JULY NEWS IN BRIEF
UK SENIOR T & F CHAMPIONSHIPS
Sale Harriers had twenty-one of its top T & F specialists among the nation’s best at the UK Senior Championships at Sportcity and this year had two bronze medallists – U23 pole vaulters SOPHIE ASHURST and LAZARUS BENJAMIN.
ENGLISH SCHOOL T & F CHAMPIONSHIPS
Sale Harrier kids did fantastic at the prestigious ESAA English Schools T & F Championships Those at the top of their game were:
- ANNABEL AMADIN went one better than last year to become this year's Shot Putt National Champion.
- MOLLY MILLS won the English Schools Intermediate 300m Hurdles silver medal with a PB of 43.62 that ranked her 3rd nationally and came within a whisker of Faye Harding's long standing club record of 43.20 set in Hungry in 2001.
- FREYA DOCKERTY, last year's 110m Hurdles bronze medallist was crowned the ESAA Senior 100m Hurdles champion.
- NEILA CHUKWU made the Junior 100m final, then ran the 3rd leg of the 4x100m to win Team gold for Gtr. Manchester by a mile.
- LIAM O’BRIEN a year young just missed the 400m bronze medal in a PB of 46.37
- MIA WALKER, also a year young, just missed out on the bronze medal.
MOLLY MILLS ENGLAND DEBUT.
MOLLY MILLS made her England debut, representing England Schools in the 300m Hurdles at the SAAB Home International at Carmarthen. She was selected on her 43.62 performance and silver medal at the England Schools championships.
RACHAEL & SUCCESS DIP UNDER 23
SUCCESS EDUAN and RACHAEL BENNET both dipped under 23 seconds for the first time, Success at an international in Switzerland and Rachael at the Loughborough EAP where she even beat an Australian going to the Olympics.
YDL LOWER
Following the final match in Blackburn Sale won the North-West Division title by a comfortable margin and will return to the Premier Division next year. Well done to everyone who contributed to this success throughout the summer – athletes, parents, coaches, officials and certainly not least CARL WORTHINGTON who, yet again, solo managed the team to its success.
SUCCESS EDUAN IN LONDON DIAMOND LEAGUE
Just a week after dipping under 23 seconds for the first time, SUCCESS EDUAN was selected to represent GB in the London Diamond League 'B' relay team, her first senior relay debut....and she was brilliant! Running the anchor leg she took the GB 'B' team to 3rd place.
ENGLAND U20/SENIOR T & F CHAMPIONSHIPS
Forty Sale Harriers competed in the England Athletics U20 & Senior Championships (inc.U23) at the Alexander Stadium, Birmingham. The Sale Harriers who most saw their talent and hard work rewarded were:
- LAZARUS BENJAMIN became the U23 Pole Vault champion and now has a very impressive record of 7 National titles - 3 x U17 and 3 x U20.
- TESS Mc HUGH became the Senior National 400m Champion to top a great year of also being the Welsh 400m champion when she dipped under 53 seconds for the first time ever.
- U23 RACHEL BENNETT won her first England 200m gold medal.
- U23 SOPHIE ASHURST won the pole vault silver medal but the three times U20 Champion was in form to take gold considering she'd vaulted 4.21m at the UK Championships and had an earlier encouraging string of PB's that culminated with 4.35m in France in May.
- U20 ANNABEL AMADIN, last year's Shot Putt Champion, was this year's Silver medallist.
- U23 JESS SPILSBURY was tactically brilliant in her very congested 1500m to win silver in the final yards. Equally impressive was LUCY ARMITAGE who bravely took on the lead and was still leading at the bell with five athletes still in the mix but was pipped to the post and just missed the bronze medal but recorded her latest PB of 4:22.73.
- U20 FREYA DOCKERTY who ranks 4th nationally for the 100m Hurdles continued her great summer to win her first 100m Hurdles medal – bronze.
- SEUN OKOME won the Triple Jump bronze medal to add to his silver and bronze in recent years.
THEA BROWN BRILLIANT IN EUROPEAN U18 CHAMPIONSHIPS
THEA BROWN's astonishing success at the European U18 European Championships has already been well documented and applauded on this club site. Again, the club congratulates Thea and her team on her Heptathlon Silver medal and medley relay bronze medal. A star is born!
THEA BROWN SELECTED FOR WORLD U20 CHAMPIONSHIPS
Just one week after her European U18 Heptathlon silver medal and medley relay bronze medal THEA BROWN is announced as selected for the World U20 Championships 100m Hurdles in Lima, Peru from 27 – 31 August.
NICK'S A RUNNING PEACH -AGAIN
For the 2nd consecutive year M60 NICK PEACH was 1st M60 in the Marple Runners 10k Trail race with his time just marginally slower than last year in 45.44. In his hey-day Nick was one of the nation's best. His 28.27 in the 1986 AAA Championships in Battersea Park remains Sale Harriers fastest 10k on the All-Time list. Nick represented GB & NI in the 3000m steeplechase at the1986 Edinburgh Commonwealth Games. He's normally coy about his racing prowess but, 30 years later he remains a running 'peach'.
