Horwich RMI travelled to Bury for their first Northern League match of the year.  This is the first time Horwich have competed in this league but with their growing strength in Track and Field there were some very good results on the day.

Horwich demonstrated their depth in talent right from the very first event with Becky Norris and Lauren Ashton contesting their usual battle over the long hurdles with both of them way ahead of the rest of the field.  The result on this occasion went to Becky by 0.1 of a second but with both athletes smashing the previous club record for 400m Hurdles by six seconds.  Given that both these athletes are only 15 they surely have a great future ahead of them.  For good measure Becky also gained a third in the 100m whilst Lauren was 3rd in the High Jump and 4th in the flat 400m both in personal best performances.

The men also had a very good day with the pick of the performances coming from Graham Schofield.  Using his strength gained from the fells and cross country he finished second over 5000m and was backed up by Lewis Higginson who set a new club record for an U17 over this distance.

Not to be outdone in the middle distances Joe Christopher also set new U17 club figures over 1500m and reduced his best by a whopping 9 seconds in the process.  Joe was backed up Chris Leigh who scored well in the ‘B’ string.  Pete Howarth came very close to setting a new U17 club record over 800m and in the process reduced his best at this distance by 7 seconds – no doubt his time will come later this season to take this record!

The sprinters found the conditions to their liking as personal bests were set.  Bruce Pilkington reduced again his club record over 400m to 53.0 and backed this up with a 24.4 second clocking over 200m.  Bruce was supported on this occasion by Josh Bettis who also produced a personal best over 400m of 54.9 and a solid 25.3 over 200m.  Josh then showed his talent for jumping by adding 20 centimetres to his best in the Long Jump.

In the field the ‘golden oldies’ showed the youngsters they could still do a thing or two with Carl Foster, Tony Nolan and Steve Pearson all picking up good points.  Steve ‘one hip’ Person also ran his first 800m for many years following a hip replacement, I’m sure he will go a lot quicker once the other hip is replaced!

Finally Lewis, Josh, Joe and Bruce came together in the 4 x 400m to produce a club U17 record.

Full Results :-

Based at the excellent facilities at Bolton Arena, Horwich RMI have a rapidly expanding Track and Field section.  If you have an interest in Track and Field and would like to have go Horwich RMI can offer specialist coaching and competition for all ages from 11 to 111!

If you are interested please contact Steve Pearson on 01204 303295 to find out more.