MHAC Track and Field End of Season Report 2023
Where does the time go? We have reached the end of another exciting T&F season,
with great performances witnessed at the World Championships, the Diamond
League events, and ….. the Cheshire League! While members have gone on to
participate in International events previously, it is just as pleasing to see our new
starters (young and not so young) enjoying their first season of T&F in the Cheshire
League. Congratulations and many thanks to everyone who competed or
volunteered as an official, team manager or helper at our fixtures this year and to the
coaches for their dedicated support of the athletes. Particular thanks to Michael
Thorley for his great work recruiting and managing our T&F Officials. We had
around 120 athletes compete and more than 40 officials/volunteers contributing at
the fixtures across the season. It was particularly pleasing to see more than 70
athletes at the final league fixture of the season at Macclesfield on 3 September.
Macclesfield take part in three T&F leagues. In the Youth Development League, for
U13 and U15 athletes, Macclesfield finished a creditable 5th out of seven teams in
the Northern West 2 division. Samuel Savage, Alex McLaren and Tristan Lamprecht
competed in all four rounds of the league, and along with Robbie, Lizzie, Lara and
Lauren (who competed in 3 rounds), gained valuable points for the team. In addition,
Samuel and Tristan picked up wins in several events including shot, HJ and 800m
(Samuel) and javelin, HJ and 80mH (Tristan), with Lizzie, Tomas and Daniel also
securing wins. It is a credit to all who competed, even if only in one match, that the
team managed 5th place against strong competition. Hopefully in 2024, more athletes
will take part in the away fixtures.
In the Northern League for seniors, upper U17s and U20s, Macclesfield finished in
7th place overall in the West 1S division, therefore will be relegated to West 2S in
2024. While we had great performances from those athletes who competed,
unfortunately we were thin on the ground, due in part to the league rule change not
allowing lower age U17s to participate. Special mention to Laurence Manley, Charlie
Bird and Ashley Pritchard for competing and scoring well in every round, but also all
who turned out regularly to support the club including Jasyn, Joseph, Emma, Faye,
and Sally Ann.
The Cheshire league covers all age groups, with the U13-Seniors scoring together
and the U11s separately. A good turnout of junior athletes and great performances at
all 4 rounds saw the teams place 1st, 2nd or 3rd in each round (final league standings
awaited). In this league the best throw, jump, sprint and middle distance
performance across all teams is highlighted at each match. Macclesfield athletes
won the best throw award at all 4 matches, with Ashley, Robbie and Tristan for the
javelin and Samuel for his discus which was also judged best male performance
overall in that round. For the U11Bs, Oscar Furness, Ben Hunsley and George Allen
competed in all 4 rounds, with Gus and Ben recording several 1st places in the 600m
(Gus) and LJ (Ben) in their first year with the club. For the U11Gs, Tilly Matthews, Emma Bedoya and Georgia Evans competed in all 4 rounds, with many U11s
improving their performances in each round. The U15B and U13G were also
regularly out in force at these events and the U17M secured clean sweeps in the
1500m at two matches.
Thirty six athletes made the trip to Ellesmere Port in mid May for the Cheshire T&F
championships. Once again our athletes didn’t disappoint with many gaining
multiple medals, including Hayden Blunn, now in the U20 age group, repeating last
years’ achievement with 5 golds! Other multiple gold medal winners were Gus
Fisher (U11 600m and LJ) and Samuel Savage (U13B shot and discus). Overall,
Macclesfield athletes gained 15 gold, 7 silver and 15 bronze (if I’ve calculated
correctly – feel free to check the results and let me know if not: Results
(thepowerof10.info) )
A number of individual performances at regional and National championships should
be celebrated also. Three Macclesfield Harriers qualified for the prestigious English
Schools Championships: Hayden Blunn (senior shot), Rebecca Dilworth (senior
800m) and Lizzie Pendrill (junior 75m hurdles). Hayden (2022 ESAA HJ champion)
opted for the shot put this time, recording an excellent throw of 12.80m. Rebecca
had a great run setting a PB with 2min 12.68 secs. In her first English Schools competition, Lizzie gained great experience with a 12.24sec recording in the junior 75m hurdles.
Hayden also picked up 3 bronze medals at the Northern Championships in the HJ,
Shot Put and the 110m hurdles in his first year in the U20 age group. Jake Rowley
did well to secure 4th in both the 400m and 800m at the Northern Championships in
his first year in the U17 age group.
In the UK Masters T&F champs at Derby in September, two Macclesfield ladies
secured silver medals – Charlie Bird was second in the V35 hammer with a throw of
36.05m, while Faye Sharpley recorded a PB of 2min 21.11secs to take the silver
medal in the V35 800m.
Many longstanding T&F club records were broken in 2024 and some a number of
times –Millie Egerton set a new U17W club record in hammer three times in 2024,
ending the season with a throw of 37.94m. Samuel Savage (U13 shot and discus),
Lizzie Pendrill (U15 75m hurdles), Hayden Blunn (U20 shot) and Rebecca Dilworth
(U20 800m) also set new records in the Junior age groups. Well done all!
Lizzie Pendrill achieved a AAA Grade 1 standard (in the top 7.5% of performances in
the UK) in the 75mHurdles with a time of 11.7secs, which ranked her 19
th in the UK in this event. Others who just missed the Grade 1 levels were Rebecca Dilworth
(800m U20, PB and club record of 2min12.68secs), Jake Rowley (400m U17 PB
51.63), and Samuel Savage (U13B shot put PB and club record of 9m 21cm).
Well done to everyone who competed in T&F in 2023 – every single personal best is
an achievement to be celebrated and a target to aim for next season. Make sure to
note the fixtures in your calendar early in the New Year and let’s see if we can get
back to pre-covid numbers competing in the county championships and leagues in
2024.
Barbara Murray, Track and Field Manager, October 2023
Links to T&F League results:
YDL: https://www.ukydl.org.uk/page10.html
Northern League: https://www.northernathletics.co.uk/track-field-league/
Cheshire League: Cheshire T&F League 2023 (cheshireaa.com)