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A strong contingent from the club braved the TT traffic and traveled over to round two hosted by Salford on Saturday 4th June . On a mainly sunny and hot day with an occassional gusting wind there were some good performances. Many of the members of the Island Games squad traveled just a few weeks before the trip to the IOW with the welcome return of Gemma and Sarah Astin to the track.

The highlights of the day were when Reagan Dee cleared 1.70 in the women’s High Jump and set a new under 17 Manx record also an all time record height exceeding those is set for the older age groups. Harriet Pryke also broke Julie Harrison/Moore’s senior women’s 400 metres Manx record set in 1995 in a time of 54.9. Full results are on the Northern Athletics site here Thanks to Alan Franklin

Sunday 1st May at Forest Road, Hainault, Essex- Junior Women 10k Lauren Whelan winner in 54.40; U20 10k Adam Cowin was 4th in 57.22; U17 5k Alex Eaton winner in a p.b. time of 26.03. Juan Bellando was 3rd in a new p.b. of 28.04. James Green recorded 28.54. Manx Harriers took the team title; U17 5k Alexandra Ross was 2nd in 29.20 and Danielle Oates 4th in 32.19. The U17 girls also won the team title; U15 3k Rebecca Greatbatch 5th place in 20.31.

Manx Harriers athletes were in action at the Inter Counties Cross Country Chamionships at Cofton Park, Birmingham on Saturday 5th March. Results as follows; Gail Griffiths 155/259; Ammon Yeardsley 110/298; Sarah Astin 58/260; Katie Astin 143/305; Danielle Barton 152/305; Ollie Lockley 121/285; Kevin Loundes 165/292. Full Results & Report by Dave Griffiths on the Manx Athletics forum

Manx Harriers at ‘the Nationals’ at Alton Towers on 19th February; SENIOR WOMEN; Gail Griffiths 110th, Rosy Craine 250th (out of 487) SENIOR MEN: Kevin Loundes 92nd, Martin Malone 198th, Ed Gumbley 268th, Gianni Epifani 287th, Nigel Armstrong 324th. Andy Fox 675th (out of 1302) U15 Boys; Ammon Yeardsley 124th, Stephen Garrett 160th, Oliver Dickinson 264th (out of 326) U13 Boys; Conor Davies 201 (out of 327) DNF’s; Sarah Astin, Gemma Astin & Sam Holt. Senior Mens team finished 20th out of 95- their highest ever placing beating previous best of 22nd in 2007. OFFICIAL RESULTS here

A small party of local athletes are travelled to Birmingham on 5th & 6th February to compete at the indoor track and field meeting . Rachel Franklin won a silver medal in the 1500m and you can watch a video of her race here. More coverage and links to results/video on the forum here.

Manx Harriers junior team members had an afternoon of fun athletics in the Judes Sportshall competition on Sunday. The team came second overall with some sterling performances by all the boys and girls in the well organised annual competition run by Western A.C. and held in memory of Judith Perriam. Thanks to Peter Kaneen for organising the Manx Harriers team and also to Di Shimell and Sinead Kaneen who also helped out with team management for the day. Don’t forget that junior sports hall training continues on Monday evenings from 6 pm. to 7 pm at St. Ninians Gymnasium. £1.50 per session. photos by Western AC

Lancashire have selected 7 Manx Harriers athletes for the Inter Counties Championships on 5th. March 2011. This is great for Manx Cross Country and Manx Harriers and shows our sport/club is producing athletes of a high standard. Those selected are :-

Under 13 Girls; Katie Astin, Danielle Barton: Under 15 Boys; Ammon Yeardsley: Under 17 Girls; Sarah Astin: Under 17 Men; Oliver Lockley: Senior Women; Gail Griffiths: Senior Men; Kevin Loundes. The event takes place at Cofton Park, Birmingham, on Saturday 5th March, and is televised live on Sky Sports. Best of luck to all in the race – and for the training and preparation over the next 8 weeks or so!!!

Due to the lack of a sensible date upon which to hold the postponed Cross Country League event from 6th December 2010 it has been decided to cancel the event. In order to complete the Manx Gas Challenge league athletes now need to complete 3 out of the 4 events. The Isle of Man Cross Country championships will now count as one event ie. the points for this event will not be double. The league organisers apologise for this situation. There are two events left in the 2010/11 league and so still plenty of opportunity for athletes to complete the league. Next winter season we plan to build in a reserve date within the calendar in case such an eventulaity occurs again. Also this season the final event on Sunday 13th February is now taking place at Ballannette which was also the venue for the first race of the season.