This years Winter Warmer 10k run in perfect conditions for endurance running had five hundred and thirty five finishers and among them twenty Blackburn Harriers whose athletes put in some great performances with Ben Fish winning the Race for the sixth time, Liz Greenwood winning the Women’s Race, Nick Smith 1st in the Junior Men and Victoria Mousley 1st V35. The Harriers also won first and second Teams with Ben Fish / Tim Raynes / Tom Blaney / Jack Hindle the winning Team and Chris Davies / Ben Costello / Sean Proctor / Richard Fogarty taking the Runner Up spot in the Team competition.

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Results

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(Once over Billinge, it’s downhill all the way)

With five runners in the first nine places the Harriers emphatically took the Team Prize and were led home by Ben Fish in a time of 32.02 and backed up superbly by Tim Raynes (2nd) in 32.55, Tom Blaney (4th) in 34.41, Jack Hindle (5th) in 34.48 and Chris Davies (9th) in 36.18.

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Ben Costello had a great run in 11th spot (36.49) and just missing out on a PB. Given the nature of the course for the Winter Warmer, there is little doubt that his PB is going to go in the immediate future. Sean Proctor was the next Harrier to finish in 21st place (37.53) chopping nearly three minutes off his previous best on the course with Richard Fogarty – following his great performance in the Dubai 70.3 –  just behind in 26th (38.30) and another athlete who ran close to his PB on a difficult course. Like Ben, expect a revision of Richard’s PB shortly. Liz Greenwood is in good form finishing 6th as a bottom of age Junior Woman at the Northern Cross Country Championships last week, she won the Women’s Race here placing 29th overall in 38.39.

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Mark Bleasdale came in 34th in 39.187 and he was followed by U17 Nick Smith in 38th, with a time of 39.54 and 1st Junior Man, a time which ensures that he too, will be breaking his PB pretty soon. Victoria Mousley had a very good race and was next home for the Harriers in 49th place (41.02) was 2nd Woman and 1st V35 on the day. Craig Greenough placed 71st in 42.47, with John Cookson in 85th (43.56), Danny Teare (148th) with a time of 47.30, Paul Clarke 160th (48.18), Ian Clarkson (169th) in 48.32, Mick Nolan (215th) in 51.32, Michelle Teare (224th) in 52.07 and Lindsay Davies 371st (59.36).

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There was a fantastic turn out for the Winter Warmer Junior 2k featuring two hundred and eighteen young runners aged from 7yrs to 14yrs old.

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Thirteen young Blackburn Harriers featured in this Race. Bradley Meikleham won the Race in a time of 7.05 followed by Amy Davies (2nd) in 7.36 and winner of the 11-13 Age Group. Just three seconds separated the next three Harriers in as Eleesha Charnley came 3rd overall and was 2nd in the 11-13 with a time of 7.55, followed by Harry Wilkin in the same age group (8th) in a time of 7.56 and Saul Sharp on song placing 9th in 7.57 and 2nd in the 8-10 Age Group. Then came Eleanor Allsop 11-13 in 24th overall (8.59), Hannah Davies 8-10 (34th) in 9.24, Codie Dewhurst 8-10 (35th) in 9.26, debutant Chloe Gardner 14-17 (48th) in 10.00, Ella Hardman 11-13 (60th) in 10.15 and Lulu Sharp 62nd in 10.20 and 1st in the 5-7 Age Group.

Results

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What a debut!!

Joanne Nelson and Paul Brindle who have recently joined the Harriers, raced their first Race for the Club together at the weekend with great performances in the 315 10k Series at Lancaster.

Results

Paul won the Race in a time of 36.37 and was also the leading Vet and was understandably pleased with his debut commenting after the Race that I was nervous, my first time representing my new club. Just wanted a good run and do blue and white vest proud. Was a great feeling when the 5k runners pulled away and I was leading the 10k. I thought ” so this is how it feels to be Ben Fish ” . I clocked Joanne was winning her race too. We both held on for a Harriers double in what turned out to be a great day”.

Joanne, winner of three Marathons in 2016 has started off in 2017 in winning ways, taking the 1st Women’s prize in 6th place overall and posting a time of 39.39 and told the Club that I really enjoyed running the race today, especially in my new, aesthetically pleasing running vest. Not my fastest 10k time, but still enjoyable. With a bottle of prossecco, an iron (don’t ask), crisps and chocolate biscuit for winning, you really can’t complain. Well organised race by the regulars at Lancaster”.

