Last weekend – June 27th – saw the second Match of this years UKYDL Upper Age Group for U17 & U20 athletes take place at Blackpool’s Stanley Park Athletics Arena. This year is strange for obvious reasons, having to take into account Covid-19 restrictions which has resulted in restricted timetables, removal of events, and less numbers of competing athletes. Thankfully, Matches 3 and 4 will return to the normal full timetable. On the day, Blackburn Harriers made it two wins in two matches, leaving them at the top of the Division with two Matches to go.
Before we speak about the Match, another plug for the Officials who give of their time freely and to who, we owe a great deal of gratitude.
THROWS
Sprint pairing Fawwaz Mustapha and Kyle Mashiter took on the U20 Mens Shot putt, producing victories in both ‘A’ and ‘B’ strings – Fawwaz throwing 9.09m to take the ‘A’ in his first competitve effort in this event and Kyle adding over half a metre to his previous best in taking the ‘B’ setting a new PB of 8.04m.
Fawwaz Mustapha
Kyle Mashiter
Fawwaz was out again in the U20 Men’s Javelin alongside team-mate George Whittaker, which saw George place 2nd in the ‘A’ with a new PB distance of 36.92m, whilst Fawwaz took the ‘B’ in his first ever attempt competitively in Javelin, with a throw of 32.88m. Just one athlete in the U17 Men’s Javelin – producing another win for the team and Rory Teare, also his first ever competitive attempt, as he won the ‘A’ with a distance of 26.87m.
George Whittaker
Fawwaz Mustapha
In the Women’s Throws events, Ava Leigh got the team off to a great start by winning the U20 ‘A’ Hammer with a distance of 42.89m and Grace Bontoft did the same in the U17 Hammer, taking the win with a massive new PB – by over 6 metres – throwing 44.88m. Charlotte Clapham made it a hat-trick of wins in the Hammer as she won the U17 ‘B’ with a distance of 17.26 and another athlete who was competing for the first time in the event.
Ava Leigh
Grace Bontoft
Charlotte Clapham
L-R Charlotte Clapham – Ava Leigh – Grace Bontoft
The wins continued in the Discus as Ava Leigh won the U20 ‘A’ with a throw of 23.87m paired with Liberty Thompson who won the ‘B throwing 14.70m. Charlotte Clapham and Grace Bontoft kept the run going as Charlotte won the U17 ‘A’ Discus with 18.66m and Grace taking the ‘B’ win with her throw of 16.65m.
Ava Leigh
Liberty Thompson
Charlotte Clapham
Grace Bontoft
SPRINTS
Millie Coy and Liberty Thompson were the teams pairing in the U20 100m which had Millie placing 2nd in the ‘A in a time of 13.3 and Liberty 3rd in the ‘B’ (14.5). Just one athlete in the U17 Women’s 100m – Abbey Riley – and she made that count, taking the win in 13.1.
Liberty Thompson (11)
In the 200m, Fawwaz Mustapha clocked 23.2 in winning the ‘A’ U20 whilst team-mate Kyle Mashiter replicated the result in the ‘B’, winning in a seasons best 23.5. The U17 200m produced another double win – Stuart Yates setting a new PB by two tenths in winning the ‘A’ (24.8) and Thomas Monks, also setting a new PB by over half a second as he clocked 24.5 in winning the ‘B’.
Fawwaz Mustapha (1)
Kyle Mashiter (11)
George Whittaker and Jamie Teare teamed up in the U20 400m, with George running 56.2 in the ‘A’ in 3rd spot and Jamie winning the ‘B’ in a time 52.6 in the first time he has run an individual 400m race. Thomas Monks and Hayden Mercer took on the U17 400m and again, this pairing produced two wins – Thomas running 53.9 in winning the ‘B’ and Hayden 54.4 winning the ‘B’ race.
George Whittaker
Jamie Teare
Thomas Monks
Hayden Mercer
Middle Distance
On to the U20 Women’s 800m which had Eleesha Charnley placing 2nd in the ‘A’ clocking 2.26.2. In the U17 Women’s 800m Keira Haxton and Leah Hoole teamed up with Keira in the ‘A’ setting a new PB of 2.29.2 – an improvement by two seconds whilst Leah Hoole kept the points total rolling along as she also came home 2nd in 2.35.6 in the ‘B’.
