News reports - August 2024 |
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24th August 2024: Mid Lancs end season with medal meeting at Blackpool |
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There were not that many Southport Waterloo athletes at Blackpool on Saturday - about 23; but the squad was boosted by six of our T20 athletes who enjoyed good support from the spectators. A number took home medals but medallists can't be identified from results as many finishing 1st, 2nd or 3rd hadn't competed in two league fixtures and so didn't qualify for a medal. Under 15 Girl Lauren Silcox ran the 1500m in 5:21.4, just behind Grace Veevers running 5:09, but spectators were drawn to two Chorley girls - twins - who are very close in everything they do apparently and were locked together all the way round finishing together on the line in 5:29. Lauren was our only S'port Waterloo girl in the younger age groups. In the Senior Women events, Under 20 Sierra Jalloh led both her 100m and 200m races, but was just beaten on the line in the 100m, both women given 12.7. In the 200m she ran an outside lane to win comfortably in 26.3. Senior Woman Katie Coupland featured in shot, discus and javelin . 6m 87 for shot was a Season's Best as was her 17m 53 javelin throw and her best discus on the day was 24m 40., The women's events saw three of our T20 athletes in action. Ella McDonough was fastest in both the 100m and 200om running 22.5 and 58.0. Isabelle Procter ran 25.9 and 66.4 and Nell Rooney equalled her PB with 27.7 for 100m and a new PB of 61.9 in the 200m. The T20s also competed in 4kg shot, Isabelle the best with 3m 61 then Nell with 2m 48 and Ella 2m 48. We did have more male athletes at Blackpool, including some in the younger age groups. Lewis McIlroy and James McGrory were our Under 13 Boys. James ran a PB 13.2 for 100m, the fastest by far of all 15 boys running that distance today. He was also the fastest over 200m, finishing in 27.4, and had a good run over 800m but had to settle for 2nd place in 2:22.2. James McGrory ran as the only Under 13 Boy - and youngest - in a mixed 1500m race and won overall in 4:47.5. Our Under 15 Boys were Harry Lavery, Jack Nelson, Matthew Nuttall and Liam Yates. Harry ran his first ever 1500m race in 5:45.9. Jack featured in the 100m, running 12.8, the high jump, clearing 1m 50, and the long jump where he won the competition with 5m 17; over 60 cms clear of the 2nd placed athlete. Matthew competed in all the throws, 9m 51 in the shot, 19m 86 in the javelin and 27m 59 in the javelin, so with a 3rd and a 2nd place finish he would have taken medals. Finally, Liam Yates ran a fine 400m to win in 54.8. Josh Tan and Jake Anders competed as Under 17 Men. Josh won both the 100m and 200m events running 11.3 and 23.5. Jake ran 11.9 for 100m, went on to compete in long jump clearing 4m 76 before finishing his day with a 24.8 200m. The Senior Men events included another three of our T20 athletes, Dominic Alden, Daniel Mageer and Ethan Mullin. They competed in 100m, 200m and shot put. On the Track, Dominic was the faster running 16.5 and 35.6, then Ethan in 20.1 and a PB 46.5 and then Daniel running 21.2 and 51.9. In the 6kg shot, Daniel had the best put with 5m 16, then Dominic with 4m 26 and Ethan with 3m 59. Our other Senior Men were Graham Boreham, Chris Burgess, Lee Coupland and Marc Singer. Chris ran a Season's Best 12.0 for 100m and ran 25.3 for 200m. Graham's 24.6 for 200m was another Season's Best after running 54.6 for 400m. Marc ran another Season's Best in the 800m in 2:15.1 and Lee also recorded a Season's Best in the discus with a best of 21m 48. Lee also put the shot 6m 98 and threw the javelin 24m 89 for a good day's athletics. As the Mid Lancs brings our league season to a close, there is still open meeting competition in September before the cross country and indoor season starts in October. The first cross country is a joint Mid Lancs / Red Rose fixture in Witton Park, Blackburn, on 12th October and the first Indoor meeting is at EIS, Sheffield, on 23rd November. Thanks to today's team manager Lee Coupland and a depleted pool of officials with Mike Dandy and Lee Coupland. |
With the final league match, at Preston, behind us, the Mid Lancs League ended their track & field season wih their annual medal meeting at Blackpool's Stanley Park Arena. Towards the end of the schools holidays, many athletes are away and so it is never the busiest Mid Lancs meeting of the season but there were over 250 entries and so a very worthwhile meeting and plenty of good competition to inspire and enthral. Apart from a hour or so of rain before the meeting started, the skies cleared and warm sunshine was the order of the day. There was a fairly strong tail wind - up to about 4.3 m/s/s - so some sprinters enjoyed a late season PB.17th August 2024: Soft landing for senior athletes in Northern Premier Div'n
The final round in the Northern Track & Field League was hosted on Saturday by West Cheshire at the Stanney Oaks Track in Ellesmere Park, a track built in 2005/6 and so roughly the same age as our Litherland Sports Park athletics track.
