The day before the National 6 & 4 Stage Road Relays in Birmingham, along with the Junior Relays, the airwaves were filled with gloom – horrendous wind, rain and pretty pessimistic forecast all round. Yes the wind was there, but the rain held off and the day was reasonably bright. The wind made the racing tough, but it was the same for everyone which didn’t stop some pretty good racing throughout the day. – three lof our teams being the first Lancashire team in the results. Our U15G team of Millie Jordan, Holly Nicholls and Charlotte Smith got the day off to a good start as they finished in a top 20 spot out of a field of 68 complete teams as they were led off by Millie coming home in 8th place running 13.57, followed by Holly on Leg 2 (15.31) and anchored by Charlotte with a time of 15.18. Following the completion of the Relay Millie told the Club “I was really happy with my race today and how the team performed. It was a great atmosphere, even though the weather conditions weren’t the best!” whilst Charlotte told us that she was “happy with my race considering the conditions. To finish top 20 was a great performance from the team“. (U15G RESULTS)

U15 Girls Team – L-R – Charlotte Smith – Holly Nicholls – Millie Jordan

The Harriers U17W team also took a top 20 spot, placing 18th overall with Lottie Hesketh leading off on Leg 1 (15.13), Emma Robertshaw running 15.15 on Leg 2 with Agatha Taylor on the final Leg running 15.22 – – just 9 seconds separating the times of the three girls and first Lancashire team home. 74 complete teams in the U17 Men’s relay with the Harriers team consisting of Henry Ward, Sam Aspey and Jack Wood, placing 22nd overall and similar to the U17 Women they came home as first Lancashire team. Henry started the team off with 13.04 run followed by Sam running 12.17 on the second Leg with Jack running the final Leg in 12.34. Commenting on the Relay afterwards, Henry told us that he “ran the first leg of the relay and got off to a strong start. Unfortunately, I started to feel rough quite quickly, likely due to battling the end of a cold. Despite that, I pushed through the best I could. Sam and Jack worked hard in the following legs and managed to gain some places back“.(U17W RESULTS) — (U17M RESULTS)

Sam Aspey

L-R Charlotte Smith – Agatha Taylor – Emma Robertshaw – Millie Jordan – Lottie Hesketh

Final Relay of the day for the Harriers came in the Senior Women’s 4-Stage Relay with Isabel Holt, Abigail McAndrew, Rebecca Ward and Louisa Powell-Smith and producing our highest placing of the day – 12th out of the 55 complete teams. Isabel got the team off to a flyer, running the fastest Leg of the day by an U20 Woman as she brought the team home in 5th spot in 18.30, backed up by Abigail on the second Leg with 19.22 keeping us in 5th spot , Rebecca on the third Leg, despite falling, ran 22.28 in 17th place after which, Louisa picked up five places to come home in a time of 20.16, 12th overall – and again – first Lancashire team. Following the race, the Club spoke to the women about their races and the day itself: Isabel telling us that it was a “Great day out at the national relays. Always such a fun race and a good starting point to the season. Excited too build up now too XC!” Abigail then said that she was “Really happy to finish 12th team at the national road relays !! It was my first run out after off season, and a nice starting point to work from as we go into the winter!“. Rebecca was next up with her thoughts as she told the Harriers that she “Ran 3rd leg at the National Road Relays, took a tumble at mile 2 but bounced right back — didn’t really affect my race! So proud to be part of such a brilliant team of girls. What a day!” and finally, Louisa was just as enthusiastic as the others saying that she “Loved the relays today. I was really nervous at the start, especially running fourth leg, but I stayed focused and gave it everything. I set off well and, despite battling the wind on the far side of the course, I felt strong and managed to catch and pass five women. I’m happy with my run and thrilled with the team result!” (SENIOR WOMEN’S RESULTS)

Isabel Holt in 5th place

Abigail McAndrew

Rebecca Ward (C113)

Louisa Powell-Smith

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Jess Warner-Judd is building up to her debut in the Marathon as she approaches the New York Marathon in November. She is putting out some very good results in races over the half-marathon and 10k as can be seen by her win in the Big Half on September 7th running 70.35 and backed up in the Vitality 10k on September 28th in which Jess placed 2nd in the Women’s race, running 31.14 – the race being won by Eilish McColgan (30.35).  Rob Warner-Judd also had a fine run, coming home in a top 5 spot in a time of 29.56 (5th) with just 5 seconds separating places 3,4,5,6. (WOMEN’S RESULT’S) — (MEN’S RESULTS). Jess told us that she was “really pleased with her race to run one of her fastest road times in the middle of heavy training is a really good sign” —  and Rob was similarly enthused about his run commenting “I went into hoping for around 30:30 so to go sub 30 was a surprise but very happy with where things are at the moment!”

Jess & Rob Warner-Judd

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Still on the road and this time over the Marathon distance –  Gina Preston-Kelly – in her first year with the Harriers – took on the Chester Marathon at the weekend and had a great run – and this in her first competitve year for the Harriers. Gina ran a time of 3hrs 51.24 on her debut.

Gina Preston-Kelly

Catching up with some results from the previous weeks, there was a very fine run from U15 Benedict Raby in the Thieveley Pike Fell Race on Saturday 27th September when he ran 36.38 to place 5th overall in the race and 1st Junior. Also having a very good run was Marc Hartley who took a top 10 place with a time of 38.54 crossing the finishing line in 9th position. (THIEVELEY PIKE RESULTS)

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One day later – Sunday September 28th – there was a Trafford Open Medal Meeting which gave athletes a final outing for track and field competition. (TRAFFORD RESULTS). U13 Harry Mitchell took full advantage of the opportunity to compete – taking on the 75m, High Jump and Long Jump. He kicked off with a new PB time of 11.31 in the 75m, an improvement of over 3 tenths, then took 4th place in the Long Jump with 3.91m and finished off with his second new PB of the day, clearing 1.41m in the High Jump, 4 cms higher than his previous best. U17 Matthew Sharples who has a huge season of racing behind him, took on the 400m, clocking 52.22 in 3rd spot, which was just three tenths shy of his previous best time.

And finally what about this for a stellar line up – Olympians Jess Warner-Judd and Laura Muir with further Olympian Holly Bradshaw also at the track with some of the Blackburn Harriers Girls at training recently.

Back Row – L-R – Keira Haxton – Agatha Taylor – Isabelle Perry – Emma Robertshaw – Lottie Hesketh – Millie Jordan – Lottie Smith – Poppi Watson – Jess Warner-Judd — Front Row – L-R – Charlotte Smith – Holly Micholls – Laura Muir – Bella McCredie

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