Posts of News

Meanwhile, in the Knowsley Corporate Challenge

2012-05-25T17:03:59.196Z

Graham Howell is a trustee of the Knowsley branch of "Homestart", a national Charity who provide support for families. He "managed to persuade" a team of Harriers to run the Knowsley Corporate 5K Challenge on Wednesday 23 May on behalf of the charity.

The team - 'Friends of Homestart' - consisted of Alan Ashton, Jenny Clague, Gareth Howell and John Howell. They won the Challenge comfortably - Alan won the overall event in 16:16 and Jenny was 9th overall and second lady in 18:23.
The Charity were delighted to receive the support of Liverpool Harriers.

Well done Guys and Gal!

Why was Jess Ennis "shaking in my boots"?

2012-05-25T16:55:13.251Z

From today's Times newspaper, in a long and interesting article about Jess:

High Jump

Despite being the joint-holder of the British record, Ennis admits to being "crap" last year in another of her favoured disciplines. That caused Team Ennis to call in Mike Holmes, the former coach of Steve Smith, who won bronze in Altanta in 1966. "I asked him for feedback from the World Championships," Minichiello says. "He cast his eye over the tape and said 'Well, at least she managed to put her number on right.' " Ennis may be the former world champion, but she admitted she was "shaking in my boots" when Holmes came to watch her. "He drags you back to earth like no-one else," she says. "He's lovely but very blunt. He would ask if I thought I'd got it right. I'd say 'I think it was OK,' and he would shake his head and say, 'No'". Ennis has since moved her starting position closer to the bar and worked on containing her raw speed.

Just in case you don't know the fascinating story of Steve Smith, and how Mike coached him to be (and he still is) UK record-holder, it's all in Steve's
Pen Picture, crafted by Arthur Fryer and Mike and logged in the History section of this web site. Worth a read!

The next "Mystery 5k" race will be on Tuesday 19th June

2012-05-23T16:56:08.368Z

This is a revised date, because there will be a fair in the Park on the original one. Click for more about the series

Walton Park 5 - plenty of Club success

2012-05-23T12:33:41.969Z

Tuesday evening's race resulted in an easy victory of Ian Lawton (25:52) ahead of Rob Dewhurst. Among the Ladies, Sophie Whiteside confirmed her improvement with a close victory over Jenny Clague by 29:27 to 29:39, while Jenny was also first W35. Other notable runs came from:

9 Paul Quine 28:14 (first M50)

20 Gareth Howell 29:34

29 David Quinn 30:54

34 Lee Midghall 31:32

35 Laura Quine 31:32 (4th Lady)

36 Sarah Jarvis 31:38 (5th Lady)

50 Sarah Jackson 33:06 (6th Lady)

Click here for link to provisional results

Mike Dooling - one of the chosen few!

2012-05-20T13:49:53.294Z

Around 11am on 31st May, Mike Dooling will have the honour of carrying the Olympic Torch! His stage in the relay is within Tatton Park, Knutsford. Why not spend an hour or two in the pretty park (and perhaps also visit one of the nice restaurants in Knutsford) and support Mike on his big day.

Peter Simpson's been at it again!

2012-05-18T10:07:12.477Z

Earlier this year, our "ultra" runner Peter Simpson wrote an article about his run in the Beirut Marathon. He mentioned that it was his 193rd race at marathon or longer and hoped to finish his 200th at Limassol on 18th March.

Did he manage that target? You bet he did.. as his e-mail told me today:

Yes, Frank, I made it. In 3 successive weeks I completed the Antalya Marathon (Turkey) in 3:34 (1st over 60) on March 4th, Paphos in 3:36 (1st over 60) on 11th and Limassol in 3:37 on March 18th, to complete 200 marathons/ultras.

Since then I have done Hull Marathon (April 8th) in 3:35 and on April 28th I did a 12 hour track race in Crawley. At the age of 64, I managed just over 64 miles to finish 3rd and 1st Vet over 40. For 4 of the 12 hours I also guided a blind runner who completed over 50 miles.

Yesterday I arrived at John O'Groats, having cycled from Lands End in 12 days, accompanying a cyclist who was raising funds for the Neuro Foundation.

So quite an active Spring though we go to Turkey again on Monday which will curtail activities a bit!

I am expecting to return to the UK for a week in June to do a 100 mile road race in the Cotswolds.

As I replied to Peter - "words fail me.. quite amazing!" Peter's Pen Picture can be found in our History section.

