The Northern Track & Field Championships were held at the Costello Stadium in Hull over the weekend of June 6/7th which saw Blackburn Harriers athletes pick up medals. The first athlete in action for the Club was Matthew Heywood in the Senior Men’s Hammer competition which had nine athletes competing for the medals. Eddie Jeans won the Gold with a distance of 63.25m whilst Matthew who has just returned from the States recently, came 4th throwing 49.67m. In the Senior Women’s Hammer – involving seven athletes – the competition was won by Alice Barnsdale throwing 61.02m with Blackburn Harriers Ava Leigh placing 3rd to secure the Bronze Medal with a throw of 53.77m and afterwards she told the Club that she was “Glad to come away with a Bronze medal and a distance close to my personal best. Definitely have more to give this season and hoping I get to show it in competition“.
Next up was Joe Monk who had taken on the 3000m Steeplechase which he won in a time of 9.25.96 – less than a second behind his personal best and after the medals had been presented he told us that he was “Really pleased with the run. Less than a second off my PB and completely solo. Looking forward to some more steeples this season and going even quicker“. On Sunday Max Winstanley lined up in a straight Final over the U18 Men’s 800m which had eight athletes contesting – won by Samuel Conkie in a new Championship Record of 1.57.25. Max who had broken through the two minute barrier this season (1.59.1) ran well in placing 4th in a time of 2.00.83 and told us after he had finished his race that “it was a tough race in a strong field but i managed to push on with 400 to go to finish 4th“.
L-R Ava Leigh – Alice Barnsdale – Hannah Blood (Photo courtesy of Northern Athletics)
L-R Lee Athersmith – Joe Monk – Ethan Dunn (Photo courtesy of Northern Athletics)
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The North West Combined Events Championships were held at Edge Hill University over the weekend of June 6/7th and there was a cracking performance by Blackburn Harriers George Whittaker who won the Championships with a new PB points total of 5679. During the course of two days of the Decathlon George placed 2nd in the 100m (11.46); 4th in the Long Jump (5.93m); 4th in the Shot Putt (10.17m); 1st in the 400m (53.24); 4th in the High Jump (1.66m); clocked a new PB of 16.7 in the 110m Hurdles; threw 33.00m in the Discus; equalled his personal best in the Pole Vault with a clearance of 3.80m; threw a new PB in the Javelin of 42.94m and finished off with clocking 5.22 in the 1500m. George spoke to us afterwards and told the club that he was ‘Over the moon this weekend! Been a tough start to the season with injuries, things starting to come together this year, exciting to see where it goes”.
George Whittaker
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U16 Dana Juma is one of a growing number of throwers coming through at Blackburn Harriers and she has certainly gone from strength to strength in this early part of the season rising to the top 20 in the Shot Putt National Rankings. Recently at the Speermeister Throws Group competition held on June 2nd, Dana threw a new PB distance of 11.02m in winning which meant she had won six out of the eight competitions she has participated in this season to-date.
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Out on the road Wednesday June 3rd saw the second race of the Astley Park Series won by James Mcleod in 21.13. Blackburn Harriers were to the fore again in this race – Stephen Hall coming home in 3rd spot (22.37) followed just behind by Danny Maynard in 4th (22.51), Mark Almond in 6th (24.01), Marco Pacelli in 7th (24.04) and Dominic Bretherton in 9th (24.23) which meant the Harriers had five athletes home in the first nine places. Next across the line was the winner of the Women’s race – Vikki Robertshaw who ran 24.43.alongside team mates Isabella Pacelli running 26.51 and 4th in the Women’s race and Mary O’Gorman in 5th spot running 27.42. Natalie Jordan came 16th in the Women’s race, running 30.44 and what a joy to see Sarah Krige running as she came home in 26th spot posting a time of 32.24. Craig Greenhough finished in 103rd place overall running 37.09. Amelia Pacelli, Esme Krige and Sebastian Walker all went in the Junior race – Amelia placing 2nd in the F13 age group (5.42) with Esme just one second behind, running 5.43 and 3rd in the F13 followed by Sebastian who placed 5th in the M8 age group category in a time of 6.46. (SENIOR RESULTS) — (JUNIOR RESULTS)
In the Series to-date Harriers athletes are placed overall – Danny Maynard (2nd), Mark Almond (3rd), Marco Pacelli (4th), Dominic Bretherton (=7th). Dominic Bretherton leads the V40 table, Mark Almond leads the V55 table with Marco Pacelli in 2nd, Vikki Robertshaw leads the Women’s table, with Isabella Pacelli in 4th and Mary O’Gorman in 5th, Natalie Jordan 13th and Sarah Krige 19th. Isabella Pacelli is first in the Junior Females category, Vikki Robertshaw leads the V40 Women’s table with Natalie Jordan in 5th, Sarah Krige is 4th in the Women’s V50 category.
