Olympic Bronze Medalist Holly Bradshaw got an invitation to to go to Phuket in Thailand to take part in a Pole Vault competition in the Golden Fly Series. With temperatures in the high 20’s to low 30’s and given the weather we are experiencing here in Britain at the moment, it seemed to good an opportunity to turn down. Holly won the event with a clearance of 4.51m and commented that “Hands down one of the most fun meets I’ve ever done!! Thank you Phuket and Golden Fly Series! I was 50/50 about flying to Thailand in December to do a competition in the middle of a prep block BUT boy I’m glad I came!”
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Sportcity Indoor Meeting
The first meeting in the this years Sale Indoor Series took place on Sunday at Sportcity which included fifteeen athletes from Blackburn Harriers – Senior Kail Sturgess — U20’s Samuel Mutombo; Amy Wiggans; Poppy Preece; George Whittaker; Hayden Mercer & Rory Teare — U17’s Thomas Monks; Kara Dacosta; Aidan Downes; & Codie Dedwhurst — U15’s Daniel Nuttall; Jacob Fisher; Millee Schofield & Matthew Smith.
The day turned out be a successful one as the athletes collected 7 Wins and 9 New PB’s throughout the day. Sprints and Jumps Coach Caerwen Butler commented that “‘We were just using the event as a training session test to compare times throughout winter season to see how training is progressing. So a nice bonus to see so many athletes get a qualifying time for English Indoor Sportshall Championships”
The 60m Sprints is always well populated with athletes, the first one up for the Harriers being U20 Samuel Mutombo who was taking on the event for the first time resulting in him placing 3rd in a time of 7.80. U20’s Amy Wiggans and Poppy Preece went in the next Heat – Amy clocking 8.52 (5th) and Poppy in her first race over the distance (8.59) in 6th place. U17 Thomas Monks knocked just short of two tenths off his previous best to set a new PB of 7.69 in 2nd spot whilst U17 Kara Dacosta knocked over two tenths off her best to win her Heat in a new PB time of 8.48. One of the runs of the day came from U15 Daniel Nuttall, who in these early weeks of the Indoor season moved to Number 2 in the National Rankings with his Heat win in a new PB time of 7.49, some three quarters of a second improvement over his previous best. In the same Heat U15 Jacob Fisher took 2nd place in his first ever outing over the distance with a time of 7.88 and moved straight to Number 6 in the National Rankings.
Daniel Nuttall (Lane 1)
Milleee Schofield (Lane 3)
U15 Millee Schofield was in her first race over 60m, having a cracking run in winning the race in a time of 8.22 and moving to Number 9 in the National Rankings. U20 Multi-Eventer George Whittaker was another first timer over 60m as he clocked 7.53 in his Heat for 3rd spot followed by U17 Aidan Downes – also in his first 60m race – posting 8.41 in 4th place in his Heat. George then went and obliterated his 300m personal best time to set a new PB by four and half seconds (38.54) in 3rd. Next up in the 300m came U20’s Poppy Preece and Amy Wiggans going in the same Heat, neither of them having raced 300m previously. Poppy won the Heat in a time of 46.79 with Amy clocking 48.44 in 3rd. U17 Thomas Monks took nearly three tenths off his best for 300m, running a new PB time of 38.80 in his Heat (3rd) and in the next Heat U17’s Codie Dewhurst and Aidan Downes finished 3rd and 4th respectively — Codie having last run a 300m in 2019 set himself a new PB by eight seconds as he clocked a time of 41.90. Aidan was just shy of his personal best with his clocking of 42.68.
Codie Dewhurst (58) in 600m
U17 Kara Dacosta, in her first season with the Harriers took 2nd place in her 300m Heat with a time of 42.41. As in their 60m Heat U15’s Daniel Nuttall and Jacob Fisher took first and second in their 300m Heat – Daniel winning in 41.66 with Jacob clocking 41.87 in his first time over 300m. U15 Millee Schofield was the next winner for the Harriers, taking top spot in her 300m race with a time of 44.56.
Moving up in distance to the 600m saw bottom of age U20 Hayden Mercer cut two and half seconds off his best to set a new PB of 1.26.01 as he finished in 3rd position in his Heat. It was December 2019 when U17 Codie Dewhurst last ran a 600m race posting a then best time of 1.47.79. In his Heat on the day, he smashed that to bits clocking 1.33.0 – a new PB by over 14 seconds in 5th place. There was another big new PB over 600m, this time for U15 Matthew Smith who chopped close to five seconds off his best to set a new best time of 1.39.96 in winning his Heat.
On to the Field events and High Jump first which saw U20 Rory Teare place 2nd in his Pool of mixed aged athletes and first U20 with a clearance of 1.70m alongside the only U15 in the Pool – Matthew Smith – who cleared 1.50 in 9th spot. In the next Pool 14 athletes from U13 through to U20’s – U17 Kara Dacosta finished in 3rd spot and first U17 with a height of 1.50m. Two huge Pools in the Long Jump – Poppy Preeece going in the first Pool of 27 athletes covering U13 – U20’s which saw Poppy jump 4.24m in 11th spot overall and 2nd U20 whilst Senior Kail Sturgess and U20 Samuel Mutombo competed in the second Pool of 25 athletes – Kail finishing 7th overall with a leap of 5.67m and Samuel 11th overall and 7th U20 with a jump of 5.43m.
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Myerscough 10 Mile
Two hundred and forty five finished this Race, run over a distance of 10 miles on Sunday December 5th won by Cardiff’s Nathan Jones in a time of 52.04 with Blackpool’s Luke Minns in 2nd spot (52.20). Blackburn Harriers V45 Mark Taylor was involved, finishing in 43rd spot with a time of 68.56 – a new PB for him in only his second ever attempt over the distance.
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