Preston Harriers junior track & field team had to take part in a promotion play-off match at Wigans Robin Park arena last Sunday. Harriers had competed in the highly competitive Northern Premier Division, but this division also involved four Scottish composite teams too. But a second to bottom placing in the clubs first season at this higher level meant that Harriers had to face a play-off with the regional feeder division top teams from the Humber, Mersey and Pennine leagues.

The winners and runners-up of the play-off would then take their places in the Northern Premier for 2011, so it was all to gain for Harriers who were determined to retain the status achieved at the end of the 2009 season.

The result was never really in doubt though at a sunny, but windswept track. Prestons team took hold of the match from the first few events and kept adding the points on. Despite the loss of the pole vault, because of the wind, all other events took place, even though the high jump bar had to be kept hold of until the last moment by the officials, as the athletes came in for their jump! Those on the track running into the teeth of the wind down the back straight really had to work hard too.

All the team contributed and were extremely supportive of each other and the team, ensuring events were filled as the day went on and the lead steadily grew. Harriers can take confidence from this final meeting and, with the club being able to host a home fixture at the UCLan (Preston) arena in 2011 this should hopefully reduce the commitment of the trips to Scotland in next years` fixtures. Promoted clubs are unable to host in their first season and this can put clubs at a disadvantage with the travel commitment.

The final result saw Preston achieve 550 pts, and 2nd were Wakefield Harriers, with 496 pts and therefore promoted. Doncaster were 3rd with 472 pts, City of York 4th with 283 ptsand Leeds City 5th with 188 pts.

Following on from her fine performance at the North West Combined Events Championships on 14th and 15th August Preston Harriers athlete Hannah Lupton has been invited to represent England in the Home Countries Combined Events International at Stoke on the 4th & 5th September.  The same weekend younger sister Amy is representing the North West of England throwing Javelin at Gateshead in the UK School Games and her younger sister Emily will be competing for Preston Harriers in the national finals of the Young Athlete's league held at the Sports City stadium in Manchester.

In the England Athletics U15 and U17 championships held at Bedford this on 21st and 22nd August Preston Harriers' athlete Emily Lupton was awarded the gold medal in the U15 girls discus. Emily opened her competition with a superb throw of 36.81m and followed this up with further fine throws of 36.01m and 35.63m in the final rounds.

The Welsh champion Awen Rosser from Carmarthen finished in second place with a best throw of 33.94m and Sophie Merritt of Southampton finished third with 33.71m. Emily still leads the UKA rankings for U15 girls' discus with her throw of 37.48m at Leigh earlier in the year when winning the North of England AA title.

Rachael Scott produced a fine performance in the second heat of the U15 girls' 800m finishing fourth in a time of 02:19.71 to secure one of the fastest losers spots and qualify for the final where she finished 7th in a time of 02:22.23.

Luke Penswick gained valuable experience running in the second heat of the U15 boys 800m. Competing in his first year as an U15 boy, Luke ran 2:10.24, just 3 seconds outside his best time.

The Darwen Gala fell race took place last weekend from Bold Venture Park, which at least means runners get a bit of a start on the climb to Darwen Tower, as the park is perched above the town! Conditions were good, a bright sunny day with a cool breeze.  The final competitive junior race of the Fell Runners Association Championship also took place and Dan Whitlock ran in the U14 race. Presentations follow at a special event in Broughton-in-Furness in September.  The seniors race, over 3.7m and 900` of climb saw a determined run from Kingsley Judd in his first race and he did well to maintain a strong placing with the second group of front runners. Calum Rowett pushed well on the second climb and he was not far behind Kingsley. Despite a calf niggle that slowed her down, Nichola Jackson was 3rd U18 and was 2nd in the combined Lancashire Championship race.  George Arnold, vet 70, thoroughly enjoyed his run too. A few runners ended up going astray despite the course being marked out fairly well.

At the North West Combined Events Open meeting last weekend Preston Harriers athletes were simply outstanding. One major highlight  was under 15 Rhiann Beaumont scoring a new overall pb of 2791 points, an improvement of  210 points, taking her into 12th in the uk rankings, and into the top 50 of all time in the event! A Long Jump put her into an early lead & in the Hurdles, Rhiann finished third fastest and dropped to second. Rhiann won the next event, the Shot Putt, and moved back into the lead, won the high jump to extend that lead, and did enough finishing 6th in the 800metres to stave off any challenge, finishing with overall victory by over 150 points.

Also in the under 15 girls, first year Ella Roberts finished in 9th place, with a score of 2175, a little short of her best, but with a long jump pb on the way to that score.

In the Under 15 Boys, Curtis Mitchell had the unluckiest result of the weekend, setting a meeting record with his long jump of 5.92m, he finished with a fine total of 2430 points (also a pb) but a single point behind the eventual winner! Luke Farnworth picked up a new shot pb of 8.89m and  Tom Booth broke the 5m mark in long jump for the first time as well as two further individual bests in shot and 800m - on his way to a new overall pb.

Warm and overcast conditions greeted over 280 runners for the Chernobyl 10k from The Welcome Tavern at Walton Park on Sunday. The event raises funds by the M&C Ribble Valley Group and the work after the Chernobyl disaster still goes on.

Preston Harriers men won the team prize, with a characteristic strong showing from Gary Pennington who was 2nd in 34.07, behind Steve Littler (Wesham); however Gary was complaining of feeling unwell before the race, and the six bottles of wine as his prize no doubt raised his spirits!

Last weekend saw a 14 strong Preston Harrier contingent take the challenge of the Wagon & Horses 10 miler starting and finishing on the banks of the River Lune, Lancaster. Rob Affleck showed his marathon strength with a steady start and then moving up a gear in the second half to claim 5th overall in 58.12.

Christopher Tully, in training for the Nottingham Marathon, was next in with a creditable 61.19 with Neil McDonald pushing him to the line in 61.28. Gema Adams was rewarded for her efforts with 2nd lady in 67.07, an excellent result for her and showing she is on the way back to good form. Andy Grimshaw had a strong run for his 70.28 and 43rd. Stephen Mort, 47th, had an encouraging time of 70.48, Russell Codd was 48th in 70.58 & Stephen Young 64th in 74.22.

HARRIERS AVOID RELEGATION

Nothing but a huge effort from Preston Harriers in their final league match would see them avoid relegation from the Premier League of the North. Going into the match Harriers were in 4th place in the league on 10 league points, just one league point behind Blackpool and one ahead of both City of York and Wakefield. Any 2 teams of the 4 could have been relegated.

The match was very close with Blackpool, Preston and Wakefield changing positions all the way through the afternoon with City of York rooted to the bottom of the match and resigned to relegation. The culmination of the day in an exciting & enthralling climax was the Relays and the Women’s Javelin, and the positions were Blackpool 278.5 points 3rd, Wakefield 278 points 4th and Preston Harriers 272 points 5th and in the dreaded relegation spot.