On a lovely sunny day, Liverpool Harriers hosted their annual Throws & Jumps Meeting at Wavertree Athletics Stadium on Saturday April 15th which was this year dedicated to the memory of life time member Harry Oakes – all of the proceeds from the meeting being donated to Marie Curie.

Olivia Thomasson (Javelin)

Over in America, Blackburn Harriers Charlotte Williams – studying at Kansas State at the moment – was back in competition in California at the 63rd Annual Mt. SAC Relays – a competition that featured some 51 female Hammer Throwers. Ana Da Silva was the overall winner with a distance of 64.30m with Elsie Igberaese in 2nd (62.73m) and Carolina Daza in 3rd place (61.35m). In her second competition of the year, Charlotte placed 17th overall with a best throw from her series of 55.91m.

At Warrington over the weekend, there was a pre-season Open meeting hosted by Warrington AC at which Blackburn Harriers U17 Kara Dacosta along with U11 Ava Shannon and U13 Anvitha Reddy competed. (RESULTS) Kara ran the Senior Women’s 400m and having her first run outdoors over the distance. Her one previous run was indoors which she won clocking 58.32. At Warrington she took the win in a time of 58.12. Having a go at her first 100m Anvitha clocked 16.60 in 6th place whilst Ava ran 12.38 in the U11 girls 75m race in 4th position.

Out on the road and it turned out to be a very good day for Blackburn Harriers athletes in the Manchester Marathon run on Sunday April 16th  featruing thousands of runners. (RESULTS). Tim Baldwin and Lee Casson had set out with the aim of running sub 2hr 40 to get an automatic qualifying time for London and that is precisiely what they achieved. Tim last did a marathon in 2018 running 2hr.46 54 and this time he came across the finishing line in 95th place with a time of 2hr 38.27 – a new PB by over 8 minutes. After the race he told the Club that it “was a great day, me and Lee were aiming sub 2:40 to qualify for London. Both had to hang on a little with 5k to go!” Lee was making his debut in the marathon and like Tim had a great run to clock 2hr 38.31 in 97th position telling the Harriers “It went really well, I set out to run sub 2:40 for a London championship qualification and got it. Absolutely over the moon for my first marathon“.

What can you say about V50 Nick Gaskell – having run a marathon in 2016 (2hr 40.36) he ran a new PB of 2hr 39.17 in 111th position to add to all the new personal bests he has produced in the last year at 10k,10mile and half-marathon. Speaking to the Club later Nick told us that he was “pretty chuffed with todays race, over a minute pb since I last run the marathon in 2016 . I was going to leave the marathon for a few years yesterday but after today & enjoying the winter Training over the last few months I’m going to give London 2024 a go“ Ben Walmsley was the next home for the Harriers running a time of 2.39.43 in 126th spot followed by Tom Blaney – like Lee – making his debut in the marathon with a fine time of 2hr 41.18. Tom was delighted with his run as he explained to the Harriers afterwards “Ever since completing a marathon in lockdown for the harriers John O’groats to lands end challenge i thought it was finally time to enter one. My initial intentions on a finishing time was to hit a sub 2:40. Unfortunately i tore my calf durning the XC season and on recovery i struggled to do any sort of weekly milage or speedwork. I changed my plan, i had it in my head that as long as i covered the distance in the long run (like during lockdown) i knew it would be enough to get me round, so i altered the marathon training plan to suit averaging a 36 mile week. Being honest with myself i also altered my target time to 2:45 based on the progress of my long runs. On the day the conditions were perfect; overcast, calm with a little bit of drizzle. I set off and the first mile is a fast down hill one and my watch kept losing GPS, so as ive done in the past i ran to feel. After 5 miles i knew i was running to fast but i felt good, and i felt confident i could sustain it. 9 miles in i had a nice suprise and a game changer on the day for me; Tim and Lee ran by, discussing finishing times i knew there pace would be quick for me, but what an opportunity! I thought if i can hang in for 20 miles even if i dropped off i would get a decent time, i managed to stay with them for 22 miles and at that point i knew about it. The feeling was awful, i was losing time but knew i could limit how much time i lost by staying focused. I crossed the line in 2:41, 4 minutes earlier than planned. I couldnt believe it! I couldnt stand up either! Well done to the harriers that ran today and big thanks for the support from Tim and Lee your race plan was spot on.”

The Harriers 6th athlete competing in this marathon was Charlotte Atkinson and what a run she had – starting off with a personal best of 3hr 34.12 she smashed that with a new PB by more than 12 minutes as she came home in 3hr 21.51 (2893rd).

Still on the road and this time at the Runthrough Cannock Chase Running Festival that had 5k, 10k and half-marathon races all held on the same day (RESULTS). Paul Bradshaw has been racing quite a bit recently including doing a park run the day before this latest run in the 10k at Cannock Chase which he won in a time of 36.19 at the head of a field of just over 300 runners. In 5th place another Harrier – team mate Matt Wood – finishing in 5th spot clocking 39.29.

And just when you thought that winter was all over, there was still the AOC Colleges Championships to compete in which saw Blackburn Harriers Codie Dewhurst, Jack Padgett-Fowler, Isabel Holt, Evie Taylor and Keira Haxton race for Burnley College at NottinghamUniverity at the weekend on April 15th. There are no official results available but we do know that Codie finished in 17th place and Jack 46th in the men’s race whilst Isabel placed 7th, Evie 8th and Keira 14th in the Women’s race.