The British T&F Championships hosted at Sportcity this year had a number of Blackburn Harriers competing in Pole Vault, 5000m and 1500m – Holly Bradshaw, Abigail Stratton, Daniel Bebbington. The first day had Holly, Abigail and Daniel all competing. Holly had been competing during the week at the Karlstad Grand Prix on Wednesday July 5th as part of her return to competition and build up towards the World Championships in Budapest. (RESULTS). Clearing 4.46m enabled Holly to take the win in a nine string field ahead of her appearance at the British Championships. In the British Championships Holly came in at 4.35m clearing first time, went on to clear 4.45m with her first vault, passing at 4.55m before going on to clear 4.61m at her second attempt to claim the Silver Medal alongside Mollie Caudery who took the title with a personal best vault of 4.71m.
Abigail and Daniel were in the Heats of the 1500m – Abigail in Heat 1 of three and Daniel Heat 3 of 3. Abigail clocked 4.23.02 in 8th place – her Heat won by Melissa Courtney-Bryant (4.15.61) and afterwards Abigail told us about her race saying “The race didn’t go 100% to plan, however it was a great experience racing the best in the uk.” Daniel ran a time of 3.46.53 (7th) – the winner of his Heat – George Mills – clocking 3.40.57. After his race Daniel spoke to the Club about this race telling us “It was a pleasure to compete a British Champs this year. Coming into it I was in decent shape but not at my best so knew it was going to be tough. That being said, I went with the leaders and stuck with them as long as I could. Unfortunately just wasn’t able to hold on in the final lap as they kicked away. I knew it’d be hard to qualify with it being top 3 but I’m happy with how I ran it“
Abigail Stratton
On day 2 it was the a fine win in the 5000m for Jess-Warner Judd taking the title in a time of 15.53.50 from Amy-Eloise Markovc in 2nd (15.58.87) and Abbie Donnelly in 3rd for (16.04.78). After the race Blackburn Harriers yoiung athletes – Agatha Taylor and Emma Robertshaw – who had competed the day before in the UKYDL managed to get their photo taken with Jess.
Agatha Taylor & Emma Robertshaw with Jess Warner-Judd British 5000m Champion
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The weather recently has seen the abandonment on UKYDL Matches and the third in this years Premier West Lower Age group Division was no exception as the thunder and lightning, pouring rain followed the sunshine and warmth of the day – leading to the Match being cancelled at 3.30pm at Bebington with 19 events still to be done. With lots of young athletes missing on the day, the team did very well and put in some very good performances including 15 new PB’s with a number of athletes volunteering to fill in on events they wouldn’t normally do to help the team.
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Starting in the sun – finishing in the rain
U15’s
A good start to the day for Harry Pilkington in the Hammer as he added over 4.5 metres to his personal best in winning the Hammer with a new PB distance of 27.24m. On to the Shot Putt where he took 2nd spot with 26.66m along with team mate Loucas Lancashire winning the B with a new PB throw of 18.75m – an improvement by over 2 metres. In the Javelin Loucas took a good 3rd place with 25.87m alongside George Holman who came 4th in the B with 18.32m. Leila Pilkington and Emma Gitau took on the Shot Putt – Leila placing 4th (8.24m) in the A with Emma 5th in the B with a new PB of 6.21m. Tamzin Osborne who had only ever thrown Discus once and Bella McCredie who hadn’t done the event previously took it on to help the team with Tamzin 6th (12.15m) and Bella 5th (8.65m).
