This weekend we are covering Olympians in their prepaartion for the Paris Olympics, athletes at the English Schools Track & Field Championships, the Northern League West Premier Division, Road, Trail, Ultra and Triathlon races featuring Blackburn Harriers athletes. Starting off in Germany, but not with the football final, Holly Bradshaw was competing at the weekend as part of her build up to the Olympics in Paris. Vaulting at the International Pole vault Meeting, Spa park, Rottach-Egern (GER) – (RESULTS). Holly produced a clearance of 4.70m to win the competition from Finland’s Elina Lampel in 2nd (4.55m) and US pole Vaulter Emily Grove in 3rd (4.45m). Speaking on her social media after the event, Holly commented  “Thank you to everyone who has supported me through thick and thin to get back over the 470 barrier. I knew in my heart it was possible but without everyone’s relentless backing I would never have got here“.

The English Schools Track & Field Championships are something be be remembered for all the athletes who win selection from their Counties to go and compete against the best athletes in the country, in their events and age group catgories. This years Championships, held at Alexandra Stadium in Birmingham, saw twelve athletes from Blackburn Harriers competing – Jack Baranowski; Charlie Clanford; Oliver Gill; Isabel Holt; Millie Jordan; Charlie Palich; Carmen Peter-Thomas; Millee Schofield; Ben Stratton; Agatha Taylor; Dexta Thompson; Charlie Unsworth. They did themselves and the Club proud producing some fine performances, winning two Medals, five new personal bests and eight of them all qaulifying for the Finals.   Jack Baranowski qualified for the Final with a new PB of 2.01.00 in winning Heat 3, the fourth fastest time of the qualifiers in the Junior Boys 800m. In the Final Jack ran his second new PB of the championships and looked on course for the win before being passed in the closing stages, placing 2nd and winning the Silver Medal in a time of 2.00.17 which places him 8th in the National Rankings. Dexta Thompson and Ben Stratton had to run the qualifiers of the Senior Boys 1500m and the Final on the same day. Dexta qaulified from Heat 2 in 3.59.85 (3rd) and Ben qualified from heat 1 with a time of 4.01.40. In the Final Dexta had a fine run to take 3rd place and the Bronze Medal in a time of 3.56.52 alongside Ben who clocked 4.00.87 and remarked that “he had enjoyed every minute of the championships“. Oliver Gill was in Heat 2 of the Inter-Boys 1500m and clocked 4.09.41 in 10th spot.

Twenty nine athletes went in the Junior Girls 800m with Millie Jordan and Agatha Taylor both missing out on the Final as Millie was rewarded with a new PB time of 2.16.90 alongside Agatha clocking 2.25.38. Isabel Holt had a fine run in the Senior Girls 3000m clocking 9.46.91 and just got pipped in the home straight by India Frost who came with a very strong finish to edge Isabel into 4th place in 24 strong filed which made up the Final. Isabel is ranked 12th nationally in the U20 Women’s 3000m currently.  In the sprint events Charlie Unsworth qualified for the Final from Heat 2 in a time of 22.06 – the sixth fastest time. The final, later in the day, produced some outstanding times with the winner clocking 20.80, 2nd (20.91) and 3rd (21.48) – Charlie clocked a new PB time of 21.71 in 5th spot and you cannot ask more than running personal bests at Championships. Millie Schofield was also running well as she qualified for the 300m Inter-Girls Final with a new PB of 39.59 from Heat 2, a time which moves her to 9th in the National Rankings. In the Final Millie ran 40.13 to take 5th place. Caris Peter-Thomas went into the Junior Girls 200m with a best time of 27.04 and smashed that in qualifying for the Final from her Heat with a new PB clocking of 26.08, close to a full

second improvement. In the Final Caris improved that again with a second new PB of 26.06 to place 4th overall. Charlie Palich was at his first Englaish Schools Championships in the Inter-Boys 100m and clocked 11.51 in 7th spot which didn’t qualify him for the Final. Charlie Clanford contested the Inter-Boys 400m running 52.09 which was outside the qualifying time for the Final. but nevertheless, great experience for young athletes in dealing with Championhip conditions.

