News

Great Manchester Run

Ladies GMR team

Report: Phil McCann

On a wet Sunday Morning 2,5000 Runners lined up for the Great Manchester Run 10k with a line of famous internationals such as Geta Wami, Benita Johnson and Berhand Adhere in the women's field.

Once again Stockport Harrier's women were to the forefront of this race. With Jenny Knass and Kerrie Wood amongst the Elite Women's Field we also followed up with the bulk of the ladies running in the first wave the Orange numbers.

Jenny Murray who has been out through illness these last three months returned and decided to run in the mass field. However she showed her true talent yet again and ran a personal best to record 36-23 and finish in the top 5 British women in the race.

Jenny Knass followed up recording 38-40 close to her personal best and Helen Hudson 39-48, a new distance for her. We had a huge field of over 25 ladies with one after another finishing close together!

Kerrie Wood, Estelle McGuire, Vicky Barrett and Sally Keigher were all getting back to form. They were then followed up by Joanna Robertson and Sharon Glendon both with personal bests and Samantha Thomas in toe. Alice Dagg after injury which had kept her out for 6 weeks returned to clock a personal best with Toni & Laura McIntosh, Alison Coulson and Karen McCrackle hot on her heels.

The next group of ladies Jenny Hope, Maryte Moore, Jane Cocks, Jayne Lawton Ruth Lee and Debra McCann have been training hard together and most came away with personal bests.

Some of the new ladies to the club have been making good improvements, Jenny Day has come from over the hour to 50 minutes. Coach Maureen Wilkins after so much time out of running return with fervour to clock 57 minutes.

So once again we have another huge increase in personal bests and 2 Club Records broken for the 10k in both the Vet 40 (Kerrie Wood) and Vet 45 (Alison Coulson).

Club Results
Name Position Time
Jenny Murray 114 36-23*
Jenny Knass 210 38-40
Helen Hudson 300 39-48
Kerrie Wood 320 40-10**
Estelle McGuire 399 40-37
Vicky Barrett 512 41-32
Sally Keigher 575 41-53
Joanna Robertson 661 42-21*
Sharon Glendon 1025 43-40*
Samantha Thomas 1074 43-47
Alice Dagg 1185 44-09*
Toni McIntosh 1213 44-13
Alison Coulson 1435 44-49**
Karen McCrackle 1440 44-50
Jenny Hope 2154 46-26*
Maryte Moore 2213 46-32*
Ruth Lee 2220 46-32*
Jayne Lawton 2255 46-36*
Debra McCann 2611 47-22
Jane Cocks 3041 48-05*
Jenny Day 4958 50-55*
June Sinnott 7068 53-48
Julie Aikin 7848 54-48
Maureen Wilkins9688 57-11
Julie Powell  69-32
Gloria Norton17000 71-11
*Personal best  **Club record

Juniors hit form

Stockport's middle distance athletes displayed some good form before next weekend's Northern Championships.

Jess Coulson recorded a massive improvement with 9-30.3 in the 3,000 metres at the Trafford Grand Prix meeting last Tuesday to go top of the UK U17 3,000m rankings by over 15 seconds. Steve Vernon won the men's race in 8-06.31.

Meanwhile at the same meeting Ross Millington continued where he finished off last season with a 3-55.32 in the 1,500 metres, putting him top of the UK U17 1,500m rankings.

Seniors make a good start

Report: Vicki Robinson

Ben Styles

Ben Styles scored and 800 and 400 metre double.

The Harriers began their campaign to gain promotion to Division 2 of the Northern League on Saturday, and following a Sunny afternoon in Warrington, things are looking very hopeful.

The combined men’s and ladies' team finished in second place overall, an agonising 7 points behind St. Helens Sutton AC.

There were a few new faces on the team this year. Youngster Rory Evans made his debut for the senior team and scored maximum points in both sprints in the B-event, recording a very nippy 23.5 seconds in the 200 metres. At the other end of the age spectrum M55 athlete Len Best ran well in the B-string 5,000 metres to win in 17 minutes exactly.

Helen Hudson was making her first appearance for the ladies' team, and did so in style, running strongly to place 2nd in the 1,500 metres, and was agonisingly close to breaking the 5 minute barrier with 5.00.1. The ladies were helped significantly by the appearance of our two new throwers Carmen Martinez and Hayley Dugan. Carmen took maximum points in both the hammer and discus, whilst Hayley was victorious in the shot-putt, as well as the B-string discus.

There were also some notable performances by some more familiar athletes. Ben Styles took maximum points in the 800 metres with 1.57.1 minutes before cruising to an easy victory in the 400 metres. Both Chris Heskeths were competing as usual, Chris senior placed 2nd in the high jump with 1.70 metres, while Chris junior jumped 11.34 metres in the triple jump to place 2nd.

There were two outstanding performances in the ladies' competition. 15-year-old Charlotte Hesketh smashed her personal best to leap to 5.30 metres in the long jump, her first 5 metre jump ever.

Claire McMurdock

On the track Claire McMurdock (right) stormed to victory in the 400 metres recording a personal best of 58.1 seconds, this was after she had already made light work of winning the 800 metres.

The team rounded off the day in fine form winning 3 out of the 4 relay races, with the men placing second to St. Helens in the 4 x 100 metres.

The ladies' 4 x 400 metre team produced perhaps the best relay performance winning their race by a full 14 seconds!

Let’s hope we can go one place better in the next competition on June 3rd!

Athletics Weekly back issues for sale

Mike Warburton has a load of old Athletics Weekly magazines available for sale. Offers or more details:

Recent News