Bolton Harriers were confirmed as Champions of Northern League Division 2 on Sunday after their 8th straight win in the competition. Harriers triumphed over Liverpool Pembroke Sefton by a huge margin of 24 points to 15 to retain the divisional title won last year. The season is far from over however, with the Promotion Match at Liverpool's Wavertree stadium on September 1st the priority. The men's team will also contest the Plate Final of the British League Cup after qualifying at Blackpool two weeks ago.
Despite a number of absentees at Sunday's final league match, team managers Les Hall and Scott Whittle still managed to put out a team that totally dominated proceedings from start to finish. Highlight of the day was the new League Record of 2.20m set by Brian Hall in the High jump, which ranks him among the top ten in the country for his event. His 3 close attempts at 2.25m suggest there is much more to come from the talented 24 year-old.
Also in the jumps, rising star Matthew Osbourne jumped a personal best of 6.95m to win the Long Jump. The 17 year-old will surely smash through the 7 metre barrier soon and looks set to be one of the leading Under 20 athletes in Britain over the next 2 years.
There were many victories on the day, Katie Eckersley once again winning the 400m in 59.0 seconds, before taking the B 100m race, anchoring the 2nd placed 4x100m relay team and then running a storming last leg of the 4x400m relay to claw back what seemed a winning lead for Liverpool and finish the day in style.
Emma Thornton and Rebecca Makin took maximum points in the Javelin once again, as did Andy Jones and Jamie Cole in the Pole Vault. John Nicholson recorded a season's best in the Shot, and Tony Valentine defied the heat and wind to run a personal best and pick up maximum points in the 5000m B race. Tom Hope and Scott Whittle were A and B runners respectively in both hurdles races, with maximum points in the 110m, then 2nd and 1st in the 400m hurdles. Megan French won the women's 400m hurdles, and Olivia McGreavy was 2nd in the 100m hurdles, also picking up points in the Discus and B 200m.
The young sprinters were in form, Will Green winning the B 200m and running a tremendous lead-off leg in the victorious 4x100m relay team. Bruce Pilkington was a member of both winning relay teams, as were 400m specialists Sam Gough and Christian Eckersley. Ian Bowles showed his range of abilities by recording a fast 51.3 second 400m leg to add to his runner-up place in the 3000m steeplechase.
Next up for Harriers is the Northern League Cup semi-final in Wigan on Sunday, followed by the British League Plate Final in Bedford the following weekend.