The weather forecast was pretty accurate for the day – wind and lots of it, rain, hail and odd bouts of sunshine were in evidence throughout the day at this years Northern Athletics 12 & 6 Stage Road Relays, preceded by the U15 and U17 5k Championships. .

The road relays were run after the U15 and U17 5k road championships – the first of which was the U15 Boys with 52 athletes on the start line. Trafford dominated the race to take the Gold and Silver Medals with Blackburn Harriers taking the Bronze in 3rd place out of the ten teams contesting the event. Samuel Aspey fell on the start line, as did a number of others in subsequent races, to come home as first counter in 7th place running 16.47 which was a fine run after falling and having to catch up. Team mates Henry Ward was next across the line in 12th spot (16.56) followed by Jack Wood in 17th place running 17.10. Then came Max Belshaw in 32nd running 18.23, Theo Robinson (36th) with a time of 18.28, Callum Singleton finishing 37th in 18.34, Tom Falencki in 39th (18.47) and Loucas Lancashire in a time of 19.16 (43rd). A number of these lads were running in this type of event for the first time and not withstanding the adverse weather, enjoyed being part of it and did themselves and the Club proud.

Back Row L-R – Theo Robinson – Loucas Lancashire – Tom Falencki – Max belshaw – Callum Simngleton – Jack Wood — Ffront Row L-R – Agatha Talor – Bella McCredie – Isabelle Perry – Lottie Smith

U15 Boys Medal Winners with Henry Wrad & Sam Aspey

Lottie Smith presented with U15 Girls Team Gold Medals

 

 

 

 

A smaller field for the U15 Girls in which Blackburn Harriers had four athletes – Agatha Taylor, Lottie Smith, Isabelle Perry and Bella McCredie. The girls did fantasically well, taking the Gold medal from Holmfirth Harriers who took the Silver. Agatha led the team home in 11th place in a time of 19.34 with her team mates Lottie 15th in 20.58, Isabelle running 21.41 in 17th and Bella in 19th spot (22.05). Just two athletes in the U17 men’s race which had forty four athletes lining up at the start from five clubs. Jack Lamb was running his first race since January 6th and did well to run a new PB time of 16.38 in 16th for the 5k with team mate Logan McCredie also running a new PB time of 17.26 in 31st spot.

U15 Girls Gold Medalists – Agatha Taylor (206) – Lottie Smith (205) – Isabelle Perry (203) – Bella McCredie (202)

 

 

Jack Lamb (327)

Logan McCredie (328)

The 12 Stage for men – 4 long and 8 short legs – started at 12.00noon with the Women’s 6 Stage – 2 long and 4 short legs – at 12.15. Two teams from Blackburn Harriers went in the 12 stage, the second of which only had 11 athletes and were one short of a complete team and two teams again in the Women’s 6 stage. As with all Relays, the starting list of names is reduced by the time of the event due to injuries and ill-health and this was no exception for the Harriers as the Club lost athletes during the week. The Men’s A team got off to a very good start with Tim Raynes, who despite falling at the start, picked himself up to run a fine leg, finishing in 5th spot in a time of 23.56. Ben Makin held 5th place on Leg 2 (13.59), followed by Rob Warner-Judd with 24.09 handing over to Luke Betts on Leg 4 in 6th place. Matt Ramsden took over on leg 5 behind Morpeth’s Carl Avery and ran the second fastest long leg of the day as he brought the team home in 3rd place with a time of 23.03. Andy Benson was next on running 14.53 to hold 5th spot before handing on to Ben Fish on Leg 7 – the last of the long legs – who ran 25. 25 in 7th place. Paul Bradshaw (15.02) and Sam Hodkinson (14.44) on legs 8 and 9 respectively held 7th place followed by V50 Nick Gaskell on Leg 10 bringing the team home in 8th spot. V45 Chris Davies on Leg 11 held the position with a time of 15.37 alongside Badr Alainzay in his first road relay for the Club running 15.21 on the final leg to cemnt 8th position overall with a combined time of 3hrs 35.58.

Tim Raynes

Ben Makin (B5)

Rob Warner-Judd (C5)

Luke Betts (D5)

Matt Ramsden (E5)

Andy Benson (G5)

Ben Fish (H5)

Paul Bradshaw

Sam Hodkinson

Nick Gaskell

Chris Davies

Badr Alainzay (P5)

The Women’s A Team got off to a great start with Isabel Holt running the joint 6th fastest long leg of the day as she brought the team home in 4th place with a time of 27.41. Louisa Powell-Smith on Leg 2 ran 17.26 on Leg 2 handing over to Leah Hoole on Leg 3 who ran 18.04 which saw the team in 11th place as Eleesha Charnley took over on the second of the two long legs – running 30.15 in 12th place. Evie Taylor ran the fastest short leg for the team (17.06) to pull back two places, handing on to Janine Fallon on the final leg who ran 19.44 – the team finishing 11th in a combined total time of 2hr 10.19. Special mention to Janine – training for a 100 mile ultra-marathon – who volunteered at the very last minute after the teams lost two athletes in the week leading up to the event.

