Regional date for Charlotte and Jenny

Junior Harriers excellent showing in the GM Sportshall Chapionships was recognised further today with the news that Charlotte Bowker and Jenny Sherwin have been selected to represent Greater Manchester in the Regional Sportshall Championships on 22nd February at Robin Park Arena, Wigan. They will compete in the Under 13 Girls category alongside fellow GM athletes against teams from across the North West.

Well done to both and all the best for further success on the day.

Harriers round off Sportshall season in style

Our biggest-ever Junior Harriers squad delivered a host of excellent performances in the GM Championships last Sunday. Three individual gold medals, a silver and a bronze were backed up by a team silver and bronze for our Under 11 Boys and Under 13 Girls A relay teams. A stunning 16 personal bests were spread across the age ranges and events, along with some exciting debut performances.

Individual glory was tasted by Charlotte Bowker who took gold in the vertical jump and in a fourth successive victory in the 6 lap time trial, debutant Jenny Sherwin who took silver in the speed bounce, Amelia Gavin who bagged a bronze in the vertical jump and Jack Walsh in the 6 lap time trial.

Our Under 11 Boys relay team (pictured above) won through to the 4x2 lap final, where, after solid teamwork from James Scott and Harry Wain in legs 1 and 2, a blistering 3rd leg by Adam Boardman set up Lewis Thirsk to carry the baton home for a thrilling silver. The Under 13 Girls showed tremendous team spirit again, with Sophie Thirsk, Beth Greenwood, Naomi Richardson and Charlotte Bowker coming home in a close third for a well earned bronze medal.

Amongst many other good performances throughout the day were debutant Dante Dawes and Lewis Thirsk's progress to the final of the 1 lap, PBs for Beth Greenwood and Naomi Richardson in the standing triple jump along with an excellent debut 4th place for Jenny Sherwin.

Well done to all of our athletes who took part in a memorable day's athletics, which highlighted the rapid progress Junior Harriers have made during the winter season. Thanks also to all the parents and friends who supported our athletes so enthusiastically on Sunday, your backing was a big factor in the athletes success and is appreciated by the athletes and the coaching team.

Next up in March is 'the real thing' when we return to Sportcity but this time for an indoor junior athletics meeting using the full indoor track and field facilities. Lets see another big squad having a go at what is an exciting event and a great experience. The coaching team will be giving you entry details at training this month, information will also be on this website.

Team success at final Sportshall League match

Our Junior Harriers completed the three-round GM Sportshall League series at Sportcity last Sunday and ended the series with two medal winning group performances as well as a host of PBs across the age ranges.

The Under 11 Boys and Under 13 Girls groups (pictured above) both secured Bronze medal finishing places with another excellent set of performances. Highlights from the boys included two 2nds in the speed bounce ans standing long jump for James Scott, 3rd and 4th for Adam Boardman in the speed bounce and vertical jump for Adam Boardman and a very good 3rd for the boys in the relay. Stand-out moments from a solid team performance by the girls were a tremendous PB of 80 from Naomi Richardson in the speed bounce, a thrid win in the 6 lap for Charlotte Bowker and 2nd in the standing triple jump for Beth Greenwood.

Across the other age ranges Tom Kramer produced a PB of 7.95 in the shot, there was a 2nd in the speed bounce for Lucy Moore and solid points scoring across events from Callum and Liam Moore.

Lets look forward to some more great showings at the GM Championships on Sunday, please be at Sportcity by 12.15 with your vest if you have one.

Harriers trio in Sale Open Indoor action

The first Sale Open Indoor meeting of the winter saw three of our Harriers in action on a quality day of athletics at Sportcity.

Tom Kramer produced a best shot putt of 7.62, up with his current best standard and ran an excellent 2nd in his 200m heat in 27.7.

Scott Greenwood made a long-awaited individual competitive debut in the tough U20 section and produced a good first effort of 27.3 in the 200. Scott gained further valuable track experience shortly after, finishing with a time of 1.37 in a competitive 600m heat.

Charlotte Bowker failed a pre-meet fitness test on a knee injury but switched to the U15 girls shot putt and, in her first ever competitive attempt at the discipline, produced a highly creditable best putt of 5m.44.

The next event of the series is on Sunday 21st December, start 11.00am. We'd like to see more of our under 15s and 17s joining Scott, Tom and Charlotte, so if you fancy a go and need more information about entry standards, prices, transport etc. see Ian at training.

More Great Performances at Sportshall Round 2

Another big team of 20 Harriers turned out at the 2nd round of the GM Sportshall League at Sportcity on Sunday. Our athletes built on the promise shown in round 1 with a host of fine performances across all the events, including the relays, where our four teams in the U11 and U13 age bands worked well together and delivered two 2nd and two 4ths.

Our rapidly developing team of U11 boys performed very well again in the heats and finals of the 1 and 3 lap races, whilst individual highlights this Sunday included a terrific vertical jump of 39 by Matty Clancy (U11 boys), which made him 2nd B athlete, a PB of 79 in the U13 girls speed bounce for Naomi Richardson, and s second successive win in the U13 girls 6 lap for Charlotte Bowker. Ella Clancy achieved a 3rd in the U13 girls shot with a putt of 6m33, while Tom Kramer finished 2nd in the U15 boys shot with a putt of 7m62.

Overall, another excellent afternoon's action. Well done to all our athletes and to the many parents who came along to give them such strong support; it really makes a difference!

Steve and Ian will have the full results for you to look at in about a week's time.

Juniors' Winter Fixture List Updated

The full winter fixture list for 2008/09 is now available in the links section on the right hand side of this page. Thanks to Ian Halliday for providing this information.

Super start to Sportshall season

Our biggest ever squad of 20 took part in the first round of the Greater Manchester Sportshall competition at Sportcity on Sunday, with over half making their competitive debut for the club. We were well represented across all the age groups and events and had teams in two of the relay categories for the first time for a number of years.



There were some highly promising performances from our debutants in all the age groups, whilst our seasoned Sportshall campaigners continued where they left off last season with some excellent efforts.



Highlights included 1 and 3 lap heat wins for Lewis Thirsk, Adam Boardman and Harry Wain, an impressive win for Charlotte Bowker in the 6 lap and very good first efforts at the relay by our teams in the U11 Boys and U13 Girls categories. A full list of performances and placings will be added shortly when we receive it from the organisers.



A big well done to all our athletes and their parents and friends who turned up to support them. We've set a good standard this time, let's go for it and achieve some even better results at the next round on 30th November. PLEASE NOTE THIS EVENT WILL START AT 12.00 NOON DUE TO MAN C v MAN U MATCH SO WE WILL NEED YOU TO BE THERE NO LATER THAN 11.15.