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News reports - June 2024

29th June 2024: Slim SWAC team travel to Bury for 3rd Round of Mid Lancs League

Whether it was the travel distance or the weather forecast or other events or recollections of the atrocious weather for this fixture last year; but only 16 Southport Waterloo athletes travelled to the Market St Track, Bury, on Saturday for the Mid Lancs League. With long throws only possible at Bury from one end, there was a concern we would over-run in the Field but with many senior athletes from other clubs competing in the Northern Masters Championships at Leigh on the same day, the number of Field competitors was down. The meeting attracted many guests, however, and with good support on the track from Member Clubs, we over-ran the 5pm finish time. But the atmosphere was friendly and supportive, ensuring an enjoyable afternoon's athletics - despite the light showers that came and went all afternoon. Our Under 15 Boys put in some good performances but again it was Under 13 James McGrory who stood out, edging towards Michael Rimmer's 1998 club record for 1500m. Lucy Delamere was our only Under 13 Girl. In her first 800m race of the season she was 4th of 15 girls, 3rd in her heat, in a new PB time of 2:35.2. I'm not sure its clear yet whether her best distance is 800m or 1500m but certainly 800m racing will improve her 1500m times. Several runners did chose the 1500m today with Under 15 Girl Lauren Silcox running 5:27.5, Under 20 Woman Emily Dean running 5:16.0 and Under 13 Boy James McGrory, perhaps benefitting from a joint Under 13 / Under 15 race, running an impressive 4:43.2, which ranks him about 13th in the country so far this year! For a bit of speed work, James also ran a 28.0 200m. Continuing her preparation for English Schools in a couple of weeks, Under 20 Woman Sierra Jalloh ran a 100m and 200m, winning both, with limited competition, in 12.8 and 26.0. Seven of our Under 15 Boys competed at Bury. Matthew Nuttall won both the shot and discus competition, with throws of 9m 51 and a PB 22m 59, and was 5th in the javelin with a best of 29m 24. Ruben Galliano ran a 13.1 100m and was 4th in the high jump clearing 1m 50. Will Delamere was the clear winner in the 800m race, front running 2:08.6, but again with limited competition for him. The 400m proved a popular event on Saturday. In the series of Under 15 Boys' races, Caleb Still, Liam Yates and Harry Lavery looked to set decent times. Liam went first and ran 54.4, 2nd in his race, a PB time having run 57.1 a year ago at Litherland. Caleb won his race in a PB 53.6 having run 55.7 a year ago at Litherland. Harry clocked 74.3 for his very first 400m race but he also ran 32.4 for 200m and that was a new PB for him. We also had two Under 17 Men competing. Josh Tan won his 100m heat in 11.6 and won the 200m race in 23.3. Luke Ward finished a close 2nd in the 1500m, 4:15.3 an encouraging time for his first outdoor 1500m of the season. Amongst the Senior Men, only Graham Boreham and Marc Singer competed at Bury. Graham ran 54.1 for 400m before going on to end the day with a 200m run in 25.6. Marc had a good run in the 800m, a season's best time of 2:16.1 put him in 3rd place. Thanks to Graham Boreham, standing in for team manager Lee Coupland who was competing at the Northern Masters Champs at Leigh.  And to our team of officials; Lesley Scott and Mike Dandy. Results for Southport Waterloo | Full results There is not long to wait for the next Mid Lancs T&F meeting. Its at Lancaster's Salt Ayre track next Saturday, 6th July. As mentioned above, Katy and Lee Coupland were at the Masters T&F at Leigh Sports Village. All their performances earned them a medal.  Katy was 1st W45 in the discus with 24m 54, 1st W45 in the shot with 6m 85 and 1st W45 in the javelin with 14m 63. Lee was 1st M45 clearing 1m 35 in the high jump and 2nd M45 with an 8m 58 triple jump.