L-R Janine Fallon – Carly Edwards – Joanne Nelson – Lindsay Davies – Eleesha Charnley – Sarah Krige

Isabel Holt (R105)

Louisa Powell-Smith

Leah Hoole

Eleesha Charnley

Evie Taylor

The Men’s B team was unfortunately short by one athlete which meant the race ended after Leg 11. V45 Richard Addy led off on the first Long Leg with the teams fastest long leg time of 27.59 in 41st place and even though it changed and the team got up to 38th and down to 47th at different stages, the team was in 41st place after Leg 11. Dominic Bretherton ran 17.00 on Leg 2 followed by Stephen Hall on the second long Leg 3 (27.19) and Tom Blaney running our fastest short Leg of 15.02. Danny Maynard took the third long leg running 29.22 followed by V55 Paul Guinan on Leg 6 running 16.53 and V65 John Chaplin running our final long leg in 33.06. Next up was V55 Mat Nuttall on leg 8 running 16.40 alongside team mates Codie Dewhurst on Leg 9th with a time of 16.04, Hayden Mercer on Leg 10 running 15.20 and V55 Mark Almond on Leg 11 with a time of 19.03.

 

 

 

 

 

Mark Almond (M6)

The Women’s B team finished in 35th spot with a combined time 2hrs 28.02 and lost just one place from start to finish. V40 Rebecca Ward led off on the first of two long legs with a time of 32.44 with V50 Joanne Nelson in her first race since August 2022 running 33.47 on the second of the two longe legs (Leg 4). Great to see Joanne back running after a long series of complex injuries. Hollie Cubbon took the first of the short legs (Leg 2) running 19.43 with team mate Carly Edwards on Leg 3, running the fastest short leg of 19.18. V45 Sarah Krige ran 20.42 on the penultimate leg followed by V50 Lindsay Davies on the final leg 6 running 21.45.

Rebecca Ward

Joanne Nelson

Hollie Cubbon

Carly Edwards

Sarah Krige

Lindsay Davies

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It was a very good day for Blackburn Harriers Charlotte Williams who was out at her first outdoor Hammer competition of the season after competing indoors and setting new PB’s with the Weight (9.08kg) improving from 16.68m through to 18.07m – her current personal best. Competing at the Hurricane Invitational in Florida Charlotte placed 5th overall out of combined competition featuring 18 athletes with a distance of 57.22m. Speaking to the Club after the competition Charlotte told us that she was “Happy to be back competing outdoors after a long indoor season. Training has been going good, so I’m excited to see what the rest of the season holds, hoping to build on what I threw this weekend!” (RESULTS)

In another part of the States, Hammer Thrower Matthew Heywood had placed 4th in the Hammer on March 1st at the UNCW Seahwak Invitational – (RESULTS) – with a throw of 47.32. Two weeks later Matt finished in 4th place out of a field 16 Hammer Throwers and was back over 50m with a throw of 50.06m breaking his own university first year freshman’s record. A good series of five throws of over 49m with a sixth throw of over 50m pleased Matt because of the consistency. (VIDEO).

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Out on the Road again and this time at the Coniston 14 Race – (RESULTS) – held on Saturday March 23rd which featured over 1100 hundred runners in a race won by Kieran Walker (North East Project) in 75.09 with Keswick’s Sam Stead in 2nd spot (76.38) and unattached Thomas Sargeant in 3rd position (78.51). V55 Ian Clarkson took this one on coming home in 325th place in a time of 1hr 52.24. Speaking to the Club after his race Ian told us  “A lap of Coniston, keep the water on the left and go !! This is a very tough, hilly and very scenic route that is very well organised, with over a thousand people on the start line. I’m more than happy to come away with vet 55 28/100, overall 325/1102 and a gun time of 1:52:40. It was a case of digging deep towards the last couple of miles.” Still on the road and another Half-Marathon at the Wilmslow Running Festival – (RESULTS) – which had over three thousand runners at the start, one of which was Blackburn harriers Charlotte Atkinson. Charlotte had run at the Poynton 10k the week before (RESULTS) placing 9th in the Women’s race in a time of  43.30. At Wilmslow she ran 1hr 33.47 which was a new PB by 16 seconds as she placed 29th in the Women’s race.

One of the recent highlights on the road came from Blackburn Harriers Jack Hindle – down in the South Atlantic. Jack had never raced a marathon previously and he had a great debut which augers well for his Ironman’s for sure. The race was held on March 17th and the race was reviewed in Penguin News which can be read HERE

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