On a windy Saturday morning four young athletes from Stockport Harriers turned out at Crosby in the Sefton Triathlon to compete in there first triathlon covering a swim, bike and run, this being the top triathlon in the Northwest, covering all age groups from eight to 88-year-olds.
In the junior event Aimee Aikin and Hannah Wilkins took on a field of four hundred athletes and both came out with outstanding results.
Aimee who is in great form having a great run and swim and a very good bike ride to finish in the girls' race in eight place and not very far behind Hannah had a very good swim and bike ride but had a foot injury in the run but finished in 31st place, last weekend both girls ran the Race for Life at Stockport and came in the top half of the finishes.
In the intermediate event Sam Bowdon took on the field with a 100 metre swim and a 4km bike ride and finish of with a 2km run and came though the field very strongly to finish in 18th place.
The last race of the day the mini-triathlon event Dan Lawton came into this race with a run that was one of the fasted on the day and had very strong bike and swim to back that up took him to 12th overall in the field of two hundred.
Northern Inter Club Championships
Report: Vicki Robinson
With the North of England Inter Club Championships being held on the same weekend as the English Schools' Championships, it was a small Stockport team that travelled to Cleckheaton to contest the Plate match.
The Plate is supposed to be of a lower standard than the Cup match, which was being held at the same venue, but it became apparent that this was not the case, and with 6 teams contesting the Plate, and only 4 in the Cup, a top 3 placing was going to be difficult.
Neil Stevens was Stockport's only winner in the men's competition. Running 11.6 seconds, into a head wind in the 100 metres. Neil then continued his day by contesting the high and long jump as well as both relays. His high jump performance was pretty impressive too placing 2nd on countback with a jump of 1.65 metres.
Bashir Hussain was another busy man, after placing 2nd in the 1,500 metres he barely had time to catch his breath before he was off again in the 5,000 metres, again placing 2nd.
There were several first places for the women. The first of these came from Hayley Dugan in the shot with 9.76 metres. This was quickly followed by Charlie Hesketh equalling her personal best in the high jump with 1.50 metres. Katie Deutsch then followed on the good work taking maximum points in the 100 metres with 13.1 seconds. Kelly Blackman continued her recent good form, recording 26.4 seconds to win the 200 metres. There were then middle distance victories from Claire McMurdoch and Carla Stansfield in the 800 and 1,500 metres.
Also impressive taking 2nd Places were Nicola Barratt with a seasons best in the triple Jump of 9.83 metres, Charlie Hesketh with another leap over 5 metres in the long jump and Vicki Robinson with a season's best of 60.5 seconds in the 400 metres.
Before the relays we were lying in 4th place behind Doncaster, and with only 4 men to contest both relays, we were not feeling hopeful of qualifying for the final. The women were first off in the 4 x 100 metres, and although winning their race, Doncaster were in 2nd place. The men were next up and a gutsy performance saw them finish in 2nd with Doncaster back in 5th place. It was all down to the 4 x 400 metres!
The women's 4 x 400 metres squad were unbeaten this year, and remain that way winning by 9 seconds, with Doncaster back in 4th place. The tired men's team of Neil Stevens, Steve Callister, Jon Walch and Graham Marsland ran bravely finishing in 4th place, just 1 position behind Doncaster.
We then had a nervous wait for the results, but we had done it, we were in 3rd place, just 2 points ahead of Doncaster and will now contest the Plate final on Sunday August 27th.
Thank you to all those athletes and family members who helped out with officiating, scoring us valuable points. A special thanks to 7-year-old Daniel Kay who acted as our track official collecting the results from the finish line, and taking them across to the hut, which he did for the entire day!
Offerton 10K
The Thompson Brothers Offerton 10K went off smoothly thanks to good turn-out of marshalls on a humid evening.
Jenny Knass cruised through this hilly 3 lap course in the park to win the ladies' race in 38-44, her 6th victory in the last 2 months. Last year's winner Estelle McGuire came 2nd, Samantha Thomas was 6th, Karen McCrackle 7th, Sharon Glendon 8th and Alison Coulson next taking the Lady V45 prize.
The men's race was won by Salford's Tarus Ally from Wilmslow's Mike Halman, first Harriers home were Alan Pover winning the over-55s prize in 9th place and Andy Oldham 12th.