A much weakened team finished fourth at Stockport, scoring 227pts, just nine behind Wigan. However, as we have 56 match points more than Wigan, we have guaranteed our safety in division one and cannot be relegated. Bearing in mind how many athletes move through the age groups next year we consider that promotion is a realistic aim for 2006.

Daniel Hughes and Luke Williams collected Athlete of the Match awards, Daniel for his club record 8.90 shot putt and Luke for his club record 26.6 in the 200m. Luke, making his club debut, also equalled the 100m record, was credited with 1.49 in the high jump and with Daniel, Tom Green and Drew Atherton set a new club record in the 4x100m. Andrew Armson lowered the club hurdles record by a further tenth of a second.

Other club records fell to Andy McDonagh (400 in 53.4) and Mike Ehlen (30.22 - Hammer). Mike also won the high jump and pole vault, Anthony Marsh won the hammer and combined with Adam Fackey to score maximum points in the discus while Adam and Lee Taft each picked up a win in the shot putt and javelin. Mike Jukes won the long jump while the 4x100 team was one tenth of a second short of equalling the club record.

Rachael Price and Vicky Davies both represented the club for the second time in 24 hours, Vicky winning the shot putt and Rachael the discus. Jourdan Cotter won the 1500 and Helen Grady was her usual excellent self. Terri Cunningham, just back from holiday, was steady throughout the afternoon.

Dylan Riley scored wins in the shot and high jump, Tom Green won his 100 while Luke James and Jamie White successfully contested the middle distance races.

Julia Bennett, Hannah Carrick and Anna Howard were in good form in the under 15's Hannah winning the long jump and 300m, Julia contesting the sprints before joining with Anna in her debut shot putt.

Katy Waterworth set two grade one times in the sprints, winning the 75m, Natalie Bannister made a successful league debut in the hurdles, Joanne Sturgeon returned from holiday to win the 1200, Emil Dickinson contested the 800m, Natasha Le Surf was her usual ebullient self and Danielle Stevenson won the shot putt. The team grabbed fourth place in the relay.

Dave Morley and Chris Dickinson were our track officials, Dave Green and Janet Holmes the timekeepers, while John Irwin led the field event judges which included the horn blowing Sam Frazer, Mr Hughes, Mr Williams, Mr Bannister and numerous other parents who all mucked in to score maximum officials' points.

The final scores were Bolton 342; Stockport 324; Wigan 236 and St Helens-Sutton 227, securing our place in division one during what we knew would be a transitional year. We can start building for next season when promotion will be our main target. Results and Match  

Northern Knock Out Cup : Blackpool: 30 July.

Making its Cup debut as a result of last year's promotion the combined scoring team finished a superb fifth defeating Liverpool, Preston and the non-appearing Border Harriers.

Craig Knight, repeated his, as yet unconfirmed 22.5, to win the 200m in a blanket finish which saw the three athletes behind him all given 22.6. Ben  Fisher finally captured the junior and senior records, as did Craig, taking the high jump with 1.82. Craig removed Mark Arnold's 1997 mark and Ben beat the 1995 record.

Sarah Charnock, fresh from finishing second in the Manchester 5k Sizzler on Thursday night (18.54), set personal best times in the 800 and 400 before joining Gill Bacon in showing outstanding improvisation in the art of baton changing. Gill, grabbed a couple of third places in the longer distances despite the after- effects of a nasty fall last week.

Natalie Mullineux produced a season's best in the shot putt and took third place in the discus before wandering off to watch Starlight Express with dad George, who was one of our hardy band of field event judges today.

With Sue Lowrie unwell Rachael Price stepped in for the 100 and 200 and was rewarded with fast races, while Vicky Davies took third place in the high jump. Steve Moran produced two interesting 400m, setting a quicker time in the individual race than at Birmingham last time out, while Dave Twigg missed the club's junior 400m hurdles record by one tenth of a second.

Our multi-eventers, Phil Robinson and Nicola Quinn, were unlucky, Phil missing out on a higher place  in the discus by 17cms and the hammer by 8cms while Nicola was only 4cms short of qualifying for the final three throws of the hammer.

Ray Vose volunteered to run the 10,000 in Barry Graney's absence through illness while Ian Hayburn took on the 5000m and Greg Williams the steeplechase. Unsurprisingly, Ray found his high hurdles time slightly slower than normal.

