On Saturday 30^th July, Sale Harriers junior squad travelled to York as reigning Lower YDL Northern Champions. As most of the squad were either away on holiday or at the Commonwealth Games, the twenty athletes who did attend rallied together in true TEAM SPIRIT.

The first race of the day was the U15 girls hurdles which Niamh Dolan convincingly won in a time of 12.08 secs.

The sprinters for the U15 boys once again dominated the sprints with David Shobunde, Jefferson Adenuga and Max Cunningham all gaining 1^st place. They later joined teammate, Joshua Blackburn to compete in the 4x 100m relay and gained a respectful 2^nd place.

In the pole vault, Calum Park vaulted 3.20m to successfully achieve a PB and win the event. Later he joined teammates, Liam O’Brien, James O’Brien and Matthew Cullen Brown to run the 4x300m relay.

Our U13 boys had a clean sweep in the sprints, with Matthew Adenuga winning both the 75m & 150m (A race), with Kieran Stafford winning the 75m (B race) and Oliver Howell winning the 150m (B race). They then joined up with teammate Daniel Wells to also win the 4x100m relay in a time of 56.47secs.

Our top middle distance U13 boy is Daniel Oakes who ran a fantastic race to win the 1,200m in a time of 3mins 40.44secs.

Our U13 middle distance girls were once again outstanding! In the 800m race, Beatrix Soper won the A race and Lola Richardson won the B race. Not to be out done, Oonagh McManus then won the 1,200m A race and Caitlin Wetters won the B race. Oonagh, Lola and Caitlin then joined Lola Brown in the 4x100m relay.

Last but not least was Angel Amadin, who showed great potential as our top U13G thrower; achieving a new PB in the shot.

Despite stoic performances from all our athletes, we ended in 5^th place with 317 points. A fantastic achievement with only 20 athletes!

With full squads, City Of York AC were the overall winners; with Wirral coming second – both clubs qualifying for the National YDL Final at Sportcity.

A big thanks to the coaches (x4) and parents who attended the final; two of which deferred the start of their summer holiday so that their daughters could compete. Respect to Patrick for driving the team minibus. And finally, a massive thanks to all the officials (Andy, Tony, Shonny, Fechin and Tom) who gave up their Saturday to help the team gain a valuable 40 points.

A great day was had by all.

A note from Sarah and Kirsty, “Just want to say a massive well done to all the athletes who took part in today’s match at York. The final results were York 552, Trafford 532.5, Sale 489, Kingdom composite 370 and Preston 367.5 So we finished a very creditable 3rd place in the whole of the North.

Sadly, this wasn’t quite enough to qualify for the National Final, but this was down to gaps in events that we were unable to fill (mainly in the men) rather than performances by athletes that were there. Every single athlete involved should be extremely proud of themselves (I know we are!) and should not be disheartened. You were all amazing, with some fantastic performances and many filling in in events outside your comfort zone, not to mention those that were going to watch the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham but still travelled to York first.

A very big thank you to all athletes, officials, coaches and parents and here’s to next year!

Sarah and Kirsty.”

Reported by Carl Worthington (Lower YDL Team Manager)

YDL York 2022

236 Cunningham Max Ydl Lower York 22

235 Adenuga Matthew Ydl Lower York 22

230 Howell Oliver Ydl Lower York 22

231 Adengua Jefferson Ydl Lower York 22

243 Mcmanus Oonagh Ydl Lower York 22

233 Brown Lola Ydl Lower York 22

242 Oakes Daniel Ydl Lower York 22

239 Obrien James Ydl Lower York 22

241 Mcmanus Oonagh Ydl Lower York 22

238 Dolan Niamh Ydl Lower York 22

237 Adenuga Jefferson Ydl Lower York 22

234 Amadin Angel Ydl Lower York 22

232 Richardson Lola Ydl Lower York 22

Last weekend Wythenshawe track based athlete, DAVID PROCTOR, became the World Masters 1500m Champion in Tampere, Finland. Coached by NORMAN POOLE at the Wythenshawe Park track, Dave already had an impressive pedigree developed through his years based at that track.

