Preston Interclub : A Well Oiled Machine
Preston Harriers both delivered and dominated the Preston Interclub Road Race. Facing organisational challenges, with unprecedented temperatures and a seemingly never ending maze of road closures and flood defence works, Ian Bebbington’s organisational team delivered a top class race on a successfully altered course to restore the race back to its original 4 mile distance.
First past the post was Rob Danson with a time of 20:48, to take his hat-trick of Preston Interclub victories and his second Interclub victory of the season. Second place went to Preston’s Sam Evans with a time of 21:05 and hot on his heels with a strong finish, moving from 7th to 3rd in the back half – which is coincidentally mainly uphill - of the race was Wes Wilkinson with a time of 21:40.
Preston’s Jamie Robinson was first lady with a time of 24:39, over a minute in front of Blackpool’s Layla Foley in 2nd (25:47) and Preston’s Charlotte Gregory finished in 3rd with a time of 26:23.
In a race where traditionally, Harriers are short of top class runners due to marshalling duties, Preston won both team races with the Open team comprising Sam Evans, Wes Wilkinson, Andy Whaley, Chris Williams, Dave Watson, Steve Hallas, Jamie Robinson, Mark Lee, Stuart Nixon and Phil Marsden. The Ladies team comprised Jamie Robinson, Charlotte Gregory, Michelle Chadwick, Suzanne Walsh and Katie Littlefair. Harriers also swept up the Open Vets team prizes, taking victories in both the vets and Vet 50s categories.
Mid Lancs T&F League Sat. 17th June, Litherland Sports Park, Liverpool
The day started dry but cool compared to recent days. It gradually improved sunshine wise but with it came a bit of a blustery breeze down the finishing straight.
In the senior men’s 100m, three athletes posted a time of 11.5s including Preston's Craig Ezissi who also competed in the 200m and this time he was a clear winner in 23.7. No other senior men competed.
In the U17men’s 100m, Cameron Orr came 4th in a close fought race, just 0.6seconds between the first four, while Darren Ajayi and Adam and Matthew Link battled away posting 12.5 for Darren and 13.0 for both Adam and Matthew who had been busy at the triple jump not long before. Darren also contested the U17M 200m coming 3rd in a time of 25.1.
In the U17M 400m Cory Middleton was 5th in a time of 56.0s. Cory also competed in the High Jump clearing 1.70m. Preston lads dominated the U17M long jump. Finlay Clash, Adam Link, Darren Ajayi, Cameron Orr and Matthew Link all outjumped the other competitors, Finlay with 5.20m, Adam 5.18m, Darren 4.95m, Cameron 4.86 and Matthew 4.77m. There was more jumping for Adam, Finlay and Matthew in the triple jump with Adam 11.48, Finlay 11.11 and Matthew 10.50m.
Cory Middleton threw 22.76 in the U17M discus and in the 800m we had Lucas Parkin in a very close finish posting 2.19.2 with Finley Murray running a steady race in 2.39.0. Benjamin Roberts threw 2m clear of the rest of the field in the U15 Boys shot put with a throw of 11.49. Again in the discus Benjamin was in a class of his own, throwing 38.37m more than twice the distance of any other competitor.
In the 800m Albert Yates posted a good time of 2.29.5 and he had Jack Turner running as well to clock 2.39.0. The 1500m saw Samuel Bates having a good run with a time of 4.48.7, well clear of the opposition.
The senior ladies 100m saw Carol Holt post a time of 13.9s and in the 200m Lucy Poole cruised to a comfortable win in 26.5, with Carol in 28.5. Lucy powered round the 400m into the blustery finish straight to post 61.9s. In the senior ladies hammer Alex Proffitt threw 15.68m.
There appeared to be a better turnout of U17 women and in the 100m we had Millie Turner running a fine race in 13.4s. In the 200m Erika Corns and Lucy Beesley ran, with Erika posting 28.5 and Lucy 31.1s. Ella Johnson threw 7.86m for third place in the U17 women’s shot and the U17W javelin saw Sophia Ince throw 29.82m, Millie Turner 16.35m and Erika Corns 14.90m. In the U15 girls 100m Lucy Duckett ran 13.2s with and Eva Whiteside posted 13.8. Eva also ran the 200m in 29.8s. The U15G 800m saw Lilli-Mae McCarthy run 2.37.9 also in the same race Abbie Ely ran 2.54.4.
Preston had two girls in the U15G 75m hurdles and they acquitted themselves well with first and second place, Lucy Duckett posting 12.3s and Isla Bamber 13.0s. In the long jump Lucie and Isla had Eva Whiteside and Emily Gallagher competing too, they respectively jumped 4.67m, 4.24m, 4.08m and 3.62m. In the U15G shot Abbie Ely threw 7.92m while Isla Bamber managed 7.04m. There were Preston girls in four of the six heats of the U13 girls 100m. Jemma McMaster posted 13.4s, Jasmine Houghton 14.3s, Kara Giddins 15s and Ellie McDonald 15.4. In the U13G 200m, Jemma was there again with a time of 28.3s while Jasmine ran 30.1s.
