Four of the club's 6 squads had successfully qualified for the NW Sportshall League Finals on Sunday, and everyone who was able to turn out in the U11 and U15 teams put in strong performances.

Under 11s

The Under 11s meeting took place in the morning with the boys and girls competing at events they'd mastered during the league, as well as some new events which are reserved for the finals.

For the girls, the team of Hannah Martin, Sophie Wignal, Kate Shaw, Jessie McCleana and Elin Brooks took part in the individual races first of all, before moving onto the field events. The team finished fifth overall, with the larger turnouts from other teams being decisive. But with strong individual performances, including 1st place for Sophie in the foam javelin, and 3rd place for Jessie in the chest push, they can all be very proud of their performances.

The boys team comprised 6 athletes, Lewis Wilson, Kai Cairns, Charlie Larkin, Jacob Fitsimon, Charlie Ashbrook and Luke Simpson. Again up against large squads, the boys took 4th place overall. Lewis placed 1st in the vertical jump, Jacob was third in standing triple jump and a four-man team took on the Under and Over relay and took 3rd place.

Under 15s

The afternoon session for U13s and U15s was another busy session, though with no club U13 squads making it to the final it was up to the U15 teams to represent the club and also compete for individual medals which are awarded in the U15 category only.

The girls squad comprised Chloe Lea, Maddy Rowland, Libby Acton, Millie Sayers and Izzy Hurst and again the size of the other squads outweighed good individual performances from our athletes. Millie was able to take away a bronze medal for her performance in the vertical jump, and the team took 2nd place in the 4x1 lap relays whilst the team overall placed 5th.

Due to illness, the U15 boys team comprised just one athlete - Aidan Larkin. Proving that it is all about the taking part, and with small numbers from the other clubs, Aidan was clearly delighted to be able to take away 4 individual medals (3 bronze and 1 silver) for his performances across the 4 and 6 lap races, triple jump and shot. And to cap off a fine day, Aidan's performances resulted in the U15 boys team finishing in 4th place, beating Crewe & Nantwich into 5th!

The fixtures below have been arranged for the summer this year. To get the most out of your club membership, and to give something back to the coaches that give up their time to train athletes, please make sure you attend as many of these events as possible.

This is especially true of the Cheshire League matches which are very friendly, well organised and open to all abilities!

Get them in your diary now, and fingers crossed for a summer of gloriously sunny days by the side of an athletics track!!

Sun. 6th May Cheshire League 1 Ellesmere Port Open to All

Sat. 12th May County T&F Champs. Macclesfield Self Entry

Sun. 13th May County T&F Champs. Macclesfield Self Entry

Sat. 2nd June Cheshire League 2 Warrington Open to All (H & F Hosts)

Sat. 9th June Cheshire Schools Y8 & above Warrington Selection (School)

Mon. 25th June Cheshire Schools Y7 Warrington Selection (School)

Sun. 15th July Cheshire League 3 Crewe Open to All

Sun. 2rd September Cheshire League 4 Crewe Open to All

AGE GROUPS: Y4(9+)/5 – U11 Y6/7 – U13 Y8/9 – U15 Y10/11 – U17

There are ONLY 4 meetings for the club this year. Please try to make yourself available on these dates to support your club and coaches.

Information on all these events and open meetings will be posted on the club website www.hfh.org.uk, where you will also find the contact numbers for club officers.

As often at this time of year, there was a double-header of events for Harriers with cross country at Boggart Hole Clough on Saturday and NW Sportshall League on Sunday at Kingsway.  Special mention to Charlotte, Beth, Joseph and Aidan for representing the club at both matches!

Full results of both events are now online:-

Cross country - https://www.race-results.co.uk/results/2017/maccl172.htm

Sportshall - http://www.sportshall.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Widnes-Red-2.pdf

Manchester Area XC League - Boggart Hole Clough

Whilst the weather was sunny and calm on the day, the heavy rains in recent days had ensured that Boggart lived up to its reputation of being possibly the muddiest event on the MACCL calendar.

Harry and Aidan got the racing off to a fine start in the U11s, with Harry making his debut for the club in the Manchester Laegue.  Harry ran strongly to finish 54th overall in 10:09, and Aidan ran with the U11s to finish in 65th in a time of 12:38.

The U13s then were the first to tackle the notoriously muddy section through the woods with the boys and girls racing together.