22nd - 23rd June 2024: 4 S'port Waterloo juniors qualify for English Schools CE Finals

Eight Southport Waterloo multi-eventers took part over the weekend in the North West Regional Schools' Combined Events Championships. Merseyside were hosting the 2-day competition this year which took place at the Litherland Sports Park. Despite some early morning drizzle, both days baked the athletes in glorious sunshine as they tested themselves against the best of the North West whilst vying for a place in the English Schools Combined Events Championships at the Northwood Stadium in Stoke on Trent in September. Individual results for our athletes are given below. PBs are shown in bold. After the end of Day 1, Lauren was 2nd in the Inter Girls' competition, Amber 4th. They finished 3rd and 4th overall. With Jess Keenan combining with Lauren and Amber, Merseyside won the team competition. in the Inter Boys' Octathlon, Kieran and Oliver were 15th and 14th after Day 1, Kieran improving to 12th with some good results on Day 2. Oliver improved to 13th, and would have finished higher but for a disappointing high jump. Adam was 3rd Senior Boy in the Decathlon at the end of Day 1 and held that place at the end. There were many PBs on both days. In one unusual case, Adam equalled his PB 3m 30 in the pole vault and the bar went up to 3m 40. On his 2nd attempt, he landed with the bar apparently still in place but it had been moved off its resting pegs so it was technically a fault. It can't be long, however, before he clears 3m 40 and beyond. Scarlett finished 5th of 16 Inter Girls, just outside the automatic qualifying for the Final at Stoke on Trent. As I understand the qualifying rules, Lauren, Amber and Jessica will qualify for the Final in September as the winning Senior Girls' Heptathlon team. Adam qualifies as an individual Senior Boy and Scarlett, whilst not an automatic qualifier, could qualify depending on results elsewhere. Full results   Junior Girls Pentathlon     75mH SP HJ LJ 800m Total 18th Lilly Zajitschek 5.9 7.52 1.35 4.46 3:00.5 1938  Inter Girls Heptathlon     80mH HJ SP 200m LJ JT 800m Total  5th  Scarlett Adderly  13.0  1.41  8.68  28.2  4.46  21.02  2:34.0  3626  Inter Boys Octathlon      LJ  DT  JT  400m  100mH  HJ  SP  1500m  Total  12th  Kieran Edmunds  4.97  17.31  24.71  61.8  19.1  1.50  7.85  5:24.8  2671  13th  Oliver Storey  4.50  19.70  23.10  59.7  19.0  NM  7.29  5:31.2  2227  Senior Girls Heptathlon      100mH  HJ  SP  200m  LJ  JT  800m  Total  3rd  Lauren Byrne  16.0  1.59  9.48  28.0  4.76  26.36  2:48.2  3901  4th  Amber Hughes  17.9  1.41  9.47  26.7  4.06  24.89  2:35.4  3538  7th  Jessica Keenan  -  1.44  7.45  34.8  4.14  16.87  -  1679  Senior Boys Decathlon      100m  LJ  SP  HJ  400m  110mH  DT  PV  JT  1500m  Total  3rd  Adam Byrne  12.1  5.99  11.40  1.71  59.6  20.4  28.34  3.30  36.07  5:03.4  4802