Southport Waterloo won promotion to the West Premier Div'n of the Northern League in 2023 so the primary objective for 2024 was to establish ourselves in this higher division and hold that into 2025 and beyond. The season has run well with mid table finishes and, with a reasonably good turn out for the Final fixture, we were expected to stay up. West Cheshire were expected to do well at home but Wirral were an unknown. In the bottom two after 3 fixtures, they could send a strong team to try and avoid relegation. In the event, they didn't and we finished above them in 4th place.
Subject to scrutiny etc, the scores at Ellesmere Port were Blackburn 376 points, West Cheshire very close behind with 374, Sale Harriers with 359, Southport Waterloo 342, Wirral 292, and Bury 248. So Wirral AC and Bury AC and relegated, Blackburn win the Division with 24 League points to Sale Harriers 19 and Southport Waterloo are 4th with 12 League points ahead of Wirral AC with 9.
Interestingly, the results show that, whilst Southport Waterloo finished 4th overall, we were 3rd in the overall Track results and 3rd also in the Field events so were very close to catching 3rd placed Sale Harriers. That should add to confidence in our team's abilities!
After some mixed English summer weather during the week, Saturday was dry and generally overcast but a strong breeze did affect track times. But there were several PBs and SBs by both our male and female athletes.
The Southport Waterloo team comprised 13 males and 11 females spread across the under 17, Under 20 and Senior age groups, all, of course, competing as seniors.
Our Females were Renee Adams, Scarlett Adderley, Lauren Byrne, Katy Coupland, Emily Dean, Amber Hughes, Charlotte Hughes, Sierra Jalloh, Apphia Keenan, Esme McNally and Niamh Procter. They had two good event wins with Emily running and winning her first 2000m steeplechase in 8:04.8, lapping other runners on her final lap. Combining hurdle work with her middle distance endurance, Emily warmed up for her steeplechase running 76.2 for 400m hurdles. That event, the first track event of the day, also saw our first win of the day, Scarlett setting a blistering pace to win in a PB time of 68.9. Scarlett also took on the 3kg hammer event getting the implement nearly 15 metres. Unfortunately, our female squad is short of middle distance runners so well done to Niamh and Apphia for stepping up to cover the 800m, Niamh running 3:08.6 and Apphia 2:56.4. Sadly, we were the only club with no runners in the 1500m or 3000m.
It was a different story in the sprint events. Renee was 2nd in the 100m running 12.6 and Sierra won the 'B' race in 13.0. Over 200m, later in the afternoon, Amber ran 27.0 and Esme a Season's Best 30.4. Having run the fastest split in all previous Northern League 4x400m relays this year, it was no surprise to see Sierra run the 400m event at Ellesmere Port, her first real 400m race since running on the indoor boards in 2018. Today, she was 2nd in a PB time of 61.9, equalling Olivia Morgan's PB run at Litherland in June. Apphia also ran a 77.7 400m and a 23.2 100m hurdles. 
Amber ran a Season's Best 16.6 in the 100m hurdles for 2nd place but used her maximum number of allowed events with a 4m 40 long jump, a 9m 26 shot put to win that 'B' event and an 18m 95 javelin throw. Leaving the fast track races to the younger athletes, Katy threw the hammer 15m 60, the javelin a Season's Best 15m 47 and her favoured Discus 25m 70. Niamh and Esme covered the triple jump, Esme's 9m 54 being a good new PB and Niamh clearing 9m 22. Lauren featured in the shot, with a best of 9m 33, but began her day on the long jump where a best of 5m 01 was a Season's Best. She has cleared 4m 89 and 4m 93 already this year so a 5 metre jump has been on the cards! However, Lauren was scheduled for high hurdles and high jump and I wonder if she may have sustained an injury in the long jump. If so, lets hope its minor. Finally, Charlotte cleared 1m 30 in the high jump and she threw the discus 12m 85.
