News reports - September 2024

21st/22nd September 2024: Adam, Lauren and Amber at English Schools Combined Events

The 2024 English Schools' Combined Events Championships were held at Northwood Stadium, Stoke on Trent, over the weekend 21st and 22nd September. Lauren and Adam Byrne and Amber Hughes made the trip.

Competing in the Senior Girls’ Heptathlon, Lauren was 5th of 25 girls at the end of Day 1 but didn’t finish the final event 800m and so dropped to 15th. Along the way she ran a PB 15.88 in the 100m hurdles, the very first event on Day 1, and a Season’s Best 200m in 27.29. Amber didn’t complete the last two events so wasn’t scored for the Heptathlon. 

Adam competed in the Senior Boys’ Decathlon finishing 11th of 33 boys Unfortunately, the weather interfered with events on the Saturday afternoon and the Senior Boys’ high jump and 400m events had to be cancelled for safety reasons, so Adam couldn’t score a full Decathlon. The placings are based on 8 events. Along the way, Adam recorded three PBs – 11m 80 in the shot, 17.21 for 110m hurdles, and 32m 96 in the discus – and his 1500m time of 5:01.08 was a Season’s Best.

21st September 2024: Its gold again for Under 15 Boys at Northern Road Relays

The 2024 Autumn Road Relay season continued on Saturday with the Northern Championships being held within Stanley Park in Blackpool, starting and finishing on the track. This is a step up from the North West and county road relays held two weeks ago and is a Senior qualifier for the English National 6-satge road relays to be held in Sutton Park, Birmingham, in two weeks time; Saturday 5th October. Only the first 25 teams in the Northern, Southern and Midland championships are eligible to compete at Sutton Park.

Southport Waterloo were well represented at the North West event at Edge Hill University and our Under 15 Boys were winners there. Hopes were high that Will Delamere, Eddy Clark and Caleb Still could repeat their success and beat teams for all over the North of England.

The west coast location of these championships and the closure of the M62 this weekend for bridge replacement work may have deterred some; but I reckon there was close to 2000 runners in Stanley Park. The warm weather was kind to the runners and spectators; markedly different from that at last weekend's Blackpool open T&F meeting!

All age groups up to Under 17 ran 3 x 1 lap 3.2 km legs. The Senior Women ran 4 x 2 laps for 5.6 kms and the Senior Men ran 6 x 5.6 kms legs.

The Under 13s went off first, the boys initially and then the girls after 5 minutes. We had no Under 13 Girls but ran an Under 13 Boys' team with George Hawthorn on leg 1, then Oliver Kimball and James McGrory bringing the team home in 17th place of 42 compete teams. George ran 12:17 for the 3.2 km lap, Oliver also 12:17 and James our fastest in 11:36.

Our Under 15 Boys were led off by Will Delamere who quickly established a lead and came back into the park in 1st place to hand over to Eddy Clak who held on to the leading position. Caleb Still on the 3rd leg made sure of another road relay won for the boys. Will ran 9:48, Eddy 10:59 and Caleb 10:22. I believe the boys intend to run at Sutton Park in two weeks. Good luck to these at the home of English road relays. Will's time at Blackpool was the fastest leg of all 105 finishers with only two boys running under 10 minutes. A superb performance!

We had no Under 15 Girls running.

Next up were the Under 17s and here we had both a male and a female team. Going off first, Liam McCormick ran the first leg for the Under 17 Men in 10:34 before handing over to Theo Osborne, coming back in 11:49 and Will Rothwell bringing the team home in 31st place with an 11:54 run. Sydney Monahan Clarkson led off for the Under 17 Women running 12:31 for her 3.2 kms. Then Isla Gray ran 14:49 and Amelie Scott completed the team, 13:38 for 22nd place of 26 complete teams.

We had two full teams of Senior Men. Our 'A' team comprised George Ingram (19:25), Francois Rafferty (18:57), Reuben Donnelly (19:21), David Hamilton (19:21), Andrew Waddington (19:18) and Alex Vernon (19:43) finishing 48th of 104 complete teams. For the 'B' team, Lewis Rooney led off in 21:51, then Marc Singer (20:31), John Delamere (21:04), Steve Wilkinson (23:18), Lee Coupland (28:15) and Mark Wynne (19:57), finishing 91st. All the fastest runners made it to the 'A' team, not always an easy task to achieve!

We didn't have a Senior Women's team.

Hopefully all runners enjoyed the event. After the English road relay champs in two weeks, there are cross country relays in Sheffield on 19th October and Mansfield on 2nd November. Road relays return in the Spring, after the upcoming cross country season.

