2004 Track & Field Match Reports

Information about Wigan Harriers 2004 Track & Field matches against other clubs.

 

National Junior League Promotion Match (Sunday 29th August 2004)

The Promotion Match for the National Junior Women's League took place at the Princess Mary Stadium, Cleckheaton on Sunday, 29th August 2004, with Wigan Harriers taking their place alongside 6 other winning clubs from around the North of England and the Midlands.

Despite having the smallest team of 10 athletes, it proved to be a case of quality not quantity with the Wigan girls coming out on top and gaining promotion to the Premier Division of the League for next season.

All the girls competed in their specialist events and then filled most of the other spaces on the team sheet with some commendable performances.

The competition started off with our 2 'hammer throwers', Gemma Llewellyn and Emma Holmes gaining valuable points in a strange event (well at least for them it was!). This lead the way to a very impressive and strong team effort, which earned many compliments from other teams. The team spirit shown by the girls was great and should be an inspiration to other club members!

Team Manager Margaret Grayston was extremely proud of the team (Maggie's Marvels as Dave Willey put it!) as they did their lap of honour.

To see how well they all did click here to see a summary of all the team's performances.

 

Young Athletes League Fixture 5 (Sunday 1st August 2004)

Once again our younger athletes (Under 13, Under 15 & Under 17) have been in action, this time against Wirral, Kingston upon Hull & City of Sheffield. Today, Wigan finished 3rd with a points score of 219. As always, performances of note are detailed below:

From the Boys:
For the Under 17 team, second place in the 800 'A' race went to Michael Miller with Ben Hunt winning the 'B' race. Phil Hurley finished second in the Long Jump, but went one better in winning the High Jump. Once again, the 4x400M relay team did well finishing 2nd in their race. For the Under 15 team, Jamie Barnes recorded a win in the 400 metres, while James Harrison and William Boardman did the double in the 80 metres hurdles 'A' and 'B'. James Harrison also won the High Jump and threw a personal best of 30.29 metres in the Javelin which gained him a3rd place. The 4x100 metre relay team (Jamie Barnes, Carl Thompson, Jamie Vickery & James Harrison) improved on recent performances by taking 2nd place. In the Under 13 team, we were sadly depleted but thank you to Brady Neeley (100 metres & Long Jump) and Richard Latham (800 metres) for doing their bit for the team today.

From the Girls:
In Under 17,thanks go to Danielle Jukes who was the only runner in the 1,500 - it's a thankless task running alone in such a heatwave but well done! Also, well done to Anna Griffiths who won both the discus and shot competitions. In Under 15, Kelly Stephens won the shot and finished 2nd in the discus, Rebecca Holgate and Laura Williams completed the double in the High Jump 'A' & 'B', and the relay team (Katie Round, Jess Parr, Kelly Stephens & Rebeccca Glossick) gained a 3rd place. In Under 13, congratulations to Jamie Foster and Laura Baker who both picked up 'Athletes of the Match' awards for track and field respectively! Jamie won the 800 meters and Laura the Shot Putt, 70 metre Hurdles and Long Jump.

Click here to see the full results from the Match

Once again, to those mentioned above and all the other athletes who turned out for the club today - A BIG THANK YOU!!! Again, to those who helped with officiating a thank you too - it makes life a lot easier for the club when there are a number of willing volunteers (especially when other clubs turn up with too few)!!!

 

North of England League Fixture 4 (Saturday 31st July 2004)

This is a VERY LONG MATCH REPORT so make yourself very comfortable before beginning to read!!!

Well, much can be said about this team. We all know the story of injustice that the Men's team has had to endure this season and now at last, justice has prevailed. Let's go back to 2002 when the Harriers Men lurked in the depths of NOEAA League Division 3W. Some splendid individual and team efforts during the season saw the team demolish the other teams in the division, winning every league match that season on their way to winning the division title. To top off a fantastic season they then entered the NOEAA Inter-Club Plate Competition for the first time. Ecstatic that they made the final of the competition, they went on to win the final also. Things were changing on the Men's side of the club, and at a rapid speed. 2003 was another glorious season. Taking our well-deserved place in NOEAA League Division 2W, the Harriers Men again rose to the challenge and won the division title, qualifying them to the play-off match for a place in the Northern Premier division - the highest division in the NOEAA League. How did they get on? You shouldn't have to ask! The Men's team won a place in the NOEAA League top division. After a joyous celebration barbeque at Roger Holmes' house (the Club Chairman) to rejoice in another fantastic season, made even better by the Harriers Women's team gaining promotion to the UK Women's League Division One, things had never looked so bright for the Harriers sides.

