Gold medal for Isaac Delaney at SIAB track and field championships
Isaac Delaney from Preston Harriers won gold in the shot put at the English Schools competition in July and was therefore selected to compete for England at the schools’ international competition, which took place in Derby on 25 September. The weather on Saturday was sunny and warm, perfect for the throwers from Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England.
Isaac threw well throughout the competition and won the U17 category with a throw of 18.43. He and the Welsh champion have competed against each other for several years but it was Isaac’s turn to win resoundingly. His winning throw was almost a metre ahead of second place. What was outstanding to see was the friendship between all teams in all disciplines, whether it was sprinters, long distance runners or jumpers.
Between these two competitions, Isaac was chosen for the school team games at Loughborough where he won a silver medal. He was also selected by the England throws coaches to compete in an under 18 international throws competition, where he threw his PB of 18.53 and won silver behind the u20 champion. Isaac is now ranked number one in the country for his age group.
Calderdale Way Relay Sun 26 Sept 2021
Preston Harriers had 2 teams at this year’s Calderdale Way Relay, normally held in May. The race is 51 miles and involves 6 legs where each leg is run in pairs and runners must stay together. Distances vary from 4.8 miles to 10.6 miles, starting near Halifax with changeovers at Cragg Vale, Todmorden, Blackshaw Head, Wainstalls and Shelf. The teams had a distinct cosmopolitan flavour. Alongside the locals from the Preston area, we had runners from Wales, Northern Ireland, Germany, Russia, Hungary, and Poland.
Gethin Butler and Mariusz Kovacs got the team off to a solid start finishing 19th in 1:35:08. The short 4.8 miles, mainly uphill, leg 3 gave an opportunity to 16 year old Vladimir Wiggins to make his debut with the seniors, running with John Griffiths (Vet 50), finishing in 51:56. The standout performance of the day came from Alistair Palmer and Wes Wilkinson finishing 8th fastest on leg 4 in 1:21:48. Andy Acklam and Maciej Jarno completed the last leg for a final team position of 24th in 8:14:50.
The B team was a mixed team with 6 men and 6 women running. They were led off by the two Steves, Needham and Mort, who completed leg 1 in 1:48:31 to hand over to the girls, Emma Essex-Crosby and Katey Markland. They had an excellent run over Stoodley Pike and down to Todmorden to finish in 1:29:03 for 35th position on that leg. Jim Doherty and Roy Parkinson completed the tougher leg 4 over the moors to Wainstalls before handing over to Anna Keller and Olga Wiggins, for the 7.5 miles leg, finishing in 1:29:16. The older statesman pairing of Alan Appleby (Vet 70) and Mick McLoughlin (Vet 65) ran the last leg to give a finish time of 9:45:21 and 43rd position, out of the 63 teams running.
The Trafford combined events classic was held over the weekend of the 25th, with several young harriers in action. Stand out performances include Harvey Noble taking first place in heat D of the U20 100m events, as well as taking 1st in heat D of the U20 400m event and setting a new high jump PB. George Lowe ran a new PBS in the 400m and 100m hurdles, and Isla Bamber recording a new 70 hurdle PB,
On Saturday the talented Isaac Delaney was in action at the English Schools championship taking gold at the 5k shot put event. Kenneth Beazley took 4th place and first male vet-60 at Saturdays National Fitness day 5k in Lancaster, in a time of 20:57.
The City of Preston 10k made its return on Sunday, and the cities headline 10k event didn’t disappoint with over 400 finishers. Among them were nine harriers, of whom Peter Cowling was the first to finish in 42:15 to take first place in the men’s vet-55 category, whilst Kenneth Beazley and Jacquie Bonworth took 3rd place in the vet-60 age categories.
Over in Manchester Joe Monk and Zawar Khan competed at the Great Manchester 10k, with Monk recording an excellent time of 33:38 to finish 30th, whist Khan finished in 55:38.
On the coast Luke Suffolk competed at the Beaverbrooks Blackpool 10k Fun Run, taking 3rd place in an excellent time of 35:55.
Sunday also saw the stage of one of the worlds biggest marathons, the Berlin marathon with harriers Russell Codd and Alan Metcalf lining up. Codd has first to cross the line in a time of 3:29:55, whilst Metcalf wasn’t far being in 3:30:23.
Up on the fells, the harriers sent two teams to the Calderdale Way Relay, which is the biggest off road club event in Britain. Open category team took 17th overall, whilst the mixed gender team took 10th place.
Harriers state side
Nathan Dunn, who is one of several harriers in America on sports scholarships, was in cross country action at the Bill Dellinger Invitational 8k, held at Springfield Oregon. Taking 46th place in 24:09.
