The 5000m Club Record at Blackburn Harriers was set in 1980 at an International Meeting in Cwmbran, Wales by Mick Morton, winner of the World Junior Cross Country Championships as well. That night, Mick ran 13.41.07 – a time which has lasted ever since, a period of forty six years. Matt Ramsden came ever so close to beating that time when he ran 13.41.55 in Birmingham at the Novuna UK Athletics Championships on June 21st. Six weeks later, Matt lined up in the 5000m second Heat at the IFAM Outdoor meeting in Belgium on Saturday August 1st. He kept in touch with the main pack and worked his way through over the last few laps to smashing his personal best, break the Club Record and set himself a brilliant new PB of 13.27.26 – a 14 second improvement and at the time of writing, places him at 7th in the National Rankings. (RESULTS). The Club spoke to Matt about his his race and achievements and he told us “This race has been in my plans since the start of the season to hopefully bring down the 5k pb and I’m glad that it all went to plan! The start list was really strong so I knew it was a good chance to get amongst it and see what it produced. I’d like to thank Blackburn Harriers for all their support. It is always a proud moment for me to wear the Blackburn vest on the circuit!“
Matt’s Coach Noel Finucane commented on Matt’s latest highlight, saying “Talent on its own will only go so far. Commitment, determination and mindset play a massive part. Matt has all these in his arsenal. He has coped with setbacks and is now reaping the rewards. He is a great role model“.
L-R James McMurray, Ben Potrykus, Matt Ramsden, Will Barnicoat
Blackburn Harriers Abigail McAndrew was running in the 1500m which featured five Heats featuring a total of ninety one athletes. Abigail clocked 4.27. 76 and was brutally honest about how she had run the race when she told the Club afterwards that it was ‘Not what I came here to do, but I have never raced in such an aggressive race and I just wasn’t strong enough to hold my position so was being shoved round all over the place ! But it’s all good experience racing in these competitions for the future. Onto some 800 for the rest of the season where I can hopefully show my form in a race“.
⇓
On the same day, the final match in the UKYDL (LAG) Premier West Division took place at Bebington, hosted by home Club Wirral. Once again, the Blackburn Harriers team was missing a number of athletes, as in other matches, which has meant that the Club finished the season in 5th place and will now go into Division 1 in 2027, making a determined bid to get back into the Premier Division. It has to be said that the spirit and willingness of those athletes who competed was exemplary led by Team Manager Lianne Belshaw. As in previous matches, athletes took on the maximum number of events to try and make up for those who were missing, and did so with enthusiasm and smiles on their faces as they wore the Club vest with pride.All these athletes showed real commitment to the team and the Club. Twenty four new personal bests is testimony to all their efforts.
All photos from the UKYDL Bebbington Match are on Blackburn Harriers Facebook Page (HERE)
With the wind on the back straight making it difficult for races over 100m – U16’s Kai Addison and Joseph McKay went in the 300m Hurdles – Kai clocking 43.1 (3rd) and Joseph 48.1, 2nd in the B. Joseph then added the 100m Hurdles and clocked 17.5 in 3rd spot. Alice McGuinness and Georgina Andrews ran the U16 Girls 300m Hurdles – Alice 3rd (60.2) and Georgina winning the B in 54.7 and later, Alice clocked a new PB of 15.2 in the 80m Hurdles (5th). U14 Noah Briscoe smashed his personal best in winning the 80m Hurdles in a new PB time of 13.1 and in the U14 Girls 75m Hurdles Ava Shannon smashed her personal best too with a new PB time of 12.7 in 2nd alongside team mate Sophie Douglas placing 4th in the B (14.1) which was also a new PB.
Joseph McKay
U16’s Emmanuel Adewunmi and Tomi Birch are a formidable sprint pair as they showed once again by starting with a double win in the 100m – Emmanuel winning the A in a new PB of 11.2 and Tomi winning the B also in 1a new PB of 11.5. The lads then made it a double double as they won the 200m – Emmanuel clocking another new PB of 23.0 and Tomi a new PB of 23.3 – four races, four wins, four new personal bests. The 300m had Elliot James taking 3rd in the A (37.4) alongside Kai Addison placing 4th in the B (39.1). U16 Niamh Boland ran a new PB of 12.8 in 3rd in the 100m with team mate Darcie Belshaw also placing 3rd in the B with the same time of 12.8. and another new PB. Roles reversed in the 200m – Darcie placing 3rd in the A with her second new PB of 26.2 whilst Niamh won the B in a new PB time of 26.5. The U16 Girls 300m had Rebecca Rowlings placing 5th in the A (48.1) and Georgian Andrews 4th in the B (48.7). U14 Billy Rowbottom has been on fire – in this his first competitive season for the Club – as he won the 100m in a new PB time of 11.9, which places him in the top 20 of the National Rankings. Promising new member Malachi Howard went in the B, clocking 12.4 in 3rd. Billy went and ran another new PB in the 200m (24.8) alongside team mate Noah Briscoe who was also having a good day, running 26.5 in the B which was a new PB too. The new personal bests kept coming in the sprints as U14 Isabella Huntington clocked a new PB of 13.4 in 5th spot of the A 100m with team mate Isobel Longden placing 4th in the B with running another new PB time of 13.9. In the 200m races Isabella came 5th in 29.1 whilst in the B Maizie Cooke clocked a new PB time of 28.6 in 4th – crashing to the floor as she crossed the line, bouncing up with a smile on her face, telling everyone not to worry!
