A bright sunny day at York was the perfect setting for the Northern Inter-Counties U15 & U17 Track & Field Championships on Thursday June 2nd. (RESULTS) — (TEAM POINTS TOTALS). Ten Blackburn Harriers had been selected to represent Lancashire – U15 Daniel Nuttall; U15 Millee Schofield; U17 Dexta Thompson; U15 Daniel Smith; U17 Matthew Smith; U15 Alisha Lehner; U15 George Camara; U17 Kara Dacosta; U17 Thomas Monks; U17 Ben Stratton.

Yorkshire took the overall Team Title with a total of 335 points followed by North East (280); Cheshire (258); Lancashire (252); Derbyshire (216); Merseyside (208); Gtr Manchester (177); Humberside (163); Cumbria (152); Lincolnshire (152).

The Harriers finished up with three individual championship wins – Daniel Nuttall winning the 100m and 200m double in respective times of 11.50 and 23.25 followed by Dexta Thompson running a new PB of 4.03.12 to win the U17 Men’s 1500m. Daniel also took 2nd spot in the Long Jump finishing with a leap of 5.70m in 2nd place – the winner just 3 cms in front – and then went on to run a Leg of the 4 x 100m Relay which Lancashire won. U15 Millee Schofield was another Blackburn Harrier on the Podium as she came 2nd in the U15 Girls 100m in a time of 12.89.

Daniel Nuttall (inside Lane)

Millee Schofield

U17 Ben Stratton set himself a new PB when he dipped under 2 minutes for the first time in the 800m, coming 5th overall with a time 1.59.71 – an improvement of two and half seconds. U17 Thomas Monks was just outside his personal best in the 400m clocking 53.00 in 5th place alongside U17 Kara Dacosta placing 9th overall in the U17 Women’s 300m with a time 42.24. Two Harriers were selected in the Hurdles – U15 Alisha Lehner clocking 13.05 for 7th place overall in the 75m Hurdles whilst U15 George Camara also finished in an overall position of 7th with his time of 13.56 in the 80m Hurdles. In the High Jump – Daniel Smith cleared 1.60m for 5th spot and Matthew Smith 1.50m in 8th.

Ben Stratton & Dexta Thompson

George Camara

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Holly Bradshaw made the trip to Morocco last week – June 5th – to compete in the Diamond League Pole Vault. A diffcult night for Pole Vaulting – the competition being won with a clearance of 4.65 by Sandi Morris as Holly finished in 4th place with a height of 4.55m. Commenting on her social media after the competition had finished Holly said “Forward is forward no matter what the speed Reinforce the positives (however few there may seem) Learn from the negatives (even if the truth hurts). Like many years before I am working as hard as I can to burst through the challenging times I am facing, but this process unfortunately can’t be rushed or foreseen as to when it will end. The battle goes on….but at somepoint I WILL win”

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Match 2 in this years UKYDL Upper Age Group Division West 1 took place at Wigan on May 29th resulting in the Harriers placing 2nd behind Wirral, the same result as in Match 1. On the day , Wirral finished on top with Blackburn Harriers in 2nd, West Cheshire 3rd, Blackpool 4th, Stockport 5th, Leigh 6th, Southport 7th and Wigan 8th. After a glitch with the Results Software, actual results with athlete names took longer than usual to appear but are now on the UKYDL Website.

THROWS

Matthew Heywood had only one throw which resulted in the win with a distance of 50.05m in the U20 Men’s Hammer later added to by Emma Harrison and Grace Bontoft who won both the A and B U20 Women’s Hammer with throws of 44.79m and 38.87m respectively. George Williams was out at only his third event for the Harriers in the U17 Men’s Hammer and the result was the same as the first – a win with a distance of 33.75m. Charlotte Clapham set herself a new PB in the U17 Women’s Hammer placing 3rd with a throw of 27.74m – an improvement by nearly a metre and a half.

Matthew Heywood

Emma Harrison

Grace Bontoft

Charlotte Clapham

Rory Teare and David Holman took on the Javelin – Rory coming 5th (24.46m) in the A and David 4th in the B with 19.90m alongside team mates Kady Thompson (U17) and Hollie Cubbon who were the pairing in the U20 Women’s Javelin placing 2nd (21.38m) and 2nd (9.63m) respectively. Emma Harrison and Grace Bontoft teamed up again in the Discus – Emma 2nd in the A with a new PB of 19.97m and Grace 1st in the B (13.26m), duplicating those positions in the Shot with 2nd for Emma in the A another new PB of 7.21m and 1st for Grace in the B (7.17m). In the U17’s Throws Harrison Allcock added to a substantial number of points being racked up by the Club’s throwers as he took 2nd in the Shot Putt A (8.47m) with team mate Jack Paget-Fowler placing 1st in the B with a new PB of 6.33m. Dexta Thompson added more points with his 6th placed 25.66m in the U17 Men’s A Javelin. Charlotte Clapham and Isabelle Hartley competed in the U17 Women’s Shot Putt resulting in Isabelle in 6th spot in the A (7.95m) and Charlotte 2nd in the B (7.87m) and another new PB for her. Charlotte was then joined by Kady Thompson in the U17 Women’s Discus which had Charlotte 4th in the A and just outside her personal best with 18.49m and Kady winning the B with 16.34m. Our final pairing in the Throws events saw Keira Haxton come 6th in the A Javelin with a new PB of 19.04m and Isabelle Hartley 4th in the B (7.86m).

