News reports - July 2024

12th-13t July 2024: Stars of the future shine at English Schools

Southport Waterloo is privileged to have so many of its young athletes good enough to be selected regularly to represent either Merseyside or Lancashire at the prestigious English Schools National T&F Championships. Seven were again selected this year to represent Merseyside at the home of UK athletics; Alexander Stadium in Birmingham. This success reflects the talent in our squads and the quality of coaching being provided at Litherland Sports Park.

This year's cohort were Junior Boys (Under 15 Boys) Calib Still and Will Delamere, Inter Girl (Under 17 Woman) Renee Adams, Inter Boys (Under 17 Men) Josh Tan and Ben Turner-Bone, and Senior Girls (Under 20 Women) Sierra Jalloh and Lauren Byrne. There were no medals to bring home but two new Club Records were set and another one equalled, fantastic to perform at such a high level in one of Athletics most valued competitions.

I think Josh Tan was the first Southport Waterloo athlete to compete at these championships. His Inter Boys' 100m heats were on Friday, Josh competing in Heat 5 were he ran 11.41. That's just outside his PB and the standard was so high - fastest time in the heats was 10.78 with the top 10 running under 11 seconds - that Josh didn't progress.

Also on Friday, Calib Still ran in the heats of the Junior Boys' 800m. He finished 2nd in his heat in 1:59.67, marginally outside his PB, and progressed through to the final on Saturday. I believe he had a fall towards the end of this race, finishing 5th in 2:03.23, and judging by the other performances, a podium finish must have been on the cards. Hopefully he will get another chance of a medal at the England championships later this month and the Northern Age Group Champs early next month.

In the third last track event on Friday, Will Delamere featured in the Junior Boys' 1500m. With, again, a very high standard in the field, Will put effort into his heat and was 4th of 12 boys in 4:12.10, the effort rewarding him with an improved PB and Club Record - as well as qualifying him for the Final on Saturday. Two 1500m races in two days takes a lot of energy and Will did well to finish in 4:19.16. It was probably the right decision to go for a time in the heat.

Renee Adams was involved in the heats of the Inter Girls' 300m hurdles on Day 1. She ran a brilliant race to finish 3rd in 44.21 and so qualified for the Final, the very first event on the Saturday morning. Here she finished 4th in a marginally slower time of 44.28. Renee couldn't run this vevent as an Under 15 so, as a first year Under 17, this is the first season she has been able to compete over 300m hurdles; and, prior to English Schools, she had only competed in the event 3 times! So, to get to English Schools is a remarkable achievement in itself. And to cap it, her heat time of 44.21 was a new Club Record, replacing Amber Hugh's mark of 45.28 set in 2021 when she was a 1st year Under 17.

Shortly after Renee's Final, Sierra Jalloh took to the track in the heats of the Senior Girls' 200m. She ran 26.34, outside the qualifiers, having run 25.6 at Merseyside Schools this year.

Lauren Byrne's Senior Girls' high jump was also on Saturday morning. Lauren equalled her Under 20 1m 63 Club Record achieved at the England Indoor Champs (although her PB is 1m 68 from last year.)

Then, both Renee and Josh were part of Merseyside's 4x100m mixed relay team, finishing 2nd in their heat in 46.98 to qualify for the Final towards the end of the meeting, where they finished in 47.05.

Ben Turner-Bone was also selected for these championships but injury meant he was unable to take up his place.

Well done to all who will have benefitted from being here, not just from fine performances but also from the experience gained competing at this level and making new friends in the sport.

Thanks to Graham Boreham for photos used here. 

Full results

6th July 2024: Mid Lancs T&F League visits Lancaster

Lancaster's Salt Ayre Track was the venue for the 4th Round of the Mid Lancs T&F League, unusually just a week after a fixture at Bury's Market Street Track. Many of us endured heavy rain in Merseyside early on, but the skies cleared as we headed north and Lancaster managed to provide a warm and dry day. One unwelcome feature of the weather, however, was a gusting westerly wind which, in the home straight gave the sprinters wind readings of up to +5.3 mps. Neither could the endurancve runners avoid the effects of the wind . Unsurprisingly, most of the PBs came in the sprints.

18 Southport Waterloo athletes made the trip, just a couple more than competed at Bury, but with just 5, the girls were hard to spot. 

The boys and men did so well they finished 2nd to Kirkby Milers on the day and are actually top of the table, subject to officials points, just 6 points clear of LPS!

We had no Under 13 Girls but did have two Under 13 Boys; Lewis McIlroy and James McGrory. James ran his favoured 1500m and won that convincingly in 4:53.4. Lewis won his 100m heat in 13.3 which proved to be the fastest of all 18 runners on the day across 3 heats. Both boys met up to run in the 200m races, both winning their heats, Lewis in 27.5 and James in 28.1; the two fastest times of the day. I just wonder what the times might have been if they had been in the same race.

Our Under 15 Girls were Grace Cain and Grace Veevers Both girls competed in the windy 1500m race, Grace V finishing 3rd in 5:19.3 in her first race over this distance since August last year, and Grace C managing to defy the conditions with a PB run in 5:38.8, in just her 2nd 1500m race. Grace C stayed to run a 200m and finished 3rd in her heat in 30.3, another PB.

4 of our Under 15 Boys took part in competition at Lancaster; Eddy Clark, Harry Lavery, Jack Nelson and Matthew Nuttall. There were some fine sprint performances with Jack Nelson running 12.4 for 100m, the 2nd fastest time overall, before going on to run the 2nd fastest 200m in 25.9. These were both PBs, as was Harry's 100m run in 15.9. Jack was also the winner in the long jump competition, 4m 89 the best jump of all the 17 boys. In the 1500m race, Eddy was 2nd in 4:39.3 and finally Matthew competed in shot and javelin; 2nd in the shot with 10m 11 and 4th in the javelin with 22m 56, not so easy against the wind.

Under 17 Women distance runners Isla Gray and Sydney Monahan Clarkson ran at Lancaster. Isla was 2nd in her 800m race in 2:33.3, just 2 seconds outside her PB. Sydney won the Under 17 Women's 1500m in 5:24.5, the windy conditions having more effect over the longer distance.

Jake Anders was our sole Under 17 Man. Another promising sprinter, Jake ran 11.8 for 100m - a new PB - and 25.3 for 200m. He also cleared a best of 4m 17 in the long jump.

Under 20 Woman Lauren Byrne competes as a Senior Woman in this league. She won the high jump competition with 1m 45 and threw the javelin 23m 17 with just one throw as the event clashed with the high jump; but she was probably best pleased with her 4m 93 long jump, a Seasons Best.

Adam Byrne threw the Under 20 Man discus with a best of 30m 65. Competing then against Senior Men, he won the high jump competition with a best clearance of 1m 65 and won the javelin competition with a PB 36m 10.

5 of our Senior Men also competed at Lancaster. Graham Boreham ran 55.4 for 400m and then ran a 25.6 200m towards the end of the meeting. Despite the windy conditions, Marc Singer ran his 800m in 2:16.9, less than a second outside his time at Bury last week. And Alex Vernon competed in his first track 3000m as a senior runner, getting around in a very respectable 10:37.0. Finally John Byrne rather overdid the number of his events. Of the three to count, he started with a PB hammer throw of 17m 18, high jumped 1m 50 - his best clearance since 2018 - 2nd only to Adam. And he threw the discus 15m 11.

The final league match is closer to home, at Preston UCLAN Arena, on Saturday 3rd August with the medal meeting on Saturday 24th August. The Sportsoft portal opens for Medal Meeting entries on Sunday 4th August.

Result for Southport Waterloo | Full results