Close to 900 runners contested the ever popular Mid-Cheshire 5k on Friday Agust 25th – the race being won by Tonbridge athlete James West in 14.03 from Herucles’s Jonathan Cornish in 2nd (14.06) and Morpeth’s Carl Avery in 3rd (14.07). Samantha Harrison won the Women’s race in a course record time of 15.11. Among the field were nine athletes from Blackburn Harriers and headed home by Josh Birmingham in 55th spot running 15.11 with U17 Oliver Gill crossing the finish line in 123rd spot overall and 19th in the U21 age category in a time of 15. 46 – a new PB by an impressive 40 seconds. Next home came Joe Bridge in 152nd spot (15.54) followed by Stephen Walter in 247th position running 16.57. V45 Chris Davies was racing his first 5k of the year – running 16.57 (304th) followed by V55 David Almond in a time of 17.24 (375th). V50 Paul Guinan was running just his fourth race of the year coming home in a time of 19.05 (564th) followed in by Ellen Sagar-Hesketh in a time of 19.16 (582nd) and Charlotte Atkinson in a seasons best time of 19.41 placing 629th.
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This weekend in Birmingham – August 26th & 27th saw the holding of this years National U15 & U17 T&F Championships with a number of Blackburn Harriers having qualified for them. Charlie Unsworth qualified for the semi-final from Heat 2 of the U17 100m with a 11.22 clocking in 3rd spot. Daniel Nuttall ran 11.66 (8th) in Heat 4. After qualifying for the semi-final Charlie clocked 11.12 in 5th place to just miss out on the Final by two hundreths.
Oliver Palk having just returned from holiday, ran in Heat 2 of the U17 400m clocking 53.71 in 7th spot. Agatha Taylor ran 2.30.48 in 7th place in Heat 2 of the U15 Girls 800m in what can only be described as atrocious conditions. In the U15 Girls Pole Vault Tamzin Osborne cleared 2.32m in 12th place. Daniel Smith qualified for the Final of the 1500m with a time of 4.09.72 in 6th spot in Heat 2; And it was a straight Final for the U15 Boys 3000m which saw Sam Aspey clock 9.40.68 for 12th place in a field of 18 athletes and just three seconds outside his personal best.
On Day 2 Charlie Unsworth ran in Heat 2 of the U17 200m clocking 22.25 to move through to the Final in which he placed 5th in a time of 22.36. The Club’s second finalist on the day came in the U17’s 1500m where Daniel Smith – having qualified in 4.09. 72 – improved on that time, putting in a fine finish to take 5th place in a time of 4.08.08.
Agatha Taylor (194)
L-R Lucie Duckett (Preston Harriers) – Agatha Taylor – Tamzin Osborne
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Saturday August 26th was the day of the Welsh Athletics U20 International event hosted in Cardiff. (RESULTS). The Women’s 400m featured five athletes which had Blackburn Harriers U17 Kara Dacosta lined up against U20 athletes from Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Isle of Wight. Kara had a fine run to win the Race in a time of 55.21 from Northern Ireland’s Hannah Murry in 2nd (56.98) and Scotland’s Abbi Macleod in 3rd (57.34). At the end of the day in the Relays, Kara joined the team of U18 athletes who finished 3rd in the 4 x 400m mixed relay in a time of 3.35.85 behind England in 2nd spot (3.33.31) and the winners Scotland (3.31.00).
L-R Hannah Murray – Kara Dacosta – Abbi Macleod
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The final fixture of this years Mid Lancs T & F League took place at Stanley Park, Blackpool on its newly laid track. The final fixture always takes the form of a Medal meeting and for all those athletes who have competed in two or more fixtures throughout the season, they go into the running for a Medal if finishing first, second or third in an event on the day. (PROVISIONAL RESULTS). A huge thankyou to the Mid Lancs League officers and to all of those Officials who have turned out, week in week out throughout the season to ensure that athletes can get access to competition on a regular basis.