16th June 2024: SWAC move up to 3rd in YDL (Lower): New 4x300m relay club record

The 3rd Round of the Youth Development League for Under 13s and Under 15s was held at the Robin Park Arena in Wigan on Sunday with generally warm, dry and sunny conditions. Going into this match, Southport Waterloo were lying 2nd bottom of the league table - in the relegation zone - after a poor start at Stretford where we finished bottom. A better, 4th placed finish was achieved in Round 2 at Leigh and hopes were high that we could build on that as the season develops. At Wigan, subject to scrutiny of the results, we finished a very good 3rd! The match scores were Sale Harriers - relegated from the Premier Division last year and destined to be promoted back there this year - 534.5 points, Team Isle of Man - who have sent over large squads for each match - 519, Southport Waterloo 457, Blackburn 420, Wigan 380 and Leigh 377.5. Overall, we are just 11 match points ahead of Blackburn, but they are 1 League point ahead of us. If we can stay ahead of Blackburn we will finish 3rd. I think Sale and Isle of Man are probably too far ahead to be caught. Looking at the results, individual performances seem a little off the level achieved at Leigh but our Under 15 Boys stood out with 7 event wins and a new club record in the 4 x 300m relay.. Our Under 13 Girls were Sophie Burns, Lucy Delamere, Alice Dobson, Eliza Dobson, Minnie McNally and Gabriella Otty. Our best event here was the shot where Alice was the winner with a best of 7m 48 and Eliza won the 'B' competition with 5m 63. Alice was also 2nd in the high jump clearing 1m 35, a 5 cm improvement on her previous best. Along with the shot, Eliza was 2nd 'B' in the javelin throwing 8m 88. Minnie did the 75m and 150m sprint double in 11.8 and 23.7 and she long jumped 2m 58. Gabriella had a good day with PBs in both the long jump (2, 90 )and the javelin (9m 79) as well as running a 1200m in 4:50, just 2 secs outside her PB from Round 1. Lucy also recorded a PB, in the 1200m shaving a couple of seconds off with a run in 4:02.4. She also ran 22.6 for 150m and 16.1 in the 70m hurdles. And Sophie Burns ran a PB 11.4 for 75m and 3:05.7 for 800m.  Finally, 61.4 for the relay was a Seasons Best. Our Under 13 Boys were Roman Cantalejo, K'trell Drayton, James McGrory, Lewis McIlroy, Joseph Sarbutts and Henry Summers.  For K'trell, this was a first competition of the year. 10.4 in the non-scoring 75m was a new PB, 14.3 in the 75m hurdles was another PB and he long jumped 3m 63. Club record holder James was again a convincing winner over 1200m in 3:40.6, just two tenths off his record. His 5m 43 shot put was a PB, however, and he ran 20.9 for 150m. Lewis holds the club record for 150m of 19.9 and equalled that at Wigan coming 2nd today, a Sale Harrier running a very impressive 19.7 to win the event. In the 75m race, Lewis ran a PB 10.3 for 3rd place and he was 3rd again over 800m running 2:31.7. Great to see talent over a range of race distances. Henry ran a Season's Best 11.2 in the 75m, ran 2:59.9 for 800m and long jumped 3m 76. In the throws, Joseph put the shot 8m 19 for a new PB and his best javelin throw was recorded at 17m 20. Finally, Roman ran a PB 1200m in 4:21.7 and, with Henry, James and Lewis, came 3rd in the relay in 57.8, a best so far this season. Our Under 15 Girls were Jessica Burns, Grace Cain, Sienna Fortune, Phoebe Mangan, Gabriella Melia, Millie Milligan, Amelia Tyrer, Charlotte Tyrer, Grace Veevers, Eve Willetts and Lilly Zajitschek: our biggest squad of the day. We had no event wins in this age group but lots of sold performances that build up the points score. Phoebe ran a PB 13.7 in the 100m and 28.2 in the 200m. Mille was our 'B'100m runner but suffered a nasty fall approaching the Finish with a number of girls challenging for position. It wasn't clear what happened but she got up and finished the race. Hopefully no real harm has been done and we wish her a speedy recovery. Eve ran in the non-scoring 100m crossing the line in a PB time of 14.6. Earlier, she ran a 200m in 31.3. Grace Veevers and Jessica Burns both competed in the 800m and the 300m; Grace running 2:31.7 and 47.8, and Jessica 2:45.4 and 48.6. Sienna and Grace Cain covered the 1500m, Sienna in 5:16.7 and Grace in 5:44.3. Sienna also threw a Season's Best discus 10m 65. Twins Amelia and Charlotte were our 75m hurdlers, Charlotte running a PB 13.0 and Amelia 14.4. Both were also seen in the long jump where Amelia was the better clearing 4m 04 to Charlotte's 3m 93. And Charlotte also put the shot 4m 51. Gabriella and Amelia were our high jumpers, Gabriella clearing 1m 30 and Amelia 1m 20. Lilly has shown herself to be a very good javelin thrower and improved her PB by 2 metres today to 22m 66. She also threw the discus for the first time with a best of 14m 31; a fine effort. Finally, the girls completed both relays, Eve, Lilly, Charlotte and Phoebe getting the baton around in a season's best 56.0 in the 4x100m; and Grace V, Jessica, Phoebe and Sienna running the 4 x 300m in 3:14.5 for 3rd place. Our Under 15 Boys were Eddy Clark, William Delamere, Jake Edwards, Ruben Galiano, Harry Lavery, Jack Nelson, Matthew Nuttall, Caleb Still and Liam Yates; 9 boys recording 7 event wins and a new club record! Calib and William are preparing for the English Schools' championships, and both won their races today. William front ran the 1500m finishing comfortably in 4:17.8, a full 10 seconds ahead of the Blackburn Harrier in 2nd place. Calib ran an 800m in the morning running 2:02.2, just a second ahead of Blackburn Harrier Jack Baranowski but the way he ran the race enabled him to attack in the 2nd lap; tactical running that shows pace judgment and race awareness. Caleb increased the pace for his 300m race in the afternoon, another win in a PB time of 38.4. Both boys demonstrated their strength in the hammer competition, Caleb 2nd with a PB 17m 53 and William 1st 'B' with a best throw of 16m 39. But it wasn't just the two going to English Schools that were winning events. Matthew competed in shot,  discus and javelin and won all three. His winning shot put was 10m 15, his best discus throw a PB 19m 94 and his best javelin throw a mighty 31m 02, improving his best throw by over 5 metres! Ruben ran the 100m in a PB time of 12.7, ran the 200m in 26.2 and won the 'B' high jump with a 1m 50 clearance. Eddy achieved PBs in both his events, winning the 'B' 1500m in 4:38 and was 2nd 'B' in the discus with a 14m 44 throw. Sprinter Jake ran 13.6 for 100m, 16.5 for the 80m hurdles and 44.9 for the 300m. Liam mixed his events with a 25.3 200m, a PB 2:13.6 for 800m and he long jumped 4m 75. Jack ran 13.7 for the 80m hurdles and he cleared 1m 50 in the high jump and 4m 92 in the long jump. And Harry Lavery threw the javelin 14m 19. And finally, that club record 4x300m race at the end of the afternoon. With rough splits provided by coach Graham, Liam led off and establish a lead in the very first leg (40), this was extended by Eddy (42), Will (41) and by the time Caleb (39) got the baton a win was assured. But with a possible club record on the cards a strong finish was required and delivered by Caleb to bring the team home in 2:42.7 knocking 5 seconds off the old record set back in 2018. (Two names from the previous record still compete for the club and were involved in the Northern League fixture on Saturday - Jonathan Pilkington and Sam Coupland.) Thanks to team managers Barrie Hughes and Graham Boreham and to our officials including Lesley Scott, Lee Coupland, Barrie Hughes, Robbie Tyrer and John Delamere.  Thanks,too, to Graham Boreham for most of the photos used here. Full results | results for Southport Waterloo