Michael Bomba's England vest didn't do the trick

2012-05-06T13:01:06.057Z

Michael wore his first England with pride, when competing in a "Throws only" event in Sweden on Saturday 5th, but the result was a bit of a disappointment. Despite a decent entry, with several throwers having PBs around or just ahead of Michael's (68.74m, which currently ranks him 6th

in the UK for 2012), the distances thrown on the day were not so far. This was largely due to the freezing temperatures and the biting winds into the faces of the throwers. Michael's 4th place showed his usual consistency, but his best was "only" 65.01m. Still, the experience will stand him

in good stead for the tough season ahead. Surely it's only a matter of time until he obliterates Baz Williams' Club record of 69.42m, and hopefully get past the 70m line? In compensation, Ronnie Bomba reports that the hospitality and enthusiasm from the organisers in Sweden was first rate - they must have copied our own Throws & Jumps meeting atmosphere!

The photo is from the England Athletics web site.

Anyika's season is under way!

2012-05-11T08:28:33.393Z

Over in Brazil, Anyika Onuora posted a couple of times not far outside the "A" qualification for the Olympics. On 6th May she clocked 11.50secs for 100m, where her PB is 11.18 and the "A" standard is 11.29. Three days later she ran 200m in 23.19, against her PB of 22.93. This was very close to the "A" time of 23.10secs. It looks as if the form she showed last year, after a long period of injury, is continuing in 2012.

Spotted in the weekend's results..

2012-05-07T10:53:53.518Z

Over in Pavia, Italy, Ashley Helsby was third in the 100m Hurdles with 13.60secs, which currently ranks her 3rd in the UK for 2012, just ahead of Katarina Johnson-Thompson.

National Young Athletes League - Match 1

2012-05-07T13:52:58.001Z

It took a very strong Sale team to beat our 36 boys and 30 girls, at Blackburn on Sunday 6th. Our best event was the 1500m: out of 10 races, we had winners in five and seconds in two more. Star individual performances in the field events were put up by Francis Mulvaney in the throws and by our jumpers Aylish McKenzie and Alex Rafferty. On the track the highlights were good 800m runs from Hannah Delaney, Paige Misund and Erin Stewart; fast times from Liam Skyner (400m) and Sophia Brennan (1500m), while Callum Grant and Owen Sharp dominated the 3,000m. Full report to follow, but full results here.

A disappointing weekend..

2012-05-01T20:33:34.662Z

On Sunday, at the Wavertree track

National Junior Athletic League - Northern Premier Division

Steady heavy rain, 5^oC, cold wind... Pole Vault cancelled... competitors in other early field events suffering from exposure. Not surprisingly, the meeting was abandoned. That's not good for LHAC, as this was our home fixture in a very tough league and the other three involve significant travel.

On Sunday, at Stanford, California

10,000m "B" Race in Payton Jordan Invitation Meet

What a set of races - 17 runners in the "A" race broke 28 minutes! Jonny Mellor's first track race at this distance resulted in only 26th in the "B". He went through 5,000m in 14:09 against a planned 14:10 (wouldn't you like to be able to run that??), but his finishing time of 28:51.81 was well outside his target.

However, it is inside the UKA standard for the European Championships (28:55). Jonny is currently ranked third, although Mo Farah and Chris Thompson have not yet run the distance this year. So, if those two opt to skip the Europeans and concentrate on the Olympics... who knows!

Plenty of action over last weekend of 21/22 April

2012-04-27T09:30:42.066Z

Two Liverpool Harriers did well in the Irish University Championships in Athlone. John Houston ran a season's best of 49.32 for 2nd in the 400m, while Adam McMullen broke his PB for 100m in his heat, with 11.06secs, then improved further in the final, clocking 10.95 (+1.6).

Peter Glass was 3rd in an early season Decathlon at Woodford, scoring 6787 against his PB of 7215, but his events included a new PB of 51.34 for 400m.

In the London Marathon, Lee Siemaszko was our first runner at halfway, with Glen Groves, James Horman, and Colin Potts running together about a minute behind. But Glen was first by the finishing line, clocking 2:36:29 for 101st place (and 11th V40). James was next, in 125th (2:37:37), just ahead of Lee (132nd, 2:37:55), with Colin recording 2:39:27 for 158th and 17th V40.

Our other finishers were Laurence McDonald (2:56:10), Lee Midghall (2:57:15), Simon Marriott (2:59:39), Paul Towers (3:12:12), Dean Sharp (3:31:49).

What a hectic day at Wavertree on Sunday, with the Ernie Gallagher meeting in the morning, for the younger age groups, and the Tom O'Mahoney meeting in the afternoon. I had family commitments, so couldn't be there. If anyone has good photos, or can provide any stories to go with the results, please pass them across for publication.

