Match Results - Northern League Meeting Sunday 6th August 2006
Listed below are the athletes that took part in today's Northern League meeting and their performances.
The team finished 3rd overall with 357.5 points. The team finished 2nd in league overall and will now compete in the promotion play-off match at Cleckheaton on 2nd September!
The following Match Report was supplied by Danny Hind, Team Manager...
Hello and welcome to the final match report of this seasons Northern League campaign. The concluding Match of the Northern League season brought us to Richmond Park home of East Cheshire Harriers. Firstly I once again need to express my thanks and gratitude to the Wigan officials who again did a tremendous job not just for the team but also for the meeting as a whole in giving up their time to officiate at the meeting. Without these people we would lose vital points which, as it has been shown in the past can be crucial to finishing in one place or the other. The official’s team was headed by Dave Culshaw who acted on the day as Chief Track Judge, Tony McDonald for time keeping and the field judging team of Janet Hind, Terry Chadwick, Karen Moorcroft and Bob Halliwell.
This was the first meeting I have had next to no stress in putting a team together. There was the inevitable clash with the National League fixture but with three female junior athletes, one junior male athlete and a senior man all making their league debuts and all approaching me for a run out made my team selection easy and I was able to cover a range of events which I was unable to fill in the previous fixture. It was also pleasing as a manager to have the five athletes making their debuts all specialist technicians at various events - sprinting, hurdling and jumping - their contribution with the rest of the team led to an exciting match.
The match was led out again in fine form by skipper Carl Fletcher. Carl, during this year's Northern League campaign, is by far the most improved athlete. With his usual high standards he set out again throwing a personal best in the Hammer and easing to victory in the discus and shot. Although Carl has not had a mention this year in my end of match report titles as athlete of the day, his captaincy and leadership by performance has put him up there with a handful of athletes as my Athlete of the Year. The newest father to the them Dave Steele brought down his new baby son to the meeting, still only weeks old but obviously soaking up the atmosphere and dreaming of one day following in his daddy’s footsteps and competing as a Wigan Harrier. Dave had a successful hammer coming second and showing his commitment to the team by throwing in the B string javelin. There was also a family battle going on with the final male thrower Mike Nicholson who was competing against his brother, who competes for Bolton. Mike gained crucial points for the team and gave good entertainment in the competition between him and his brother. Adrian Cawley once again showed his loyalty and commitment to Wigan Harriers with another professional performance to finish third in the Javelin.
Debutant Oliver Meaney showed the potential he has with impressive performances in both the long and triple jump. As an under seventeen competing without fear at this level it will be interesting to watch Oliver’s progress in the coming seasons with the potential of what he can achieve. Oliver was joined in the jumps by this season's best signing John Forshaw who once again showed his worth and value to the team with notable performances in the high, long and triple jump and a first place finish in the 110m hurdles.
The men’s team was led out on the track by Tom O’Brien who cruised to victory in the 400m Hurdles, ran respectable runs in the 200m and 4x400m and gave the 4x100m team a fantastic start on first leg to victory. He was joined in the hurdles by Danny Hind who ran a controlled race in the 400m hurdles to secure victory and who also ran impressive times in the 110m Hurdles, 200m and 4x400m relay. It was his first leg split time that was the highlight of his day finally proving to himself that he is capable of not just braking 52 seconds but smashing 51 seconds with a leg time of 50.3. A good winter will hopefully see Danny achieve this time early next season! Chris Bryant was one of the most impressive track athletes of the day clocking up 4 first place finishes. Chris, who is now finding it easy to run 2 minutes for 800m, eased to victory in a controlled manner, then ran impressively in both the 400m and 4x100m before leading the 4x400m team to victory. An exceptional day’s work for the Northern Champion. Had this meeting had electronic timing Dan Kevan would now officially have achieved his seasons long quest to break under the two minute barrier in the 800m. Unfortunately and sadly this was not the case as his official time was 2:00:0. Unofficially Danny knows he clocked 1:59:94 and should use this as his motivation over the close season to work hard in training to achieve this. Tom Bolan Ashworth gave his usual no nonsense approach in collecting 3 victories on the day with the most impressive in the 400m B race where Tom ran fractionally outside his personal best some four seconds ahead of the rest of the field. Danny Whittaker showed what we have been missing in the men’s side all season, an out and out sprinter. Danny performed outstandingly in the 100m claiming victory in a seasons best time of 11.0 and led the men’s 4x100m relay squad to a rather impressive victory something they have failed to do all season. Another of this season’s signings Phil West showed his commitment to the team - not only competing in the 3000m steeplechase but also in the 5000m finishing fourth in both. Mike O’Neill dusted off his track spikes once again to compete in the 5000m. It is always pleasing to see old friends again and people such as Mike, who are loyal to the club and team, come out and compete such competitively.
To the women’s team now, and I want to begin with the three debutants. Firstly Lisa Wilkinson who ran well in the 400m hurdles and then showed the attitude with which the Northern League side is built upon, by competing in the high jump to cover places on the team sheet before leading the women’s 4x100 off to a hard fought victory. Becky Oakes ran a personal best in the 400m and led the women’s 4x400 relay side off to a closely fought 4th place finish. Lastly Melissa Forrest, not yet 15 until the end of the month, ran outstandingly well in the 200m B race. Running against athletes more than 5 years her senior, Melissa showed the masses of potential she possesses in running 26.5 to cruise to victory. With more training and a structured plan I cant see why Melissa cant become a force in Great Britain and achieve great things.
