News reports - September 2023

24th September 2023: Will, Liam and Caleb 2nd U15 Boys at Northern Road Relays

Just shy of 1400 runners took part in the Northern Autumn road relays held in Birkenhead Park on the Wirral on Sunday. Despite unfavourable weather forecasts, the day was largely dry and warm for September with conditions good for running around this famous park, the model for the more famous Central Park in New York.

These relays provide the link between track and cross country running for endurance athletes with the Under 13s and Under 15s running 3x3.1 km laps, the Under 17s 3x3.8 km laps and the seniors running 4x5.1 km laps for the ladies or 6x5.1 km laps for the men, about 3 miles for each senior runner. These are large single laps and unfortunately one or two runners did manage to go off-course.

Southport Waterloo doesn't have a great history of success in road relay running but with the Under 15 Boys finishing 2nd in the North West relays at Heaton Park earlier in the month, hopes were high of continued success in this larger Northern field. In fact, we had more teams running that I can remember in some years; U13 Girls, Under 15 Boys, Under 17 Women, Under 17 Men and Senior Men.

In the Under 13 Girls' race, Lauren Silcox ran the first leg in 13:13, Lucy Delamere took over and made up 8 places on her leg running 12:55 before handing over to Grace Veevers who pulled back another place running 12.23. The girls were 6th place finishers from 30 complete teams, both Lucy and Grace running 6th fastest times in their legs.

Will Delamere, Liam McCormick and Caleb Still were our Under 15 Boys. Will went off first and ran 10:05 for 2nd place. Liam took over and his 10:40 run kept them in 2nd place and Caleb easily held that position with his final 10:56 run. Will's 10:05 was the 3rd fastest leg overall. Having finished 2nd at the North West road relays and 2nd again today the boys have now decided to go to Sutton Park in Birmingham in two weeks and run at the English National road relays, They might just have a chance of finishing in the top 5 there, perhaps even in the medals! Trafford AC, who won at both Heaton Park and Birkenhead Park, must be strong contenders for the national title.

Our Under 17 Men were up against some very strong runners in their race. Luke Ward ran the first leg in 12:50 for 22nd place, handing over to Stephen Morgan, 15:23, dropping the team back a little, before Owen Akin, 14:21, brought the team home in 25th place overall.

Our Under 17 Women were Lara Kearon, Lily Holden and Amelie Scott. An interesting race, this one, with several disqualifications and only 16 teams finishing of the 28 who started. Our girls were always at the back with Lara running 19:16, Lily 19:10 and Amelie 14:30. As this was the last of the Young Athlete relays before the large field of Senior Men began their race, Amelie, the last of the girls to go out on leg 3, could be running on her own all the way around the park. In fact, she went off fast, actually passed two other runners who had gone off minutes ahead of her, and ran the fastest time of our three girls. Well done Amelie!

In the Senior Men's race, the largest field of the day, 91 complete teams finished with Southport Waterloo 72nd. David Hamilton led off with our fastes ttime, covering the 5.1 kms in 17:06. Andrew Veevers was 2nd leg, in 23:12 - although his actual time was I think faster than that following a late start. John Delamere was 3rd leg in 18:29,, then Mar Singer, 18:32, Alex ?Vernon, 17:50 and Francois Rafferty brought the team home with a run in 17:16.

It was an enjoyable day of endurance running, with some of the best in the North running in our own home patch. Thanks to supportive team manager Steve James and coach Graham Boreham who supplied some of the photos used here.

Full results

16th / 17th September 2023: Adam Byrne 11th in English School CE Champs

The English Schools' Combined Events Championships were held over the weekend at the International Athletics Stadium in Bedford. Three Southport Waterloo athletes competed, as part of the Merseyside team; Adam Byrne, Lauren Byrne and Amber Hughes.

In the Inter Boys' Octathlon,a solid performance including a discus PB and a Javelin SB gave Adam an overall 11th place finish of 34 boys. In fact, he was lying in 10th place with just the 1500m race to come. His individual performances were:

And his points total of 4227 was also a PB.

Neither Lauren nor Amber completed their heptathlon, withdrawing I presume with injury concerns. Inter Girl Lauren ran the 80m hurdles in 12.97. Senior Girl Amber ran the 100m hurdles in 16.79, cleared 1m 50 in the high jump, put the shot 9m 14, ran a Season's Best 200m in 26.46 and cleared 4m 10 in the long jump.

