The EIS in Sheffield was the venue for this years Northern Senior, U20 & U17 Indoor Championships. Over the course of the weekend a number of Blackburn Harriers were involved in sprints, jumps and middle distance races. On the first day, bottom of age U17 Isabella Finn placed 6th in the Long Jump B Final with a distance of 4.45m and went on to clock 8.51 in Heat 2 of the 60m. Team mate Evie Fort, also bottom of age U17 took on the 60m – clocking 9.07 in 7th spot in her Heat followed by 5th place in her Heat of the 300m with 48.09. Holly Moore was another bottom of age U17 taking on the 60m and 300m races which saw her clock a new PB in her 60m Heat of 8.85 and followed that up with a 48.95 clocking in the 300m in 5th spot.
Mick Hall Photos from Northern Indoor ChampionshipsIsabella Finn – Photo courtesy of Mick Hall Photography
Evie Fort – Photo courtesy of Mick Hall Photography
Holly Moore – Photo courtesy of Mick Hall Photography
Also taking on the 60m were bottom of age athletes Jack Thompson and Keir Michie – Jack running 8.15 in 8th place in his Heat and Keir 7.75 in 6th in his, both of them very close to their perosnal bests. Bottom of age U17 Matthew Sharples had a very good day in the 400m races opening up in his Heat with a new PB time of 53.78 in 2nd place, clocked 55.17 in the semi-final, again in 2nd and then ran another new PB in the Final of 53.24 in 4th spot – the final having four new personal bests and two seasons best times. Three 400m races in one day was a huge effort.
Moving up in age group to the U20’s with Charlie Unsworth who had another fine day in the 60m – winning his Heat in 7.01, won his semi-final in 6.95 and then clocked a new PB of 6.87 in the Final as he took the Silver Medal. First year U20 Charlie Palich also had a good day as he clocked a new PB of 7.12 in his Heat to go through the semi-final in 2nd, placed 2nd again in the semi-final clocking 7.14 and placed 4th in the Final with 7.16. Also adding to their new personal bests was another first year U20 – Jacob Fisher – who ran a new PB of 7.38 in his 60m Heat in 6th position. Long & Triple Jumper U23 Samuel Mutombo clocked 7.71 in his 60m Heat.
Sunday’s saw the highlight of the weekend for the Harriers when U17 Tamzin Osborne won the Gold Medal in the Pole Vault with a new PB of 3.15m which was also a new Indoor Club Record – Tamzin holding it already at 3.00m, rising now to 3.15m. The morning session opened with bottom of age U20’s Millee Schofield and Alisha Lehner — Alisha running 29.84 in 5th spot in her 200m Heat which was her first time over the distance indoors and Millee running 26.01 in her Heat in 3rd. On to the 200m races and Matthew Sharples carried on where he left off on day one as he clocked another new PB of 24.54 in 2nd place in his Heat to qualify for the semi-final. In the U20 men’s 200m – Charlie Unsworth qualified for the semi-final running 22.76 in 2nd place (Heat 1), Charlie Palich won his Heat 5 in 22.77 to qualify for the semi-final with team mate Jacob Fisher setting a new 200m PB of 23.38 in the same Heat. The 800m races saw first year U17 Bella McCredie run a new PB of 2.34.04 in 3rd place in her Heat whilst Agatha Taylor, also first year U17, qualified for the 800m Final in 2nd place clocking 2.19.61. Logan McCredie who had never run 800m indoors previously and had only a single 600m race under his belt, clocked 2.09.14 in his 800m Heat (5th).Tanith-Jade Ellis took on the 3000m and finished in 4th place with a time of 12.11.35.
Tamzin Osborne – Photo by Ann Osborne
Bella McCredie – Photo by Ann Osborne
Logan McCredie – Photo by Ann Osborne
Tanith-Jade Ellis – Photo by Ann Osborne
The 200m semi-finals for Matthew Sharples followed his new personal best for the distance in the Heats and three 400m races the day prior, but that didn’t stop him posting yet another new PB of 24.39 in the semi-final in 6th place. Charlie Unsworth carried on the string of personal bests as he qualified for the U20’s 200m Final in a new indoor PB time of 22.45 in 2nd spot alongside team mate Charlie Palich qualifying in 3rd place with an indoor seasons best of 22.70. Next up came the U17 Girl’s 800m Final which saw Agatha Taylor lining up after qualifying for the Final earlier in the day. Agatha took 5th place in the Final with a time of 2.21.54. The weekend came to an end with the U20 men’s 200m Final which saw Charlie Unsworth and Charlie Palich in their 6th race over the two days – resulting in Charlie Unsworth placing 4th in 22.45 and Charlie Palich 6th in 23.40 and capping off fine performances for the Blackburn Harriers athletes at the Championships.
Matthew Sharples – Photo by Ann Osborne
Charlie Unsworth (355) – Photo by Ann Osborne
Charlie Palich (274) – Photo by Ann Osborne
Agatha Taylor (684) – Photo by Ann Osborne
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On to the road next, and this time at the Valencia 10k with Jess Warner-Judd and Rob Warner-Judd. The Women’s race had over four and a half thousand runners in it which was won by Hellen Ekalale Lobun in 29.31 and saw Jess finish in the top 20 (19th) with a time of 31.55 which follows on from her 32.00 at the Ribble Valley 10k at the end of December 2024. Jess is clearly on her way back and is now targeting the Houston Half-Marathon. Rob has had a couple of months dealing with injury, but he too looks as though he is back running solid performances as he crossed the finish line in a time of 30.31. Rob told us after the race that he was “quite pleased with that – it’s been hard coming back from injury at Mansfield but feel I’ve moved on quite well in the last few weeks and not far away from getting back to my best the wind was rough today in the middle section but was a fun rave to do!” (RESULTS)
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The Inter-District Senior & U20 Cross Country Championships in Scotland held on January 11th saw Helen Leigh continue her excellent form in the Senior Women’s race – coming home in 11th place overall and 1st V40 with a time of 28.39 and was also 2nd counter for the North team. There is no doubt that Helen had a very good run, the latest in quite a line of good racing for her as she explained when she spoke to the Club afterwrds saying “In freezing conditions and snow I had a quality run at the inters! I finished 11th in the british x challenge and 10th in the inter Districts. We also got 3rd team. 4 2km laps flew by and I felt really strong. Think this was the fastest I’ve ever run a cross country as a senior! (RESULTS)
Helen Leigh (441) – Photos courtesy of Carol Sim