Harriers clinch a deserved promotion

IN the final fixture of the Northern Track and Field League on August 5, it was crucial that Macclesfield Harriers Athletics Club fielded a strong team to maintain pressure on Crewe – and push for promotion from Division 4.

This meant a journey over to Wales to compete at the Queensferry Arena in Wrexham.

Following on from the successes in previous rounds and a real sense of optimism, the club had little problem in motivating people to participate, and on arrival it appeared that the Harriers had one of the largest travelling teams, with 15 men from under 17 to over 60, and 13 women from under 17 to over 60.

A great start to proceedings and a quick look at the team declaration sheets showed that the team had almost all of the events covered in both the men’s and women’s teams. Once again the sun was making things a bit difficult for the distance runners – although this didn’t deter Ray O’Keefe from doubling up with the 3,000m steeplechase and the 5,000m.

It was also great to watch Sian Heslop put in a very dominant performance in her first track 3,000m race, crossing the finish line with a 150m lead over the second-placed athlete. There were many individual personal bests – too many to mention – but congratulations to Charlie Bird, who secured PBs in all three of her events.

To cap off a great day and excellent athlete turnout in all four of the Northern League meetings, the team were declared winners of the fixture and everyone’s hard work and determination was rewarded with promotion to Division 3.

Congratulations and well done to all those who have participated in the four fixtures – and not forgetting all those who have travelled to these events in their capacity as officials.