The Relays resulted in 2nd spot for the U16 Boys (46.9) in the 4 x 100m whilst the 4 x 300m team placed 5th in 2.51.4. Our U16 Girls 4 x 100m team came 4th in a time of 55.0 whilst the 4 x 300m team placed 6th in 3.27.9. The U14 Boys 4 x 100m team came home in 2nd (51.1) as the U14 Girls 4 x 100m team placed 4th in 55.3.
Emmanuel Adewunmi (1)
Delighted to see U16 Oliver North running a new PB in the 800m as he came 2nd in 2.12.8 and that despite the wind. In the 1500m Benedict Raby and Max Unthank gave it their all – Bendedict running 4.37.5 in 4th and Max 4.46.8 in 2nd spot in the B. U14’s Edward Russell-Blackburn and Harry Lowde clocked 4.48.7 (5th) and 5.01.4 (4th) respectively in their 1500m race – Edward and Harry both running new PB’s. U14 Georgia Brambles – who is ranked at number 11 – won the U14 Girls 800m by eleven seconds, tucking in on the back straight on the first lap as advised, the brakes came off on the second lap as she ran away from the field, clocking 2.19.1. Rounding off the middle distance races – Sophie Douglas ran 5.23.1 in 5th spot with a blistering final 100m.
Georgia Brambles (1)
Well done to Max Unthank and Edward Havers who took on the U16 Boys Long Jump – Max (4.13m) in 6th and Edward 3.99m in 4th in the B – Max filling in and Edward never having done the event previously. Edward then took on the High Jump – again, an event he hadn’t done previously and cleared 1.30m in 6th and before that Edward was so unlucky as he cleared the opening height of 2.00m in the Pole Vault, but forgot to push his pole away which knocked the bar off. Only his second competition and has already cleared 1.90m – came off with a smile on his face, which was good to see as he starts his athletic journey. Darcie Belshaw was another athlete taking on an event – Long Jump – to help the team and jumped 2.56m in 6th whilst in the High Jump, Abigail Awe took 3rd spot with a clearance of 1.40m which equaled her previous best. In the U14 Boys Long Jump Malachi Howard came 2nd in the A with a leap of 5.14m with team mate Noah Briscoe winning the B (4.47m) – and in the High Jump – Harry Mictchell set himself a new PB height of 1.50m in 3rd place in the A with sprinter Billy Rowbottom – who has never done the event previously, having a go for the team and scissor kicking his way to 1.35m in 2nd spot in the B. Sophie Douglas and Isabella Huntington took on the U14 Girls Long Jump with Sophie (3.37m) 6th in the A and Isabella (2.93m) 4th in the B. who hadn’t done the vent before.
Darcie Belshaw (11)
Elliot James and Zakariya Haq competed in the U16 Boys Shot Putt – Elliot (8.48m) in 5th setting himself a new PB by over a metre and Zakariya placing 4th in the B with 8.22m. Emmanuel Adewunmi took on the Discus – only his second time ever – and threw 16.65m in 5th spot alongside Zakariya placing 5th in the B (14.21m). In the Javelin Zakariya placed 4th (28.26m) with team mate Tomi Birch 4th in the B (22.02m) and another example of an athlete stepping in to take on an event he hadn’t done previously. Madeline Partridge led from the front in the U16 Girls throws – winning the Hammer (43.09m), winning the Discus with 32.64m and winning the B Shot Putt with 8.84m. Abigail Awe came 3rd in the A Shot putt with 8.86m. There was a new PB in the Javelin for Niamh Boland as she threw 21.43m in 2nd place. Matthew Griffiths also led from the front in the U14 Boys Throws – winning the Shot Putt (11.26m), winning the Javelin with a new PB of 33.57m and 3rd in the Discus (20.14m). Edward Russell-Blackburn provided good back up in the Shot Putt – 2nd with 6.45m.
Madeline Partridge
⇓
The Westhorne Moor Trail race was held on Sunday August 2nd featuring one hundred and thirty four runners and amongst them Blackburn Harriers U18 Peter Sagar-Moss who had a good day, running 45.29 in 3rd place and first junior. (RESULTS). Also held on the same day were a set of junior races for U10, U12, U14 and U16/18 race age categories. George Lowde had a good run in the U12 race finishing 3rd overall in a time of 7.04 whilst in the U14 Race, Edward Russell-Blackburn won the race in a time of 9.15 some 18 seconds in front of the second placed runner, followed by team mates Harry Lowde in 4th spot running 9.42, Ryker Hanson in 8th with a time of 10.34, Hugh Russell-Blackburn in 11th place (10.54) and Pippa Blackburn 2nd in the Girls Race with a time of 12.26. Liam Bennison ran in the U16/18 race , placing 6th overall in 17.55. (RESULTS).
L-R Pippa Blackburn – Edward Russell-Blackburn – Hugh Russell-Blackburn
Out on the road and Kady Thompson – who throws Javelin and Discus for the Club – has been trying her hand on 10k races. Kady ran in the Manchester 10k in May and finished with a time of 57.26. On July 30th, she ran the Media City 10k and improved her time, running a new PB by over four minutes with her time of 53.10.