16th June 2024: Seven Southport Waterloo juniors named in M'side team for English Schools 

Congratulations to the Southport Waterloo juniors selected for the Merseyside team for the prestigious English Schools' National Track & Field Championships to be staged at Birmingham's Alexander Stadium on 12th and 13th July.  They are:

 

Renee Adams, for Inter Girls' 300m hurdles;

Sierra Jalloh, for Senior Girls' 200m;

Calib Still, Junior Boys' 800m;

William Delamere, for Junior Boys' 1500m;

Josh Tan, for Inter Boys' 100m;

Ben Turner-Bone, for Inter Boys 200m.

Lauren Byrne, is also a named reserve for Inter Girls' high jump.

 

All have rightly earned their place in the team and we wish them a successful championships.

15th June 2024: 3rd place finish at Northern home fixture

Round 2 of our Northern Track & Field League was at the Litherland home track. Our debut match in this West Premier division left us in 5th place last month, the two promoted clubs of S'port Waterloo and Bury lying at the bottom of the table. A home fixture makes it easier to fill the teamsheet and so is a real advantage and Southport Waterloo made the most of it on Saturday. With officials points still to be agreed, we finished a good 3rd at Litherland, beating both West Cheshire and Wirral, the two clubs I mentioned in the May report as the clubs to beat to keep us up in this division.

