APRIL NEWS ROUND-UP
NATIONAL 12/6 RELAYS – WOMEN BRONZE
Following becoming Northern 6-stage Road Relays Champions, the women took on the might of Britain in the National 6 stage relays in Birmingham and brilliantly became the National Bronze medallists, missing silver by just thirteen seconds. This was their best result since they were the National Champions twenty-one years earlier way back in 2003 and the silver medallists in 2001. They'd hoped for a top ten placing considering they'd not finished a team in the top half of this Championship for more than a decade. SOPHIE WOOD, HELEN WARBURTON, ALICE WRIGHT, LAURA BARBER and LUCY ARMITAGE were the same 'elite' that became the Northern Champions and on this occasion Sophie ran the day's 3rd fastest stage and Lucy gained an automatic England vest for being the fastest U20. They also had the welcome return of SONIA SAMUELS who was a key member of the club's victorious teams almost a quarter of a century earlier and continues to retain exceptional form. She holds the club marathon record of 2:28.04 from Berlin in 2015 and in 2023 almost improved it further becoming the UK's No.1 fastest L40 marathoner as she also was over 5 miles, 10k, 10 miles, Half Marathon …......and the UK's fastest M40 Parkrunner.
The men also were well placed to massively improve on their lowly 28th place in 2023 and 33rd place in 2022 but unfortunately they had no team toe the line.
TIM KENNEDY WINS HIS FIRST RACE
Definitely one for the record books! Tim Kennedy won his first ever race outright - the Rutland Water Half Marathon in Leicestershire. He led home the 500 runners along the scenic rural setting with unrivalled views . He did it convincingly with over a minute's lead and despite a lot of hills, uneven trails, gale force winds from Storm Rosemary and a tight hamstring.
JONA EFOLOKO TO REPRESENT GB & NI
JONA EFOLOKO is announced to represent Great Britain & Northern Ireland at the World Athletics 4 x100m Relays in the Bahamas on 4-5 May.
MANCHESTER MARATHON
Whether they were thoroughbreds flying through Stretford, Sale and Altrincham or if they shuffled to the Talbot Road finish, the 32,000 participants in the 2024 Adidas Manchester Marathon were a testament to true grit and determination. Following months of tough preparation all twenty-five Sale Harriers had good reason to celebrate. PHIL ROBERTSON, making his marathon debut, was the club's first green-hooped vest along Deansgate and onto the finish. His 2:28.01 was a top quality time thought he'd hope for faster. Others who made their marathon debut with him were....
MARCUS NICHOLSON (2:36.42)
ALAN WHITE (2:37.30)
CHRIS MILES (2:53.16)
MATTHEW CHADWICK (3:07.47)
CHRIS WEBB (3:40.00)
J ENNIE HEGGIE (3:45.52)
PETER HORSFALL (4:27.17)
D. ROZHDESTVENSKIY (4:54.32)
JILL SANDERS (6:25.12)
Those I suspect were most delighted with their performances...
- CONOR DONAGHY (2:53.56): A 5 minute PB on his 2023 London Marathon
- RACHAEL ROZHDESTVENSKAYA (3:00.50): A 12 second PB but sub-3 is so very elusive!
- MARK FOX (3:07.15). Missed his Seville marathon PB in February by 3 ½ minutes
- ALISTAIR KELL (3:09.54): Just short of a PB and a very consistent marathoner
- JENNY FOX (3:13.47): A fantastic1 minute PB on her 2022 Manchester Marathon
- ANNE CHINOY (3:15.13): A 4 minute 41 sec PB and though 3rd in her L50 category was the first V50 qualifier for the England Masters Marathon to take place in Chester in October.
- GEORGE BIRR: (3:39.38) Club newcomer who clocked a 19 minute PB
- ADAM MORAN: (3:57.20) A 5 minute PB and 1st time under 3 hours
LONDON MARATHON
A week after the Manchester Marathon came to TCS London Marathon, arguable Britain's most iconic sporting event, this time with 52,000 pushing their limits and twelve Sale Harriers were among them. Well done...........
