Fylde coast junior athletics review

The final Mid Lancs League meeting was held at Leigh Sports Village.

Spring had arrived with bright sunshine greeting the runners, although with the recent heavy rain there was plenty of mud and some lying water on the course.

First were the Under-11 races over 1.8K and the girls race was popular with 78 girls running.

Nine year old Gracie Scott finished in a very good 19th place (6:41) and Holly Tickle was 41st (7:08), while in his final race as an Under-11 Alex Maude finished on a high with fifth (5:54) in the boys’ race.

The Under-13 girls’ team of Felicity Barnes (11th, 8:26), Lucy Tickle (13th, 8:34) and Bethany Whipp (27th, 9:05) finished fifth over the 2.3K course.

They had already secured the silver medal position in the previous fixture behind a dominant Preston Harriers team.

The Under-13 boys and Under-15 races were run together over a 3Kcourse.

Luke Rawcliffe (11:39) was 18th in the Under-13 race, while in the Under-15 girls’ race, Dani Whipp (11:56) was 11th and Charlotte Barnes 19th.

Although Dani and Charlotte were not a team, BWFAC had already secured the bronze medal at the previous fixture.

The Under-15 boys’ race over 4K saw Jack Tickle have his best race of the campaign, finishing eighth in 14:14, with James Smith (19th, 15:09) and Joe Lund (20th, 15:15) making up the team which finished fifth.

Unfortunately for BWFAC, Rossendale finished a team, and although they were behind Blackpool, it gave them the required results and pushed BWFAC down to fourth, out of the end-of-season team medals.

Jess Rogers aged finished eighth (23:14) in the 6K senior ladies’ race, finishing as first Under-20 woman and also part of the senior ladies’ team which won the league.

She also won the overall individual Mid Lancs Under-20 gold medal.

With the outdoor track and field season imminent, Dani Whipp travelled to Sportcity for the Sale Indoor Open the next day.

It was a confidence-building performance for Dani, who won her 600m heat in 1:45.77.

Bradley Parsons demonstrated his form with a PB of 7.55s in the 60m and 24.93s in the 200m.

Noah Egan ran 8.03s and 26.02s, Caitlin Dickinson 9.22s and 31.37s, while Leah Howard posted 8.93s and 29.24s.

Chloe Parsons ran the 60m in 9.49s and had a PB of 6.25m in the shot put.

Lytham St Annes Road Runners Club hosted the Primary Schools Cross Country race at the Queen Elizabeth II Park View Playing Grounds.

Seventy-five runners took on the challenge of representing their primary schools.

First in the Year 4 boy’s race was James Wood (Rossall) in 5:22, Eric Wrigley (Medlar) was second in 5:26 and Archie Tate (Our Lady’s) third in 5:33.

Finley Hughes (Heyhouses) was fourth in 5:38, Alfie Hall (St Michaels, Kirkham) fifth in 5:39 and Harry Jackson (Lytham Hall) sixth with 5:53

The girls race was won by Jessica Ramsden (Carleton St Hilda’s) in 6:01, with Lucy Montgomery (Carleton St Hilda’s) second in 6:29 and Clemmie Tierney (Lytham C of E) third in 6:34.

Ella Wiseman (Lytham C of E) was fourth in 7:12, Olivia Avery Simmonds (Lytham Hall) fifth in 7:16 and Sophie Tate (Our Lady’s) sixth with 7:20

The Year 5 race was won by Felix Twitchett (Lytham Hall) in 5:07, Charlie Ormerod (Our Lady’s ) was second in 5:07 and Forest Leah (Gt Eccleston) third in 5:15.

Harvey Barber (Kirkham Grammar) came fourth in 5:31, Thomas Greaves (Lytham Hall) fifth in 5:37 and Connor Norman (Lytham C of E) sixth in 5:41

The girls’ race was won by Holly Tickle (St Michaels Kirkham) in 5:47 with Daisy Cave (Heyhouses) second in 6:01 and Georgia Nicholls (Treales) third in 6:04.

Lily Hunt (Kirkham Grammar) was fourth in 6:07, Katerina Vaudry (St Thomas’) fifth in 6:19 and Keira Tomes (Heyhouses) sixth in 6:20

The Year 6 runners saw the boys’ race won by George Denye (Kirkham & Wesham) in 5:21, with Alex Maude (Kirkham & Wesham) second in 5:34 and Morgan Pritchard third in 6:00.

There was an exceptional run by Sophie Bohannon (Lytham C of E) to win the girls’ race in 5:49 with Lois Crozier (St Michaels Kirkham) second in 5:55 and Hebe Tierney third in 7:03.

Hennie Thompson (Kirkham Grammar) was fourth in 7:24, Ruby Hodgkinson (Lytham Hall) fifth in 7:47 and Anna Filipo (Lytham Hall) sixth in 9:16.