Full results | Honours Board

14th September 2024: Postponed 2024 National XC Champs take place at Weston Park

The 2024 English National Cross Country Championships were held at Weston Park, Weston-Under-Lizard, Shropshire, on Saturday. I doubt we have ever discussed XC championships being held in September before, but readers may remember that the Nationals, scheduled to be held here in February, could not take place due to flooding of the park. Rather than ‘cancel’ the event, the English Cross Country Association took the decision to ‘postpone’ the championships and the revised date was 14th September.

September is outside the 2023/24 cross country season but, being 2024 championships, the decision was made that 2023/24 age groups would exceptionally apply.

On Saturday, Weston Park was bathed in warm sunshine for the most part. The slightly undulating parkland was dry under foot and made for good, fast running with a long, gentle downhill run to the Finish. It certainly didn’t feel like cross country. And numbers were well down – compare 1473 senior men finishing at Bolesworth Castle in 2023 or over 2000 in 2022 with the 529 at Weston Park on Saturday – and whilst I was impressed with the Weston Park venue with its over 1000 acres of parkland, the lack of numbers meant the event did lack atmosphere. But, nonetheless, it was an English National XC Championships and an important event in the athletics calendar.

Whilst I think most runners enjoyed the experience, I suspect a number in the junior age groups were less well prepared. Seniors running road races throughout the year could handle the distance but many – most? – of the juniors would have done no cross country racing for several months having focussed on much shorter, track racing during the summer. So, I think some runners lacked race endurance. But that's probably true even in February or March.

Southport Waterloo had eight runners at Weston Park. I think that is about half the number who previously entered for the February event.

First off was Emily Dean, dropping back to Under 17 for this race over 5 kms. She was 58th of 101 finishers in 22:44.

Our best prospects were in the second race, for Under 15 Boys where Will Delamere, Liam McCormick and Eddy Clark were running. Will was 15th of 212 – a very impressive performance – in 13:56 for the 4 kms. Liam was 54 in 14:32 and Eddy 95th in 15:06.

Next up were the Under 13 Girls and here Lauren Silcox was 921st of 247 in 13:35 for her 3 kms. We had no involvement in the Under 17 Men’s race, but James McGrory was 73rd of 227 in the Under 13 Boys' race, crossing the line in 11:59 for 3 kms.

Next up were the Under 15 Girls where Sydney Monahan Clarkson was running. She finished 69th of 176 in 17:24 for her 4 kms. We had no Junior Women, Junior Men or Senior Women running but John Delamere ran the 12 kms course for Senior Men, 256th of 529 in 51.22.

Running in the national championships is a cherished experience and, weather permitting, hopefully we can return to a more traditional event in February 2025. But a London event won’t be as popular for our Merseyside runners!

Thanks to Graham Boreham for photo.

8th September 2024: Record club turnout for North West Road Relays

Over 50 Southport Waterloo runners turned out at Edge Hill University in Ormskirk on a very wet Sunday for the annual North West Road Relays, incorporating the county championships of Cheshire, Lancashire, Merseyside and Greater Manchester. The club had teams in all age categories, bar the Under 15 Girls, with 5 senior men's teams and, perhaps more exceptional, two senior women's teams. Several of the junior runners were also competing on the Saturday at our open meeting and came along to take part in this iconic team event. Team Manager Andy Veevers is to be congratulated on such a fine - indeed I reckon a record - turn out.

North West and county medals were at stake and our Under 15 Boys, last year's runners up and Merseyside champions, were worthy winners this year; Will Delamere and Caleb Still with Eddy Clark taking over from Liam McCormick who moves up to Under17.

First up were the Under 11 Girls running 3 x 1.5 km laps. We had three teams and the first to finish was, I think, the 'B' team with Sasha McNabb running the 1st leg in 8:52, handing over to Constance Rice, running 9:01 and finally Dora Loxham running 8:36. The girls were 4th Merseyside club, 20th overall. Our next team in were Emma Brighton (9:19), Amelia Roberts (9:19) and Ava Abrahams (8:24.) for 23rd place overall, and then Emma Gilbertson (19:52), Amelia Salkeld (8:50) and Lily Clare (9:05) 30th overall of 34 complete teams. Warriors won the Merseyside championship with Liverpool Harriers 2nd and Wirral 3rd. Dora Loxham ran the fastest Southport Waterloo leg in 8:36.