The preliminary scores were Blackburn Harriers, winning again with 439 points, Sale Harriers with 327, Southport Waterloo 313, West Cheshire 298, Wirral 281 and Bury 212. Adding on the points from Round 1, but still without Saturday's officials points, we are lying 4th in the league for the season so far so we need to continue to turn out strong teams to survive here. In particular, we are weak in the Field event, lying 5th of the clubs at Litherland.

The weather forecast for the day was not encouraging. We did manage to get set up before a heavy and persistent shower hit, affecting the early Field events but by the time the Track started at 1pm it was dry and the afternoon was mostly warm and sunny with a light breeze

In total, we had three more athletes than at Blackburn, 12 Women and 16 Men, and noteably saw Lola Armstrong and Katie Lee join the Women's team this year. For the Men, Ben Johnson returned to bolster the distance races and Sam Coupland, returning from University in America, added real strength and depth to the Men's team. All clubs will know how difficult it is to retain teenage athletes in the sport but we seem to have some very good Under 17s and Under 20s who are continuing to enjoy their athletes and that is good news for the club and for senior league competition.

Our Women's team comprised of Renee Adams, Scarlett Adderley, Lola Armstrong, Lauren Byrne, Katy Coupland, Emily Dean, Amber Hughes, Sierra Jalloh, Apphia Keenan, Katie Lee, Esme McNally and Olivia Morgan. Renee and Sierra are in the Merseyside team for English Schools and so are in their final stages of preparation. Renee won the 100m in 12.5, in a race dominated by Under 17s, with Sierra winning the 'B' race in 12.6. Renee's 200m in 25.6 was a Season's Best and Sierra won the 'B' race in 25.9.

The only other event win was in the 4 x 400m relay with Olivia, Scarlet, Emily and Sierra getting the baton around 4:15.2; Sierra running a stunning 60.6 final leg - admittedly from a running start but very impressive nonetheless! The women won both their relays at Blackburn and Renee, Esme, Lauren and Amber were just a second off doing that again, running the 4x100m relay in 51.1 for a 2nd place.

Sprinting success continued in the 400m race with Olivia shaving a couple of tenths off her PB running 61.9 and Scarlett running 63.7 for 3rd place in the 'B' race. This was Scarlett's first 400m as far as I can see - and she hasn't run 300m either - and she was leading the race with just 50m to go. Her 2nd leg of the 4x400m was run in 63.2 so she may have just found a new event that suits.

Apphia was the only volunteer for the 800m - run in 2:56 - but we had two 1500m runners in Emily and Katie. Emily has now run two 1500m steeplechase races and there was a 2 km chase in today's programme which I think she would have tackled. Unfortunately, that event had to be cancelled due to barrier damage which may not be repaired at Litherland for some time. Emily ran the flat 1500m in 5:22 and Katie in 5:45. Katie went on to run a 3000m in 12:24, her first T&F events perhaps from her school days. It was good to see Katie take on the longer track races but we are still seriously short of female middle distance runners. Earlier, Emily ran a 400m hurdles, finishing 2nd in the 'B' race with Amber 2nd in the 'A' race in 70.2. In the sprint hurdles Amber ran 18.0, with Lauren running her second 100m hurdles event in 16.8, having run her first for Liverpool Harriers in the National League earlier this month in 16.83.

Moving on to the Field events, all slots in the teamsheet were filled apart from pole vault and triple jump. Katy Coupland, the only Snr Woman in the team, can usually be called upon to cover multiple events but with such a good crop of Under 17s and Under 20s she only competed in discus, with 25m 90, and hammer, with a best of 15m 51. Lola returned to competition for the first time this year and covered discus, with a PB 18m 92, javelin, with 22m 11 and hammer, throwing the 4 kg weight 15m 28. Apphia picked up 'B' points in the javelin with 8m 51.

