It’s three and easy for team of Jacks
THEY say with buses often none come along for ages and then three come all at once and so it was in the All Terrain Series of events in and around Sale Water Park and the River Mersey flood plain.
The three consisted of the ‘Three Jacks’ of Stockport Harriers who made it their card party with a scintillating team finish – and almost with perfect scoring – despite having to fend off the strong opposition from the visiting team of Coventry Godiva Harriers.
Jack Martin spearheaded Stockport with an unassailable perfect finish in winning all three races – starting with the 8km Rolling Cross Trail, then the following day with the Mile Challenge around the water park itself, finishing with the three-mile run along the Mersey valley and ending at The Jacksons Boat pub in time for cool refreshments and Sunday lunch.
Martin’s back-up team consisted of Jack Morris in second overall finish and the bronze medal position going to Jack Nixon.
In the ladies’ event, Jenny Knass gave a good account of herself and took the over 35s title in the process in what is seen to be a good idea for a three-day tour without the considerable time restraints and marshalling commitments of much longer tours. It suited middle distance runners to a tee, attracting competitors from several parts of the country.
Further success in the same area came the way of Stockport Harrier Hannah Griffiths, who made it first lady in the second of the four Sale Sizzlers evening races. Hannah enjoyed a personal best of 17:27 for the 5km course and, with no less than 420 athletes finishing behind her, her road and trail prospects look good for the future.
Brand ‘Giller and Benson’ got together as they often do to score valuable points in the girls’ under 15s section in the final lower age group youth development track and field league match for the season at Woodbank Park.
No one could catch them in the 4x100m sprint relays as usual with the quartet of Holly Benson, Catherine Giller, Katie Hudson and Megan Lasseter bringing the baton home to record a very useful first position to add to the overall team points tally.
Giller and Benson went on to make it a clean sweep in the 75m sprint hurdles A and B events to record 11:8 and 12:5 respectively, whilst in the boys’ events Jack Doodson continues to impress with an easy victory in the under 13s high jump with a magnificent clearance of 1:35 metres.
There was further success in the boys’ events with a first B team finish for Will Culmer in the under 15s javelin (24:09) and Jacob Wood-Doyle made it a winning finish in the B 800m under 15s event which helped to give team Stockport a mid-table fourth position in the first division. It was noted that the local club, although gaining 11 individual event points more than the second placed team over the complete season, an “on the day” situation, especially at the beginning of the season made less match points for the final tally.
Users of Woodbank Stadium during the closure period may want to use a non-track-based alternative facility at the nearby community centre while the demolition and replacement of the buildings takes place. It is suitable for those training on paths and roads and is available on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6.30-8.30pm.