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Rotherham Harriers Open T&F Meeting


Report by: Martin Cunnane

21st March 1999 - Herringthorpe Stadium, Rotherham



Ruth Dales - Winner of senior women's 100m hurdles Some of Wakefield Harriers' young track and field athletes were in winning action at the Spring Warm Up meeting at Herringthorpe Stadium, Rotherham.

Wakefield's Christopher Lockwood got the club off to the best possible start by taking the honours with an U11 boys long jump win, setting up a Wakefield one two by beating clubmate Christopher Brennan by 23cms with a best leap of 3.61m. Brennan gained revenge over his team mate in the 80m final pushing Lockwood back to third after finishing 3/10ths of a second runner-up to Hull Springhead's Stephen Feasey. The Wakefield duo clocking 12.6 and 12.8 secs respectively. Brennan, who is just eight years old, further demonstrated his all round ability by finishing second in the 150m final, clocking 24.7 secs.


In the U13 boys' section John Paul Dales proved to be the only top three placed Wakefield athlete, finishing third in the shot. It was the same story in the U13 girls' competitions where Ruth Jones was the only placed youngster sprinting well to claim second spot in 11.4 secs behind Natalie Pearson of Hallamshire Harriers who won in 11. 1 secs.

Wakefield U15 girls performed admirably with this year's North of England indoor spring hurdles silver medallist Emily Mason hurdling fluently to get the better of Hartlepool's Penny Boyd in the 75m final winning, by 2/10ths of a second in 12.3 secs. In the 80m final, Victoria Lockwood and club mate Laura Robinson made Barnsley's Leah Dunkley pull out all the stops to deny them, with the South Yorkshire athlete eventually winning by 2/10ths of a second. The Wakefield pair were right behind clocking identical times of 10.7 secs with Lockwood being awarded the runners-up berth by the judges. Robinson, who is in her first year of the age group went on to finish second in the 150m final again finishing behind Barnsley's Dunkley, recording a promising 27.6 secs. Finally in the age group, Rebecca Swaine claimed second spot in the long jump, with her day's best jump of 4.52m behind Stacy Flint representing City of Hull AC, who won with 4.83m.

Moving on to the girls' U17 competitions, Kirsty Hodson set up a Wakefield one-two in the 300m hurdles pulling away from team mate Rachel Bower over the final two hurdles to win by just over two seconds in 51.7 secs. Hodson completed a double with a win in the shot, prevailing with a 6.62m putt. Amy Lloyd scored a bloodless victory in the 80m hurdles winning in 13.2 secs. Haley Atkinson gained third place in the 100m final where she finished 4/10ths of a second behind Rotherham's Roisen Kelly, clocking 13.5 secs and following up with the same position in the long jump, with a 4.63m leap behind Rockingharn's Laura Naylor who won with 5.10m.

In the senior men's section, Simon Fullman ploughed a lonely furrow in the 300m hurdles, hurdling steadily on his own to record 47.4 secs and at U17 level, Jonathan Shearn finished 6/10ths of a second runner-up to Chesterfield's Peter Bee in the 200m, recording 24.4 secs.

Finally in the senior women's events, five Wakefield classy U20 athletes performed with great promise. Ruth Dales clocked 15.3 secs to win the 100m hurdles, as well as finishing half a second runner-up to Bingley's competent sprinter Nicole Cosby in the 100m flat final. Dales' time being 12.8 secs, with Kim Mosby finishing fourth. Amy Ridsdale threw 9.02m to prevail in the shot, and Michelle Lonsdale, who spent most of the winter on the easy list through injury, third with 7.80m. Lonsdale went on to win her specialist event the javelin. Tara Wilson set up another Wakefield one-two in the 300m hurdles clocking 51.2 secs to beat shot winner Ridsdale.