Rory Teare

David Holman

Kady Thompson

Hollie Cubbon

Emma Harrison

Grace Bontoft

Charlotte Clapham

Kady Thompson

Isabelle Hartley

SPRINTS

Stuart Yates set himself a new PB in the U20 A 100 with his time of 12.00 (3rd) as Samuel Mutombo won the B also in a new PB of in 12.1. Ben Boocock then joined Stuart in the 200m resulting in Ben coming 3rd in the A (24.1) and Stuart 3rd in the B (24.8). Isabelle Hartley (U17) clocked 14.5 in 5th place in the U20 Women’s 100m A. U17 James Tierney was having his first outing for the Harriers and ran 13.0 (6th) in the A 100m after which he clocked 26.5 in the B 200 alongside team mate Harrison Allcock who ran 24.4 in the A (5th) for a new PB by three tenths. Abbey Riley and Kiera Booth ran the U17 Women’s 100m finishing in 3rd (13.1) and 5th (14.8) respectively with Abbey then placing 6th in the A 200 clocking 28.4. In the Relays it was a 2nd spot for the U20 Men’s 4 x 100m in 46.9 and 2nd in the 4 x 400m in a time of 3.47.80 alongside the U20 Women’s 4 x 400m team who came 3rd in 4.25.30. The U17 Men’s Relays 4 x 100m team placed 2nd in 50.8 whilst the 4 x 400m team won in 3.48.90 and in the U17 Women’s Relays there wasa 3rd spot in the 4 x 100 in 56.6.

Stuart Yates (1) – Samuel Mutombo (11)

Ben Boocock

Stuart Yeats (1)

Isabelle Hartley (1)

James Tierney

Harrison Allcock

Abbey Riley

Kiera Booth (AA)

MIDDLE DISTANCE

Kicking off in the 400m – some may say this is a sprint – U20’s Hayden Mercer – 3rd in the A in 55.3 and Ben Boocock 1st in the B with 54.8, helped the points total along, supported by Abigail Stratton clocking 59.1 in the U20 A race for the win. Codie Dewhurst ran 56.4 in 4th in the U17 Men’s 400m backed up by Ben Livesey in the B with 58.2 in 2nd spot and Kara Dacosta in the U17 Women’s 400m 2nd in the A race with a time of 41.7. It was a double win in the U20 Men’s 800m as David Holman won the A in 2.00.00 along with team mate Hayden Mercer winning the B in 2.12.50. David then went and ran a new PB of 3.58.90 in winning the A 1500m. Amy Davies took 2nd in the A U20 Women’s 800m (2.28.80) with Hollie Cubbon running 2.38.70 in the B in 1st place. Amy doubled up in the 1500m running a seasons best of 5.03.20 in 2nd in the A race as Eleesha Charnley won the B in 5.37.50. Eleesha’s turn to double as she ran 11.21.9 in the 3000m with team mate Hollie Cubbon running 12.10.40 to take maximum points as they were the only two in the U20 age category. There was another double victory for the Club in the U17 Men’s 800m as Ben Stratton won the A (2.02.60) and Codie Dewhurst won the B (2.09.00). Same again in the U17 1500m as Dexta Thompson clocked 4.04.00 a new PB of 4.04.00 in winning the A Race alongside Daniel Smith winning the B in 4.26.60. Jack Lamb was running his first ever 3000m track race and did well to clock 9.51.5 in 2nd in the A with Jack Paget-Fowler running 10.19.00 also in 2nd in the B race. Daniel Smith finished off the endurance events with a win in the U17 Men’s 1500m Steeplechase with a time of 5.13.9 – a new PB by over 40 seconds.

Hayden Mercer (1) – Ben Boocock (11)

Abigail Stratton

Codie Dewhurst

Ben Livesey

Dexta Thompson (A) – David Holman (1)

Ben Stratton (A) – Codie Dewhurst (AA)

Jack Lamb (AA) – Jack Paget Fowler (A)

L- R Kiera Booth – Hollie Cubbon – Keira Haxton – Amy Davies

Daniel Smith

JUMPS

Across the U20 Men’s Long Jump, High Jump and Triple Jump there were only five athletes competing – four of them from Blackburn Harriers. Samuel Mutombo won the A long Jump with a leap of 5.46 — Sam then took maximum points in the Triple Jump (12.26m) alongside Stuart Yates (10.14m) as the only competitors, Rory Teare clearing 1.70m in the High Jump and again for maximum points. Rory paired up with Hayden Mercer in the Pole Vault – the only two U20 competitors and added maximum points with Rory clearing a new PB by 20cm of 3.10m and Hayden clearing 2.90m. In the U17 Men’s events the Club had Ben Livesey, Jack Paget-Fowler, Daniel Smith and Codie Dewhurst involved – Ben placing 5th in the A Long Jump (4.79m) along with Jack jumping 4.37m (3rd) in the B. Daniel cleared 1.65m in the High Jump for 3rd spot with Codie clearing a height of 1.45m in 2nd in the B. The U17 Women’s Long Jump saw Abbey Riley place 6th in the A (4.16m) with Kiera Booth jumping 3.77m in the B (3rd).