Matt was the first Harrier through the tape in a fine 29th place and a time of 12:35.  Charlotte was the first Harrier girl to finish, backing up her strong performance at the previous round placing 13th in a symmetrical 13:13.  Sister Beth came through next in a time of 13:47 in 28th place. 

Joseph was the second male Harrier finisher, completing the course in 14:37 and placing 49th. 

Ellie battled hard after taking a tumble on possibly the only hard surfaced part of the course and ran well through the line to finish 83rd in a time of 16:00 with plenty of runners still to finish.

In the U17s, Ben looked to have put in his best placed finish of the season crossing the line in 4th place.  However, since the race it transpired some of the leaders had been sent the wrong way so we are awaiting a final adjudication on the result from the officials.

Son and dad Chris and Matt lined up with 491 others in the final race of the day with the course already well churned up.  Chris ran a well executed race and placed 4th U20 in a time of 35:38 (32nd overall) to place him well in the season's overall League competition.  Matt took a little longer in his first season through the mud, placing 257th in a time of 43:54 (27th V45).

Next time...

The next Manchester League XC race is at Kenworthy Woods in Wythenshawe on 2nd December.  If you haven't yet raced over cross country but can't wait to get a little muddy (!) or get some practice in ahead of the Cheshire County Champs at Delamere in the New Year, get in touch with Nick Massey to sign up for the remaining races in the League - no entries on the day though!

Sportshall Match 2

There was a big turnout both for the club and for Wirral and West Cheshire in particular as the club faced up against St Helens and Warrington too in the 2nd match of the NW Sportshall League on Sunday with some excellent team performances that still leave everything to play for in trying to get teams through to the NW League Finals in the New Year.

U11s

With 136 points, the U11 girls squad of Mia, Hannah, Ellen, Olivia, Katie, Jessie and Ruby gave great all around performances to finish the match in 3rd place overall.

The U11 boys also placed 3rd, narrowly missing out on 2nd spot scoring 168 points overall with Charlie, Oliver, Alex, Charlie, Jack, Jacob, Jack, Lewis and Kai demonstrating the advantages of a big squad.  They also took top points in the 2 lap race and chest push.

U13s

Jasmine, Charlotte and Beth represented the club in the U13 girls match, but with limited numbers even their excellent performances meant they left the match with 92 points in 5th place against much larger squads.  

The U13 boys placed one spot higher in 4th overall, just 3 points off 3rd position.  Ben, Joseph, Ewan and Harry all put in maximum effort, with Ewan's dominating performance in the 6 lap race a particular highlight.

U15s

103 points were secured by the U15 girls team of Maddy, Millie, Libby and Chloe to grab 3rd place in the match, including maximum points in the 6 lap races.

In the U15 boys, the solo team of Aidan took on a full squad from West Cheshire.  Demonstrating the benefits of participation, Aidan racked up 60 points single-handedly to take 2nd place in the match for the club.

Next time...

On 3rd December its another double-header weekend as the 3rd match of the NW Sportshall League takes place, also at Kingsway in Widnes.

By our reckoning, every squad has a great chance of making the finals in the New Year, so please put the dates in your diaries to get as many athletes out as possible so we don't leave any points on the table!

Thanks to all the parents, officials and club organisers without whom our athletes wouldn't be able to put in such great performances!!  Well done everyone!

To help manage attendance at races this winter, the club is trialling a free app called "Teamer" which uses text messages and emails as well as a free app and website to communicate with athletes.  If its successful, we would probably start using it for other events such as T&F matches and Sportshall events.  

Not only does it help team managers get in touch with athletes and make sure that reminders about upcoming events get through, it can also help to keep records of who has attended competitions throughout the year.

As a first step, if you are a parent or athlete who is registered for the Manchester Area XC League this year, please can you click on the appropriate link below to "join" the team.  If there are multiple athletes in the same squad, you'll need to do this twice, and if you've got multiple children in different age groups you'll need to click the link for both age groups.

And if you have any difficulties or queries on it, contact Matt!

U11B - http://tinyurl.com/y94lt3ev

U13B - http://tinyurl.com/y8o35x7w

U13G - http://tinyurl.com/ybs526m5

U17B - http://tinyurl.com/y8bnjdjz

U20M - http://tinyurl.com/ybczgsqw

Senior Men - http://tinyurl.com/y82rfrwx