The Under 11 Boys ran the same 1.5 km course and again we had three teams. For our 'A' team, Thomas Delamere ran the 1st leg in 7:26, followed by Sam Coughlan in 8:37 and Matthew Ndjambula ran 8:03 to finish. The team were 4th Merseyside club, 14th overall. The 'B' team comprised William Paybody (8:10), Tom Winslow (9:11) and Jack Mainey (8:31), finishing 26th overall. Our 'C' team were Noah Farrelly (8:50), Harvey Lloyd (8:49) and Tyler Hunt (8:52) brought the team home in 30th place overall of 33 complete teams. Liverpool Harriers were Merseyside champions ahead of Warriors and Wirral. Thomas Delamere ran our fastest leg in 7:26.

Next were the Under 13 Girls running 3 legs of 2.8 kms. Lucy Delamere led our team with a 10:46 leg followed by Esme Wilkinson running 14:04 and finally Harriet Honess running 13:45 for 5th Merseyside team and 29th overall. Warriors took the Merseyside award with Liverpool Harriers 2nd and St Helens Sutton 3rd.

Then the Under 13 Boys, again running 2.8 km legs, toed the Start line. Caden Walker went off in the 1st leg running 11:19, then Oliver Kimball ran 11:17 with the fastest runner, James McGrory, bringing the team home with a final leg in 10:03 for 4th Merseyside team and 11th overall. James McGrory's time was the 8th fastest of over 100 boys.

We had no Under 15 Girls' team but the Under 15 Boys put on a fine display leading by a growing margin as the race developed. William Delamere ran the first 2.8 km leg in 8:55 ensuring a lead over the chasing Macclesfield runner. Eddy Clark ran with it and even extended the lead with a 9:50 leg leaving Caleb Still a clear run for home at the front. He ran 9:27. The boys won both the NW and Merseyside titles with Wirral and Liverpool Harriers taking the minor county medals. William's 8:55 leg was the fastest in the race.

We had an incomplete Under 17 Women's team running with Under 15 Girls over the 1-lap 2.8 km course. Sydney Monahan Clarkson ran the first leg in 10:50 and Amelie Scott ran the second leg in 12:21. Unfortunately there was no third leg runner so we didn't finish a team. Liverpool Harriers won the Merseyside championship.

The Under 17 Men ran with the Senior Women, the distance increasing to 2 laps for 5 kms. The Southport Waterloo team had Liam McCormick on the first leg running 17:26, a new runner I think in Theo Osborne who ran 19:34 for his leg with Will Rothwell anchoring the team with a run in 19:31 for 4th Merseyside club and 18th position overall. A Salford Harrier ran the fastest leg in 15:43. Liverpool Harriers again won the county championship with Warriors 2nd and Wirral 3rd.

The Senior Women ran the longer 5 km legs. The Southport Waterloo 'A' team was led out by Ellon Hart who previous ran for the club as a teenage middle distance runner. She ran our fastest leg, 19:54, for 15th place, before handing over to Rachel Jacks running 20:04 followed by Katie Lee, 20:18, for 16th polace overall by the end. They finished 5th Merseyside team with Liverpool Harriers taking gold, Warriors silver and St Helens Sutton the bronze medals. Emily Dean (21:33) set out on leg 1 for our 'B' team, followed by Becca Burns (23:15) and Hannah Ashby (24:23). (Older members will recognise new member Hannah's surname. Its delightful to see the sport thrive through the generations.)

Finally, with the rain continuing to fall, 90 Senior Men toed the Start line for their 4 x 5 km relay. Remarkably, Southport Waterloo had 5 complete teams thanks to some late call-ups, the 'A' team being led off by Francois Rafferty running 17:18, handing over to Ben Johnson running 16:11 - our fastest leg - then George Ingram running 17:15 and then David Hamilton with a 17:49 final leg for 23rd place overall. Not bad from 90 teams starting, but sadly another 5th place Merseyside finish. The 'B' team were Alex Vernon (17:20), Andrew Waddington (17:43), Alex Waddelove (18:07) and Tom Iddon (17:33), The 'C' team were Reuben Donnelly (17:38), Ben Stones (18:06), Marc Singer (18:23) and Jonny Kilpatrick (18:33). Next we had Matthew Halsall (18:20), David Wright (18:39), Josh Makin (18:42), and Mark Wynne (18:07). And finally John Delamere (19:03), Stephen Ward (19:22), Lee Coupland (24:23) and Sam Moran (22:18).

Although everyone was wet through it wasn't cold and there was a real sense of enjoyment and team spirit in a type of team event many would not have participated in previously. The Northern Championships are the next Road Relays to be held, again quite locally, through the avenues of Stanley Park in Blackpool in two weeks time, Saturday 21st September, with the Nationals in Sutton Park, Birmingham, in October. Hope to see many of today's runners at Blackpool.