Enter stage left the NOEAA League officials. Amongst talk of the rapid decline in our sport they thought it would be a good idea to dampen our enthusiasm for the sport by making the NOEAA League a combined gender competition. Whilst this benefited some clubs as it meant less travel costs and less officials required, it crippled our club. We didn't have a women's team in the NOEAA League because basically they were too good - they were in the UK League, and Division One at that! The only way the Men could keep a team in the League was if the women were to field a team. So all were agreed that we would start a Women's B team, although the numbers would be a problem. However we were still unsure how would they work out what division the combined team would be in? Well quite frankly we should have known, the NOEAA officials thought they would cripple us some more and penalise us for not having a women's team already in the League, basically penalising us because we were too good! After some debatable paper shuffling in the NOEAA offices and despite Trevor's (the Team Manager) trip to Leeds to the NOEAA AGM to protest about this matter, the team were put in Division 3W because the women had no league form. Needless to say the Harriers Men were heart broken when Trevor relayed this information to them. All their efforts over the past two seasons were totally overlooked and they were back were they started from in Division 3W.

It has to be said that the attitude of the Men this season has been nothing short of heroic. However down hearted they felt, it did not show in their performances this season, with most men competing whenever possible during the season. The Club is very proud of their efforts.

Going into the fourth and final match of the season things could not have been any closer. Three clubs, Liverpool Harriers, St Helens Sutton, & Wigan & District Harriers were all level on 14 match league points. Whichever team were to win match 4 would be the Division Champions and the first two would be promoted to the next division. Needless to say, the atmosphere at the Wavertree Stadium in Liverpool was very tense.

For the first time this season the Men had fielded an almost full strength side with only 3 or 4 regular big points scorers missing so we expected much from the men. The real heroes, well heroines in this case, were the women. With the UK Women's League taking place the same day at Sports City, the women were once again short on numbers but you would not have guessed in if observing form the stands as they only left 6 events uncovered throughout the competition, with many women competing in events they had never previously competed in. Their efforts were incredible.

Firstly I have to mention the efforts of Lindsey Sutch & her partner in madness Judith Townsley. All at the Harriers will properly associate these girls with coaching rather than competing as they regularly coach the Athletics Development sessions at Robin Park. However they turned their hand to the track and field themselves at Wavertree, gaining masses of points for the club and displaying great bravery and guts. Lindsey competed in the 200m, LJ, HJ, & 100mH whilst Judith competed in the 100m, PV, HJ, 100mH, & TJ. This was a mammoth task to ask of the girls since they don't even train regularly, never mind compete but they rose to the challenge without complaint and indeed showed promise in several of the events. You can be sure Trevor will be making sure they do some training over the winter, as they will be valuable members of the Division 2W team next season.

Next I must mention how dangerous it is to have a boyfriend who is in the Harriers Men's team. Dave Steele's girlfriend had previously been conned to 'jog a couple of laps' for us earlier in the season and this time Trevor knew he was onto a winner as he had seen her secretly practising late on a Thursday evening when all the Harriers had gone home. She showed remarkable courage to compete in the 800m, 1500m and 3000m events - again without her we wouldn't be Champions. Trevor phoned her later that evening to say "Well Done" again but unsurprisingly Dave informed him that she was flat out asleep on the couch - is it any wonder? Adrian Leonard's girlfriend, Gail Evans also came to Wavertree to support the team, but she was about to support them more than she anticipated, placing 3rd in the Javelin A event with not a bad throw of 26.49m & placing 2nd in the Triple Jump B event. Rest assured that Trevor will make Adrian bring her to the track a couple of times during the winter.

Other special mentions on the women's side must go to Kim Halliwell who gained us 5 vital points by jogging round the 400mH gaining 3rd place as well as winning the Discus B event & Shot Putt B event & Kirsty Forsyth who competed in the LJ, HT, JT & 4 x 100m. Your efforts were extremely valuable girls.