Georgina Andrews, doing something different from cross country, posted a good 31.7s with Francesca White closely following in 31.9s. U13G 800m had Francesca and Georgina battling again and another close contest with Francesca posting 2.44.9 to Georgina's 2.51.9. U13G high jump saw Kara Giddins clear 1.25m and in the long ump Kara again competed and leaped 3.82m while Jasmine Houghton jumped 3.98m.
A good day for athletes to compete and hone their racing, throwing and jumping skills while hopefully having fun with their team mates and competitors.
Northern League Division West 1N Match 2 Sunday 18th June at Bury
The day looked promising though the forecast was for thunderstorms later. Spectators, competitors and officials were enjoying the warm sunshine as the programme started. In the mens 100m A race, Craig Ezissi clocked 11.4 seconds in a close run contest with an U17 from Bolton. In the B race, Ethan Hallas found the starting not to his liking, but he still posted 12.4s and Craig and Ethan were 2nd and 5th respectively. In the men’s 200m, Craig and Ethan represented Harriers again and this time Craig was 2nd in 22.9 and Ethan 4th in 25.7s. In the 400m it was lad and dad, Ethan with his dad Steve, just back from a weekend in Riga, Latvia, so full of running? Ethan ran 58.8 for 5th and Steve 77.6 for 4th.
The 800m saw Chris Livesey and Joe Monk for Preston. Chris was in a strong field and was in 3rd place after a great battle for most of the race, he ran 1.57.2. Joe had been running 1500's lately so stepped down for this one and posted 2.05.0 for another 3rd place. The 1500m had Luke Suffolk and Brendan Pugh – a last minute call up. Luke had a good run, in contention all the way until the final 200m when gaps opened up and Luke came 3rd in 4.21.8 while Brendan, more used to football, aquitted himself well coming 4th in 5.47.0. Wes Wilkinson and Steve Hallas ran in the 5000 metres. Wes put in a great performance for a road runner, battling all the way with 4, then 3 then just Wes and a Bolton chap who in the last 150m put in a final burst to leave Wes in 2nd place in 16.25.6. Steve gave it his all (but perhaps a pint too many) and had a valiant run in true team captain’s spirit coming 4th.
No hurdlers, steeplechasers, long jumpers, triple jumpers or pole vaulters but George Lowe came good in the high jump with a 2nd place jump of 1.75m. He was also in the shot coming 3rd with 10.09m and Gary Still 1st in the B team with a throw of 9.74.
Gary threw the discus as well coming 1st with 31.01 and Steve Hallas was 5th with 9.92m gaining more points for the team. He threw the javelin too for 4th , while George Lowe threw a great 54.33m for maximum points.
The women’s team was also depleted in some events and relied on older road runners to fill in on many of the running distances which is a pity since there are track runners and younger roadies who could turn out and get the team a better position, there are only 4 matches!
In the100m Jo Rowicki and Carol Holt, both Masters, ran and both came 5th and had almost identical times of 13.5 and 13.4 respectively. They also ran the 200m and this time Carol was 4th in 27.9 and Jo 3rd in28.7. In the 400m Carol was joined by Julie Tyrer, another Master and road runner. Carol was 4th again with Julie in 5th. In the 800m Vikki Duckett and Sue Wickham ran, more road running Masters, with Vikki 6th running 3.03.5 and Sue 5th in 4.23.0. The pair also competed in the 1500m with Vikki posting 6.26.1 for 5th and Sue also 5th in 8.45.2.
The 3000m had Cathy Flitcroft swapping officiating for competing and donned her Harriers vest to run 12.59.2 for 5th while Julie was 2nd in 15.36.4. this was after coming 3rd in the 3000m steeplchase.
Both these stalwarts were unfortunately still running as the heavens opened but they stuck to the task while everyone else had disappeared under whatever cover could be found.
Earlier in the day we had Isabelle Duckett, a youngster who turned out for her club to do the long jump and she leaped 4.26m for 6th . Isabelle also competed in the triple jump gaining next to maximum points, 2nd with a leap of 9.49.
Also competing early and a youngster too was Ruby Allison vaulting 2.20m for 2nd. More youth in Kacie Calvert and Emily Worthington throwing shot with Kacie clearing 7.78 for 3rd and Emily 6.28 for another 3rd. In the discus the pair were active again; this time both were 2nd Kacie with 24.93m and Emily 17.58. and they hadn't finished. Javelin saw Emily throw 28.64 for 2nd and Kacie was 1st with 26.43m. In the hammer Alex Proffitt upped her distance from the day before to 18.05m for 4th .