Lauren was 2nd in the shot competition with 9m 79 ahead of Amber's 8m 55. Both girls also competed in the long jump, Lauren finishing 3rd with a best jump of 4m 68 and Amber clearing 4 metres. In the high jump, Lauren cleared 1m 45 and Scarlett 1m 35 for 2nd 'B' place.

In our Men's team were Jake Anders, Graham Boreham, Adam Byrne, Chris Burgess, John Byrne, Lee Coupland, Sam Coupland, David Hamilton, George Ingram, Ben Johnson, Jonathan Pilkington, Will Rothwell, Oliver Storey, Josh Tan, Ben Turner-Bone and Steve Wilkinson.;Unlike the women, we had no event wins on the track but Sam Coupland won the high jump with a 1m 70 clearance. He amassed points with a 3m 60 clearance in the pole vault for a 2nd place, ran 16.0 for 2nd place in the 110m hurdles, where Steve Wilkinson finished 3rd 'B' in 24.8, was 2nd again in the long jump clearing 6m 74, was 3rd in the triple jump with 11m 17 and threw the javelin 34m 88. Our top scorer I think with 40 points. Good to have you back Sam!

Like Renee and Sierra in the Women's team, Josh and Ben T-B were preparing for sprint events at next month's English Schools. Josh ran 11.4 and 23.2 for the sprint double. Ben hadn't run a 100m race since August last year and ran a PB 11.2 at Litherland. His previous best was 12.06!. In the 200m he ran 23.0 so both Josh and Ben are in good shape running up to the Schools' Championships.

Elsewhere, there were some good PBs. Whilst Sam won the pole vault competition, Adam was the 'B' winner with a 3m 30 clearance, a new PB by 9 cms. He also won the 'B' long jump with 5m 95 and threw the javelin 29m 85. Jake competed in the triple jump and 9m 12 was a new PB for him. In the 800m, Graham ran 2:03.6 in a very competitive field, a Season's Best for him and just 1 1/2 sec off his all-time Best. Will ran 2:08.6 in his 800m race, a new PB for him. Both also ran the 400m, Graham in 54.4 and Will in 57.9. Having been out of athletics for a number of years, George made his debut return at the Blackburn fixture, running 4:27 for 1500m. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he improved that time by 4 secs at Litherland, running 4:23.6.

Another welcome returnee to the squad was Ben Johnson who warmed up with a 4:24 1500m - not a distance he often runs - before being placed 2nd in the 5000m. The winner here - Blackburn's Ben Fish - was well clear with a group of four chasing; and the rest of the field some way back. Ben was in this group of 4 virtually the whole race and timed his final run to lead that group and finish 2nd overall. Our regular 5000m runner David Hamilton was 3rd 'B' in 17:20.7; a Season's Best for him.

The was no men's steeplechase in today's programme but Jonathan ran a Season's Best of 64.3 for 2nd place in the 400m hurdles with Oliver winning the 'B' race in 68.0.

Finally, Seniors John Byrne, Lee Coupland and Chris Burgess covered three of the four throwing events. John put the shot 8m 61, threw the discus 16m 48 and the hammer15m 75. Lee threw the discus 19m 02and the hammer 14m 95. And Chris put the shot a Season's Best 8m 12.

The meeting ended with the relays. In the 4x100m, Josh, Chris, Jake and Adam were 2nd in 45.9 . Graham, Jonathan, George and Sam ran the 4x400m in 3:37.5, Sam running the fastest (last) leg in 51.7. Both relay times were quicker than at Blackburn.

Thanks to team manager Lee Coupland, our team of officials; Chris Henders, Lesley Scott, Lee Couland, John Byrne, Mr Keenan, Steve James. Barrie Hughes and all the additional helpers needed when we host a meeting; for setting up, results, refreshment counter etc..

Round 3 is at Bury  on 14th July.