In the 4x100m relay, Esme, Niamh, Charlotte and Sierra were 3rd in 53.6. Scarlett, Amber, Sierra and Niamh were also 3rd in the 4x400m relay in 4:17.4, this time Amber clocking the fastest split of 62.4.
Our Men at Ellesmere Port were Jake Anders, Graham Boreham, Chris Burgess, Adam Byrne, John Byrne, Sam Coupland, Lee Coupland, George Ingram, Ben Johnson, Oliver Storey, Josh Tan, Luke Ward and Julius Zajitschek. Surprisingly, there were no event winners amongst our men but we had four 2nd places, all achieved by Sam Coupland; 16.6 in the 110m hurdles, 6m 13 in the long jump, a PB 12m 66 in the triple jump and 3m 50 in the pole vault. In fact, Sam competed in a maximum 7 events, including a SB 65.5 in the 400m hurdles, a 1m 60 high jump and a 10m 25 shot put. He must he a strong contender to retain his club senior T&F award this year and he has certainly had a massive impact on the team's performance since returning from college in the USA.
Sam's triple jump was just one of six PBs in our Men's team. Jake and Julius had sprint PBs; 24.7 for Jake - in this his first outing this season - in the 200m; and 58.7 for Julius in the 400m. But Josh was our fastest man, running 11.4 in the 100m ahead of Jake running 12.2 in the 'B' race and Chris 12.7 in the non-scoring race. Josh was also fastest over 200m, running 23.4. Graham ran the 400m / 800m double, the 400m in 54.3. Due to a Starter equipment fault, there were no times taken for Graham 800m but Julius ran 2:19.9 in his 800m.
Unlike the Women, we have no real shortage of male middle distance runners and here Luke and George ran in the 1500m. Luke was well up in the leading group until the last 200m but finished in a Season's Best 4:13.8. George won the 'B' race in 4:18.0. For the first time this season, however, we had only one runner in the 5000m. Ben was again well up with the leaders and finished 3rd in 15:30.2, a Season's Best for him.
Finally, on the Track, Oliver ran a PB 67.5 to win the 'B' 400m hurdles and along with Graham, Julius, and George completed the 4x400m relay in 3:48.5, Graham running the fastest split of 55.0. In the 4x100m relay, Josh, Jake, Chris and Adam were 3rd in 46.4.
In the Field events, Adam equalled his pole vault PB clearing 3m 40 to take maximum 'B' points. He also long jumped 5m 79, won the 'B' high jump with 1m 55 and threw the javelin 35m 90. John Byrne's 30m 20 javelin throw was a new PB for him and he also threw the hammer 16m 36 and the discus 17m 65. Finally, team manager Lee leapt 7m 46 in the triple jump and registered two Season's Bests in the discus (21m 25) and the hammer (16m 15).
Congratulations to all the team, today and throughout the season. Maintaining our position in the West Premier Division was quite an achievement. Thanks to team manager Lee Coupland and our team of officials today; Chris Henders, Mike Dandy, Lesley Scott, Lee Coupland, Barrie Hughes, Dave Whitehead and John Byrne.
Results for Southport Waterloo | Full results (when available).
10th - 11th August 2024: Three medals won at Northern Age Group Champs
The Northern Athletics U13 / U15 /U17 T&F Championships were held over the weekend at the Moorways Athletics Stadium in Derby, Home of Derby AC. I can’t recall any Southport Waterloo league fixture ever being held here but it is where the Northern Inter -Area (England, Scotland, Wales & N. Ireland) Under 18 Championships were regularly held. Maybe over 20 since I had last visited this facility and it looked brilliant in the summer sunshine this weekend; a facility any club would be proud to call home!
It wasn’t all brilliant sunshine, however, as some of the events early on the Saturday were affected by rain. But Saturday afternoon through Sunday the temperatures soared and keeping cool and hydrated became a priority for all competitors – and indeed officials and spectators as well!