LUCY ARMITAGE TO REPRESENT ENGLAND
LUCY ARMITAGE is one of 16 athletes selected to represent England at the home Nations 5k in Bute Park, Cardiff later in the year
RECORDS IN 3rd SIZZLER
The 3rdSizzler 5k on July 19, though a humid evening did not deter Brian Lucas (Northern Vets) from breaking the M75 course record to a new best of 22.48, a 10 second improvement on Richard Bacon's (Winston Runners) since 2017.The club's noteworthy 'sizzling' performances were:-
GEORGE NOBLE (15.52) who was 1st U20
CHRIS MILES (16. 58) A 23 second PB and 1sttime under 17 minutes
PAUL NOBLE (18.07) Almost a 2 minute PB
BARNABY GORDAN (18.41) A 6 sec. PB on last year's Sizzler
TIM KENNEDY (18.48) best of 2024
SOPHIE ARMITAGE (19:04) A further 5 sec PB on Sizzler 1.
CHRIS TOPPING (19.14) best of 2024
PHILIP LARGAN (19.15) 11 sec PB on Sizzler 1
BIZUNESH DEGGETA (20.42) Debut
JACKIE CORDINGLEY 1stL65
ANNABEL AMADIN INVITED TO OLYMPIC GAMES OPENING CEREMONY
ANNABEL AMADIN was invited to attend the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics by the Sports Aid Foundation as one of the nation's promising young athletes. This is
a fantastic affirmation for Annabel as a young talented athlete and recognition of her talent, dedication and commitment. It's also recognition of her coach's talent – BOB GAISIE and her family support.
ENGLAND ATHLETICS U15/U17 CHAMPIONSHIPS.
You have to be good – very good, to compete at the England Athletics U15 & U17 Championships, Those who most smashed it there were:
- MOLLY MILLS, though still only 15 years old, became the England U17 80m Hurdles champion with PB's in her heat and final to rank 3rd in the UK.
- LIAM NICHOLLS won the U15 Pole vault bronze medal with a PB of 3.77m. This was a fantastic achievement for Liam who's just in his first year of pole vaulting and propelled him to 3rd in the UK.
- LIAM O'BRIEN made the U17 400m Hurdles final and delivered a great PB of 55.99
- LILY OLDALE just missed out on the U17 javelin bronze medal. Lily holds the U15 club record for the javelin.
- ROXY Mc HUGH flew over the U15 75m Hurdles faster than ever before recording PB's in both her heats and semi-final. Welsh champion EVA ANWYL also ran well in the same race but is still only in her 1st year in this age-group so lots more to come.
TRAFFORD TRAILS A WINNER
For the 2nd consecutive year, Sale Harriers dominated the Trafford Trails 5-mile race. With persistent rain and muddy stretches trail shoes were a necessity. It did not deter as the top 3 ladies were all Sale Harriers. ANNE CHINOY was delighted to finish 1stfemale for the second consecutive year and beat last year time by 26 seconds (35.20). Second was V35 BIZUNESH DEGGEFA and 3rd was V65 JACKIE CORDINGLEY. JULIA REYNOLDS and HARRIET HAMILTON also made it into the top 10 female runners. Among the men there were also some quality times. PHIL RICHARDSON, CHRIS MILES, TORRIN BLAZEBY and ANDREW CURVIS finished in a procession in 4/5/6/7th Former Sale Harrier Callum Rowlinson won the event in a course record of 27.46.
HAF AMHAD WINS DOUBLE BRONZE AT EUROPEAN TRANSPLANT GAMES
Congratulations to HAF AMHAD, based at Sportcity who did absolutely brilliant to win two bronze medals representing GB at the European Transplant Games in Lisbon. In his first ever international competition and in the searing heat, he won bronze in the Long Jump and bronze in Power Walking. Haf is a kidney transplant patient who lives with cerebral palsy and devotes much of his time as a Sale Harrier volunteer coach at Sportcity and is a true inspiration to disability athletes. Not only did he achieve his remarkable career pinnacle of double medallist but he did it the hard way. Without a sponsor and with no full-time employment, he had to raise all of the £4000 cost of travel and accommodation himself, nd wants to thank all those who supported him. The Transplant Games are an opportunity to showcase the benefits of Organ Donation and is a true celebration of the Gift of Life.
UK & ENGLAND U20/SENIOR COMBINED EVENTS CHAMPIONSHIPS
Sale Harrier's female combined-event athletes delivered fantastic results at the England U20 & Senior Combined Events Championships. Most noteworthy is that all are coached at Sportcity by JESS TAYLOR-JEMMETT the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games Heptathlon bronze medallist who also coached Trafford AC's Neve Davenport to become the U20 National champion. Well done and congratulations, Jess!
- Senior GRACE BOWER had been one of Britain's most promising multi-event athletes throughout all her age-groups from U15 – U23 until a debilitating injury in 2019 blighted her career. She's returning to her best finishing 5th nationally that included a Shot Putt PB of 11.12m
- Under 23 SCARLETT WHITTAKER was on fire with PB's in the High Jump (1.60m), Shot (10.53) and Javelin (28.39) and she improved her Heptathlon PB to 4745 and to rise to 7th in the UK.
- Under 23 ELLISE FRYER-FRANCIS, like Scarlett had an excellent start to their season in June at the high ranking International EAP meeting in Newcastle. She continued her fine form with an 800m PB (2:30.35), a 200m PB (27.21) and a 100mH PB (14.94) to improve her Heptathlon PB score to 4634 points and to rank 10th in the UK
- Under 20: SEREN REDFERN was hot from her English Schools Regional CE Silver medal and continued to strive with great PB's in the 100m H (15.53) and Shot (8.10m) and an improved Heptathlon PB to 4002.