Full results (when available) | Results for Southport Waterloo

8th June 2024: Plenty of medals at windy M'side Schools champs; U13 boys' 150 club record beaten again (by Graham Boreham)

For the 3rd year running the conditions weren’t kind at Bebington for the Merseyside Schools' championships. After oppressive heat for the 2023 edition it was back to the conditions experienced in 2022 with a stiff North West wind not only making it feel like April and not 1 week into the meteorological summer but making it very hard for runners taking on distances from 400 upwards. As such, only 3 English Schools’ entry standard times were run across all distance races although several athletes had already run the required times earlier in the season in better conditions. Conversely, the sprinters had a tailwind and PB’s and entry standards were in abundance.

31 athletes from Southport Waterloo were competing across a wide range of events with county schools medals up for grabs along with potential places on the Merseyside team for the English Schools championships for some in the Junior, Inter and Senior age groups, while year 7’s can be selected for the Merseyside Vs Cheshire match next month. 

There were only 3 of our year 7’s in action here, all middle distance runners. Lucy Delamere competed in the girls' 1200m and came away with a bronze medal with a 4:05.8 while James McGrory and Lewis McIlroy both ran in the boys 800 and 150. In the 800, Jimmy front ran pretty much from beginning to end and was a deserved winner, his 2:20.0 a very good time with the stiff wind while Lewis came in for 3rd with 2:30.1 being within half a second of his PB. It was the 150 which was the highlight though; 3 weeks ago both boys ran the same club record time in separate races but this was the first time they would be racing against each other. It was a very fast race with Lewis not only taking the silver medal but also the club record outright as he ran 19.9, his first time under 20 seconds, while Jimmy took the bronze in 20.3.

6 Junior Girls were out competing at Bebington; Phoebe Mangan, Millie Milligan, Amelia Tyrer, Charlotte Tyrer, Grace Veevers and Lilly Zajitschek. Phoebe took on the 100/200 double, running 14.9 in her 100 heat, albeit starting from the 110 line by accident, an error which affected all the 100 heats. That was good for 2nd and a place in the final, in which, starting from the correct line this time she was 7th in a PB 13.9. In the 200 she again progressed from her heat with a 28.6 before running the same time in the final to finish 6th. Millie competed in 200 and 300, finishing 5th in 200 heat 2 but in a big PB of 29.8 before running a 2nd PB in the 300 as she finished 4th in 47.3. The Tyrers both competed in hurdles and long jump; Charlotte ran 13.7 in her first hurdles race as an U15 to finish 5th with Amelia 1 place behind in a PB 14.0. In the long jump the positions were reversed, Amelia finishing 4th with a best of 4.06m and Charlotte 5th just 4 cms behind with 4.02m. Grace ran in the 800 and took the bronze medal in 2:25.8, a long way clear of those behind while Lilly ran 14.7 in her slightly extended 100 heat before taking a bronze medal in long jump with a best of 4.30m.

The Junior Boys were Eddy Clark, William Delamere, Jack Nelson, Caleb Still and Liam Yates. Having already run inside the schools’ national standard, not just the entry standard in 800m this year, Caleb’s aim today wasn’t to run inside the entry standard again but to win and he controlled the race from beginning to end. 2 others stayed close on him for much of the run but at 600 he made his move and opened up a significant gap between there and the finish, reached in 2:08.0. Eddy was also in the race and finished 4th in 2:14.3, before joining Liam in the 300 later. Both progressed from their heats, Liam as the fastest by 1.5 seconds, running a PB 39.2 in heat 1 while Eddy was 3rd in heat 2 in a PB 42.6 for his first 300 in 11 months. In the final, both ran tactically, not going quite as hard through the wind before putting the burners on in the 2nd half of the race and both were rewarded with medals. Liam never looked like he would be beaten and was deserved winner from the outside in 39.6 with Eddy taking the bronze in 43.1. Will has run inside the entry standard for 1500 in every race this season and was by far the fastest on paper of all the entries, but running the Inter Boys with the Juniors gave him a really good race as he stuck on the shoulder of inter Liam Johnson from St Helens Sutton who like Caleb has already run well inside the standard this year and was just out to win. Only 1 other athlete was able to keep with them until the 1km mark when they both struck out for home and opened up a big gap. Will’s winning time in the juniors’ race was 4:17.0, one of the 3 entry standard times run in the distance races. Jack was competing in hurdles and long jump and was 4th in the hurdles with 13.7 before taking a silver medal in long jump with a best of 5.33m. 

