Excellent Debut from Matthew

Seventy LPS athletes made the journey to Preston for the second fixture in this season’s Mid-Lancs Track & Field league. There were some excellent individual performances, none more so than from debutant, Matthew Hughes (U15B). The 14 year old from Formby was a comfortable winner of both 100m (12.3 sec) & 200m (24.9 sec). Other double winners on the day included Lauren Lewis (U17W) who won the 100m in a new pb time of 12.8 sec and she produced a season’s best in the long jump of 5.20m. Owen Southern dominated the U17 men’s high jump competition, winning with a leap of 1.80 metres and is developing as a sprinter with victory in the 200m (23.70 sec).
The club dominated in the vertical jumps, with victory in the senior age group from Kai Finch (1.70m) and Debbie Dasse (1.45m). Tom Kwissa was 2nd in the U17 age category behind Owen, while Imogen Ayres won the girl’s event in a new personal best jump of 1.53m. Niamh Doyle also had a new pb, winning the U15G event with a leap of 1.50m. Newcomer, Jacob Garrity also did well on his debut to finish 4th in the U15B event with 1.45m. The horizontal jumpers were not to be out done and in the U17 age category, no fewer than five out of the top six girls were from LPS, with pb’s recorded by Aurora Dunne Dunne (4.89m), Scarlet Whitfield ((4.55m) & Tayla Reilly (4.33m).
In the throws, Hope Kennedy continued her fine run of form, winning her third consecutive javelin competition with a new pb of 28.91 at U15 level. Bill Steel won the U15 shot putt competition with 11.36m, but his javelin throw of 32.57m was well below his best and he had to settle for 2nd place. Debutant, Paula Murray, picked up some useful points at senior level with second place in the javelin (32.81m) and hammer (31.77m) and third place in the shot (8.11m). Matt Ingram won the senior triple jump with 13.52m
Club runners also provided their fair share of winners on the track. Mark Roberts produced his best time in winning the U15B 800 metre race in 2:12.4 & he was closely followed by Se Loughlin in 3rd place (2:17.3) Tom Dickinson won the U17M race at 1500m (4:22.3), as did Harriet Foley (SW) in the 800m (2:42.1). Jake Dickinson had a good run in the U15B 1500m race finishing third in 4:40.5.
Best performances from the sprinters, other than those already mentioned, came from Callum Garvey in the U17 men’s age group, who finished 2nd in the 100m (12 sec) & 200m (24.2sec) and 14 year old Martha Simms who was 3rd in the U15G 100 metres (13.5). Both teams finished in overall 4th place on the day.

Wally Bridson