Saturday September 20th was a tough day for road running. Arriving early Saturday morning, it looked as though the weather forecast might be wrong. Club tent and flag went up in the dry, everything looked dark but amiable. Then it started to rain and it rained and rained to a point in the afternoon where you had difficulty in seeing who was who in the race. Add to that, what many described as a ‘tough, diffcult and horrible course’ gave a whole new meaning to the term ‘when the going gets tough, the tough get going’. Days like these are part of the ups and downs of road relay racing and thanks to all those officials at Leigh Harriers and Northern Athletics who strove to make sure that the 2025 Northern Road Relays went ahead. (NORTHERN ROAD RELAY RESULTS).
All photos on Blackburn Harriers Facebook Page (HERE)
L-R Louisa Powell-Smith – Lottie Smith – Bella McCredie – Millie Jordan – Isabelle Perry – Emma Robertshaw – Lottie Hesketh – Agatha Taylor (Photo courtesy of Kate Taylor)
The Relays for U13, U15, and U17 male and female athletes started at 11.30am before the Men’s 6-Stage and Women’s 4-Stage started at 2.00pm. The Harriers U13 Boys team finished in 26th place out of 50 teams in the race – comprising Thomas Stewart on Leg 1 (11.14); Theo Addy Leg 2 (12.04) and Edward Russell-Blackburn on Leg 2 (11.48). Our U15 Boys had a part team which saw Max Unthank take the first Leg in 11.23 with Oliver North on Leg 2 running 11.30 and similarly for the U15 Girls with just two athletes – Millie Jordan running 10.34 on Leg 1 with team mate Holly Nicholls posting a time of 11.35 on Leg 2 – Millie’s time in the top ten fastest legs of the race.
Millie Jordan (A540)
Forty two teams lined up in the U17 men’s race resulting in the Harriers three teams placing 8th, 26th and 34th. The A Team which finished in 2nd spot at the North West Road Relays had Henry Ward on Leg 1 (9.14), Max Winstanley running 9.44 on Leg 2 with Sam Aspey on Leg 3 in a time of 9.27. The B Team was led off by Max Belshaw (10.09), with George Holman on Leg 2 in 10.16 and Theo Robinson on the final leg running 9.57. Tom Falencki led off for the C Team in 10.19 followed by Liam Bennison on Leg 2 running 11.04 with Loucas Lancashire on the final Leg in a time of 11.05 – special mention to Loucas who agreed to come into the team, late on Friday night at the last minute.
Henry Ward (A560)
The U17 Women’s Relays had 31 teams lining up at the start, featuring two teams from the Harriers who came home in 6th and 15th positions. Lottie Hesketh led the A team out in 11.17 on the first Leg followed by team mates Emma Robertshaw running 11.35 on the second Leg and Agatha Taylor running 11.41 on the final Leg. Our B Team saw Bella McCredie take the first Leg on with a time of 12.02 followed on leg 2 by Isabelle Perry in 12.01 and Lottie Smith on Leg 3 running 12.07 – just five seconds separating all three.
Lottie Hesketh (A608)
Our A Team in the Men’s 6-Stage had a number of athletes missing who had run the week previously, winning the North West Road Relays. One hundred and fifteen teams started this 6-stage Relay with the Harriers fielding two full and one part team. The A Team came home in 12th place, which meant an automatic qualification for the Nationals on October 4th and had Ross Harrison running 19.08 on the first Leg, Ben Makin (Leg 2) in 20.27, Oliver Gill running 20.39 on third, James Bretherton running Leg 4 in 21.15, Ben Fish on Leg 5 (20.19) making up three places and Rob Warner-Judd pulling back six places – finishing it off on the final Leg with a time of 19.17. Our B Team took 37th place which was led off by Jack Lamb with the fastest Leg in 20.40 followed by Ethan Cutler posting 22.27 on the second Leg, Ismael Alvarez El Hassany running 21.33 on Leg 3 and on Leg 4, unfortunately Ben Stratton went over on his ankle and had to drop out. Logan McCredie was then sent out by the Race officials and ran a time of 22.13 on the 5th Leg, backed up by Chris Davies on the final Leg and just having come straight from work, running a time of 22.54. Hats off too, for the athletes who ran in the part C team, which started off as a full team, but then that’s Relays. Danny Maynard went on Leg 1 in 25.00, Matt Nuttall on Leg 2 with a time of 23.51 and Paul Guinan running 25.36 on Leg 3. The Women’s 4-Stage saw out third part team of the day with just two athletes available – Louisa Powell-Smith and Rebecca Ward. Both ran really well – Louisa posting a time of 23.42 on the first Leg followed by Rebecca running 25.27 on the second Leg.
Ross Harrison (A5)
Louisa Powell-Smith (A203)
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The week prior, Blackburn Harriers athletes were out on the final track & field fixture of the season, at Trafford which doubled as a Medal and Combined Events meeting. (TRAFFORD RESULTS). U15 Alessia Rawcliffe was just outside her personal best in the 100m clocking 14.82 in 3rd before going on to make her debut over 300m, placing 5th in 50.00. U17 Keir Michie who has posted PB’s at 60m, 100m, 200m and Long Jump this year clocked 11.97 in the 100m (4th) and he was followed in the next Heat by U17 Ernie Hobson coming in 3rd in a new PB time of 11.77 and followed that up with a third place in the 200m clocking 24.85. The next Heat saw a win for Codie Dewhurst in a new PB time of 12.40 and then made it a double new PB in 200m placing 4th in 25.29. Jack Thompson clocked 12.81 in his 100m race (4th) and backed that up with a 2nd placed time of 26.12 in the 200m. Staying with the 200m and it was another win for Matthew Sharples in a time 23.75.
On the Road, V45 Chris Davies – in just his second race of the year – ran in the RunThrough Altrincham 10k won by Conor Sarsfield in 31.22 from George Beardmore in 2nd (32.01) and Matt Crichton in 3rd (32.03). Chris ran a time of 36.29 in 41st place overall out of a field of 1500 finishers and 4th in the V45 age catgory.
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