Three of Sale Harriers’ finest athletes – Bea Soper, Liam O’Brien and Isaac Wrigley – did themselves, their schools, their families and Sale Harriers very proud at the prestigious English Schools Championships. Known as the Kids’ Olympics, the championships took place at the beginning of July.
- Bea Soper became the Intermediate Girls 1500m Steeplechase Champion – and she did it in sensational style with a new Championship Record of 4:52.00, a time that improved her own U16 club record set at Trafford in June. Her performance was described as “phenomenal, full of grit, class and pure racing brilliance”. As a result of becoming ESAA champion, a few weeks later she had the distinct honour of representing England Schools in the 1500m steeplechase at the SIAB Schools International in Belfast, and was especially commended because she won the race despite the hurdles mistakenly being set higher than they should have been.
- Liam O’Brien became the 400m hurdles champion, also in sensational style, with a championship best performance of 52.73 – a time that again met the U18 European qualifying standard and ranked him 5th in Europe. (He had earlier recorded a PB of 52.35 at May’s Birmingham University Track & Field Festival. Unfortunately, the organisers did not submit the appropriate paperwork for the competition, so his qualifying standard from that race did not stand.)
- Isaac Wrigley had a fantastic championship, winning bronze medals in the shot put and the relay.