Renee Adams, Scarlett Adderley, Isla Gray, Erin Griffin and Esme McNally competed in the Inter Girls' events. Renee and Scarlett both ran in the first event of the day, the 300 Hurdles, the first time both had competed in this event. Renee not only won the race but her time of 45.7 was over half a second inside the entry standard, the second event she has a standard in along with 200m which she comfortably won here in 26.1. Scarlett took 2nd spot in the 300 hurdles with 47.2 then later on took another silver medal in long jump, in which she increased her PB by 1cm with a best of 4.74m. Esme took the bronze in long jump with 4.51m, an 18cm PB and ran in the extended 100 earlier on clocking 15.5. Isla was competing in steeplechase for the first time and despite the wind was 2nd in a creditable 6:25.7, while Erin cleared 1.40m in high jump to take 2nd and was 4th in the 200 in 29.8.

6 Inter Boys came out to compete; Jake Anders, Will Rothwell, Oliver Storey, Josh Tan, Ben Turner-Bone and Luke Ward with 5 of those having a break from GCSE revision to come along. For Ben and Josh this would prove to be very worthwhile as both were within striking distance of the entry standard in 200. Ben progressed from heat 1 as the fastest across both with 23.7 while Josh ran 24.2 to finish 2nd in heat 2 with Jake also progressing from heat 2 in a PB 24.6, his first time under 25 seconds. In the final Ben and Josh built up a commanding lead over the rest of the field, Ben taking the win in 22.4 and Josh 2nd in 22.5, both huge PB’s and inside the entry standard of 22.7, Ben’s time also being just 0.1 seconds short of the club record which has stood since 2010. Jake meanwhile was 6th in the final clocking 25.1. Josh and Jake both ran in 100 too and both again progressed from their 110m heats into a very quick final which saw Josh take the win in the entry standard time of 11.1, a PB of 0.45 and Jake finish 7th in 11.9, his first time under 12 seconds. Oliver competed in the 400 hurdles where he was 2nd in a PB 67.6 and long jump where he was 2nd again with a best of 4.61m. Luke and Will both ran in the 800; Luke has already run a time right on the entry standard this season but it would be a close race between him and Ben Cronshaw from Wirral who had run a couple of tenths quicker. In a combined inter and senior race it was Luke who came out on top though with a great final 200 to take the inter win running 2:00.0. Will finished 7th in the race with 2:15.6.

Senior fields are usually quite small and with the Northern Senior and U20 championships in Middlesbrough this weekend it was likely that they would be even smaller. Nevertheless, we had 5 Senior Girls competing; Lauren Byrne, Emily Dean, Amber Hughes, Sierra Jalloh and Jessica Keenan. Lauren and Jess stuck to field events today, both featuring in shot in which Lauren was the winner throwing 10.09m and Jess was 2nd with 7.43m. Lauren then cleared 1.55m in the H

high jump while Jess was 2nd in long jump with a best of 4.35m. On the track, Emily ran the tough 400 Hurdles/Steeplechase double, completing the 400 hurdles in 72.9 and the steeplechase in 5:39.1, a great time for her first go. Sierra took on the 2 short sprints and was 2nd in the 100, equalling her PB of 12.5 before taking 2nd in the 200 too in 25.6, inside the entry standard and again equalling her PB. Amber joined Sierra in the 200 and was 3rd in 26.3.

Adam Byrne was the sole Senior Boy and stuck to the field, competing in high jump where he cleared 1.80m and shot where he threw a PB 11.47m, winning both competitions. 

So 7 club athletes look to have achieved the entry standard for English Schools in at least 1 event. The selection meeting is on Monday 10th June and we should find out by the following week who has managed to get into the Merseyside team for 2024. The English Schools championships are on Friday 12th and Saturday 13th July, hopefully in better weather than we had at Bebington.