Jane Chadwick gave her usual fully committed 100% performance to run exceptional victories in both the 100m and 400m before leading home both relay teams. Kayleigh Hill again ran well in both sprint events battling well to gain victories in both as well as running legs in both relays. Both athletes with a strong winter's training will undoubtedly run even better next season. Kathryn Culshaw, who is the only female athlete to have competed at all four Northern League fixtures gave strong performances in both the 3000m and the 1500m and has now established herself as one of the athletes who make up the back bone of the team. Another junior making her second appearance of the season was Jess Parr. Jess filled the need of the team for a specialist jumper and in her second outing showed her worth by finishing fourth in both the long and triple jump. Still only under seventeen Jess has a bright future in these events. After a girl's holiday and one days rest and recovery Rebecca Holgate turned out and showed her loyalty to the team to compete well in the high jump. And finally to our throwing team of Kirsty Forsythe and Kim Halliwell. Both Kirsty and Kim covered all four throwing events and demonstrated the great team atmosphere in the squad and collected well over 30 points between them.
Even though we didn’t win the meeting and only came third this was my most pleasing match as manager. The atmosphere we had in the first match back in May which had filtered away last month at the Bolton match came flooding back with renewed vigour and enthusiasm. We have given ourselves a great opportunity to carry this forward and gain promotion in the play off match which in my eyes we fully deserve and can easily achieve with a full side out, full team sheets and everyone competing to their fullest potential. Such a team like Wigan shouldn’t be competing in this division and especially not along side clubs like Sutton and St Helens. I want to thank everyone for their efforts over the season it has been an awesome adventure but its not over yet and we need one more final push and assault to achieve our goal to win the play off final and bring some much deserved silverare back to the club.
Hope you all enjoyed the match, be good. Danny
ATHLETE OF THE MATCH - Carl “Skipper” Fletcher - for constant high quality performances, a new PB and the knowledge of the final hammer throw
"that got away" which would have gone over 50m.
PERFORMANCE OF THE DAY - Dan Kevan - for his, albeit unofficial performance, finally braking under the 2 minute barrier in the 800m.
SIGHT OF THE DAY - The teams new retro numbers - having forgotten the team numbers, we had pieces of A4 paper ripped in half with the numbers
scribbled on - very professional!
SOUND OF THE DAY - The team atmosphere and support - all day team members, friends and family were all shouting encouragement to each other
which held the team together and led us on in great spirit to the play-off final.
Men
| Event | "A" Competitor | "B" Competitor |
| 100M | Danny Whittaker (11.0) | Tom Bolan-Ashworth (11.5) |
| 200M | Tom O'Brien (22.7) | Danny Hind (23.7) |
| 400M | Chris Bryant (50.2) | Tom Bolan-Ashworth (50.7) |
| 800M | Chris Bryant (2:00.0) | Danny Kevan (2:00.0) |
| 1500M | Danny Griffiths (4:16.5) | Danny Kevan (4:27.3) |
| 3000M Steeplechase | Phil West (10:36.6) | |
| 5000M | Mike O'Neill (16:33.5) | Phil West (17:45.3) |
| 110M Hurdles | John Forshaw (18.2) | Danny Hind (19.1) |
| 400M Hurdles | Tom O'Brien (57.1) | Danny Hind (60.8) |
| Hammer | Carl Fletcher (42.42) | Dave Steele (32.83) |
| Discus | Carl Fletcher (46.03) | Mike Nicholson (26.52) |
| Javelin | Adrian Cawley (48.01) | Dave Steele (22.89) |
| Shot | Carl Fletcher (15.08) | Mike Nicholson (8.90) |
| Long Jump | John Forshaw (5.62) | Oliver Meaney (5.38) |
| Triple Jump | John Forshaw (11.90) | Oliver Meaney (11.26) |
| High Jump | Tom O'Brien (1.85) | John Forshaw (1.65) |
| 4x100M Relay | Whittaker/O'Brien/Bryant/Bolan-Ashworth | 44.3 |
| 4x400M Relay | O'Brien/Hind/Bolan-Ashworth/Bryant | 3:27.7 |
Women
| Event | "A" Competitor | "B" Competitor |
| 100M | Kayleigh Hill (12.7) | Jane Chadwick (12.8) |
| 200M | Kayleigh Hill (26.0) | Melissa Forrest (26.5) |
| 400M | Jane Chadwick (58.1) | Becky Oakes (71.7) |
| 1500M | Kathryn Culshaw (5:43.8) | |
| 3000M | Kathryn Culshaw (12:10.7) | |
| 400M Hurdles | Lisa Wilkinson (75.5) | |
| Hammer | Kirsty Forsyth (25.44) | Kim Halliwell (18.07) |
| Discus | Kim Halliwell (25.06) | Kirsty Forsyth (20.08) |
| Javelin | Kim Halliwell (13.43) | Kirsty Forsyth (10.14) |
| Shot | Kim Halliwell (8.52) | Kirsty Forsyth (6.16) |
| Long Jump | Jess Parr (4.39) | |
| Triple Jump | Jess Parr (9.59) | |
| High Jump | Becky Holgate (1.40) | Lisa Wilkinson (1.20) |
| 4x100M Relay | Forrest, Wilkinson, Hill, Chadwick | 51.0 |
| 4x400M Relay | Wilkinson, Chadwick, Oakes, Hill | 4:28.1 |
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