Harry Pilkington
Loucas Lancashire
George Holman
Keir Michie and George Turner went in the 100m posting times of 12.5 in the A (4th) which was a new PB by 4 tenths and 13.1 in the B (4th) respectively. Abdollh Shriha also set himself a new PB by 4 tenths in the non-scoring 100. In the 200m Keir Michie ran his second new PB of the day by a tenth, placing 3rd in the A in 26.2 with team mate Jack Duxbury clocking 27.6 in 3rd in the B. Matthew Haxton and Abdollh Shriha took on the 300m with Matthew 4th in the A with an equal personal best run of 42.6 and Abdollh also 4th in the B (44.0) having never run the distance previously. In the Girls sprints – Leila Pilkington ran 14.0 (5th) in the 100m A race alongside team mate Ellie Charnock 6th in the B (14.9) – Ellie never having run the 100m. Emma Gitau clocked 15.5 in the non-scoring 100m. Bella McCredie ran a new PB of 29.4 (6th) in the 200m with Emily Dai in 5th in the B (30.9). The 300m saw Agatha Taylor clock a new PB of 43.0 in 2nd in the A alongside team mate Emily Dai who had never run 300m placing 5th in the B (50.3) and again helping the team to fill places. In the Jumps events George Camara and Jack Dubury went out to 4.71m (3rd) and 4.49m (2nd) respectively in the Long Jump. Leila Pilkington and Emily Dai contested the Girls Long Jump with 3.86m (6th) and 3.64m (4th) respectively in the A & B.
George Turner (11)
Leila Pilkington (1)
Agatha Taylor (1)
Emily Dai
Tamzin Osborne and George Camara took on the U15’s Pole Vault which had been brought forward an hour in anticipation of the rain impacting on the event – both Boys and Girls competing together. Tamzin cleared 2.40m to take 3rd spot in her event whilst George, who had just had a couple of training session cleared 1.80m, 1.90m and 2.0m at the first attempt, then clearing 2.10 with his second vault. In the High Jump Seth Turner cleared 1.50m in 3rd place in the A and Jack Duxbury never having contested a High Jump, clearing 1.30m to take 5th in the B.
Tamzin Osborne
George Camara
Seth Turner
Jack Duxbury
A number of the middle distance races couldn’t be run because of the cancellation as well as the Relays, but before the heavens opened Matthew Haxton clocked 2.16.3 in 5th spot in the 800m A race which was a massive new PB by 8 seconds. Agatha Taylor ran 2.19.7 in 3rd in the A 800m with team mate Bella McCredie 6th in the B (2.34.5) posting a new PB time by 5 seconds. George Camara ran 13.1 in 4th in the A 80m Hurdles with Abdollh Shriha winning the B race in 13.9 – amazingly the first time he has ever raced Hurdles. Ellie Charnock took 4th spot in the Girls A 75m Hurdles in 14.8.
Matthew Haxton (1)
Bella McCredie (11)
Abdollh Shriha
U13’s
Anay Nama 13.1 in 6th spot and Zakariya Haq 11.9 6th ran in the B 75m Boys race followed by Ansh Nama placing 6th in the 150m (24.7). Caris Peter-Thomas showed the field a clean pair of heels as she won the 75m A race in a new PB time of 9.8 alongside team mate Imogen Boardman coming 4th in the B (11.4). The 150m saw Caris make it a win double as she took the win again in 19.8 with team mate this time – Dana Juma – placing 4th in the B with 21.5. Imogen Boardman had never run an 800m race but agreed to do it to help the team and paired up with Charlotte Smith – Charlotte running 2.36.7 (4th) in the A and Imogen also placing 4th in the B with 2.49.67. Charlotte then took on the 70m Hurdles – an event she hadn’t done previously – running 14.0 in 6th. Zakariya Haq and Anay Nama teamed up for the Shot Putt and Javelin – Zakariya placing 3rd in the Shot Putt (5.44m) and 5th in the Javelin (17.64m) with Anay coming 4th in the Shot Putt (4.48m) and 5th in the Javelin (7.59m) – two new PB’s for Zakaryia and a new PB also for Anay in the Shot Putt. Dana Juma leapt out to a new PB of 4.11m (5th) in the A Long Jump with team mate Imogen Boardman coming 3rd in the B (3.77m) equaling her personal best. Charlotte Smith cleared 1.20m in the High Jump (6th).
Anay Nama
Caris Peter-Thomas (Lane 2)
Imogen Boardman (11)
Charlotte Smith
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Week’s Round Up of Results
Jonny Mellor was in fine form at the Wilmslow 10k on Sunday July 9th winning the race by nearly two minutes (28.49) at the head of a race that had over 2500 runners in it. Blackburn Harriers V50 Nick Gaskell had a fine run in 41st place overall and taking the 3rd V50 prize with his time of 33.50 as did Emily Jemutai Cheruiyot who finished in 12th place in the Women’s race running 37.32 which also. like Nick, gave her the 3rd Vets Prize, this time in the V40’s. (RESULTS). Matthew Maynard and Paul Jeffries also ran the race – Matthew running 43.45 and Paul 47.19.