The results can be found via these links EAG TJO'M. Sadly, with so much going on, we were rather short of officials, so were not able to take wind readings. That is a real pity, because many runners set PBs which were quite probably wind-assisted - you'll just have to go even faster next time!

Meanwhile, over in the US, Harry Harper won a 1500m in New York, in 3:49.57, having won another a few weeks ago, near Boston, in 3:56.47. But he might as well have stayed in the UK and gone to the BMC 1500m races at Stretford on Sunday. As usual, the standard was very high: Dan Mooney setting a new PB of 3:45.24 for 6th in the "A" race and Steve Morrow 9th in the "B" with 3:57.88.

Another successful Jumps & Throws meeting

2012-04-25T10:32:10.015Z

Congratulations to Ronnie Bomba and all his team of officials for another high class and very friendly field events promotion, on 14th April.

Click for results. There is an album of nearly 200 photos. Click here to view.

Well done to Katherine and James!

2012-04-09T14:55:26.818Z

We've been waiting for Katherine Walker to capitalise on her excellent winter... now she's done it! With a bit of pace-making help, she scorched round the Halewood 5k at the weekend in 18:26: two seconds outside Sophie Whiteside's course record... but fast enough to go top of the UK 2012 Under 20 Rankings!

After his big improvement recently over 10k, then his solid run in the Liverpool Half-Marathon, followed by a brilliant long leg in the Northern 12-Stage, James Reilly has been selected for the Northern Athletics team at the Great Manchester 10k on 20th May. Hey, James, you'll be on the tele! (BBC 10.00 onwards).

Latest on Mike Turner

2012-04-04T11:15:24.119Z

I went to Cambridge yesterday, to visit Mike in hospital. I took along the card which had been signed by many who know him, from Liverpool Harriers and from other Clubs, which he loved. He insisted on writing a "thank you" - which apparently was the first writing he has done since his stroke in January.

I also showed Mike the photos of our Men and Women doing so well in the Northern Road Relays. He is following the progress of our stars with great interest, and we discussed everyone in detail!

Then two physios arrived, to try to teach him how to stand up from his chair. Clearly his left side is not working very well yet but, during just 10-15 minutes, I could see a significant improvement. Plans are afoot to make changes at home, so that he can leave hospital in a few weeks, which will be a big relief to Glenda.

If anyone would like to visit Mike, I can give you the contact details.. and I can assure you he is excellent company and as inspiring as ever.

A terrific weekend for Kat

2012-03-31T16:42:05.295Z

24/25 March saw Katarina Johnson-Thompson smashing records. Click here to read more

Another good weekend for LHAC

2012-03-07T18:26:26.915Z

Plenty of different venues.. plenty of different ages.. plenty of different events.. and plenty of success!

Loughborough Winter Throws meeting:

Thanks to Len Steers for highlighting Mike Bomba's first outing of the year. His Hammer throw of 63.90m seems quite a decent effort early in the season, but he was only 7th in a VERY strong field. The winner was top UK thrower Alex Smith in a new PB of 75.63m - a throw which put Alex 5th on the all-time lists... three places behind his Dad's effort over 25 years ago!

McCain City Challenge, Lee Valley:

Ashley Helsby (well-known Manchester Warrier!) ran a PB of 7.61secs to win her 60m sprint. More

importantly, she clocked another PB in the 60m Hurdles, with 8.33secs, beating two of her UK rivals: Louise Hazel and Sarah Claxton,

Multi-eventer Mike Sweeney (also wearing the colours of Manchester Warriors) was close to his PB in the 60m Hurdles, with 8.79secs, and cleared 1.91m in the High Jump.

Meanwhile, representing "Cardiff Dragons", (in photo) John Houston (U23) clocked a new indoor PB of 49.61secs,

just behind winner Samuel Adeyemi (49.60 secs), but Rachel Thomas was well below her normal height in the Pole Vault, only clearing 3.25m.

Scottish U18 Championships, Glasgow:

In a very close event, Aylish MacKenzie won the High Jump at 1.65m, confirming her good start to the 2012 season.

Mid Lancs Cross Country League, Leyland:

Several decent runs, but pride of place goes to our youngest competitors. We had the usual big turnout of yellow vests in the U11 Girls, with Lucy Miller winning the race and Fay Ireland third, while Max Brame continued on his winning ways with a clear victory in the U11 Boys event.

English Athletics U15 Pentathlon, Sheffield:

Molly Thompson put her winter's work to good use with a 7th place overall, and 3rd in the Northern Championships, earned by four decent events and then a good 800m. This event also witnessed a combined-events debut from Anna Rowe - usually known for 800m and cross-country. Anna did well, with a 10th place overall, but 24th out of 26 in the first event (when she slipped in the 60m Hurdles) meant she was clawing back positions thereafter, up to a good 800m, in second fastest with Molly third.