- ROBERT DUNN (2:33.31) He targeted sub 2:35 & delivered a 2 ½ minute PB
- STEVE Mc CARRON (2:38.13). The club's fastest M45 improved his PB another 1 ½ minutes
- ANDREW CURVIS (2:43.48) targeted 2:45 and delivered a 6 minute PB
- JOHN FAULKNER (2:57.53) targeted sub-3 on his debut marathon
- JASON BOWERS (2:58.38). Not far off his PB
- AMY MIDDLEMAST (3:08.58) A 40 second PB on last year's Amsterdam Marathon
- WAYNE SHAW (3:13.58). A 14 minute PB on last year's Manchester Marathon.
- FRANCIS BROUGHTON (3:27.49): His Marathon debut
- HEATHER HUGHES (3:13.33). Missed a PB by just seconds.
- RUTH WALLER (3:24.01) Flown in from Colorado. Had hope for close to 3 hours
- JOHN ARCHER (3:55.58) (Vet-70) Not quite his 2023 best in Cyprus but still amazing
- MATTHEW ROUGHLEY (4:41.19): Marathon debut.
THEA BROWN ACHIEVES EUROPEAN QUALIFYING STANDARDS
THEA BROWN, Sale Harriers most successful athlete of 2023 who merited the front cover of the club's Harrier magazine as a result, continued her winning ways at the Loughborough Open Meeting. Aged just 17, in seeking the U18 European 100m Hurdles qualification standard of 13.50 seconds, she blew away the competition to easily achieve it with her 13.4s victory. She's now qualified also in the long jump and high jump.
A week later at the Somerset Combined Events Championships at Yeovil she also chased the U18 European Heptathlon Combined Events qualifying standard of 5300 points. Typically she again convincingly achieved it with a total point’s score of 5440.
YOUTH DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE (Lower)
Following last summer's relegation the club's U13 & U15 boys and girls bounced back impressively in their first match of the North-West (1) Division at Longford Park. They won the match convincingly with a margin of 170 points over Team Isle of Man and a record points score points. Team manager CARL WORTHINGTON was again their knight in shining armour.
MID-CHESHIRE 5K
The lightning fast Kingsley 5k is a 'must do' if you're chasing fast times. Again the field was stacked with quality and twenty Sale Harriers were among them. Interestingly, on this occasion, just seven from the twenty drank from the elixir of running with PB's though another seven came very, very close (could it have been the uncharacteristic chill wind?) Those who possibly beat the elements were:
- GEORGE NOBLE (15:36) A 27 second PB and his 1st time under 16 minutes
- ALEX FRAZER (15.40) Debut 5k
- MATT BARNES (15.48) 1stM45
- RUEBEN JAGO (16.14) A 33 second PB. Progressed 1 minute in 12 months
- TOM STEPHENSON (16.15) 2ndfastest 5k ever
- TORRIN BLAZEBY (16.31) A 21 second PB
- LUCY ARMITAGE (16.41) A further 5 sec. PB on Podium Festival 5k (March)
- HELEN WARBURTON (16.59) Equalled her PB
- LAURA BARBER (18.10) 2nd fastest 5k ever
- LAURA MARTIN (18.44) A 10 second PB
- SOPHIE ARMITAGE (19:35) An 11 second PB & 2 minutes faster than last year
YOUTH DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE (Upper)
Following last year's relegation the club's U17 & U20's showed they're determined to return to the Premier Division next year with a strong 2nd place (unofficial) in their first match at Blackpool last weekend. Team Manager Andy Brown rallied the troops to great effect. It's paramount everyone in this age-group rallies through the next matches to ensure promotion.
MEGAN DAVIES IN WORLD CLASS EVENT
MEGAN DAVIES was among 120 elite Adidas-sponsored athletes from 26 countries who raced over 800m, 1 mile, 5km and 10k. Megan's was the 5k race and she was the 1st British athlete across the line in 15.55.
This world class event, now in its 4th year is called “The Adizero Road to Records” and takes place at the Adidas headquarters in Germany. As an Adidas sponsored athlete, Megan had an all-expenses paid four days at the Adidas headquarters, attending seminars and training sessions. She also received the special kit made for the occasion which all athletes wore in honour of Agnes Tirop the Kenyan who broke the world 10k record on the course and tragically died in the latter part of 2021. The impressive event produced a mile world record (3:54.56), a world U20 mile record, a women’s U20 5k record (14.38) and nine national records.
