Michael Rimmer made the GB team for the World Championships in Beijing after a miraculous recovery to his season and a superb qualifying time. That the 800m has moved on in the last couple of years was exemplified by the growing list of new rising talent. Michael went out in a tactical heat finishing fourth in 1.48.70 in spite of a courageous sprint to the line. At 29 the question now is `What next for Michael Rimmer?. For those of us who would have liked to see him tackle the 1500m seriously that possibility now presents itself. Nevertheless Michael has done his club proud and remains our most distinguished distance runner ever.
In the Inter-counties match at Blackburn Kai Finch(Merseyside) demonstrated his resilience after a relatively poor performance in the previous week`s Northern Championships. He sailed over 1.70m for a reassuring win in the U15 High Jump competition and repeated the height the following day at an open meeting in Warrington. Sadie McNulty jumped 1.40m in the same meet. There was a big win at Under 17 for Jenny Pyatt (Cheshire) who threw the Discus 38.03m. Jenny is still on her journey to that tantalising 40m barrier.
The ubiquitous Kirsty Longley finished 32nd in the Birchwood 10K but 1st Lady in 38.03. Other females must be getting tired of seeing her rapidly disappear, often out of sight.
Eddie Bairstow reports on the Trafford Open Meeting…
Four LPS athletes travelled over to Trafford on Tuesday for the last of their open meetings this summer. They were rewarded with superb weather for distance running.
Sean Kirkbride set off first in the 800m B race.Sean went through the bell with the pack in around 59.4s.With 200m to go Sean started his kick but lost momentum going round another runner.Holding his form, he raced hard down the home straight to nip inside two minutes in 1.59.61 for 6th place, his fastest time since 2012.
The men’s A race in the open 1500m saw Harry Doran, Kyle Nicholls and Jonathon Bride line up, for Harry in his 2nd ever 1500m it was a chance to continue learning his craft in middle distance running. The opening three laps saw Harry and Kyle settle into the pack, with Kyle just inches behind Harry. It was unclear whether Harry’s speed or Kyle’s endurance would triumph on the night. At 1200 metres Harry upped his pace and moved up the field to finish 8th in 4.07.85, with Kyle working through to the line in 4.10.48 in 12th place. Jonathon Bride was the final athlete selected for the A race. After going through the first 400m in 67.9, Jonathon gradually lost touch with the main pack but worked well to finish 14th in 4.24.57 for a season’s best performance.
Sammy’s Travels
Club stalwart Sammy Rashid has had a busy couple of weeks, he was at the Trafford open meetings on 18th August when he ran 17.08 for the 5,000m his best time of the year so far. He followed this up on the 21st August and ran 10.08 for 3000m. He then bettered this on the 25th August with a sub 10 minutes posting of 9.59.25.
In addition to his Trafford runs Sammy has also run a couple of fast parkruns 17.34 at Sheffield on 1st August, then 17.42 at Leeds on 15 August. In between the parkruns he went to Lyon on 10th August for the world masters and ran 35.50 in a 10,000m. Prior to this he ran the British Vets 10k road champs in Wales on 26th July, finishing 6th in the V/50 with a time of 35.50.
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