Junior XC Improvements

Improvements across the board for Rochdale Harriers junior cross country runners was the order of the day at Chesham Park in Bury, despite appalling weather conditions last week.

Charlotte Bowker recorded a creditable 18th position in the U13 girls, in a time of 12mins 14 secs, closely followed by Naomi Richardson (27th) in 12mins 37 secs, and Natasha Banjacs (28th) in 12mins 39 secs.

Leon Hollinrake followed up his debut in Blackburn with another gutsy run, to finish 33rd in the U13 boys, in 12mins 09secs.

Jack Walsh was the in form U15 boy recording a time of 15mins 50 secs to finish in 24th position, followed by Tom Kramer, who despite a fall in the treacherous conditions humg on to 26th position, recording a time of 17mins 21 secs.

Tim Richardson

Girls Show Determeination at XC

ROCHDALE HARRIERS' juniors turned out in force on Saturday for the first race of this seasons' Red Rose Cross Country League at Witton Country Park in Blackburn.

Despite the recent rain the track was in reasonable condition, apart from a couple of very muddy areas on the hill secion of the course.

From a strong field of 46 runners, Naomi Richardson (29th) led home Rochdales' U13 girls in 15mins 51, closely followed by Charlotte Bowker in her first appearance for the junior squad, and Natasha Banjac (35th) in 16mins 47.

The girls showed real grit and determination, each suffering from various problems during the race The u15 boys also performed well, with Thomas Kramer coming home in 22nd place in a time of 16mins 32, followed by Jack Walsh (24th) in a time of 16mins 33, and Jack Cassidy (28th), in 18mins 20

Juniors Rub Shoulders with Ron Hill

Rochdale's Juniors made the back page of the Manchester Evening news last Friday with athletics legend Dr Ron Hill.

Ron Hill set three world records in his time, at 10 mile, 15 mile and 25km distances. He also represented the UK at Olympic level several times and won gold at Comnwealth level.

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Be part of our Sports hall team!

We're now moving into the winter programme and upcoming soon is the Greater Manchester Sportshall league. Harriers compete three times, in November December and January, at Sportcity, against teams from other clubs across Greater Manchester. Don't worry if you haven't done sportshall much before, we'll be training everyone in all the events over the next few weeks so you'll get plenty of practice before we compete.

Steve will be giving out details of how to joint the team, which costs just £4.50 for the three matches, at training this week. We had an improved turn out last year and looking to send our biggest-ever team this time, so let's see lots of you having a go, it's great fun!

Harriers make the grade at Blackpool

Three of our junior Harriers were in action again at Blackpool's September Open Meeting and produced some top class performances. Tom Kramer contiued his run of PBs by breaking the 14 sec barrier in the 100m for the first time, fnishing 5th in a time of 13.7. Charlotte Bowker built on her debut at Wakefield with a huge long jump of 3.96 (AAA Grade 3 standard) for 6th place, a time of 14.4 (Grade 3 standard) for 4th in her 100m and a very good time of 2.48 (Grade 4 standard) in windy conditions for 6th in the 800m. Naomi Richardson also produced a big PB in her long jump, adding almost 20cm with a distance of 3.79 (Grade 4 standard) for 9th place. This was followed by a win in her 100m heat in 14.9 (Grade 4 standard) and 5th place in her 800m in 2.58.

This was another excellent effort by our athletes, who are pictured above with their AAA Grading Certificates and badges.

Trio shine in the sun at Wakefield

Three of our athletes made the journey to Wakefield's September Open Medal meeting last Sunday and all produced excellent performances. It was a Harriers competitive debut for two of our recent recruits, Charlotte Bowker and Amelia Gavin, whilst Tom Kramer was making a return visit to a track where he PB'd in the long jump earlier in the year.

Charlotte won her heats of the 100 (14.6) and 800 (2.45), and recorded a very good 3.33 in the long jump. Amelia ran an excellent 2nd in her 600 (2.13) and produced a very good first effort of 2.68 in the long jump.

Tom's improvement continued with a tremendous hat trick of PBs in the 200, long jump and shot. In the 200 he finished a close 2nd in 27.2, while he added 12 cm to his PB in the long jump, finishing 4th with a distance of 4.71. His best effort of the day came in the shot, where he added almost a metre to his PB with a bronze medal winning putt of 7.54.

All three enjoyed a productive day in glorious weather and move on to the final outdoor meeting at Blackpool this Sunday.

Tracksuits update

Just to let you know that we have most of the tracksuits and jackets that existing members have ordered, we are just waiting for some tracksuit tops in size LY to be embroidered; this should be done by the end of the week. Ian will be giving out completed orders at the end of training nights over the next couple of weeks.

Anyone who's joined the club recently and is interested in a club tracksuit or showerproof jacket will be able to see and try on some samples on training nights from the beginning of October. Ian will give you details at training.