The best news is that both Molly and Anna were among the youngest competitors, and will be able to compete in this event next year. As Mike Holmes commented: "It bodes well for the future"!

Stanley Park 10k, Blackpool:

O50 runner Paul Quine finished a superb 5th, out of 320, in 35:43. Not surprisingly, he won his age category.

Manchester Open - Sportcity:

A rare appearance from Brogan Cushion (U17) resulted in two PBs: 8.35secs for 60m flat and 9.36secs for 60m Hurdles. There were also PBs in the 60m for U20 Long Jumper Craig Jones (7.46secs) and for U17 Liam Shields (7.47secs). Pick of our other track performances was U15 Erin McBride's 45.28secs for 300m.

Alex Rafferty (U17) cleared 1.75m in the High Jump and was close to his best in the Long Jump with 5.43m.

But the Pole Vault was the star event for Liverpool Harriers - we had NINE competitors, of whom five recorded PBs!

For the record, the results show: Rachel Thomas 3.45 (much better than the day before!), U17 Dean Murray 3.10, U20 Ryan Murray 3.10, U17 Chris Manning PB 2.80, U17 Aaron Humphries PB 2.65, U17 Allen Rowe PB 2.50, U17 Isabel Perez PB 2.50, U15 Lydia Helsby PB 2.35 .....and Hannah Burgon, who failed the starting height but, having seen Hannah turning out in all sorts of competitions for the team, I bet she was still smiling!

Katarina picked at U23 level!

2012-03-04T13:32:05.124Z

A GB & NI Combined Events team will compete in Cardiff on 24/25 March, against Spain and France, with separate competitions for U20 and U23. Although she is only 19, Katarina Johnson-Thompson's excellent start to this year has been recognised by her selection to the U23 squad!

Our tame Club Statistician (and also Kat's coach), Mike Holmes, recently produced an interesting analysis of Liverpool Harriers who have competed internationally well above their actual age. Click here to see it.

Harry Harper excels

2012-02-27T15:09:45.102Z

Highlight for LHAC at the BUCS Indoors Championships at Sheffield over the weekend was the 3:47.65 clocking in the 1500m by Harry Harper. He was beaten into second, but the winner was James Thie who, after all, is 11 years older and has a PB of 3:37!

Rebecca Linney easily got through her two preliminary rounds of the 800m, but lost out in a close final, running 2:09.42 for 5th in a race won in 2:06. Ben Russell left the mud behind, and ran a PB 8:48.72 for 3000m in his heat, then slightly slower in the final. The experience will have done him good - it's time for his PBs to be shattered!

It was quite a lazy meet for our multi-eventer Mike Sweeney - only 4 competitions: 8.72secs for 60mH, 6th in the High Jump with a good 2.01m, a new PB of 4.50m for 5th place in the Pole Vault, and 11.71m in the Shot.

Back to your studies now please!

After Kat, now it's Mat

2012-02-26T15:26:00.776Z

Over the last few weeks, we've noted the steady improvement in form by U17 Mathew Shirling... from a disappointing 4th in the Merseyside Cross-Country, via a convincing victory in the Northern Indoors 1500m, to a promising run in the Northern Cross-Country, where he was at the front and looking great most of the way before fading badly in the last kilometre. Then yesterday, at Parliament Hill Fields in London, he took the U17 English National title. After tracking the leaders most of the way, he broke clear on the fast finish - coming home by just one second but looking very much in command.

There were some good team performances too: the U17 Women were 7th (led by Katherine Walker who finished an excellent 18th)and the Senior Women ran superbly to come 6th, just behind Aldershot. Our Senior Men, with a much depleted team, came only 21st, but Dan Cliffe (in his sunglasses, of course!) again showed his class with 34th out of the field of around 1700 runners.

Another title for Kat!

2012-02-25T18:18:38.905Z

On Day 1 of the England U15/U17/U20 Championships at Birmingham, Katarina Johnson-Thompson competed in the U20 Long Jump, where her PB was more than half a metre better than the rest of the competitors.

Not surprisingly, she won! Her best jump was 6.30m, a new Championship Best Performance, with the second place athlete jumping 5.69m.

Wow! What a great start to the season Kat is having.

Also on Day 1, Alex Boyce was the fastest qualifier in the U20 400m, with a time of 49.43secs. Like Kat, Alex has the best PB in the field, so he must stand a great chance of winning the final tomorrow.

