Athletics

A host of South Holland youngsters featured in the second in the series of Junior Sportshall Athletics events at the B-Hive Indoor Athletics Training Centre on Saturday. In the under-15 girls’ group, captain of the “Explosive Rockets” team Megan Reid cleared 2.02m in the standing long jump. She also achieved a maximum possible 60 seconds in the balance test and ...

Runners from Spalding’s Halmer Harriers ran their own version of the Peterborough Great Eastern Run over the weekend. Six members of the club wanted to earn the medal they were awarded for being contestants in the original run, which was cancelled the previous weekend. Those in action were Dawn Allen (2.30.40hrs), Vanessa Smithson (2.30.40hrs), Di Lettice (2.30.40hrs), Alexandra Gills (2.20.00hrs) ...

Despite the disappointment of Sunday’s PGER half-marathon being cancelled, Halmer Harriers had athletes out in force over the weekend. Andy Hooker and Becki Richards represented the Spalding club at the Gruesome Twosome half-marathon, finishing in a combined time of 2.08.15hrs. The Anna’s Hope 5k event also saw a host of Harriers cross the finishing line. Karen Wallis ran a personal ...

Halmer Harriers member Carly Wilkinson ran the 5k and 10k at the Bournemouth Marathon festival… on the same day! Wilkinson clocked 32.02mins and 1.02.46hrs respectively in the two events on Saturday, with the 10k contested first. This comes two weeks after the member of the Spalding-based running club ran 31k in two days at the Disneyland Paris Run Weekend, running ...

By BARRY WARNE The Nene Valley Harriers end of season club night featured a series of graded 800m races – and the main event was a two-lap classic. Peterborough AC’s Benji Davis and Nene Valley’s Sean Reidy crossed the line neck and neck in 2.00.7mins, but the nod went to Davis who had chased Reidy down the home straight catching ...

South Holland-based members of Boston and District Athletic Club chalked up new personal best (PB) track and field performances in their latest outings. In the penultimate Turnbull Tommy Clay Track and Field Development Series event last week, Megan Reid was third in the long jump (4.03m), recorded 15.5secs in the 100m and threw 5.83m in the shot. Representing Lincolnshire at ...

Nene Valley Harrier Lydia Church was in seventh heaven after being one of 43 athletes selected for the Great Britain team competing at November’s World Para Athletics Championship in Doha. The 20-year-old shot putter will join 11 reigning world champions from London 2017, including ten-time world gold medallist Hannah Cockroft and sprinting sensation Jonnie Peacock, on the plane to Qatar. ...

Members of Spalding-based Halmer Harriers had a very busy weekend. On Saturday, the club took over Crowland Park Run – with members assuming various jobs from organising car parking and being racer director to marshalling. Sunday then saw four members run the Newton Fraction half-marathon in Grantham. They were Ade Mills (1.53.44hrs), Andrew Hooker (1.54.28hrs), Rebecca Richards (1.55.04hrs) and Marie ...

The Nene Valley Harriers under-17 girls’ track and field team were celebrating after winning the East Anglia League finals at Bury St Edmunds on Sunday, writes BARRY WARNE. In doing so the talented squad completed a notable double after winning the league last month. There were wins for Katie Calcut and Keira Gilman in the B sprints, with Calcut clocking ...

Nene Valley Harriers’ Lydia Church threw her hat into the ring for Paralympic selection after winning shot put gold on her international debut in Paris last Friday. As a partially sighted athlete, Church competes in the F12 disability category, as well as starring for Nene Valley’s track and field league teams. Her goal is to represent Great Britain in the ...

Two South Holland athletes impressed for Boston and District Athletics Club in the final Humberside League match of the season at Scunthorpe on Saturday. Despite the windy conditions, Megan Reid produced a new personal best high jump as she cleared 1.30m for the first time. This was a timely improvement for Reid in view of her selection to compete for ...

Boston and District Athletics Club’s South Holland athletes impressed at the latest round of the Turnbull Tommy Clay Track and Field Development Series. The competitors enjoyed warm and still weather conditions – giving them every opportunity to record good late summer season performances. In the Lincolnshire under-15 girls’ triple jump championship (included in the programme) Megan Reid won the silver ...

By Barry Warne Nene Valley Harriers sprinter Claire Smith won gold and silver at the British Masters Track and Field Championships staged in Birmingham over the weekend – while husband Julian also appeared on the podium with 400m bronze. Claire Smith won her gold in the over-40s 400m with a 62.74secs clocking, and also picked up bronze over 200m in ...

Halmer Harrier Diane Morris finished as third overall female at the gruelling Sublime Twenty4 Ultramarathon at the weekend. Morris completed an incredible 80 miles at the event, which saw competitors take on 6.7 mile loops of the same course in a 24-hour window from 12pm on Saturday until 12pm on Sunday. The Spalding athlete ran through the night with no ...

Youngster Jack Clark-Atkins stole the show at the latest round of the Tommy Clay Track and Field Development series with a win treble. The under-11 Boston and District Athletic Club member won the ball throw in particularly impressive fashion and measured 35.53m, while in the high jump he cleared 1.05m. Clark-Atkins’ third win came in the 80m sprint after recording ...

Spalding-based Halmer Harriers boasted a great turnout for the Heckington ten-mile road race. Some 16 members completed the course, with Martin Wells (1.11.31hrs) comfortably the quickest. Other times: Ade Mills 1.23.01hrs; Rebecca Richards 1.24.15hrs; Marie Sampson 1.28.48hrs; Julie Thorold 1.37.14hrs; Alison Louis 1.44.21hrs; Tim Baxter 1.44.42hrs; Di Lettice 1.44.40hrs; Vanessa Smithson 1.47.47hrs; Jennifer Maltby 1.51.42hrs; Fiona Thomas 1.51.29hrs; Carly Wilkinson ...

Nene Valley athletes enjoyed a pole vault clean sweep in their Southern Athletics League Division One fixture at Bracknell. Finishing third behind the host club and a strong Southampton AC outfit, the Harriers were indebted to their jumpers and vaulters with wins in both the triple and long jumps too. Angus Bowling won the men’s pole vault with a clearance ...

Nene Valley’s Donovan Capes won Shot gold at the English Schools Track and Field Championship held in Birmingham at the weekend, writes Barry Warne. Capes, a member of the great shot put dynasty begun by his grandfather Geoff, was too hot for his rivals, winning the junior boys shot put with a throw of 14.94, well clear of the rest. ...

Halmer Harriers kicked off their July competition with two of their ladies putting in strong showings. Louise Southgate completed a super sprint duathlon in 45.43mins for the Spalding-based club, while Natasha Ladbrook took on the Ferry Meadows 10k event and finished in a time of 1.04.08hrs.

By Barry Warne It’s taken him nearly 40 years, but Nene Valley Harriers’ distance runner Paul Parkin has finally won a national medal. The 55-year old has been competing locally since the 1980s, first for Holbeach AC and then Nene Valley. He has a 68-minute half marathon to his name and finished second in the Great Eastern Run in 1992. ...