This year's championships attracted a good entry so both Track and Field were very busy on both days. Competitors from all over the North included 9 from Southport Waterloo, supported by family and at least two of our coaches.
On Saturday, we had Eddy Clark, Lucy Delamere, Oliver Storey, Renee Adams and Scarlett Adderley competing. In just the 2nd Track event of the day, both Renee and Scarlett were in the Under 17 Women’s 300m hurdles race. Run as a straight final, Renee quickly established a lead and, to be honest, dominated the race to emerge the 2024 300m hurdles champion, finishing in 44.63. Scarlett was unlucky to finish just a second outside the medal positions, 4th in 48.50, but is becoming a very competent and confident hurdler. Later on Day 1, Scarlet competed in the ‘B' Final of the Under 17 Women's long jump, finishing 3rd in 4m 64, all the medals going to the ‘A’ Final.
Following on from the 300m hurdles, we had the 400m hurdles for Under 17 Men, again run as a straight final. Oliver Storey featured here finishing 8th in 65.16. He was outside of the medals, but was rewarded with a new PB.
After the track break, both Eddy Clark and Lucy Delamere ran in the 800m races, both run as time trials. First up was Under 15 Eddy who was 4th in the ‘B’ Final in 2:09.54. Lucy was also drawn in the ‘B’ Final for Under 13 Girls and was also 4th, in 2:34.79. So, a good result, particularly for Lucy to run a PB at a Northern Championships, all the medals going to the ‘A’ races.
On Sunday, Under 13 James McGrory and Under 15s Millie Milligan, Phoebe Mangan and Will Delamere were our athletes in the blue and gold of Southport Waterloo. First up were Phoebe and Millie in the 100m. It was tough for the girls having to qualify through heats, then run a Semi Final and finally a Final with little more than the minimum recovery time but there were so many Under 15 girls in the sprints it would take several races to whittle them down to a final 8. Pheobe went in Heat 1 where she was 5th in 13.90. Mille ran in Heat 3, 6th here in 14.39, neither qualifying for the Semis but good runs nonetheless. Shortly after, Millie ran in Heat 2 of the 300m races, finishing 5th in 50.17 and later Phoebe was 5th in her heat of the Under 15 Girls’ 200m, running just outside the qualifying positions, 5th in 29.19.
Around 3 o’clock, Under 13 James McGrory took to the track for his 800m race, again, like the other younger age group, run as time trials to avoid having to run two 800m races on the one day. James was soon at the front and led for most of the race, but the final positions were decided in the home straight with James battling a strong challenge from a Rotherham Harrier whilst a Crewe and Nantwich runner came around the outside to win the race. James took the Northern bronze medal in 2:15.06, not only a new PB time but a new Club Record, replacing Will Delamere’s mark of 2:16.07 set in 2022. A new PB or a new club record is always worthy of note, but it is worth remembering that, prior to 2022, this Under 13 club record was held by Michael Rimmer when he ran for Southport Waterloo. Michael went on to become one of England foremost international 800m runners and in the last two years we have had not one but two young runners who have run faster times as Under 13s. Remarkable! For Michael's international achievements, see his Power of 10 profile.
And that wasn’t the only excitement of the afternoon for the club. Towards the end of the meeting, Will Delamere toed the start line for the Under 15 Boys’ 1500m. I guess it started tactically – as championships races often do. Will settled into the 2nd place but, with 500m to go, he edged out upping the pace and took the lead. Very quickly, the North Shields runner who set the earlier pace responded and closed on Will, both runners going through the bell with little between them. The gap between the first two and the rest of the field quickly increased as the front two tried to establish a winning margin. But with 250m to go they were as joined at the hip, running shoulder to shoulder as neither would give way and they continued like that, fighting for every yard, right to the line. It was arguably the best race of the championships, truly a race, requiring tactical awareness, decision making, mental strength and lots of endurance. It could have gone either way but, on the line, a photograph separated them giving Will the silver medal, losing out by 3 1/100th of a second. A championships race is not about the times; its about racing and on that score both boys delivered. Nonetheless, Will’s time was 4:17.17.
Well earned Northern Medals were taken by Renee, James and Will and recognised in our Honours Board. For all, however, they will have learned more from competing at this level than any number of training sessions. And they can all progress with added confidence in their athletic ability.