(ALL PHOTOS FROM MID LANCS ON BLACKBURN HARRIERS FACEBOOK PAGE)
Fifteen athletes from Blackburn Harriers competed on the day. Anthony Kent got the day off to a great start with a hat-trick of wins in the Throws events winning the Hammer with a distance of 45.51m, the Discus with 36.22m and the Shot Putt with a throw of 11.59m. Sarah Henton followed that up with a 2nd place in the Senior Women’s Discus with a throw of 34.46m alongside team mate Abigail Brown in 4th spot throwing 24.78m after which Abigail placed 6th in the Shot Putt with a distance of 6.70m. There was a new PB for U15 Olivia Thomasson too as she threw 31.90 to take the win in the U15 Girls Javelin – an improvement by over a metre and a hal.
Anthony Kent
Sarah Henton
Abigail Brown
Olivia Thomasson
Charlie Palich and Henry Harwood took 2nd (12.1) and 3rd (12.2) places respectively in the U17 Men’s 100m Heat 2 race. On to the 200m which was a straight race with no Heats and it was a win for Charlie in 24.0 whilst Henry knocked a tenth off his time to set a new PB of 25.0 in 5th spot. Jack Duxbury doubled up in the U15 Boys 100 and 200m races – clocking 12.8 (6th) in Heat 1 of the 100m and 26.3 in Heat 1 of the 200m (3rd) – equaling his personal best in the 100m and just a tenth outside his best in the 200m. Moving up in distance and it was George Holman who took on the U15 Boys 800m – setting a new PB by six tenths as he ran 2.32.3 in 5th spot. Later on George wasn’t far off his personal best in the Javelin (600g) as he threw 19.97m in 7th position.
Henry Harwood (7) – Charlie Palich (203)
Jack Duxbury (5)
George Holman (8)
U15 George Camara took on the 80m Hurdles and High Jump clocking 12.9 in 2nd place in the Hurdles and clearing 1.45m in the High Jump to take the win. Millee Schofield won both the 100m and 200m races comfortably clocking 12.7 in winning the 100m and 26.1 in the 200m. Isabelle Hartley ran 14.7 in 6th place in the 100m and 30.9 (6th) in the 200m followed by 2nd place in the Shot Putt with 8.39m for a new PB. Again, stepping up in distance Charlotte and Emma Robertshaw ran the 1500m – Charlotte winning the U17 Race in a time of 5.13.7 as Emma came home in 2nd place in the U15 Girls 1500m with a time of 5.24.3. U15 Evie Fort tried a 100m and 300m double and was just a tenth outside her personal best in the 100m clocking 14.4 in her Heat (3rd) and 47.3 (4th) in the 300m race. Evie then ended the day with a new PB in the Long Jump – an improvement by 20cms as she leapt out to 3.32m in 9th spot. U13 Millie Jordan was just two tenths outside her personal best in clocking 30.7 in the 200m – 6th overall out of two Heats featuring 15 athletes and finished in 2nd place in the 800m clocking 2.32.9 after leading the race from the start through to the final 100m.
Millee Schofield (12)
Millee’s 100m Race Video Millee’s 200m Race Video
Charlotte Robertshaw (205)
Emma Robertshaw
Evie Fort
Millie Jordan (9)
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The Pendleton Senior Fell Race – Saturday 26th August 2023 saw Josh Holgate have a fine run to take 2nd place in a time of 39.37 behind Matlock’s H.Holmes (38.01) in this 5 mile race featuring 1499 ft. of ascent. (Photos courtesy of David Belshaw)
Josh Holgate
Two legends of the sport watching the action at pendleton – John Calvert & Harry Walker
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One day later, this time at the The Antrim Coast Half Marathon V45 James Bretherton continued to deliver new personal bests over different distances. Having set new PB’s for 5k, 10k, and 10 miles so far this year, he went out and set another in the half-marathon running 77.19 for a new PB by over four minutes.
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At Edge Hill University on Sunday August 27th Danny Maynard was back out in a triathlon – the West Lancs Triathlon – consisting of a 400m swim new pool facility, a 21.5k cycle flat, 3 lap course and a 5k run takes in the trails around campus before finishing on the running track. Danny posted times of 7.45 minutes for the Swim, 42.53 minutes for the Bike ride and 18.51 for the Run for a combined total of 1hr 12.50 – finishing 48th overall out of a field of four hundred and seventy four finishers. (RESULTS)