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(That double winning smile)

Lancashire Schools Cross Country Championships

Good day at the Lancashire Schools Cross Country Championships with six of the Harriers all gaining automatic qualification for the English Schools Cross Country Championships in Norfolk.

Lancashire Schools Results

Qualifying athletes for the Harriers included :

Junior BoysMatt Ramsden (2nd) in 14.32 – Sam Hodkinson (4th) in 14.52 – Leon Thomas (5th) 14.57 – Jamie Teare (8th) in 15.12.

Harvey Ashworth placed 14th overall in 15.46.

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Inter Girls : Maddie Elliott (3rd) in 16.42 Qualifying – also running were Hannah Cookson (14th) in 18.30 and Natalya Irvine –  31st –  in a time of 19.58.

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Junior Girls : Amy Davies (4th) in 14.25 Qualifying and also competing – Eleesha Charnley 10th in a time of 14.57, Emily Warren (58th) in 18.31 and Jodie Hoole (59th) in 18.48.

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Harvey Griffin ran the Inter-Boys Race which had fifty four athletes contesting. Harvey came 13th in 21.33 with Bradley Meikleham in 19th position (22.11). Nick Smith contested the Senior Boys Race placing 10th in 28.21.

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In the Yr 7 Boys Race featuring seventy four youngsters, Kyle Taylor-Pomfret came home in a very good time of 8.50 (11th) and Edward Lee in 27th place (9.08). In the Yr 7 Girls Hollie Cubbon had a great run placing 2nd in the 71 strong field with a time of 8.55 and just seven seconds behind the winner with Leah Hoole placing 13th in 9.27.

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Ironman 70.3 Dubai

The Race website describes the Course for this event  Athletes begin their day with a swim course begin from Jumeirah public beach, one of the region’s most well-known destination beaches and a getaway for travelers from all over the world. The bike route leaves the city behind and ventures into the Arabian Dunes. A 45km flat out and back will prove to be a very fast course, if winds stay down. The scenes of the natural Arabian Desert were previously seen on TV globally through the annual Tour of Dubai. Dubai recently completed a running trail along Jumeira Beach to be used by the public all year round. The IRONMAN 70.3 Dubai run route will cover three laps (7km each) along a spectator-friendly, packed beach. The crowd will cheer participants through the 21.1 run before they finish next to the start and transition area at the general grand stand’

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Brian Fogarty has kicked off his 2017 season in great form placing 27th overall with a combined time of – 4hr 04.01 – in a field nearly 1500 strong, winning his Age Group and posting the fastest Bike Split by an amateur rider. Huge congratulations to Brother Richard Fogarty – making his debut in the 70.3 and putting in an impressive performance with a combined time of 4hr 50.25.

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Results

Brian was really pleased with his season’s opening Race and told the Club that “It was my second year racing at Dubai 70.3. Being so early in the year it’s a race that is hard to be in your best form but it does make a great opportunity to get in some warm weather and test yourself against a good field. The day was hot this year but went ok and I managed to finish 27th overall and win my Age group and fastest Amateur bike split for the 2nd year running. It felt great to be back racing after crashing out in my last one, it’s a good starting point to build on going into this exciting season. Performance of the day had to go to my brother Richard in racing in his first 70.3 and doing really well, finishing in 226th position”.

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Following his good performance at the Northern Cross Country Championships the week before finishing 15th in the Junior Men’s Race, Joe Monk took on the 3000m Indoors in the Steel Cup at Sheffield. Agonisingly missing out on a PB by a fraction of a second, Joe won the Race in a time of 8.59.13 and speaking to the Club afterwards said that “really pleased with the run as it was the first in University colours. Was 0.5 seconds off my PB but given the fact I was on my own I’m very happy with it. There was a few good runners in there so it was unfortunate we couldn’t share the workload. Hopefully should be sub 8:50 come the summer months”.

Race Finish Video

Joe was out again at the weekend competing for Lancaster University at the BUCS Cross Country Championships in the Men’s Long Race placing 141st in 37.13 in a field of 333 athletes. Joe Howe was also running at BUCS for Manchester University in the Men’s Short Race featuring 573 athletes and he took 126th spot with a time of 30.23.

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(No 210 Joe Monk – Lancaster University)

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(No 882 Joe Howe – Manchester University)