L-R Danny Maynard – Isabella Pacelli – Mary O’Gorman – Vikki Robertshaw – Dominic Bretherton – Mark Almond – Craig Greenhough – Marco Pacelli
Also on the road this weekend were Harriers Jonny Murphy, Adrian Shorrock and Freya Neild. Jonny and Adrian lined up in the Morecambe 10k on June 7th featuring 179 runners – the race being won by James Gullen in 34.18. Jonny finished in 7th spot posting a time of 39.01 whilst Adrian was one place further back in 8th place, running 39.44 and was also the 1st V55. Freya went in the 5k race at Morecambe – won by Morgan Harley in 17.11. Freya won the Women’s race, placing 3rd overall and posting a time of 19.11 and telling the club after her race that “she wanted to thank her coaches for encouraging her to have a go“. (10k RESULTS) — (5K RESULTS).
Freya Neild (Photo courtesy of Sprint Finish Photography)
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Sunday June 7th was the date and Bolton was the venue for the Ironman 70.3 consisting of three disciplines – a 1.2 mile open water swim, a 56 mile bike ride and and half-marathon run (13.1 miles). Leah Hoole and Andrew Knowles were both in this and what a race from Leah. She won the the 18 – 24 female age category in a combined time of 4hr 50.57, was 5th Woman overall and took 92nd place out of one thousand, six hundred and thirty one finishers. Andrew also had a top race placing 2nd in the 60-64 yrs male age group with his combined time of 5hr 03.14 behind the winner who posted 4hr 52.54 and who is the current Male 60 World Champion. Both Leah and Andrew have qualified for the World Championships as a result of their performances in Bolton.
Leah Hoole
Andrew Knowles with Daughter Eva
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Blackburn Harriers Ben Makin was competing in the Open Swiss Modern Pentathlon Championships which took place in Switzerland on June 6th and 7th and turned out to be a very good weekend for Ben as he finished 3rd overall in the Senior men’s competition and 1st in the U24’s age category, compiling a total of 1612 points behind 2nd placed Vital Muller (1645) and winner Alexandre Dallenbach (1651). Ben came 2nd in the Fencing (274 points); 5th in the Obstacle section (344); 3rd in the Swim (309); and 2nd in the Laser Run (685). Following the event, Ben shared his thoughts with us about the weekend’s competition – commenting that he “Started the weekend at the Swiss open with the fencing, I’ve been working on the fencing quite a bit since getting back into the sport and it paid off starting with 25 victories and 5 defeats (career best) and beating Olympian Alex, then followed by the obstacles, it was only my 2nd time on the obstacles so I didn’t expect too much but I took my time down from 55 seconds to 33.43, keeping me competitive, then following this I swam a 58.15 my first time under a minute in 3 years to finish it all off I put together a nice laser run going 10:16 another PB to leave me 3rd to 2 very experienced athletes on the World Cup circuit, not too bad for my 2nd competition back and hopefully I’ve done enough to get selection for European senior championships in Turkey early August“.
L-R Vital Muller – Alexandre Dallenbach – Ben Makin
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Meanwhile, out on the Fells – it was the Edenfield Fell race which is a 10.2 km BM category event with 396m of climb, started from the Edenfield Cricket Club on Sunday June 7th and won by Ben Coop in 45.52 with a field of ninety six athletes in total. Blackburn Harriers Max Cunningham was out on this one, taking 11th place overall and 2nd U23 in the race, posting a time of 52.22. (RESULTS). Also out on the Fells was Gary Pearse who was taking on the Wharfedale Trail Half Marathon on Saturday June 6th (RESULTS). One hundred and sixty eight finishers in the race won by Jack Cummings in 1hr 33.34 with Ryan Lucas in 2nd (1hr 38.07) and Mark Burton in 3rd (1hr 38.33). Gary came home in a time of 2hr 11.08 and 6th in the Vet 60 age category and told us after the race had finished that it was “Good to get out and challenge myself with not much training. Weather mixed so limited views but great countryside and well managed race“.
Congratulations to Blackburn Harriers athletes U16 Benedict Raby; U16 Eleanor Jenner; U20 Peter Sagar-Moss on their selection for the Junior Fell Inter-Counties Lancashire team.
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