Elsewhere, there were three reasonably local Open Meetings over the weekend. In the past, the Blackpool Open has been an end-of-season celebration with teenagers staying on to enjoy the rides at the Pleasure Beach. On Sunday, the only Southport Waterloo athlete to be seen was Chris Burgess in the 100m. He ran 12.5 but he has run 12.3 this season, at the Blackpool Mid Lancs Medal Meeting in late August.

Several of our Under 13 Girls were at the Warrington Open Meeting, also on Sunday, where Grace Veevers recorded a new PB finishing 2nd in her 800m race - and 2nd fastest of 14 girls overall - in a good time of 2:27.05. Millie Milligan also ran an 800m, in 2:57.74, and ran 15.15 for 100m. Alice Dobson ran a PB 15.63 for 100m, ran 13.08 for 70m hurdles and cleared 3m 35 in the long jump, another PB. Eliza Dobson put the shot 5m 10 and threw the javelin 11m 02, both new PBs for her.

It looks as though none of our athletes took part in the third local meeting, Liverpool Harriers Jumps and Throws meeting at Wavertree on Saturday.

9th September 2023: Another successful Open Meeting at Litherland

The annual Southport Waterloo Open T&F meeting was held at Litherland on Saturday. This year's event very nearly didn't happen as there were other events clashing, including the NW Road Relays, and organisers struggled to get sufficient officials to run the meeting. Circumstances also affected the number of competitors but in the end - and despite some unplanned early showers - it was a real success with plenty of positive feedback. The Isle of Man brought over a team of very competitive young athletes and I believe we even had a couple of athletes from the south coast, off a cruise ship!

Bearing in mind the clash with the NW Road Relays, there was great support from our own athletes; nearly 70 taking part across the ages. Unusually, there were more males than females this year!

And, adding to numerous PBs achieved on the day, we had a new club record; set by Grace Veevers in the Under 13 Girls' Mile, improving on her own mark from last year. She has two years now to challenge Emma Alderson's Under 15 mark of 5:22!

This meeting provides an opportunity for athletes from under 9 to senior to come together and support the club colours. We had 2 Under 9 Girls; Sasha McNab and Lexi Milligan. Sasha has competed before and improved her PBs with a 12.5 secs run in the 75m and a 2m 75 long jump. She also ran 27.4 for 150m and in fact took a medal in all her three events. Lexi was a first-timer and ran 14.8 and 31.6 for her 75m and 150m.

Sam Coughlan, Riley Munro and William Paybody were our Under 9 Boys. I think this was a first competition for them too, although surnames suggest older club members in the family. Sam ran 12.7 for 75m, 26.2 for 150m and 2:19.3 for 600m. William ran 13.2 for 75m, 26.5 for 150m and 2:14.5 for 600m. And Riley ran 16.9 and 37.8 for the two sprints. Sam took a 2nd and 3rd place medal in his sprints and William a 3rd in the 600m.

Amelia Salkeld and Millie Drinkwater were our Under 11 Girls. Amelia recorded PBs in both her 75m (12.0) and 600m (2:13.6), winning the 75m and taking joint overall 3rd for 150m. Millie ran 13.5 for 75m and 2:24.3 for 600m in her first competition.

Our Under 11 Boys were Elliot Stevens, Arthur Szabo and Caden Walker, all new to competition. Caden took 2nd place medals in all his events: 11.8 for 75m, 23.5 for 150m and 1:56.7 for 600m. Arthur and Elliot were just outside the medals, Arthur running 12.4 for 75m and 2:11.9 for 600m, and Elliot 12.9 for 75m and 2:14.4 for 600m. Arthur and Elliot also competed in long jump, clearing bests of 2m 89 and 2m 24.

Our Under 13 Girls competing at Litherland were our biggest squad of the day with 10 girls in action: Ella Boyd, Lucy Delamere, Alice Dobson, Eliza Dobson, Indie Latham, Millie Milligan, Amelia Tyrer, Charlotte Tyrer, Eva Willetts and Grace Veevers. Grace set a club record in the Mile last year in 5:55 and smashed that today winning her age group race in 5:36.4. Several other girls achieved PBs on the day, Millie running 14.8 for 100m, Indie running 15.3 for 100m and Eva equalling her previous 100m best with 15.4 and running a PB 13.4 for 70m hurdles. Charlotte and Alice also recorded hurdles PBs running 12.4 and 12.9, Eva's 3m 64 long jump was another PB as was Eliza's 9m 47 javelin throw. And several medals were taken: Grace and Lucy 1st and 2nd in the Mile, Millie 3rd in the 800m in 2:56 and Amelia 2nd in the long jump with 3m 90 and 3rd in the high jump clearing 1m 15.

