Juniors Rack Up the Personal Bests
Summer continued as Danny Hope tackled the hilly Ingleborough Mountain Fell Race, an 11km route around Ingleborough with nearly 2000ft of ascent. He came 4th V40 and 15th overall, almost getting home under an hour. Michelle Tunney also appeared in the same race and came over the line in a very decent 1:23:19. Up in the Lakes, Dan Gilbert fancied a round of the Kentmere Horseshoe, a 12.3-mile race with around 3300ft of climb, coming in first V50 by 15 seconds in 1:47:17 after a splendid battle with Keswick’s David Birch for that spot.
The juniors finished off the YDL Lower competition with a bang at Sportcity in Manchester, clocking up a splendid 26 personal bests and no shortage of first places as just reward for their work over the season. Theo Bolton won the 75 and 150 metres as well as the shot in the U13s boys’ events, whilst Sam Watts ran a personal best in the 75 and Alfie Fletcher did likewise in the 150. At the same time, the 800 metres saw personal bests for Louis Yates, Ben Essex-Crosby and Toby MacDonald with Yates also achieving a best ever performance in the long jump, whilst MacDonald and Watts did likewise in the javelin. The U13s girls saw Amber Carolan win the 1200 metres in her very first competition, whilst Isla Smith and Annabel Burke both ran their best times ever in the 150, whilst Burke also clocked up a lifetime best in the long jump. The U15 girls produced some excellent performances, Grace Freary showed her family pedigree with a remarkable 8-second personal best over 1500 metres to come first whilst Abi Ajet took first place in both the long jump and the shot. Lily Mort scored her best performances in the long jump and the 100, Sarah Lawman did so in both the 200 and 300 metres. Ben Higgins picked up three best performances in the U15 boys’ events, Jack Fletcher won the 80-metre hurdles and achieved his best in the 100, Luke Perry also produced his best showing in the 200 and Archie Parker managed the same feat in the high jump.
The various parkruns saw an international scattering of 22 Harriers as the Middletons were the furthest away at Putrajaya parkrun in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Toby came home first in 16:52 whilst Jason and Janet ran 24:28 and 31:47 respectively. Andrew Crickmore was in south Belfast, tackling Ormeau parkrun in 24:21, Brendan Bolland took to the Shetlands to face the Bressay course and ran 26:42 whilst Dominic McKenna did 33:01 in Dolgellau, Wales. Slightly nearer to home, Gordon Stone was at Fountains Abbey near Ripon, finishing in an official time of 30:12 despite the narrow course, Ed Swift went to Cumbria and Muncaster Castle and finished in 54:29, and Isaac Parker blasted around the grassy Coldham’s Common course in Cambridge in 18:09. The Pinnells, Lawrence and Heather, took in Sutton Manor, between Warrington and Liverpool, in just under 37 minutes, Grace Freary broke 20 at Peel by one second whilst Steve Jackson did 33:32. Rob Jackson took on Sale Water in 18:51 to top his age category, Gareth Webb did the same thing on Bolton’s tough course in 21:37, where Mark Seddon and Mark Swindell did 25:50 and 28:01. Paul Murray tackled Witton in 45:11 whilst four went to Haigh, Adam MacDonald being fastest in 19:33, Leo Orrell just missed the 22-minute mark in 22:01, Sophie Orrell got under 30 in 29:51, and Gillian Smith got home in 36:18.