Match 3 of this years four Match West Premier Division in the Northern League took place at Bury on Sunday July 14th which resulted in a third consecutive win for the Harriers, and again by a small margin. Having won the first Match by just three points from Sale Harriers and the second one by 20 points again from Sale Harriers in 2nd, the third Match was little different. Near to the end of the afternoon just seven points separated Blackburn Harriers, Sale Harriers and West Cheshire with Blackburn in 3rd place. A double win in the 5000m, a win, two 2nd and one 3rd place in the Relays plus  2nd and 3rd places in the Women’s Javelin meant the Club pulled through to take the win by just 12 points from Sale in second spot. Once again, a big thankyou to all the Offcials who turned out for the Club: Alison Heywood; Alison Hulme; Lindsay Davies; Krista Camara; John Chaplin; Barbara Gillies; Dave Heywood, Richard Robinson.

(ALL PHOTOS ON BLACKBURN HARRIERS FACEBOOK PAGE)

Matthew Heywood

It was another good competition and another new PB in the Pole Vault for Tamzin Osborne with a clerance of 3.05m winning the Women’s event as George Camara placed 4th in the Men’s PV with 2.10m. George Whittaker and Samuel Mutombo combined to take near maximum points in the Long Jump, George placing 2nd in the A (5.88m) and Samuel winning the B (5.80m). Good to see Harvey Holden competing again after his injury and placing 3rd in the High Jump (1.60m) alongside team mate George Camara winning the B (1.55m). Samuel was then paired with John iLunga in the Triple Jump earning two 2nd places with 11.07m and 8.92m respectively. Kiera Booth and Imogen Robinson took on the Long Jump placing 6th and 4th with Imogen placing 4th later on in the High Jump. Sienna Wareing was just shy of her personal best as she won the Women’s Triple Jump with a leap of 10.17m.

Middle Distance events yielded very good points – Daniel Bebbington and Ben Makin winning the 800m in 1.55.20 and 1.58.0 followed by Matt Ramsden winning the A 1500m in 4.10.80 and Ben Fish 2nd in the B (4.13.90). Daniel Bebbington and Tim Raynes paired up for the 5000m taking another double win with respective times of 15.20.40 and 15.30.50. Ben Fish and Marc Hartley then took maximum points in the Steeplechase winning both A & B races. Charlotte Robertshaw (2.32.70) in 5th in the A and Leah Hoole (2.28.10) winning the B kept the scoreboard ticking over as Keira Haxton and Hollie Cubbon placed 6th and 5th in the 1500mm Women’s A&B races. Ellen Sagar-Hesketh finished in 3rd spot in the A 3000m (10.58.60) alongside team mate Rebecca Ward in 2nd in the B (11.25.90).

The sprint races saw Daniel Nuttall clock 11.60 in the A 100 (4th) alongside Brandon Zinyemba (4th in the B) with 12.00 followed by two second places in the 200m – Charlie Unsworth (22.20) same time as the winner and Charlie Palich 23.20. Dominic Walton and Ben Makin pulled off a double win in the 400m – Dominic clocking 50.60 and Ben 52.70. Alisha Lehner took on the A race in 100m and 200m running 13.80 in the 100m and 27.80 in the 200m with team mate Sienna Wareing clocking a new PB time of 28.40 in 3rd in the B. The Women’s 400m produced another double win as Abigail Stratton attacked the race coming home in 58.50 for the win alongside teammate Poppi Watson winning the B race in the same attacking style and clocking 62.70 for a new PB. The 400m Hurdles had Kiera Booth (4th in 79.20) in the A with Millie Pilkington – 79.30 in 2nd in the B whilst in the Men’s Hurdles John iLunga came 4th in the 400m Hurdles (74. 20) and 2nd in the B 110m Hurdles (24.10).

The Relays had the Men’s 4 x 400m – Oliver Palk – Dominic Walton – Ben Stratton – Matt Ramsden – taking the win in 3.26.30 with the 4 x 100m team – George Whittaker – Charlie Palich – Charlie Unsworth – Brandon Zinyemba – taking 2nd place in 46.00, whilst in the Women’s Relays Abigail Stratton – Poppi Watson – Charlotte Robertshaw – Ellen Sagar-Hesketh took 2nd in the 4 x 400m in 4.12.50 and in the 4 x 100m Alisha Lehner – Sienna Wareing – Imogen Robinson – Tamzin Osborne clcoked 56.30 in 3rd place.