Nick Gaskell – Photo courtesey of Mick Hall
Emily Jemutai Cheruiyot – Photo courtesey of Mick Hall
Friday July 7th saw the running of the latest of the Sale Sizzler over 5k and won by Chorlton’s Thomas Charles in 15.13. V55 David Almond ran the second of these races in very hot conditions but managed to run a second quicker 17.38 in 62nd spot overall than a couple of weeks ago which gave him the V55 age group win again. Charlotte Atkinson also ran the race in a time of 20.34 and placing 14th in the Women’s race. (RESULTS).
Ben Walmsley had another fine run at the Towneley Hall 10k which is the latest race in the Pendle & Burnley Grand Prix Series. (RESULTS). With over 200 runners in the race Ben placed 4th in a time of 34.51 – the race being won Rossendale’s Chris Clare in 34.30. In the Junior Races Theo Addy was one of 44 youngsters in the U11/U13 race and had a really good run to place 4th overall and 2nd U11 boy in 6.42 followed by Amelia Pacelli as 6th girl in the U13’s with 7.48 and Charlotte Rothwell in 11th place (8.34). Liam Bennison came 9th overall and 6th U15 in the U15/U17 race (13.04).
Photos courtesey of David Belshaw
The Don Ashton Memorial Tockholes Fell Race was run on a warm evening Thursday July 6th attracting one hundred and thirty six runners. It was another fine run from Josh Holgate who is running very well on the Fells, as he took the win in a time of 35.47 over a minute in front of Calder’s Ed Hyland (35.55) and Stephen Hall (Calder Valley in 36.21. Danny Maynard had a good run too following his Duathlon at the weekend, placing 18th in 42.27. Marco Pacelli wasn’t far behind – running a time of 43.08 in 22nd spot and followed by Leah Hoole running her second race in two days in a time of 47.29 which gave her 3rd place in the Women’s race. V55 Gary Pearse took 61st position overall running 48.31 followed by team mates Andrew Knowles – also V55 – in 74th position (50.58) and V55 Ian Clarkson in 99th (56.29).
Josh Holgate
Danny Maynard
Leah Hoole
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Wednesday July 5th saw the running of the Astley Park Series Race 3 featuring just over 100 runners. Ben Walmsley took the win by over a half a minute (20.42) from James Mcleod in 2nd (21.17) and Tom Murphy 3rd (21.20). Nick Gaskell had a top 5 finish (5th) in 21.32 which also gave him the first V50 prize. Leah Hoole took the 2nd place in the Women’s race running 26.52. Leila and Harry Pilkington ran their second race of the Series – Leila running 6.56 and Harry 7.57 in race 2 followed by this race in which they clocked 7.19 and 7.37 respectively.
Ben Walmsley
Nick Gaskell
Leah Hoole
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Helen Leigh was in action last weekend – and what a weekend she had. Competing for Highland Hill Runners on Saturday July 1st, she was in the Meall an t-Suidhe Hill Race finishing 11th in the British Women’s Championship race and 5th in the Scottish Championships with a time of 38.40. The day after – Sunday July 2nd – she was back racing – this time at the Half Ben – a 5.6k race with 460m of climb in which she came home in 2nd place in the Women’s race, posting the fastest time for the descent. Not content with that, Helen finished in 2nd place in the Cow Hill race on Monday. Three days, three races which gave her the trophy as the Women’s Winner of the Triple Hirple. Pleased with her weekend’s perforamnces, Helen told the Harriers “Triple Hirple! What a weekend of racing by .Lochaber AC. Kicking off with the Meall an t-Suidhe Hill Race which was a British Champs (11th) and Scottish Champs (5th). Sunday was the half Ben where I had a cracking run on tired legs to finish 2nd. Monday morning I crammed in a trip up the Ben with a group (just walking then following a crash nap managed to complete the set with a 2nd at the fast and furious Cow Hill race on Monday eve. Cool to win the women’s Triple Hirple and a well earned mug Well done legs taking a total bashing“.
Helen Leigh (39) – Photos courtesy of John O’Neil
