Witton Park Arena – home of Blackburn Harriers – was the venue for the third fixture in this years Mid Lancs Track & Field League on Saturday July 4th. This year, the League has changed the timetable to accommodate, for the first time, an U12 age group in some of the events. The 3000m has also been moved to a new start time of 11.30am which means that middle distance and endurance runners can run the race without it being held, usually very late and often between one and two hours behind schedule. The 3000m yesterday – run into a strong head wind on the back straight – produced a good run for U18 Theo Robinson who clocked 9.56.6 in 2nd spot in the Senior Men’s race behind the winner – Jon Cleaver. Peter Sagar-Moss won the U18 men’s race in 10.27.0 whilst in the Senior Women’s race, Freya Neild clocked 11.13.4 in 3rd spot.

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The Harriers Throws Group is producing very consistent results and improvements throughout the squad and the Mid Lancs was no exception. U18 Peter Sagar-Moss set a new PB in the Shot Putt with 8.57m and won the Javelin with a throw of 39.32m – the Javelin being thrown into a pretty bad headwind for all the athletes in the event with team mate Loucas Lancashire placing 2nd throwing 37.31m. U16 Zakariya Haq set a new PB in the Javelin by just one cm with a 3rd placed 32.06m. U14 Boys Matthew Griffith and Noah Briscoe were in a field of eleven for the Shot Putt – Matthew winning the competition with 10.61m and Noah placing fourth with 7.54 in his first ever attempt at the event. Matthew went on to win the Discus with a throw of 27.57m with Billy Rowbottom in 2nd place throwing 19.59m – the amazing thing being that this was the first time the lads had ever thrown Discus in competition. Then in the Javelin Matthew placed 2nd with a new PB throw of 32.54m alongside William Jenner who placed 3rd with a distance of 25.36m in his first ever attempt at the event. The U16 Girls Throws also produced some fine performances – Abigail Awe won the Shot with a new PB of 9.22m, over a metre improvement on her previous best with team mate Marika Behnke in 4th spot throwing 7.95m. Madeline Partridge won the Discus throwing 32.83m with Marika in 3rd spot 20.19m – Marika then going on to place 2nd in the Javelin with 19.58m and Madeline winning the Hammer, throwing 44.74m. Finally on Throws U12’s Amelia Holden and  Emily Rowbottom tried the Javelin for the first time and did well – Amelia placing 5th with 10.57m and Emily 11th throwing 7.47m.

