The final meeting of the Manchester Open Indoor Meeting took place at its usual venue – Sportcity – on Sunday March 9th with the Harriers athletes ending the indoor season in fine form – posting 17 new personal bests. First up in the 60m races, U20 Daniel Nuttall and Senior Brandon Zinyemba placed 2nd and 3rd respectively in seasons best times of 7.42 for both of them, Daniel getting the nod for 2nd. In Heat 16 first year U17 athletes – Holly Moore and Grace iLunga – placed 5th & 6th in times of 8.87 and 8.99 folowed in Heat 17 by U15 Tomi Birch crossing the line in 2nd place (7.76) alongside team mate U15 Kai Addison placing 4th in a new PB time of 8.03. U15 Niamh Boland set herself a new PB of 8.36 in 3rd place in Heat 19 as did U15 Darcie Belshaw who clocked 8.55 for a new PB – 2nd spot in Heat 20. U13 Hannah Moore continued with the run of personal bests in clocking a new PB of 9.64 in Heat 24 (3rd). U20’s athletes Charlie Unsworth and Charlie Palich contested the 60m in a Heat in which the two lads were up against senior athletes. Charlie Unsworth ran 7.00 in 2nd alongside teammate Charlie Palich clocking 7.17 in 4th place. In the following Heat, four of the athletes were from Blackburn Harriers among the six lining up – U23 Samuel Mutombo ran a seasons best 7.61 (3rd) with team mates U20 Daniel Nuttall in 4th (7.63), Harvey Holden in a seasons best 7.68 (5th) and U17 Matthew Sharples clocking a new PB of 7.72 in 6th spot.
L-R Millee Schofield – Alisha Lehner – Claudia Longton – Evie Fort – Harvey Holden – Charlie Unsworth – Charlie Palich – Samuel Mutombo – Daniel Nuttall – Matthew Sharples
First year U20 Millee Schofield was up against U17 and senior men in her 60m Heat and clocked a seasons best of 7.97 in 5th place. Three Harriers took part in the next Heat U17 Claudia Longton running a new PB of 8.71 in 2nd, U20 Alisha Lehner running a seasons best of 8.83 in 4th and bottom of age U17 Evie Fort running 8.86 in 5th. U15 Tomi Birch ran his seocnd 60m Heat of the day, clocking 7.76 in 2nd spot.
On to the 300m and Charlie Unsworth last ran the distance in 2022 and showed how sharp he is by setting a new PB by some two seconds of 35.58 in winning the Heat with Charlie Palich posting a seasons best 36.86 in 3rd place. Heat 3 saw the Harriers take first, and third places as U17 Matthew Sharples won the race in a new PB time of 37.41 alongside first year U20 Harvey Holden also clocking a new PB of 39.90. Millee Schofield then added to the wins by finishing in first place in her 300m Heat in a seasons best time of 41.43 followed by a new PB for U17 Max Belshaw who clocked 39.82 in 3rd spot in his race. U20 Alisha Lehner finished 2nd in her 300m race with a time of 47.57 followed by U17 Claudia Longton clocking a new 300m PB of 45.36 in 2nd spot. A seasons best and two new PB’s for the Harriers in the next 300m Heat which included a win for Evie Fort in a seasons best 47.34, 2nd for first year U17 Holly Moore in a new PB time of 48.18 and a new PB time of 48.95 for Grace iLunga in 3rd. U15 Kai Addison added to the number of new PB’s on the day, placing 2nd in a time of 41.93. The penultimate Heat in the 300m’s saw U15 Darcie Belshaw clock 45.27 in winning the race by over a second and a half. Moving up to in distance to 600m U17 Max Belshaw ran a new PB time of 1.33.48 in 3rd place as U13 Hannah Moore took on the 600m for the first time, clocking 2.03.33 in 6th spot. First year U17 Isabella Finn in only her second 60m Hurdle race, clocked a new PB of 9.97 in 2nd spot which represented a two tenths improvement.
In the field events U17 Tamzin Osborne competed in a mixed age – male and female – Pole Vault event and finished as 4th U17W with a clearance of 3.06m, three U17W all with the same height and the winning U17W clearing 3.26m. The indoor season has seen Tamzin post every vault over 3.00m. Also in the field U13 Hannah Moore added 20cms to her best in the Long Jump, setting a new PB of 3.84m and in the other Long Jump Pool of 21 athletes, U23 Samuel Mutombo jumped a seasons best of 5.41m in 6th spot overall and 2nd U23.
L-R Evie Fort – Grace iLunga – Holly Moore
(Tamzin Pole Vault Video) — (300m Race Video) — (Long Jump Video)
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Out on the road this weekend and firstly at the Tatton Park 5 & 10k RunThough Race featuring 882 finishers – the race being won by Jonathan Manning in 34.09. Blackburn Harriers Danny Maynard enjoyed the sunshine with a top 30 finish, coming home in 24th spot with a seasons best time of 39.50. (RESULTS). Also running the 10k distance was Tanith-Jade Ellis who was out on the streets of Chester, running the 10k there and coming home in a time of 45.01 and 49tth in the Women’s Race which had over 2700 finishers. (RESULTS). V45 James Bretherton backed up his new 10k personal best run last week with another new PB this week – in the Tameside 5k where he posted a time of 16.29, an improvement by 20 seconds crossing the finish line in 11th place in the A race. (RESULTS).
Tanith-Jade Ellis
On different ground Blackburn Harrier’s Theo Robinson was at a very warm and sunny race at Elterwater on Sunday March 9th. Theo placed 5th in the U17 race with a time of 14.45 – the race being won by Ambleside’s Zeke Sumner.
Theo Robinson