Our Under 13 Boys were Jake Edwards, Joseph Sarbutts, Seb Stevens, Henry Summers and Thomas Szabo. No PBs noted here but all the boys came away with medals. Henry won the 200m in 30.7, the long jump with a 3m 68 clearance and he was 2nd in the 100m in 14.4. Jake was 2nd in the 75m hurdles running 14.1, Seb was 2nd in the javelin with 15m 70, Joseph was 2nd in the shot with a best put of 6m 12 and Thomas was 3rd in the 200m running 35.4. The medal haul could have been even bigger as the boys just missed out with four 4th place finishes!

Scarlett Adderley, Jessica Burns, Sienna Fortune, Olivia Johnson and Lilly Zajitschek were our Under 15 Girls. Again, all our young Under 15 Girls took medals. In some events there was little competition but they took 5 gold and 3 silver. Jessica won the 800m in 2:41.6 with Olivia was 2nd in 2:48.1; and in the Mile Sienna took gold running 5:57. Scarlett took gold in the shot with 8m 29, Lilly took gold in the javelin throwing 18m 72 and Lilly and Scarlett were 1st and 2nd in the long jump clearing a PB 4m 41 for Lilly and 4m 12 for Scarlett. Finally, Scarlet also took a silver with a 2nd place in the 75m hurdles running 13.1.

Our Under 15 Boys' in action were almost as big a squad as our Under 13 Girls: Jake Anders, Eddy Clark, Kieran Edmunds, Logan Kelly, Matthew Nuttall, Joshua Sarbutts, Charlie Stewart and Liam Yates. All the boys took medals, Kieran the most prolific with three: a 2nd in the pole vault clearing 1m 51 - his first pole vault competition I believe - and 3rd places in both the high jump, a best of 1m 35, and the long jump clearing 4m 54. Liam won the 800m race in 2:18.6 with Eddy taking 2nd place with 2:19.3 and Charlie 3rd in 2:54.8. Joshua won the shot competition with 9m 55. Matthew was 1st in the discus throwing 18m 58 and 2nd in the shot with a PB 9m 09. Jake was 1st in the 200m in 25.2 and 2nd in the 100m in 12.4, both new PBs. And, in his first competition, Logan took the silver medal in the 1 Mile race.

Our Under 17 Women were Lauren Byrne, Emily Clark, Eve Hannaway, Charlotte Hughes, Apphia Keenan and Amelie Scott. 5 of the 6 girls took medals home. Lauren took home one of each colour winning the 80m hurdles in 13.2, placing 2nd in the shot with 10m 34 and she was 3rd over 100m running a PB 13.6. Amelie took two golds in the distance races running a PB 2:42.5 for 800m and 6:23.3 for the Mile. Apphia won the high jump with a 1m 50 clearance and was 2nd in the 100m equalling her 13.3 PB. Charlotte took silver with a 15m 50 javelin throw and a bronze in the shot with a best put of 6m 98. And finally, Eve took a bronze behind Charlotte in the javelin throwing 15m 33.

T20 athletes boosted our Under 17 Men squad: Owen Akins, Adam Byrne, Reuben Donnelly, William Edmunds, Daniel Mageer, Will Rothwell, Oliver Storey and Julius Zajitschek. Adam was the best performer winning both the pole vault, breaking thru' the 3 metre barrier with a 3m 01 clearance, and the high jump with 1m 70. He also took silver in the javelin with 34m 95. Oliver took 2nd behind Adam in both vertical jumps, recording 1m 71 and 1m 45. Reuben also took gold, in the Mile race with a PB 4:57.4. In the 800m race, Owen was 2nd in 2:10.3 and Will 3rd in a PB 2:11.9. Julius took his medals in the shorter distance races, 2nd in the 200m equalling a Season's Best 26.6, and 3rd over 400m in 59.7. In the T/F20 category, Daniel achieved PBs in the 100m (21.1), 200m (50.5) and shot (5m 24). William's 17.8 for 100m was also a PB.