With a PB of 3:41.5 he currently ranks 2nd V35 in the UK and last year in Boston (USA) he achieved a UK V35 UK 1 mile Indoor record of 4:08.63 to top of the British ranking. He said on becoming the World Masters 1500m champion,

“I thought a gold medal was above my expectations. I hadn’t had the best preparation as I'd been suffering with a hamstring issue and was also unwell with a cold a few weeks earlier, so I delayed the start of my season a couple of times. I used the last NAL match to practice racing tactically and it paid off. I'd hoped that if I had a really good day and the stars aligned, I might get on the podium, but I had never expected to win gold and become World champion. Very happy indeed”

By Richard Ousey

The Welsh Castles Relay (WCR) was back with a bang over a gorgeous sun-drenched June weekend after three years in pandemic-induced hibernation.

For the first time ever Sale Harriers fielded three teams – Open, Ladies and Vets – meaning a new cohort of runners who would previously have been too slow, insufficiently fast to make the cut had the opportunity to participate.

I was one of this lucky cohort and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one feeling a mix of trepidation and excitement as the Harrier massive travelled west in a road-based flotilla of minibuses, cars, Tesla and – playing the role of Rainey bus - the luxurious Goulden camper van. 

My wife Carla, a WCR veteran, had told me what an amazing time I’d have, and this was confirmed when, with impeccable timing, our arrival at the end of Stage 2 – Penygroes to Criccieth coincided with Jason Bowers powering down the grassy finishing straight to register first in the veteran teams category. Serendipity would also be my friend on Day 2 when whilst marshalling right at the end of Stage 13 – Crossgates to Builth Wells – I witnessed an awe-inspiring burst of pace from Phil Richardson powering to a stage victory and the prestigious yellow T-Shirt after a hilly battle royale with the Kent runner.

There was nothing ‘Araf’ about Nicholas Barry as he triumphed on Stage 7 – Dolgellau to Dinas Mawddwy nor Sian Rowley - first in the Ladies team category on uber-hilly Stage 8 to Foel. And to put the icing, candles, decorative figures and green and red sprinkles on an amazing day Sophie Wood then produced a stunning stage win smashing the previous course record by over seven minutes.

Saturday night saw many Harriers sleeping in, or camping around a Bunkhouse a few miles outside Newtown.  I lost at Monopoly to a 4-year-old (Revenge will be sooooo sweet Rozhdestvenskaya Jr.)

Day 2 would see an incredible effort from our Ladies team with four – yes FOUR! – successive wins in the Ladies team category courtesy of Alice Wright –Stage 14 (1^st lady overall), Jenny Fox – Stage 15, Laura Barber – Stage 16 and Jenny Southworth – Stage 17.  Stage 17 also saw Steven McCarron triumph with a veteran stage win. As the gap on ladies team leaders, Les Croupiers, shrank to a mere 13 minutes. Sale celebrated while Les Croups frantically checked the refund policy on their ‘Victory Meal’ restaurant reservation. Whilst we did ultimately have to settle for second place, our Ladies team were to be crowned Mountain Queens for the first time since 2014, storming to an impressive 14-minute victory. Congratulations to our mountain queens Laura Martin, Rachael Rozhdestvenskaya, Sophie Wood, Anne Chinoy, Alice Wright and Laura Barber.

All of our teams performed brilliantly, finishing fifth or above in every category we entered as well as triumphing in the – little known - ‘Best Manchester team’ in the Open Category.

Massive thanks to Glenn Savage (Vets), Chris Donnelly (Opens) and Richie Edwards (Ladies) for excelling in the role of team managers and dealing coolly with all the attendant stresses.

Full results here.

Photo Gallery

Professional photos by Les Stills.

WCR 2022

Ladies Winners

Sophie

Matt S

Rob F

Rachael

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Nigel M

Les Stills 1

Julia

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Match report

Last year was a dress rehearsal of Athletics emerging from the restrictions and fears of the 2020 outbreak. I wasn't sure how far we had come from those days but Saturday confirmed that the NAL league was a good idea and Sale were emerging from a difficult few years having lost some veteran leaders within the club. There is nothing as good as a track and field meet with most of the places filled and the result in doubt right until the end but you're in with a chance. There really is something for everyone in this sport, whatever your natural body type but after that, good preparation and special human qualities are needed. We can't all become champions but we can benefit immensely from the journey required to perform in these events.

