Fylde coast junior athletics review

At a muddy Towneley Park there were a dozen junior BWF runners in six categories.

Gracie Scott and Holly Tickle ran in the under-11 race, finishing 28th (8:57) and 48th (9:22) over the two-lap 2km course, while in the boys’ race Alex Maude was seventh (7:57).

On the 2.7km course for under-13 girls, Lucy Tickle was 20th (10:56) and Bethany Whipp 31st (11:31).

Luke Rawcliffe was 23rd (11:51) and Jonny Goodacre 50th (13:34) in the under-13 boys’ race over 3.3km.

On the same course, Danielle Whipp was ninth (12:00) and Hollie Winstanley 14th (12:41) in the under-15 girls’ race.

Finally, the under-15 boys’ trio of James Smith (13th, 14:36), Jack Tickle (15th, 14:43) and Joe Lund (17th, 14:47) were the fourth-placed team over the 4km course.

It was a lot warmer and there was definitely no mud inside the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.

Among the squad of BWFAC athletes competing were three under-17s.

Morgan Lilley competed in both the 400m and 200m races, qualifying for both finals and finishing fifth in each.

Bradley Parsons is a first year under-17 and was pleased to qualify for the semi-final of the 60m in 7.65. He ran the same time in the final for fourth place.

In the 200m, Bradley was edged out of the final by team-mate Morgan.

Jess Aziz recorded 8.65 in the 60m but did not qualify.

Lytham St. Annes Road Runners juniors were able to sample the best of the January weather for their early afternoon cross country races at Towneley Park in Burnley on Saturday.

The attractive venue saw record turnouts of under-11s, high turnouts of under-13s and fair numbers of under-15s, with a dozen athletes from LSARR competing in all three age groups as a dozen athletes from the club formed three full teams

In the under-11 category, there were 79 runners in the girls’ race and 74 in the boys’, some of them no older than eight.

The 2km course entailed two circuits of the field, which was muddy and uneven in parts.

Fastest of Lytham girls was Sophie Bohannon, who came second in her race in 7mins. 37secs.

Jessica Ramsden ran 9.22s and Hebe Tierney 9.31 as the team finished seventh.

Katie Bremner bravely tried out the sport and finished in 9.48.

In the tough boys’ race, the competitors showed gritty determination and George Denye was the first back for Lytham in sixth place.

Morgan Pritchard was 36th and Eric Wrigley, 60th as the team finished eighth.

This gave them three points towards their league tally and LSA are in mid-table.

Two girls represented the club in the Under-13 2.7k course.

Sydney Ramsden finished 41st, followed by Rebecca Tate in 59th. Lytham’s oldest girls competed in the under-15s race. Along with the under-13 boys they ran around the perimeter of all three fields for a total of 3.2k.

The three ran well to come third team and gain a very useful eight points, which carries them four places higher in the league.

Laura Bremner was 22nd in 13.52, Lucy Bohannon 25th in 14:35 and Holly Anderson 27th in 15.57

Kirkham Grammar Junior School pupil Alex Maude took part in the fourth Mid- Lancs Cross Country League fixture at Towneley Park in Burnley.

On a sunny but bitterly cold day, Alex completed the under-11 boys’ course in 7:57 to finish in seventh place out of 74 runners.

Senior School pupil, Darcey Lonsdale took part in the under-15 girls’ race, finishing fifth out of 28 in 11:24.

The penultimate fixture of the season will take place at Rossall School next month.

The previous weekend saw a number of KGS pupils take part in the Lancashire Cross Country Championships. One notable performance came from senior school pupil Ben Preddy who completed the under-15 boys’ course in 12:47 to take second place and win the silver medal. It is a busy time for cross country, with the schools’ championships taking place this week.