Another epic victory for Harry Oakes!

2012-02-16T15:39:44.392Z

Back around Christmas 1967, our Club Handicap was won convincingly by Harry Oakes.

This month he achieved another important victory, taking first place in the February draw of the Club Bond. In 1967, as as an amateur, he won a turkey... this time it was £27 cash. Second place (and £15) went to Vic Black, who led our Junior team to victory in the first ever Lancashire Cross-Country Championships. Back in third (£5) was Brian Jones, winner of the Club XC Champs in 1967, part of the initial LHAC team in the British Athletics League, and now Team Manager for the "City of Liverpool" squad in the Premier Division of the BAL.

Want to be part of the action? Entry works out at only £1 per month, but you can have more than one ticket to increase your chance of winning. For that you are supporting Club funds and giving yourself a chance to win a nice lump sum! Fill in one of the forms available at the Clubhouse, or contact Club Treasurer Mike Carney (0151 485 7058 or e-mail mikea.carney@hotmail.com)

A good weekend on fells and road

2012-02-13T17:33:02.239Z

In the Parbold Hill Fell Race on Saturday, 11 February, Adam Peers again showed his class on this going, with Richard Burney the only runner within 2½ minutes! They were followed by Glen Groves in 6th (first M40). Sadly, none of our other top runners was present, so we were denied an easy team victory. Our next finisher was Sarah Jackson (also 15th woman), followed by Peter Simpson (3rd M60).

The next day, in the Nick Beer 10k at Llandudno, it was Alan Ashton in the prizes, as first M40, in 4th overall. Martin Bateman ran well for 21st, not far ahead of Jenny Clague (38th, second woman, and first F35). There was also a decent run from Michelle Murphy (3rd F45), finishing 120th out of the 682 finishers!

Jonny Mellor - UK Champion!

2012-02-12T18:31:02.627Z

Did you see the 3,000m race in the Aviva World Trials and UK Championships? What a cracker, with three different leaders on the last 200m lap. Happily, the one in front at the finish was Jonny Mellor, with a very powerful last 100m. His time of 7:58.36 was his best ever indoors and just outside his outdoors PB, but is not fast enough to take him to the World Championships: the UK qualification is 7:50.00. Clearly Jonny can go faster, and he's got until 20th February to get the time, but it's going to be tough!

Also at Sheffield there was another good run from Ashley Helsby in the 60m Hurdles, with a 4th place just outside her PB. She is showing a lot of potential for a good summer.

More results.. indoors and outside..

2012-02-08T18:16:56.885Z

The Scottish National Open at Kelvin Hall, Glasgow, on 21 Jan, witnessed the annual appearance of Martin Lipton at 800m! Better known as an excellent 400m Hurdler, he runs an 800m indoors most winters. This time he ran a PB of 1:58.34secs. Let's hope that hints at further PBs this summer.

Anyika Onuora ran at Mondeville, France, on 4 Feb, recording 7.57secs for 60m. The other Brit in the race, Laura Turner, was quite a bit faster (7.29secs).

The Alsager 5 Miles, on 5 Feb, was very popular, despite adverse weather, with 561 finishers! Among them were James Riley (29th, 26:04), Maria Barrett (66th, 6th Lady, 29:05), Martin Bateman (81st, 30:00 PB), Sion Wynne-Williams (87th, 30:19 PB), Jenny Pybis (90th, 8th Lady, 30:23), Gareth Howell (93rd, 30:32 PB), and Laura Stanley (197th, 24th Lady, 35:15). Our Ladies were easy winners of their team competition.

More news from the Indoors scene - Birmingham Games - 4/5 Feb

2012-02-06T11:57:24.056Z

On the first day, it was good to see James Hunter in the 400m, running 50.18secs - a long way outside his PB, but it's been some time since he raced.

Day Two saw Jack Meredith following up his 8.01secs in the 60mH at Sheffield with times of 8.06 in his heat and 8.07 in the final where, worryingly, he was again beaten by Andi Pozzi (who recorded a PB 7.62secs).... but it's early season and there's a long way to go.

In the Pole Vault, Rachael Thomas was 3rd, just short of her PB, with 3.45m, and Michael Hartley high-jumped 1.93m to follow his 1.95 in the Northern Championships.

But the highlights for Liverpool Harriers both came in the 800m races. In the U15 race, Abigail Linney shot away from the starting line, opened a big gap, and won by a distance, in a time of 2:22.81, just outside her outdoor PB. Her "big sister" Rebecca (U23) was 4th in the Senior race, after trying to stay with the pace... her reward was a time of 2:07.58 - a new PB indoors or outdoors!