3rd August 2024: Females athletes relegated from Mid Lancs Div'n 1
The Mid Lancs Medal Meeting is not until 24th August but the final League match of the season was held on Saturday at the UCLAN Sports complex in Preston, hosted by Preston Harriers. In glorious warm sunshine, the new (blue) re-laid and refurbished track looked splendid and a pleasure to visit again after several years without competition following Covid and then the refurbishment work.
The schools are on holiday, of course, and that means numbers are likely to be down. But Preston Harriers used the opportunity to introduce many of their young competitors to the advantages of a home League fixture. Southport Waterloo numbers were indeed down with few blue and gold vest to be seen but those who came will be pleased with their performances which included some good Season's and Personal Bests. Subject to finalising the points, in the female League, Southport Waterloo finished last in Division 1 and will be relegated to Division 2 next season. Both divisions run together so this doesn't affect the quality of the competition we face next year; but we are surely worth a place in Division 1. And could even win it if this League was supported as well as the YDL and Northern leagues.
We faired better in the Males Division 1, drawing with LPS on 102 points. Subject to finalised points, that leaves us 3rd in the Division this year, just 5 points behind Preston Harriers; so clearly punching above our weight. Well done lads.
Four of our girls competed at Preston. In the Under 15s, Phoebe Mangan ran 28.9 for 200m; and Lauren Silcox ran a 1500m. It wasn't an easy run in the very warm conditions but she knocked 10 secs off her previous PB finishing 3rd in 5:10.7. Lauren started the season, and has run several races, in the 5:20s so this is a step change!
Under 20s Olivia Morgan and Amber Hughes competed with the Seniors. Olivia was in great form and ran a Season's Best 13.0 for 3rd place in the Senior Women's 100m. In the 200m, her 26.4 was the fastest time of 14 runners - although she was just beaten on the line in her heat, both given the same time. That's her fastest 200m time since 2022! Amber ran 26.6 for 200m, the 3rd fastest of the 14 runners in the Senior Women 200m. She also put the shot 9m 51 for 4th and threw the javelin 26m 87 for 5th in the Senior Women's event.
We had a few more males competing, 12 in all, with some good PBs from our younger athletes. Lewis McIlroy was the fastest of 19 boys over 100m, running 13.5, and the fastest of 13 running a PB 26.8 for 200m. He was 2nd in the 800m in another PB, 2:24.5, taking 4 seconds off his previous best.
Liam Yates, Jack Nelson and Matthew Nuttall were our Under 15 Boys, each of whom was competing at PB level. Jack equalled his high jump PB with a 1m 50 clearance and long jumped 5m 21. Liam was impressive in the 800m running a PB 2:12.3, just losing out to English Schools silver medallist Jack Baranowski. Matthew put the shot to a PB 10m 60 as well as throwing the discus 20m 25 and the javelin 28m 21. He was 2nd in both shot and discus and 4th in javelin.
In the Under 17 Men's event Josh Tan, Oliver Storey, Luke Ward, Liam McCormick and Will Rothwell. Josh ran the sprint double with 11.3 and 23.0, 2nd overall over 100m and overall winner over 200m. Oliver ran his first competitive 200m race - one of the opportunities a development league like Mid Lancs offers - running 25.4. Over 400m, 800m runner Luke Ward was a comfortable winner in 53.3, perhaps looking for a faster time but that will come. And both Liam and Will ran the 1500m, Liam in 4:35.6 and Will 4:38.8, just 4 Under 17s running with the Senior Men.
Chris Burgess was in fine form in the Senior Men's sprints running 12.3 and 24.9, both best times this season I think. Marc Singer achieved a Season's Best. He is slowly but surely bringing down his 800m time this year, running 2:15.7 at Preston. Finally, Graham Boreham ran 24.9 in a line with Chris at the 200m finish, and 54.4 for 400m.
Thanks to Graham Boreham standing in as team manager today; and to our team of officials and helpers - Dave Whitehead, Lesley Scott, Mike Dandy, Amanda Nelson, Ben Turner-Bone and Steve Nuttall.
Entries for the Medal Meeting on www.race-results.co.uk are now open. You need to have competed at 2 league meetings to qualify for a medal but all may enter and compete.
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