 Things were looking promising from early events on the track where a double victory in the 400m Hurdles banked some points. It is especially pleasing to see athletes who not long ago were in the YDL Lower coming through to impress at Senior level. Looking across towards the Pole vault the B vaulter was a vet 55 who has passed on his genes and advice to a young vaulter with great promise who would appear in the Women’s Pole vault later. Next on the track was a young man with unbridled enthusiasm who will fill vacant spots when asked because he has that selfless character and team spirit to do so. He took on the High Jump too.

I sat near the water jump for the Men’s Steeplechase where last year our A runner took a ducking, brushed himself down and carried on. Unsurprisingly here he is again giving his best. These qualities go beyond Athletics and serve us well in life. The Women’s Shot was taking place just near that bend. The tall powerful figure warming up I knew well. In 2009 she lined up in the City Games following Bolt to race against Christina Orughu and Debbie Ferguson to sprint impressively. After those giddy heights things didn’t go well but like the 'chaser she dusted herself down and came back. Now she is a Shot Putter. She won the event.

The events were briefly punctuated by a Special Award ceremony for a Special Sale athlete who is now busy with James Bailey and Dave Marsh in managing the team. Club Secretary Frank Cordingley presented her with a richly deserved lifetime membership award. Lucy Evans has been a faithful athlete to the club. A Welsh International Sprinter who proudly wore her Sale vest when competing in America when she was at University there. Her Sale vest was recognised by an official there who asked 'Is that a famous Sale Harriers Manchester England vest?' Lucy raced in many places but revealed that a p.b. was set once at an event at Leigh so don't think events outside major championships are not important.

The meeting continued with a blistering performance from a young woman who has just finished at University and now lives in the South West. She has concentrated on her main sport- Modern Pentathlon. Keep an eye out for her at movie premieres too.

We have an U20 sprinter who is inside the world junior standard time whilst currently heading the rankings for 200m.She ran the 100 in just outside her P.B. You would not realise as she is not at all arrogant, which is a quality that will serve her well.

Sale Javelin throwers were one and two in the competition. This event doesn't always get the limelight that track events get. Can you imagine how difficult it was for throwers to train for their event during the lockdown? No chance of popping out to the nearest field for a bit of practice when you are capable of almost 60m.

Our top male sprinters received the accolade of being named amongst the best performances of the meeting; both going below 11 secs. Congratulations

At the time of writing the eventual result had not been published or confirmed but it was very very close between Sale and Liverpool. I have taken the approach of illustrating the variety of athletes that it takes to compete well as a team and deliberately not named people because everyone counts in attempting to win the event. You can look up performances later.

The future looks promising for this team under the relatively new leadership of Lucy Evans, James Bailey and Dave Marsh. They should be commended for their energy and commitment in the time consuming task of trying to fill every event with athletes as many factors compete for athletes’ time.

All the results can be found here (we came 2nd after Liverpool).

https://www.nationalathleticsleague.org.uk/results-2022/

photos such as the ones shown will be in the next Harrier magazine or if you can’t wait that long look here

https://www.darkstarphotos.com/nal-championship-sport-city-manchester

Regards

D.E.Greenwood   Ernie

NAL Match Sportcity. 4th June 2022.

Sunny Day

Excellent

Team Sale

Well Done

Nal Socks

Red Stripes

Sportcity

Sarah And Glenn

Throwers

Home Straight

Nal Men

Nal Ladies

Nal

Nathan And Kamal

Nathan

Nal Sportcity

Nal22 Hurdles Women 16

Relay

Lucy

Nal22 Lj Men 33

Nal22 Shot Women 13

Mens Relay

Nal22 Jav 74

Nal22 Sprints 15

Nal22 Hurdles Men 1

Nal22 Sprints Jordan Broome 61

Nal22 Sprints 31

Nal22 Chase Men1

Nal22 H Jump Men 431

Nal22 H Jump Men 161

Nal22 400h 241

Mens Javelin1

Track1

Nal22 Pole Vault 21

Nal22 Tj Women 21

Nal22 Hurdles Men

Nal22 Sprints Jordan Broome 6

Nal22 Sprints 3

Nal22 Chase Men

Nal22 H Jump Men 43

Nal22 H Jump Men 16

Nal22 400h 24

Mens Javelin

Track