Three of our best individual performers at Wavertree were Yvonne Wyke, Vicky Pilling & Vicki Dyer. Yvonne, a member of Wigan Phoenix, enjoyed her Harriers debut by placing 2nd in the 3000m in 11.10.5. Vicky Pilling enjoyed a busy day with a second place in the 100m in 12.9, 1st in 200m in 27.0 and 2nd in the 400m in 62.0 secs & Vicky Dyer gained 2nd place in the Hammer & Shot Putt, & 1st Place in the Discus.

On the Men's side there are too many performances to mention but here are just a few extraordinary ones. Andy Gibson ran 11.3 secs for 100m placing 3rd, glad to see the old timer can still get his legs moving when he wants to! Adrian Leonard won the 400m B event in 51.4 but more impressively ran 49.9 secs in the 4x400m winning team. Mike O'Neill was a pleasure to watch as he took the 1500m as was Paul Weall winning the 3000m S/C in 10.40.1 & Chris Bryant debuting at the event in 11.01.6. John Worthington was another track winner, taking the 5000m in 16.18.0 & Danny Hind enjoyed a win in the 400mH. Carl Fletcher turned his hand to the Hammer for the first time placing 3rd in 28.66m whilst Dave Steele won the B event in 28.32m. The Harriers enjoyed 4 other wins in the throws with Andy Rollins winning the Shot and Discus with 12.01m & 42.80m respectively, whilst Carl Fletcher won the B Shot with 11.78m and Iain Franklin won the B Discus with 33.19m. Tom Ashworth was also a winner in the Men's High Jump B event as were our men's 4x100m and 4x400m teams. A last mention must go to Neil Hewson, the club's fastest 400m runner of the season who could not compete in his usual track events due to illness. Not wanting to let the team down, Neil competed in the LJ placing 3rd in 6.12m, the TJ placing 3rd in 12.03m & the HJ placing 2nd with 1.75m.

So after some magnificent efforts at the end of the day Wigan & District Harriers won the match by just 4.5 points from St Helens Sutton, meaning that Trevor's efforts to con the women's team into gaining as many points as possible were needed as if just one of them had refused to do one event the team wouldn't have been named Division 3W Champions. Thankfully the women didn't refuse and instead they mustered all their efforts to gain those valuable points that led to Team Captain Danny Hind gladly receiving the Division 3W plate from Bob Birrell, Liverpool Harriers president. Watch out for the team's efforts in Division 2W next season!

 

UK Women's League Fixture 3 (Saturday 31st July 2004)

Once again, our Senior Women's team were in action - this time at Sportcity in Manchester. A big thank you should be given to all those who turned out - especially those from the younger age groups who stepped up to compete. We had a string of Under 17, Under 20 and Under 23 athletes who helped to make up the team!

Highlights from the fixture: Sharon Walls ran an excellent race in the 100 metre Hurdles to win in a time of 13.76. Not only did she win the race, but she also beat her 'arch-rival' Sarah McGreavey from Sale and Denise Lewis who was obviously getting some practice in before going to Athens! In the 1,500 metres, Claire Entwistle ran an excellent race to win in 4mins 31.11secs. Finally, the 4x100 metre relay team ran in a creditable 4th position.

The full results can be found on the North of England website ( Click here to view the results )

Once again, thanks to all volunteers who ensured that Wigan were suitably represented in the officials department. It was an excellent effort from the club to ensure that we had officials not only at this match but the one down the road in Wavertree - well done!

 

Young Athletes League Fixture 4 (Sunday 18th July 2004)

Once again our younger athletes (Under 13, Under 15 & Under 17) have been in action, this time against Preston Harriers, Liverpool Pembroke and Sefton and Barnsley. The final points score today was as follows (subject to final verification):

Today, Wigan were sadly depleted by the onset of the school holidays! The Wigan schools finished for the summer break on Friday and many families took the chance to get away! This left us with a large number of gaps in the team sheet. We were, however, bolstered by some new faces at training this week and it was good to see some of these newer athletes taking part today. Once again, though, those athletes who were able to compete turned in some decent performances, which are detailed below!

From the Boys:
For the Under 17 team, there were victories for Tom O'Brien and Phil Hurley in the High Jump 'A' and 'B' events and the 4x400M relay team won their race too. For the Under 15 team, Daniel Miller recorded a win in the 3,000M, along with Carl Thompson in the Discus and Jamie Vickery in the High Jump 'B' event, while James Harrison recorded wins in the Javelin and High Jump 'A' event. In the Under 13 team, Oliver Stringer and Shae Lyon Frazer recorded wins in the Long Jump 'A' and 'B' respectively.

