Personal Best’s Galore at the Mid Cheshire and for Ethan

Eleven members of Bury AC travelled to the Cheshire village of Kingsley on Friday evening to compete in the prestigious Mid Cheshire 5k road race. The event always attracts a high quality field of top distance runners. First local runner home was Martin Clark in an excellent 22^nd place. He underlined his current excellent form by producing a new personal best of 14.42. Next home was Seb Poma, who smashed his PB by over 30 seconds with 15.22 in 82^nd place. Hot on his heels was James Brown who sliced a second off his PB with 15.26 in 91^st position. Jack Griffiths was the next finisher in 256^th with 16.39 followed by Paul Johnston in 354^th in 17.15, just one second ahead of Ryan Hallsworth in 358^th place. Next was Byron Edwards who stopped the clock on 17.38 in 437^th place. Rachel Marshall was the next finisher with a new PB of 18.14 placing her 4^th in the V45 category. Rob Butterworth was next setting a new best of 18.37, followed by Craig Sykes with 18.43 and then Matthew Nolan with a PB of 23.35.

Four members of the club competed in the Mid Lancs League Medal Meeting in Blackpool. There was double gold for Matthew Wheatley. The under 20, competing in the senior men’s 100 and 200m events, won both with 11.4 and 23.1 respectively. Ben Clarke made it a clean sweep of victories in the under 17 men’s javelin, with a best throw of 52.92. His gold medal caps an excellent season in the event which saw him rank seventh in the UK in his age category. Matilda Nott produced a good string of performances in the under 13 girls events. She took silver medals in the 200m (29.2) and 70m hurdles (12.5) and placed fourth in the 100m with 14.4. Afroditi Kalambouka competed in the senior women’s long jump and javelin competitions where she placed 10^th and 11^th respectively with 3.10 and 12.11.

Earlier on in the day, several members ran in the Heaton Park Parkrun. Matthew Lowe had a runaway victory in a new PB of 15.35 for the course. Martin Clark took second using his 16.21 performance as a leg stretch following his race the previous night. Paul Johnston took 10^th (18.31) with Matthew Finch 11^th in 18.52. Giles Bennett placed 25^th with 20.08 and Rachel Marshall was first woman finisher with 20.26.

Three club members competed in the Trafford Medal meeting on the Bank Holiday Monday. They all produced great performances with Matthew Wheatley securing bronze medals in the under 20s 100m (11.34) and 200m (23.06). Carraghen Spence was fourth fastest in the under 17 women’s 200m (28.78) and 300m (46.71). However, the performance of the day from an athlete in a Bury vest came from Ethan Statham in the under 13 boys 800m. He took a well-deserved gold medal in a new personal best of 2.17.04. The time moves him up to 23^rd in the UK in his age group for the event.