Eleesha Charnley (1)
Keira Haxton (A) – Leah Hoole (B)
The Men’s U20 1500m only featured three athletes, two of them from Blackburn which resulted in Jamie Teare winning the ‘A’ comfortably in a time of 4.21.6 with Sam Hodkinson taking the ‘B’ in 5.00.2. The U17 Men’s 1500m produced the same result with two wins for David Holman in the ‘A’ clocking 4.34.7 and Hayden Mercer winning the ‘B’ in a time of 4.36.0. David and Sam teamed up again in the 3000m producing two wins – David in his first ever 3000m race clocking a very solid time of 9.46.1 and Sam winning the ‘B’ in 9.51.6 and a new PB by some eight seconds, in this his second attempt at the distance. Team-mates Codie Dewhurst and Jack Paget-Fowler teamed up for the U17 Men’s 3000m – the race being run as a combined race with the U20’s, both lads making their debut for the Club and showing great team spirit. Codie came 3rd in the ‘A’ with a good time of 10.14.1 whilst Jack won the ‘B’ with a good time too of 10.24.4.
L-R Jack Paget-Fowler (AA) Codie Dewhurst (A) – David Holman (11) – Sam Hodkinson (1) – 3000m
Jamie Teare – 1500m
Sam Hodkinson 1500m
David Holman (A) – Hayden Mercer (B) 1500m
JUMPS
Rory Teare was a very comfortable winner of the U20 Men’s ‘A’ High Jump with his clearance of 1.70m. Fellow Harrier and sprinter – Stuart Yates came 2nd in the U17 Men’s ‘A’ with a height of 1.40m and this the first time he had ever attempted the event with team-mate Codie Dewhurst winning the ‘B’ – clearing 1.35m, just one cm from his best.
Rory Teare
Stuart Yates
Codie Dewhurst
Mille Coy took the win in the U20 Women’s Long Jump with a new PB of 5.20m with Liberty Thompson making it a double victory, winning the ‘B’ with a jump of 4.27m. In the U17 Women’s Long Jump, sprinter Abbey Riley placed 2nd in the ‘A’ with a leap of 4.20m.
Millie Coy
Abbey Riley
The Triple Jump produced three wins Fawwaz Mustapha coming out on top in the U20 men’s ‘A’ with 12.33m, Hayden Mercer winning the ‘B’ with a leap of 11.13m in his first ever attempt competitively in this event and Stuart Yates – also never having done the event competitively – winning the ‘B’ with a distance of 10.68m. They are all obviously going very well in training.
Fawwaz Mustapha
Hayden Mercer
Stuart Yates
Hurdles & Steeplechase
Abigail Stratton took on the 80m Hurdles for the first time and finished 2nd in 18.5 and in the U20 Women’s 400m Hurdles, Aysha Karolia came 2nd in a new PB time of 74.5 which represents a two second improvement in the last three weeks. The Steeplechase – over 1500m – showed real commitment by the athletes as they were not to know beforehand that they would be the only athletes in the event. Codie Dewhurst, Jack Paget-Fowler, Eleesha Charnley, Abigail Stratton and Leah Hoole, all took it on, and it has to be said, with a few laughs along the way. All five showed in the results as winning – Codie in the U17 Men’s ‘A’ (5.33.4), Jack in the ‘B’ (5.40.4), Eleesha in the ‘A’ U20’s (7.17.9), Abigail in the U17 ‘A’ (5.54.6) and Leah in the U17 ‘B’ (7.17.9). All good fun, a few smiles and happy faces.
Abigail Stratton
Aysha Karolia
Abigail Stratton
L-R Eleesha Charnley – Abigail Stratton – Leah Hoole
Leah Hoole & Eleesha Charnley in one of those ‘enjoying the moment’ events………..
…………followed by two more – Jack Paget-Fowler & Codie Dewhurst, with a more serious look
RELAYS
The U20 men’s 4 x 400m Relay had just two teams – Blackburn and Blackpool – Blackburn featuring Jamie Teare, Kyle Mashiter, Sam Hodkinson and George Whittaker winning the event in a time of 3.41.8 to Blackpool’s 3.57.9.
The U17 Men’s 4 x 400m team comprised David Holman, Hayden Mercer, Stuart Yates and Thomas Monks and again, just two teams in the race, the other being Lancaster & Morecambe. The Harriers ran out winners clocking 3.47.2 to Lancaster’s 4.02.1.
Back Row – George Whittaker (U20) – Jamie Teare (U20) – Thomas Monks (U17) – Hayden Mercer (U17)
Front Row – Stuart Yates (U17) – David Holman (U17) – Kyle Mashiter (U20) – Sam Hodkinson (U20)
The U20 Women’s 4 x 100m team had Millie Coy, Eleesha Charnley, Aysha Karolia and Liberty Thompson placing 3rd behind Border in 2nd (54.3) and Blackpool winning (54.1) – the Harriers clocking 54.3.
L-R Millie Coy – Liberty Thompson – Aysha Karolia – Eleesha Charnley
The Harriers U17 Women’s 4 x 100m team – Kiera Booth, Abigail Stratton, Keira Haxton and Abbey Riley came 2nd to Blackpool with the Harriers posting a time of 57.0.
L-R Abbey Riley – Kiera Booth – Abigail Stratton – Keira Haxton
