Four a force at the Games
STOCKPORT promise to be a ‘fours’ to be reckoned with at the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio during the next two months.
The selection of Carly Tait of Stockport wheelchair racers means she will join colleagues Dan Bramall and Andy Small competing in the Paralympic Games in September.
All three will be going in the 100 metres sprint and with Harrier Ross Millington at the opposite end of the distance spectrum in the Olympic 10,000 metre event this month, it’s looking the best ever for athletes emanating from the Woodbank Park training base.
The success story for track and field at Woodbank Park must surely have been the children’s Tri-athletics series where, on a selection of Wednesday evenings, more than 150 competitors pitted their wits against each other in a five events combined competition which incorporated a hurdles race, sprint, jump, throw and middle distance event organised by Harriers’ coaching coordinator Joe Frost.
Isobell Hall of Bolton United Harriers got the ball rolling by easily winning the under 9 girls’ competition with 335 points whilst in the boys’ equivalent, home talent came to the fore in the form of Stockport’s Josh Garrone who scored a useful 377.
The closest of calls came in the Under 11 girls’ competition with Stockport undertaking the hat trick with the first three places consisting of Seren Redfern (1st – 396), Emma Wood Doyle (2nd – 395) and Lola Unsworth (3rd – 392) and in the boys’ competition an easy win went to Arthur Kennedy (411) also from the home club.
In the higher age groups, gold medal positions were recorded for Louis Morrison (Trafford A.C.), Julia Winogrodska (Bolton), Emilio Ramirez (Stockport) and Laura Hickey (Leigh & Stockport) and following on the success of this year’s venture, the competition is bound to raise it’s profile again in the 2017 summer season.
The weather may not have been sizzling but the competition was in the latest Sale Sizzler at Wythenshawe over the traditional 5 kilometre circuit with Stockport’s Jack (Jaybird) Martin finishing third and keeping illustrious company again with eventual winner England international Andy Heyes of Hallamshire and 2nd placed Commonwealth games 10,000 metre runner Johnny Mellor of Liverpool Harriers.
Stockport gained a one / two at the Podium 5 kilometre road race at Barrowford with a win for Jack Morris in 14 minutes, 45 seconds and just two seconds shy of the course record and with club mate Jack Nixon occupying the runner’s up spot (14:58) and closing in, in the bronze medal position was Ben Fish of Blackburn Harriers (15:06).
With results like this and the continued tutelage of senior endurance coach Dave Turnbull, it should bode well for Stockport in the autumnal road relay season with the Northwest road relays being at Delamere Forst (10th Sep) and the Northern relays at Sport City (25th Sep).