Matthew Griffiths

On to Sprints – all run on the back straight into a headwind which meant no new personal bests – where Heat 1 featured five Blackburn Harriers and one Kirby Miler – the Kirby Miler (Benjamin Culshaw) winning the race in 12.3 with George Camara being given the same time of 12.3 in 2nd, Oliver Jones placing 3rd (12.4), Jack Duxbury 4th in 12.5, Louis Crake 5th in 13.2 and Jack Thompson 6th clocking 13.3 – and in Heat 3 Codie Dewhurst clock 12.7 in 5th place. Logan McCredie and Codie Dewhurst took on the Senior Men’s 400m in Heat 2 – Logan winning in a very close fought race in 54.9 with team mate Codie in 6th spot (57.4). Matthew Sharples clocked 12.4 in 3rd spot of Heat 1 in the 100m whilst team mate Keir Michie won Heat 2 in 12.1. Emmanuel Adewunmi took 2nd place in the U16 100m Heat 1 clocking 11.7, the same time as the winner alongside team mate Tynias Mensah in 3rd spot running 12.2 – and in Heat 3 – Joshua Carrier clocked 13.1 in 3rd place with James Astley running 13.2 in 5th. Despite the wind U16 Elliot James had a fine run in the 300m, clocking 37.4 in 2nd place (Heat 1) whilst Oliver North ran 40.7 in Heat 2, also placing 2nd which was a new PB by two tenths. The U14 Boys 100m races saw Billy Rowbottom place 2nd in the same time as the winner (12.4) in Heat 1 with Magnus Taylor clocking 14.2 in 7th for his first ever attempt at the distance – whilst in Heat 2 Xuanqiao Llang won the race in 13.8 alongside Conan Beare placing 2nd in 14.4. Just one race in the Senior Women’s 100m – Agata Tomasz placing 3rd in 14.2 and Evie Fort 4th in 14.4. Niamh Boland ignored the wind and powered her way to a win in 13.3 of Heat 1 of the U16 Girls 100m with Seren Gooden in 6th place (14.4) as Rebekah Sullivan clocked 15.3 in 5th place of Heat 2. In the U16 Girls 300m races – Imogen Boardman won Heat 1 in 43.7 which was the overall fastest of the Heats with Rebecca Rowlings clocking 48.3 in 4th place of Heat 2. Eight Blackburn Harriers ran in the Heats of the U14 Girls 100m – Isabella Huntington 14.4 in 3rd and Maizie Cooke in 4th (14.4) of Heat 1; Michelle Ede in 2nd place of Heat 2 (14.7); Ava Shannon clocking 14.6 (3rd) – Amelia Carrier 15.9 (6th) and Mia Rose Burns 16.2 (7th) in Heat 3; and in Heat 4 Mia Logan in 6th (15.4) with Zoe Walker 7th (16.2). Four Harriers went in the U12’s 75m races – Amelia Holden 6th in 12.8 (Heat 1); Grace Brotherton 12.4 in 4th (Heat 3); Isabella Brotherton 12.8 in 5th place (Heat 4) and Olivia Mitchell running 14.4 in 4th spot (Heat 5).

Xuanqiao Llang (68)

On to Jumps where U18’s Oliver Jones placed 4th with a huge new PB leap of 5.37m and team mate Louis Crake 5th also with a new PB of 5.06m in the Long Jump. There were two wins in the U16 Boys High Jump and Long Jump – Tynias Mensah winning the High Jump with a new PB clearance of 1.65m whilst James Acton-Grieves won the Long Jump with a leap of 5.35m alongside team mates Zakariya Haq jumping 4.62m in 4th, James Astley in 5th with 4.39m and Raees Ali in 11th spot (3.17m). These were followed by wins for Lia Cooper in the U18 Women’s High Jump with 1.40m and in the Long Jump where it was great to see Holly Moore back in action as she won the event with a clearance of 4.40m. Abigail Awe placed 3rd out of eight in the U16 Girls Long Jump (4.64m) which was a new PB for her. The irrepressible Hannah Moore won the U14 Girls High Jump with a clearance of 1.30 and in the Long Jump she placed 4th out of a field of 21 with a jump of 3.77m alongside team mates Mollie Pickup in 19th (2.73m) and Mia Rose Burns in 20th (2.53m).

Lia Cooper

In the Middle Distance events, there was a well judged and fine win in the 1500m for U14 Boy William Jenner, clocking 4.44 for a new PB by some eleven seconds alongside team mate Ben Hawksworth running 5.17.8 in 8th spot. Isabella Pacelli and Freya Neild ran in the Senior Women’s 800m – Isabella taking 4th place in 2.32.4 and Freya 7th spot in 2.42.7. Eleanor Jenner clocked 5.15.5 in 4th spot in the U16 Girls 1500m – a new PB by a whopping twelve seconds. Three girls went in the U14 Girls 800m races with Mya Chadwick placing 4th out of 15 in Heat 1 (2.38.1) alongside term mates – Ruby Govier running 2.44.6 (6th) and Pippa Blackburn 10th in 2.51.3 in Heat 2. Completing middle distance races for the day was Mollie Pickup in the U14 Girls 1500m running 6.14.6 in 10th place and in the U12 Girls 600m which featured 26 girls in one race Grace Brotherton ran 2.13.8 (20th), Isabella Brotherton placed 22nd in 2.17.2 and Olivia Mitchell ran 2.36.3 in 26th. Last but by no means least came the Hurdles where U14’s Oliver Holden placed 2nd in 14.0 and Noah Briscoe clocked 14.4 in 3rd spot in the 80m Hurdles, this being his first ever attempt at the event.

