There some really good performances overall at the Lancashire Schools Championships held at Wigan on June 8th, with a number of athletes from different areas achieving qualifying standards for the English Schools Championships. Among these were some excellent outings by Blackburn Harriers athletes running for their own Town Schools Team.
Full Results HERE:
But there was one achievement – or more correctly – 3 achievements which managed to set a record as far as anyone can tell. Siblings, Esme, Polly and Joseph Pearse all won their High Jump competitions – a unique treble and one that may not be achieved for a long time to come, if ever – big congratulations to all of them.
Amongst other very good results on the day for Blackburn Harriers athletes were Paul Coffey who ran 11.9 in the Senior Boys 100m Final, whilst James Blow won the Inter Boys 100m Heat in 11.8 and then won the Final in 11.5secs. Archie Braysford ran a a great English Schools qualifying time and PB in the Junior Boys 100m of 11.6secs in the Heat which he won. He then went on to finish second in the final, lowering his time to 11.5secs. In the 200m Inter Boys Final Jake Almond finished 4th (23.8).
Connor Makin was unopposed in the Senior Boys 400m Hurdles final (60.7secs) whilst Joseph Howe in the Senior Boys 1500m Final ran a PB (4:29.8) cutting 4 seconds of his his previous best time for a 3rd place. Joe Monk 4th (10:03.1) and Robert Wong 5th (10:05.7) ran solid races in the Inter Boys 300om Final. Macauley Scott finished 2nd in the Inter Boys High Jump in a County Schools Standard of 1.79m. Ben Aspinall who cleared 12m for the first time, the week before, continued his good form and improvement by taking 2nd place with a jump of 12.38m in the Inter Boys Triple Jump.
Nathan Billington add nearly a metre and a half to his PB in the Inter Boys Hammer with a throw of 37.91m. Byron Abbott came 2nd in the Junior Boys 1500m (4:35.2) with a new PB chopping 17 seconds off his previous best. Cameron Massey contested the Junior Boys Triple Jump taking 4th place (10.24m).
Amongst fine performances in the Girls Events Katie Buckingham goes from strength to strength winning the Inter Girls Hurdles in 47.6 – a new PB and just eight tenths of a second from qualifying for the English Schools Champs. There was also a very impressive run from another Harrier – Roxanne Oliver in the same race. Roxanne finished 2nd to Katie in a fine time of 49.1 in her first ever outing over 300m Hurdles.
Sophie Taylor won the Senior Girls 100m Hurdles (16.9) and Phoebe Howe ran 45.4 in the Inter Girls 300m. Olivia Brooks took 2nd place in the Inter Girls Long Jump with 4.56m, a PB by 13cm. Rebecca Orrell won the Inter Girls Hammer with a solid and consistent throw of 33.55m.
Another great performance came from Morgan Angland in the Junior Girls 75m Hurdles. She broke 12 secs for the first time, winning the event in 11.9secs, an agonising one tenth of a second off English Schools qualifying time. In the same Race, Elizabeth Ashcroft placed 4th in 12.7secs – a new PB by 3 tenths of a second and breaking 13.0 secs for the first time.
Other Harriers athletes competing on the day were Corrie Shorrock Senior Boys Shot Putt (9.90m) & Discus (21.08m); Connor Mahoney Inter Boys 800m (2:11.5); Jack Jameson Junior Boys 80m Hurdles (13.5); Jane Saothong Inter Girls Long Jump (3.56m); Eleanor Clegg Junior Girls 100m (14.7); Olivia Wilson Junior Girls 800m (2:42.0) and Gareth Johnson Inter Boys 200m (25.2).
