Sun 29 April 2018 Preston Harriers under 20 & under 17 team outclassed their opponents by recording 41 event victories to convincingly win their first League match at Bebington by 195 points, scoring 795 points against 600 points for second placed Wirral AC. The venue ‘The Oval’ was the track used in the film ‘Chariots of Fire’ (1981) which was a British historical drama film. It tells the fact-based story of two athletes in the 1924 Olympics: Eric Liddell, a devout Scottish Christian who runs for the glory of God, and Harold Abrahams, an English Jew who runs to overcome prejudice. It was sad to see that the stands at the track are now closed and unsafe.
Harriers’ track athletes showed their class with the under 20 men winning all but one of the ten races run over distances of 100m to 1500m. The victorious athletes were Alex Marsden & Declan Taylor (100m), Joshua Leatherd & George Reed (200m), Leon Stubbs & Harry Curwood (400m), Niall Higham (800m) with Kian Davis & Matias Grixti in the 1500m. They then won the 4 x 100 and the 4 x 400m relays. Further wins in the under 20 men’s age group were recorded by Ed Coles in the 110m Hurdles and Lewis Ormerod & Chris Brown in the javelin bringing a total of 15 wins.
The under 20 women’s age group saw wins for Annie Duffy and Hannah Mullholland in the 800m, Blythe Fourie in the 1500m steeplechase and the 4 x 400m relay team. There were thirteen wins in the under 17 men’s team, with Liam Blackwell recording victories in the 400m & 1500m, while Tom Roberts & Harry Everett (800m), Matthew Fazakerley (1500m), Ben Preddy & Lack Campy (3000m), Euan Marsden (1500m steeplechase), Ethan Tibbs (triple jump), Will Lancaster (discus), Alex Berstein (hammer), Harvey Noble (javelin) and the 4 x 400m relay team were the other winners.
There were nine wins in the under 17 women’s age group. They were Lela Bendris (300m), Emma Fulton & Kate Danby (800m), Darcy Lonsdale & Sophie Reid (1500m) Juliet Sherrington (1500m steeplechase), Abbey Codarin (Hammer), Lauren Tunstall & Anna Tankard (Javelin).
Promotion and the return of the team back to the Premier League is looking very likely with two more fixtures to go.