to 4 metres. Final throw of the day for the U17 Men saw Loucas Lancashire throw well to place 2nd with another new PB of 40.00m. Annabelle Partridge was another athlete just rowing in on the day, taking on events that they had never done previously and this time it was Shot Putt – Annabelle throwing 7.10m in 6th and again in the Discus for U17 Women – Lydia Knowles had never thrown a discus but volunteered – placing 6th (10.18m). Lydia termed up with Bella McCredie for the Javelin – Bella throwing 11.29m (4th) in the A alongside Lydia in another event she had never done previously 2nd in the B with 8.32m.
Lincoln Briggs
Loucas Lancashire
Hurdles & Relays
Millie Pilkington was the only competitor in the U20 Women Hurdles so got the maximum points in a time of 78.2 whilst similarly in the Sprint Hurdles (100m) Alisha Lehner was the only competitor as she ran 18.6 to record maximum points again. The same thing happend in the U17 Men’s Hurdles with just James McAulay running, recording the win in 20.0. Isabella Finn went in the U17 Women’s 80m Hurdles where five took part – Isabella clocking 15.6 in 3rd spot. The Harriers won the 4 x 400m Mixed Relay in 4.08.5 – the team led off by Ben Stratton (53.8) followed by Isabella Pacelli (67.7) and Isbabella Hartley (72.9) handed over to Logan McCredie (54.1) who had a blistering first 200m to make the deficit up and bring the team home in first place. The U20 Women’s 4 x 100m team were the only competitors so took the win in 57.6 (Alisha Lehner, Millie Pilkington, Isabelle Hartley, Lily Jane Green). In the U17 men’s 4 x 100m there was another win in a time of 47.0 (Jack Thompson, Harvery Kinder, Ernie Hobson, Keir Michie) whilst int the 4 x 400m realys the lads placed 2nd in 4.05.0 (Sam Aspey, Jack Wood, James McAulay, Matthew Sharples)
Millie Pilkington
Alisha Lehner
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During the week Blackburn Harriers Isabel Holt was out racing again after winning the 1500m in the Northern League West Premier Division Match at Trafford. This time she was at the BMC in Leeds on Thursday July 3rd in the 1500m mixed D Race where she came 2nd overall and first woman in the race in a new PB time of 4.29.90 which was a two second improvement over her previous best.
Isabel Holt
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Staying with track and field the Harriers athletes were out at the 3rd fixture of the Mid Lancs Track and Field season – at Bury on Saturday July 5th. (Provisional Results). Huge numbers of sprinters meant the timetable over ran, so please spare a thought for all of the officials who are out there all day long – 53 Heats of the 100m and 200m Sprint races across the age groups. Anthony Kent just entered the Hammer – the first event of the day – and took the win with 51.41m. Great to see Ben Whittaker back out again in the 100m for his first race in a very long while, clocking 12.7 in the Senior Men’s Heat 2. Jack Thompson clocked 12.6 in Heat 1 of the U17 Men’s 100m (5th) whilst Matthews Sharples clocked 12.1 in Heat 2 (3rd).
All photos from the Mid Lancs fixture are on Blackburn Harriers Facebook Page — (HERE)
Max Belshaw decided to take on the 400m and clocked 53.8 in 2nd place and just three tenths outside his previous best whilst in the U17 Men’s 800m Tom Hunt ran 2.18.5 which was a new PB by four seconds and only his second race since 2023 and in the U17 Men’s 1500m Theo Robinson also ran a new PB by some six seconds clocking 4.41.5 in 3rd place with team mate Liam Bennison clocking 4.58.0 in 4th. Kai Addison ran 12.5 in 2nd spot (Heat 1) of the U15 Boys 100m alongside Ollie Haworth in 5th (14.3) with team mates James Acton Grieves clocking a new PB of 13.2 in 2nd and Joshua Carrier also with a new PB of 13.4 in 3rd (Heat 2). Kai and Joshua then ran in the 200m Heat 1 – Kai placing 3rd in Heat 1 (25.7) and Joshua 5th for a new PB (27.7). There was a massive new PB for James Acton-Grieves in the U17 Men’s 400m as he chopped off over 7 seconds to set a new PB time of 58.4 in 2nd and a new PB also for Kai Addison too in the next 400m Heat of 56.9 (3rd) – an improvement of over 2 seconds. James Acton-Grieves is on a roll at the moment, setting new personal bests in everything – Pole Vault, Long Jump, High Jump and 400m – and he did again in the Long Jump winning with a new PB of 5.02m and his first time over 5 metres – Joshua Carrier jumped 3.93m in 13th place. Logan Bainbridge and Noah Briscoe ran in the U13 Boys 100m – Logan clocking 15.6 (4th) in Heat 1 and Noah 2nd in Heat 2 (14.5) – both going on to the 200m where Logan ran 33.4 (5th) in Heat 1 and Noah 3rd in Heat 2 (29.6). They hadn’t finished there and both entred their third event of the day – Long Jump in a Pool of 22 – in which Noah came 3rd with 4.09m and Logan 12th with 3.55m. U13 Henry Iddon is going from strength to strength in the Javelin, posting another new PB of 31.63m in 2nd place which places him in the top 20 of the National Rankings.