Ben Fish was out doing what he has done for years now and that is win races. Ben competed at the Asbourne Half Marathon described by the race website as a beautiful but challenging route out into the Peak District and Dovedale, Derbyshire.The race starts in the centre of the historic market town of Ashbourne. It is a hilly course exploring the fabulous Derbyshire Dales before returning to town and finishing at the race village in Ashbourne Recreation Ground. (RESULTS). In a closely fought race Ben took the win in a new Course Record of 72.37 from Mansfiled Harriers Chris Patterson in 2nd place running 72.53.

Still on the road and it was the turn of V45 Vikki Robertshaw who ran the Towneley Park 10k on Saturday July 14th and what a run she had (RESULTS). Two hundred and twenty eight lined up for this race and, with a previous personal best of 48 minutes. Vikki had a cracking race, knocking some seven mimnutes off her time to set a new PB for 10k of 41.31 on a course that is not that easy and in the process taking 2nd spot in the Women’s Race and 1st in the V45 age category. In the Junior Races – (RESULTS)  – Ryker Hanson had another fine run as he came home in 3rd spot in the U11/U13 race which had 49 runners in total. Ryker ran 6.45 and was 3rd in the age 12 yrs category. Theo Robinson placed 2nd in the U15/U17 Race  with a time of 11.22  after the race leader – Francis Vidler – took the wrong route and lost his leading position at the time which resulted in Theo winning the U17 race. Liam Bennison took 4th spot in the U15 Race with 12.44 alongside Charlotte Smith who ran 14.31 to place 5th in the U15 Girls race.

In the Wilmslow Summer 10k held on Sunday July 14th V40 Dominic Bretherton and V65 Tony Greenwood were on the start line. Dominic had a reall good day clocking a new PB time of 41.01, forty six seconds faster than his previpous best whilst Tony ran 41.52 and 2nd V65 on the day. (RESULTS). Ranveer Bretherton also ran the race in 52.21.

Mark Taylor took on the Ironbourne Long Distance Triathlon at the weekend but not in the best of cirumstances given the difficulties of dealing with Covid during the run up to the event. Just one competitor completed in under 10 hours with seven going under 11 hours. Mark came home with a combined time of 13hr 04.55 in 33rd place overall, placing him on the podium in his age category. (RESULTS). Speaking to the Harriers after he had completed the event, Mark told us about the lead up to the event and the race itself  “Along with the rest of the family I was hit with a heavy covid bout the week before the race and lost half a stone, not ideal prep and right until jumping off Eastbourne pier I wasn’t sure racing was entirely sensible. By the end of the swim I knew I wasn’t firing on all cylinders and decided to carry on but not pushing too hard. The bike was hot and fairly uneventful, realising any chance of a good time had gone. The ‘run’ was hot and horrific, by 5k I was fighting to survive and was walking more than running at times. But I managed to rally a bit on the last lap, get past plenty of others and despite being overs 2 hours behind my target time I got 3rd in AC, and as a podium place was the goal coming here I’ll take that that as a very pleasant surprise at the end of the toughest day out I’ve had!“

Now for something completely different and entered into at the last minute. We are talking about the Tittesworth Water 50k Ultra – run on 14th July 2024 and contested by Katie Buckingham who was actually involved in the organisation of the race put on by RunThrough. (RESULTS). Katie came home in 7th place in the Women’s Race and 3rd in her age category in a time of 6hrs 16.45 and afterwards she spoke to the Harriers about her monumnetal effort over such a tought course saying “The race was by far one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, both mentally and physically. Being out on the 4800ft worth of hills, trundling through mud, moorlands, wet rocks, rain and rivers for 6hrs definitely comes with it’s challenges! But overall it was an incredible experience, with lots of support from the RunThrough marshals, my RT colleagues and fellow runners, it was great to be in a race that was just about finish it, and not about chasing a time which opens up the opportunity to stop and walk, chat to people along the way and take it all in! Maybe next time I’ll train for one properly instead of just decide to enter on the day… Or just revert back to track where pain is a lot shorter lived!”