MID-LANCS LEAGUE BLACKBURN (27/06/09)
The great British summer had arrived, but
with the threat thunderstorms and showers.
Picturesque Witton Park looked splendid in the bright sunshine, when I
arrived in mid morning and BWFAC were well represented at both the
senior and junior levels.
Performances in the Field events were
particularly impressive, with veteran thrower Dave Myerscough coming a close
second in both the Shot (9.21m) and Discus (26.08m) to Alan Plumb of Burnley AC
and Jon Rutter winning the Triple Jump with 12.15m and the Long Jump with
5.65m; with Declan O’Hara 2nd with 5.20m and Dominic Garrett 3rd
with 5.15. Jon’s wife Nia did not fare
so well in the Long Jump (4.47m) and took it out on the Shot Putt to good
effect, winning the event with 9.71m.
There was a big entry of 26 in the U13B
Long Jump and BWFAC led by Charlie McLaine with 4.21m, took the first four
places. Charlie also won the Discus
with a new BWFAC record of 19.50m.
David Jones, who came 4th in the LJ (4.09m), also had good
second places in the Javelin (26.42m) and Shot Putt (6.78m).
For the U17W, Bianca Pedersen was first
across the line with 4:50.8 in a mixed senior and U17 1500m race and Sam Smith
won the 800m with 2:25.8. Tash Gardner
stepped up an age group to the U15G’s for some stiffer competition to compete
in the 100m, where she came a close second to Maxiene Meju of Lancaster 
(pictured), but bounced back to win
the 200m comfortably in 27.00s. There
were also wins for Kate Lawler (2:30.1) in the U13 800m, Bethany Everson
(5:12.7) in the 1500m and Kassidy Knight (4.40) in the U15 Long Jump.
All afternoon there had been the threat of
heavy showers, but apart from a few big drops of rain, the showers had by in
large missed us and it had remained dry, if somewhat muggy. The meeting was close to conclusion and
another 30 minutes would have seen all events finished, but we weren’t going to
get away that easy. First of all it was
heavy rain, but within a couple of minutes it was torrential. I was helping on the U13B Javelin and was
soon soaked to the skin. With lying
water covering large areas of the track the officials decided to abandon
proceedings.
The Great British Summer!
* * * * *
SOTOS 10K FLEETWOOD (28/06/09)
The next day this race returned for its
second outing. Last year I marshalled
and at the beginning of the year planned to run it, but further injury
intervened and so I was back in the same spot marshalling. However on a swelteringly hot day, I was
rather glad I was not running, as the athletes were slowly roasted on the
baking concrete of Fleetwood Esplanade.
The race was comfortably won by Liam
Thompson of Warrington AC in 34:01
(pictured). However there was a hard fought contest for the next two places,
between BWFAC’s John Wright and Wesham’s Alex Rowe (who had competed in
three races at the Blackburn the previous day), with John going one better than
his excellent third at the Freckleton Half Marathon to finish second in 34:57
and Alex finishing third in 35:06.
Another V50, Paul Muller of Horwich RMI Harriers, was 4th in
36:26.
Blackburn’s Pauline Powell 
(pictured) won the women’s race in
37:14. Caroline Betmead, although
struggling with a back injury, was second for much of the race, but was passed
in the latter stages by Louisa Wood (38:27) of Warrington and finally finished
3rd in 38:36. Bev Wright,
after her splendid victory at Freckleton, had to be satisfied with 5th
woman spot in 39:44, just behind Liz Abbott of Preston Harriers. Amongst the other 33 BWFAC
competitors in the race, who all competed well in such tough conditions, I will
pick out a few noteworthy runs: Tony Airnes (42:48) 3rd V55, Reg
Smallbone (42:54) 3rd V60, John Bradley (48:52) 2nd V65,
Ruth Calderbank (49:41) 1st FV55, Abigail Lucas (50:19) 1st
FJ, John Winters (50:33) 1st V70 and Hilary Goorney (60:57) 1st
FV65.
In the accompanying Fun Run Molly Betmead
(6:29) was 1st F12 and Ellis Jolly (7:38) 1st M11.
It was very hot and several of the runners
suffered in the heat. One Wesham lad
collapsed and looked in a bad way. He
was taken to hospital, but I hear he has recovered well.
* * * * *
YOUNG
ATHLETES LEAGUE
Looking
forward to the final meeting of this campaign at Blackburn on the 19th
July, we are in a strong position to qualify for the Auxiliary Final. Apart from the meeting at Wavertree, the
team has scored maximum points. The
last fixture at Litherland proved to be the most decisive victory of all. Unfortunately I could not be there (I was in
Jersey and the Transporter was off-line!).
I expected the team to win, but the margin of victory was a pleasant
surprise. It was pleasing to see from
the results, increasing depth to the squad and I think the Team Managers must
be complimented as well as the athletes.
It was good to observe in the results that there was less need for
doubling-up, especially in the middle distance events (Jack must have wondered
what to do after the 800m!). It was
also pleasing to see we were virtually represented in all the events, even the
U17 women’s 3000m, won by Maria Wynne and Alexandra Shaw, second in the ‘B’
race, thus collecting seven valuable points.
If we had had that team at Wavertree … but let’s not go there! After this great result could we dream of
another victory at Blackburn…?
David Wood