Thanks to Graham Boreham, working with athletes on the day and for providing the photo used here.

Full results

7th September 2024: SWAC youngsters out in force at open meeting; double club record for Lauren Byrne

The end of the athletics summer is a busy time making it difficult for meeting organisers to find a date when athletes and the many required officials can be available for an open meeting. This year's Southport Waterloo Open medal meeting was successfully held on Saturday 7th September, about the same date as last year, but inevitably clashing with the North West Road Relays on the Sunday when many of our endurance runners would be competing. Nonetheless, it was a very well attended meeting with athletes from Scotland, England from as far away as Bingley and a very welcome contingent from the Isle of Man.

Despite good support from our own athletes for Sunday's road relays, over 60 of our own junior athletes came down to Litherland making for a good social gathering as well as giving great support for our competitors. There were some very good individual visitor performances including Under 20 Regan Corrin's high jump of 2m 13, a new Isle of Man record I believe, and Liverpool Harrier Nick Wedderman, ranked 6th in the UK this year, throwing the senior discus over 53 metres. And Wirral's Under 15 Malachi Harty, threw a PB 48m 77 for the 600g javelin. Currently 10th in the UK, this latest throw should lift him a couple of places in the rankings. So there plenty going on to inspire our own youngsters.

Despite warm but overcast weather with virtually no wind, the best of the action appears to have been in the Field events. It may be that many people were happy to enjoy the competition without any late-season pressure to perform. Our own club competitors produced 122 individual performances and registered only 30 PBs with most performances on the Track and most of the PBs in Field events. Looking at our own athletes performances, Lauren Byrne was outstanding, registering two Club Records on the day, improving her own Under 20 high jump record to 1m 65 and displacing Amber Hughes' javelin record with a best throw of 30m 79.

Another interesting note from the meeting was the size of the entry for the pole vault; 26, including four from Southport Waterloo! Apart from experienced vaulter Adam Byrne, we had three newbies in Jack Nelson, Amelia Tyrer and Alice Dobson, all of whom recorded valid jumps, Alice's 1m 11 good enough to plug a gap in the club records.

Four of our Under 9 Girls competed for the first time; Heidi and Ruby McGee, Lexi Milligan and Ava Skinner. They all ran the 150m, with Ava and Lexi also running the short 75m sprint and Ava and Ruby running the lap and a half 600m. Lexi also took on the Vortex ball. All show potential with Ava currently the faster over all three distances.

In the Under 11 Girls category, we had Dora Loxham-Keenan and Sasha McNabb. Sasha was focussed on her 600m race and took 2 seconds off her time from the August Warrington open meeting winning her race of 8 other girls in 2:02.3. One to watch, I think. Dora ran all three available races, 75m, 150m and 600m.

We had no Under 9 but three Under 11 Boys in Sam Coughlan, Noah Farrelly, Jack Mainey and Matthew Ndjambula. Sam had a varied afternoon running 75m, winning the 150m with a PB 23.3 and throwing a 20 metre vortex ball. So too did Matthew starting with a 13.3 60m hurdles, then 2:03.2 for 600m and 23.3 for 150m, given the same time as Sam who got the judges' decision on the line. I think this was Noah's first competition and he competed in both 75m and 150m sprints. Jack opted for the longer 600m after a good effort in the vortex throw.

Our Under 13 Girls were Alice Dobson, Eliza dobson, Ella Boyd, Emilia Flynn and Minnie McNally. This was Ella's first club competition of 2024 and she improved her 800m PB to 3:32.9. Emilia has not competed before and ran a good 100m in 14.6. Alice achieved  her pole vault club record of 1m 11 and cleared 1m 25 in the high jump whilst sister Eliza achieved a discus PB with 16m 15 as well as putting the shot 5m 95 and throwing the javelin 11m 49. Minnie ran 15.7 for 100m and leapt 3m 05 in the long jump.

Our Under 13 Boys were K'trell Drayton, Lewis McIlroy, Joseph Sarbutts, Stanley Stewart and Henry Summers. There were some good Field event PBs with K'trell and Henry long jumping 4m 02 and 3m 97; and Joseph throwing the javelin 23m 88. K'trell also ran 14.0 for 100m and 13.5 for the 75m hurdles. Lewis featured in 100m, 200m and 800m, running 13.3 for 100m, winning the 200m in a PB 26.3 and winning the 800m in 2:26.9. A good afternoon's work! Henry ran 14.8 for 100m and Stanley joined Lewis in the 800m running 3:04.3.