L-R Isabella Brotherton – Olivia Mitchell – Grace Brotherton

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The England Athletics National Track & Field Championships were held in Bedford over the weekend of July 3rd – 5th with several Blackburn Harriers taking part. Joe Monk was taking on the 3000m Steeplechase in a field of six which was ultimately won by Logan Patete (USA) in 9.08.16. Joe went to try and run a personal best which is exactly what he did, even in the wind and clocked a new PB time of 9.20.54 in 5th spot and afterwards told the Club that he “Was very pleased with the run. We started off very slowly so I decided to string it out a bit to get the pace moving. From there I went with the group and tried to hang on for as long as possible. Given the wind and how slow it was at the start I was really pleased with a solid 5 second PB“. (RESULTS). The second athlete competing at the Championships was Myles Fraser in the U20 men’s 3000m on Sunday. Myles finished in 7th place clocking 8.36.79, the Club speaking to him about his race after it was over and telling us that ” “I had a good experience at the Nationals. Although I wasn’t best pleased with how I felt during the race, 7th with such a short turnaround post injury is something I can pride myself on. I’m aiming to build upon today’s race with English Schools, Northern League and some time trials before the season ends.”

Joe Monk

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Stephen Hall was out at the Pilling 10k on Sunday July 5th and came home in 7th place overall and 1st V50 in a time of 37.10 – the race being won by Bradley Walsh in 32.15. (RESULTS)

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The final race of the Astley Park Series took place on Wednesday July 1st resulting in multiple prizes for the Harriers. Danny Maynard placed 3rd on the night running 22.30 with Mark Almond in 9th place (23.26), Dominic Bretherton in 11th place and having his best run of the Series, with a time of 23.52, and Marco Pacelli one place further back (12th) in 24.14. The Women’s race was won by Vikki Robertshaw (24.35) followed by team mates Isabella Pacelli, 1st Junior and 5th in the Women’s race (27.18), guest appearance from Katie Buckingham who ran 28.43 in 10th place, Mary O’Gorman running 29.01 in 12th position, Natalie Jordan in 15th spot running 29.06 and Sarah Krige in 30th place in the Women’s race running a time of 33.22. Three youngsters took part in the Junior Race with Esme Krige 1st F14 and 3rd female overall in a time of 5.41, Amelia Pacelli 3rd F13 and 6th overall (6.10) and Sebastian Walker who has done every race and placed 6th in his age category (M8) in a time of 6.36. (RACE RESULTS) – (JUNIOR RESULTS)

In the Series to-date Blackburn Harriers finished up with Danny Maynard 2nd, Mark Almond 3rd, Marco Pacelli 4th, and Dominic Bretherton 6th, making it four out of the first six in the individual standings. Dominic Bretherton won the vet 40 Series; Mark Almond won the V50 Series with Marco Pacelli in 2nd; Vikki Robershaw won the Women’s Individual Series with Isabella Pacelli in 4th and 1st Junior; Mary O’Gorman in 5th and Natalie Jordan in 10th. Vikki Robertshaw won the V40 for Women with Natalie Jordan in 4th. Amelia Pacelli placed 2nd in the FU17 Series as a F13. (SERIES RESULTS)

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Off road for the next item which was the Castle Clough 3.5 Mile Trail Race held on Wednesday July 1sy in which Peter Sagar-Moss and Liam Bennison both lined up at the start with sixty one others. Peter finished in 5th place running 26.53 whilst Liam ran 27.45 in 7th spot (RESULTS). The race was part of a Series which has the best seven results to be counted overall. Peter is now in 2nd place and Liam in 4th place so well done to both of them. (SERIES RESULTS)

Peter & Liam

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Andrew receiving the Title & Gold Medal

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