Noah Brisco (776)
The Senior Women’s 100m saw Isabelle Hartley run 15.0 (3rd) in Heat 1 and she followed that up in the field with a throw of 23.11m in the Javelin (5th). Leonie Harris ran 15.5 in 5th – Heat 2 of the U17 Women’s 100m as Lydia Knowles clocked 34.4 in 6th place in the U17 Women’s 200m Heat 2. U17 Rebecca Awe threw a new PB by 70cm in winning the Shot Putt with 9.97m and followed that up by winning the discus having done it for the first time with a distance of 25.95m. Darcie Belshaw (U15) was out of the blocks to win Heat 3 of the 100m in 13.5 alongside Dana Juma in 4th (14.0) and Daisy Gardner in 3rd (14.6 ) Heat 5 – and in Heat 6 another win for Niamh Boland clocking 13.8 with Abigail Awe in 5th (14.2) – Abigail went on to the 200m running 29.7 in 5th spot (Heat 3) – her first time over the distance and in her first competition in Long Jump Abigail jumped 4.47m to place 2nd out of a Pool of 23 athletes. Millie Jordan was having a race before the English Schools over 300m – taking the win in 43.2 and finishing 1st out of the 26 girls in 5 Heats. Dana Juma had a good win the U15G Shot Putt with a distance of 9.25m. Back on the track and Amelia Carrier clocked 16.2 in 3rd place in the U13G 100m (Heat 3) and in Heat 1 of the 200m Amelia ran 33.8 (5th) whilst Ella Taylor clocked 30.9 in 2nd spot (Heat 2) and Hannah Moore running a new PB of 31.1 in 4th spot (Heat 3) before which, Hannah cleared 1.35m in 3rd spot in the High Jump followed by a leap of 3.92m for Hannah in the Long Jump. Amelia Carrier also contested the Long Jump in 18th spot jumping a new PB of 3.18m. Moving up in distance to the 800m which saw U13G Sophie Douglas run 2.47.9 in 6th (Heat 1) and just narrowly missing her previous best
Amelia Carrier (24)
Ξ
Out on the road and it was the final race in this years Astley Park Series on Wednesday July 2nd. Blackburn Harriers Tom Blaney won the race in 20.48 – his fastest time of the series which gave him the Series win too. V40 Marco Pacelli came home in 9th spot and 2nd V40 on the night and also like Tom, running his fastest time of the Series (23.20) which saw him finish 7th overall in the Series and 2nd V40. V55 Matt Nuttall made it three in a row who had run their fastest time as he came home in 12th place overall, and 1st V50 in a time of 23.26 – giving him 8th place overall and 1st V50 in the Series. In 2nd spot in the V50 age category on the night was Mark Almond ruuning 23.51 – his fastest time for the series by over half a minute and 12th in the Serie sobverall. V45 Vikki Robertshaw was next across the line in 2nd place in the Women’s race, running 23.52 – followed by Dominic Bretherton in 30th spot with a time of 26.16 having previously run 26.14 and 26.22 which was remarkably consistent. Junior Isabella Pacelli was next home in 5th spot in the Women’s race in 27.09 and in the Series overall was 3rd female and 1st Junior Woman. V50 John Aspey finished in 53rd spot (29.21) and 24th overall in the Series whilst V35 Ella Green came 14th in the Women’s Race (29.35) with Sarah Krige finishing just a few places further back in the Women’s race (16th) running 30.23. In the Junior race Esme Krige placed 6th in the Girls race with a time of 6.12 and 2nd U13 for the Series. (RESULTS)
L-R Tom Blaney & Son – Matt Nuttall – Marco Pacelli – Vikki Robertshaw – Mark Almond – Sarah Krige – William Krige – Ella Green – Isabella Pacelli
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Still on the road and it was a tough race that Tanith Jade Ellis took on – Gerry McCabe’s Hendon Brook – on Sunday July 7th. (RESULTS) and won by Peter Mackrell in 81.28 with the Women’s race winner – April Thorpe – running 95.39. ‘TJ’ as Tanith is affectionately known, ran a time of 2hr 09.17 in 16th spot in the Women’s race.
Tanith Jade-Ellis
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