From the Girls:
In Under 17 we had four double wins as Carling Meadows and Beth Heaton won the 'A' and 'B' 100M races, Beth and Joanne Baker won the 80M hurdles 'A' and 'B', Anna Griffiths and Emma Holmes won the 300M Hurdles 'A' and 'B' and Carling and Beth won the Long Jump 'A' and 'B'. The 4x100M relay team also won their race. For the Under 15 team, Kelly Stephen won both the Discus and Shot events while Laura Williams won the High Jump 'B' event. Finally, for the Under 13 team, there was a double in the 800M as Jamie Foster and Laura Riches won the 'A' and 'B' events.

Click here to see the full results from the Preston Match

Once again, to those mentioned above and all the other athletes who turned out for the club today - A BIG THANK YOU!!! Again, to those who helped with officiating a thank you too - it makes life a lot easier for the club when there are a number of willing volunteers!!!

 

North of England League - Fixture 3 (Sunday 4th July 2004)

A fourth place finish saw the Harriers slip from top of the table into second place.

 

UK Women's League - Fixture 2 (Saturday 3rd July 2004)

A weakened Wigan team went to Birmingham to contest this tough fixture. Unfortunately they finished in 8th position against the likes of Sale, Trafford and Edinburgh and look certain to be relegated from the top division after only one season there. However, this is nothing to be disappointed about and we're sure that the team will only improve and hopefully bounce back into the top flight in the coming seasons.

 

Young Athletes League Fixture 3 (Sunday 27th June 2004)

Today our younger athletes (Under 13, Under 15 & Under 17) took on Sale Harriers Manchester, Gateshead and Chesterfield in the above fixture. The final points score today was as follows (subject to final verification):

Once again our young athletes found themselves in last position in another UKYAL match! The cause is not helped by athletes saying they will turn out and not showing up! Too often this season, team managers have had a team on Saturday afternoon with promises that people will be there only for them not to show up on the Sunday. That is unfair to the managers, the other athletes who compete and also shows a complete lack of responsibility on your part! If you have no intention of turning up then say so when you are asked - at least everyone then knows where they stand! This is especially true of Under 17 athletes - who we hope would have a greater sense of responsibility. However, that aside, there were once again some excellent performances from some of our athletes!

From the Boys:
The Under 17 4x400M Relay Team (Stephen Moorcroft, Ben Hunt, Phillip Hurley and Chris Eddon) were pipped into third place by 0.1 seconds in a very close race with Sale and Gateshead. In Under 15 Boys, James Harrison continued his good form for the season winning the 80M Hurdles by almost a full second in a time of 11.9 seconds and he also won the High Jump with a clearance of 1.61 metres. For the Under 13 Boys Kier Lyon Frazer finished second in both the 100M and 200M races while Oliver Stringer won the Long Jump with a leap of 4.07 metres. The Under 13 Boys 4x100M Relay Team (Kier, Oliver, Richard Latham and Daniel Needham) finished a creditable second just behind Sale.

From the Girls:
For the Under 17 Team, Carling Meadows picked up a win in the 300M (42 seconds) to add to a 3rd place in the 100M, with our second runner in the 300M, Anna Griffiths (44.5 seconds) picking up a win in the "B" race. Anna also won the Shot with a throw of over 8 metres! The Under 17 4x100M Relay Team (Rachel Holden, Anna, Danielle Jeffrey and Carling) were narrowly beaten into second place by Gateshead. For the Under 15 Girls, there were good wins for Stephanie Rasburn (23.00M) and Kelly Stephens (22.09M) in the Discus "A" and "B" competitions. Finally, for the Under 13 Team Laura Baker (8.03M) and Sarah Evans (6.38M) completed a double for the team in the Shot.

To those mentioned above and all the other athletes who turned out for the club today - A BIG THANK YOU!!! Also, to those who helped with officiating a thank you too!!!

 

AAA U20 & U23 Championships at Bedford (Saturday 26th & Sunday 27th June 2004)

Over these two days, seven athletes from the Harriers took part in the prestigious AAA championships. Their results were as follows:

Under 20

Under 23

Well done to all who competed!

 

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