Amber Hughes, Sierra Jalloh, Olivia Morgan, Isabelle Procter, Niamh Procter and Nell Rooney were our Under 20 Women., Despite the results seen for this report, Under 20 Women compete at this meeting as Senior Women, ie there are no separate Under 20 events. As far as I can see, Sierra and Olivia were 1st and 2nd in the Senior Women's 200m, in 26.7 and 28.4, Sierra taking gold in the 100m in 13.0. Amber won the 100m hurdles and her 1m 50 high jump gave her a 2nd gold medal. In the long jump, Amber was 2nd, with 4m 90, and Niamh 3rd, with 4m 31. T/F20s Nell and Isabelle competed over 200m (66.7 and 73.3) and in the shot (2.63 and 3.65).

Our only Senior Woman was Katy Coupland taking the bronze medal in discus and javelin with best throws of 26m 20 and 18m 51.

Under 20 Man Bill Steel threw under 20 rather than senior weights in both discus and shot and so didn't qualify for a medal. In the discus however, he threw a massive 47m 51 - just 8 cms off his own club record - and looked as though he might just go further when a a wet turning circle caused a fall. He did recover and moved over to the shot competition where he set a new PB 15m 49. T/F20s Dominic Alden and Adam Ryan competed, both achieving PBs in the 100m (17.6 and 22.8), Dominic also improving his PB over 2009m to 37.6.

Our Senior Men were Graham Boreham, Chris Burgess, John Delamere, Jason Oliver, Andrew Veevers and Stephen Ward. Again, the results seen so far are confusing with regard to Under 20s competing as Seniors but I think Chris takes the 100m bronze medal running 12.4. That's his 2nd fastest time this season so a great run, particularly for an MV45. Graham and Chris were outside the medals in the 200m, Graham running 25.2 and Chris 26.2 but Graham took gold in the 400m in 54.3 and a silver in the 800m in 2:04.7 Jason was 4th in the 800m in 2:37. Andrew ran 5:15.9 in the Mile after starting the meeting with a 10:25.9 3000m race where Stephen also ran, recording 11:26.1. John Delamere ran 5:22.5 in his Mile race.

Thanks to event organiser Barrie Hughes and his team for a very competitive but friendly and enjoyable meeting. Thanks, too, to Laura and Su for running the food hatch all year, raising vital funds for the club.
Results for Southport Waterloo athletes.

9th September 2023: SWAC U15 Boys Merseyside road relay winners at Manchester (by Steve James)

The 23rd North West Road Relays, incorporating the Merseyside championships and those of Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Cumbria, were held in Heaton Park in Manchester on Saturday, with races available for Under 11 to Senior age groups. Clashing with our own Open T&F meeting, Southport Waterloo ran a team in the Under 15 Boys and Under 15 Girls events. Our Under 15 Boys won the Merseyside Championship with Liverpool 2nd and Wirral 3rd. The SWAC team were also 2nd overall in the 5 Counties North -West race, losing out to by only 5 Seconds Trafford A C

Times in order of running -
Will Delamere        6.40 

Liam McCormick    6.59 

Caleb Still               6.58 

The U15 Girls  were 12th overall  and 7th Merseyside team. 

 Isla Gray                 8.52 

Sophie O'Leary      9.08

Sydney Monahan- Clarkson  8.03

The legs were advertised as  3.1 K.  This had been changed late in the week to approximately  2k.  There was no PA to tell us what the actual distance was and nobody seemed to know.. Our boys team might have won with longer legs! 

They're looking forward to the Northern Champs! in Birkenhead Park on the 24th.

Full results

6th September 2023: Mike Walker, a Merseyside Road GP winner

Vet 70 runner Mike Walker has won the Vet 65 category in this year's Merseyside Grand Prix. The county wide Grand Prix has not been well supported by Southport Waterloo runners this year but Mike has completed 9 of the 13 races in the series and finished 22nd overall of the 567 men who took part in at least one race inn the series. Well done Mike. The awards are to be presented at the Environment Centre on Okell Drive on Saturday, November 4th, following Knowsley Harriers' Halewood 5k.

Full standings can be seen on the county web site at http://merseysidecountyaa.org.uk/road-running/road-running-grand-prix/