Our Under 15 Boys were Jack Nelson, Matthew Nuttall, Abraham Rice, Lucas Sinnott, Charlie Stewart and Liam Yates. This was Abraham's first competition in club colours since 2023 and so he will be pleased to improve his long jump PB clearing 4m 13. He also ran a 100m in 14.2 where new member Lucas ran 13.8. Liam was 2nd in his 300m race and 38.0 was a good new PB. Jack made a good start with the pole vault clearing 2m 11 after running 14.0 in the 80m hurdles. He also long jumped 4m 49. Matthew was up against some good competition in the throws. He threw the javelin 25m 23, the discus 19m 85 and put the shot 9m 87. And, finally, Charlie ran a PB 2:36.0 for 800m and 47.2 for 300m.

Our Under 17 Women were Scarlett Adderley, Lola Armstrong, Sydney Monahan Clarkson, Isla Gray, Charlotte Hughes, Esme McNally and Amelie Scott. Good numbers here and good to see the girls achieving 5 PBs. Best on the day was doubtless Scarlett taking medals in both the 80m hurdles, run in 13.6, and the long jump where she cleared 4m 59. The long jump proved popular with Esme clearing a PB 4m 36 and Charlotte 3m 58. Esme also ran a 14.6 100m and Charlotte threw the javelin 16m 40. Lola hasn't run a track race since 2022, preferring throwing events, but she ran a PB 14.0 for 100m here at Litherland. Her shot (7m 94) and javelin (29m 13) were also PBs so very good efforts! In the middle distance races, Sydney and Isla ran the 800m, Sydney in 2:40.3 and Isla in 2:51.9. And Amelie joined a mixed ages 1 mile race, finishing in a new PB time of 6:09.5.

Our Under 17 Men were Jake Anders, Kieran Edmunds, Will Rothwell, Joshua Sarbutts, Oliver Storey and Josh Tan with T/F20 Ethan Chadbond-Galiano and William Edmunds.   

Kieran had a good day; 1m 45 clearance in the high jump and PBs in both the long jump and the javelin with 5m 00 and 26m 98. Joshua threw the javelin 28m 71, also a PB for him, and also put the shot 8m 66. Josh won both the 100m, with 11.7, and the 200m, in 23.2, ahead of Jake running 12.3 in the 100m and 25.1 in the 200m. Jake also competed in the long jump with a best of 4m 55 where Oliver also competed, with a best of 4m 72. Oliver also ran a 25.4 200m. The only middle distance runner here was Will who took the opportunity to run a track mile which he completed in 5:24.7.

T20 Ethan ran 23.6 for 100m and put the shot 3m 12. William ran 21.8 for 100m and put the shot 3m 05

Lauren Byrne, Amber Hughes and Jessica Keenan were our Under 20 Women together with T/F20s Ella McDonough and Nell Rooney. As reported above, Lauren was in great form, winning and improving her own high jump club record with a 1m 65 clearance. In the javelin competition she threw a best of 30m 79, a new club record! And she cleared a best of 4m 83 in the long jump. Jess also competed in javelin and long jump with 14m 98 and 4m 50. Amber cleared 4m 71 in the long jump and, on the track, ran 63.4 for 400m. In the short sprints, Olivia won the 100m race in 13.3. Over 200m, it was Sierra who won in 26.4, Olivia closing in 27.0.

T20 Ella ran 23.4 for 100m, 60.3 for 200m and 3m 29 in the shot. Nell ran 28.0 for 100m, 61.7 for 200m and she put the shot 2m 60.

Adam Byrne and T/F20 Daniel Mageer were our only Under 20 Men. Daniel ran 21.3 for 100m and put the shot 4m 67. Adam cleared 3m 21 in the pole vault before running a 55.6 400m and throwing the discus a best of 29m 09.

Our Senior Woman Katy Coupland and T/F20 Isabelle Procter. Isabelle ran 26.2 for 100m, 67.9 for 200m and 3m 35 for the shot was a new PB. Katy was 3rd in the discus with a best of 25m 04.

Senior Men competing were Chris Burgess and Graham Boreham along with T/F20s Adam Ryan, Dominic Alden and Ethan Mullin. Chris ran the 100m and 200m in 12.2 and 25.6. Graham ran 25.0 for 200m and 54.0 for 400m. T20 Adam ran a PB 21.9 for 100m but Dom was fastest in 17.9, Ethan running 20.8. In the shot, Dom threw a best of 3m 82, Ethan 3m 26 and Adam 2m 78

Thanks to event organiser Barrie Hughes and his extensive team of officials and volunteers working long hours before and on the day in Track and Field, on results, and refreshments, in the shop and first aid support. A very enjoyable event with good feedback from appreciative athletes. and families.
Results for Southport Waterloo athletes.