Welcome to Preston Harriers
Thank you all for your patience and apologies for the slow updates on the website. I have been working hard re-developing the Preston Harriers behind the scenes and this work is nearly complete.
You will soon see a clearer, cleaner site with (hopefully) a more logical structure, colour coded events calendar and a more sophisticated picture gallery.
Please come back soon.
The first race of the day saw all the women’s categories W35-44, 45-54,and 55+ with the men M50-59, 60-69, and 70+. The second race was M35-39, and 40-49. Preston Harriers W45-54, and M40-49 teams didn’t materialise on the day for a variety of reasons but after the following encouraging results, medals could be on to Preston Harriers next year. The M50-59 team comprised: Dave Barker, Phil Walsh, Steve Clayton, Graham Bailey, Alan Appleby, and Kevin Hesketh. The team went down together in Phil Walsh’s car after he kindly volunteered to drive, Kevin Hesketh was a little squashed in the back with the kit bags but an offer to lever him out at Birmingham and straighten his limbs was accepted after the two hour journey. On the way down the banter had been about who had what and why they would be slow today, reasons and afflictions abounded, to anyone listening it would have sounded like a geriatrics clinic instead of fine athletes about to give their all in a great national relay race.
In breezy but sunny conditions, Preston Harriers were represented in the Shell Chester Half Marathon by Anne Sweeney and Emma Deakin. Finding it difficult in the latter stages, Anne Sweeney finished a creditable 4th woman and 1st V45 in 1.28.06 in a race won by Marilyn Kitchin in 1.24.14. Emma Deakin, running in only her second half marathon, had a good run to finish in 1.36.57. The race winner, Paul Sankey, completed the distance in 1.11.02.
Preston Harriers took on Sale Harriers Manchester, City of York and Kingston upon Hull in their first Young Athletes League Northern Premier match of the season at York on the 4th May. With a team weakened by the illness of several athletes, Preston were unlucky to finish 3rd, just 13.5 points behind Hull.
Amy Lupton put in the outstanding performance with a throw of 34.77m (G1) to win the U15 javelin. Amy also finished 2nd in Discus with 17.74m (G4) and 3rd in Shot with 8.20m (G3) as well winning the 4x100m relay together with Lauren Bugler, Katy Alderson and Kati Williams. Kati was another athlete to have a good day, with three pb’s including 11.9s (G1) to win the sprint hurdles, 26.6s for 2nd in the 200m (G2) and 13.0s (G3) for 3rd place in the 100m. Another of the victorious relay team, Lauren Bugler, won the 800m in a time of 2.25.2 (G2) and the fourth member of the quartet, Katy Alderson, was 2nd in the Long jump with 4.49m (G2).
In a terrific weekend of competition at the Lancashire Track & Field Championships at Stanley Park, Blackpool, U15 sensations Kati Williams and Darren Evans stole the limelight as Preston Harriers athletes collected a glittering haul of 68 individual medals, with 27 Champions, and three Championship Best Performances (CBP).
Darren Evans only competed in three U15 events, so could not match Kati in number of medals, but his success rate was 100% as he won the shot putt with 11.96m, the discus with 38.58m and the hammer with a massive pb and CBP of 46.54m.
U17 Harriet James was close behind collecting 2 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medal. The first medal was special as Harriet moved up to the U20 age group to compete in the 100m hurdles. In only her second race in the event she won with a time only 0.1s behind the eleven year old CBP. Harriet followed this with gold in long jump, her favourite event, with a leap of 5.32m and finished Saturday with a new pb of 12.5s and silver in the 100m. Sunday saw Harriet collect a bronze medal in high jump with 1.55m as well as setting new pb’s in both heat and final of the 200m, taking silver in 25.7s.
James Bretherton was another athlete to have a 100% success rate. On Saturday U15 James took gold in the 400m with a time of 54.3, taking 1.5s off the previous CBP, and on Sunday took gold in the 800m with a time of 2.09.6.
Kati Williams was competing in the championship for the first time and was worried about the competition she would face. U15 Kati started the first day with the 75m hurdles and won in a time of 12.0s. Next was the 300m and a silver medal with a time of 43.7s. This was quickly followed by the 100m, and an extremely close finish saw Kati win to pick up her third medal of the day with a time of 13.0s. The second day saw her winning bronze in the high jump with 1.35m followed by a win in the 200m, despite carrying a slight injury and being in third place with 25m to go! In total Kati had an extraordinary haul of 3 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze medal.
Over an undulating course on a very warm day Preston Harriers, Neil Allen ran the South Cheshire 20 mile from Shavington, near Crewe, on the 11th May. Neil was 42nd in a time of 2:56.19. The winner was Ray Plant, who was 10 minutes clear in 1:57.39.
Hot and humid conditions made it difficult to post fast times at the Golden Ball 5k in Lancaster for the 5 Preston Harriers who competed. Over a testing course which included a particularly difficult climb, Gary Wilson continued his comeback finishing in 17.18 and 11th (2nd V40). Dave Watson, who has a particular dislike of the heat, was 15th in 17. 51. Steve Mort had a pleasing run completing the course in 20.35 with Eddie Little, another victim of the heat, struggling with 21 28. In a particularly strong women’s field, Anne Sweeney ran well in a very closely fought race finishing 6th (2nd V45) in 19.40. The winners of the men’s and women’s races were Eddie Simpson in 15.17 and Rebecca Robinson in 16.36 (5th overall).
On 27th April, despite having to deal with warm sunshine, Paul Hooper of Preston Harriers completed the Lochaber Marathon from Fort William in the Highlands, in 3:50:26. Stuart Kerr of Kirkintilloch Olympians won in 2:34:01, over 9 minutes clear of the 2nd placed runner.
In the second race of the Summer InterClub series at Lytham on 1st May, Preston Harriers took 1st place. Over the 5 mile course, Gary Pennington was 1st home in 26.50. He was supported by 7th Jason Parker (27.00), 8th Steve Hallas (27.04), 12th Gethin Butler (28.26) fresh from his win in the Blackpool marathon, 15th Dave Watson (28.40), 16th Gary Wilson (28.44), 17th Dave Parkington (28.56) and 18th Mark Lee (29.01). The win placed Preston Harriers top of the table after just two races, one point clear of Blackpool Wyre & Fylde. First woman home was Anne Sweeney for 4th overall in 32.16. Marian Hesketh recorded 33.50. The women’s team were 3rd on the night, just 1 point behind second placed Wesham.
John Holland of Preston Harriers took part in two 10k races over the weekend. On Friday 2nd May, in the Dalton Charter 10k, he took the scenic route around Dalton-in-Furness and was 43rd in 43.25 whilst on Monday 5th May, in the Dallam Dash 10k, he was 32nd in 42.53.
The popular Bluebell Trail 10 mile race run through the Calderdale Valley saw Alan Appleby first home for Preston Harriers in 1:21.24 and 54th overall. Stephen Mort was 89th in 1:25.40 and the other finishers were:- 98th David Large (1:27.40) and 153rd Stephen Young (1:33.41).