David Forrester, who recently set club U17 records for 800 (1.56.51) and 1500 (3.56.87) but forgot to mention either, ran an excellent 800m to duck under two minutes for second place, Tom Griffiths set a personal best 4.11.7 for fourth place in the 1500m while Peter Code was similarly placed in the pole vault, despite using a borrowed pole.

The relay teams were magnificent in ensuring the club clinched fifth place with some never to be forgotten running and magnificent changeovers between Ben Fisher, Craig Knight and Steve Moran while the video of the ladies' unique 4x100 may well appear on e-bay in the near future. Prepare to bid a fortune.

Julia Hayes, Paul Forrester and Joe Ehlen joined George Mullineux in providing our officials for the day, Phil Thomas quietly operated as team manager to provide gentle vocal support and there was plenty of other support from John Naylor, Sue Carmen, The Fishers, Mrs Charnock and Stephanie Forrester. Thanks to those who provided transport for others including Phil, Ray, John, Paul and Ian.

Thanks to everyone who chipped in to make this an excellent day for the club and while we may be back in the Plate next year we can rightly have aspirations of reaching the final in 2006.Results:          (Report, after a long day, by Phil Thomas - revisions later).

National Junior League :24 July: Warrington.

The club produced its finest National Junior League performance by finishing second in the men's contest and third in the women's match at Victoria Park, Warrington, a testament to our potential for next season when the matches will be jointly scored. To finish behind composite teams demonstrates what an excellent result the athletes achieved today.

Records fell, Jourdan Cotter capturing the 1500m record (4.56.7) and just missing the under 17 mark, Nicola Quinn (25.47) improved her own junior javelin record by almost a metre and a half, Tom Griffiths (9.24.1) knocked another 16 seconds off his previous best in the 3000 while Steve Knowles (32.35) didn't just beat the junior hammer record he doubled the distance.

Steve and Ben Fisher (1.80) equalled the existing high jump record, as did Emma McClatchey (1.40), the 4x100m team of Dave Griffiths, Richard Atherton, Ste Moran and Craig Knight (45.1) slashed eight tenths off the junior record. 

Dave Twigg celebrated his birthday in style, by staying indoors when Phil Thomas sang "Happy Birthday" winning the 800 (2.02) for good measure. Phil was requested to sing beforehand but received lots of different requests afterward!!! Craig Knight won Athlete of the Match for his 11.0(100).

Ben Fisher (56.33) was looking sharp again in the javelin and Caroline Morley put in two good races to win the 400H (68.7) and 100H (16.9) before stepping into the relays to replace the injured Vicky Davies and Rachael Price.

Earlier Vicky (8.37) had come very close to setting a new shot putt record and Rachael ran a season's best 13.7 in the 100m. Jake Davidson, whose long awaited operation takes place in August after his return from the Dominican Republic (makes a change from Southport!), was active in both jumps and making up points in the throws.

Greg Williams and John Appleton played excellent supporting roles, Greg (2.03.3) and (4.26.6) second B in both races, John's outstanding throwing supplemented by third place in the 3000 (10.00.6). Yesterday John completed his level one coaching course at the same venue.

The women's 4x400 quartet of Jourdan Cotter, Caroline Morley, Emma McClatchey and Terri Cunningham recorded 4.46.5, just one second shy of the existing club record while the men's team were only three seconds short of a new mark.

Jessica Cretu came specifically for the discus, finishing second in the A string as Lucy Mitchell won the B to add to her second place in the triple jump in which Emma McClatchey won the B event. There are one or two results missing but they should be up before the end of the week.

Many thanks to Julia Hayes who carried out the team manager's duties while Phil Thomas was on the microphone. Julia was also on the javelin with Joe Ehlen, Tony Atherton (sorry Tony I thought you were someone else) and Danny Hind from Wigan who gave a helping hand. Thanks. Dave Morley was the track judge, being assessed for upgrading and Pam Appleton provided an excellent quality service on the timekeeper's stand, including the 400m splits.

An excellent performance from everyone. Many thanks. Full results to follow. Initial calculations show that we finished third for the season in the men's contest tying for second with LPS but having scored less match points while the women were also third.  An absolutely outstanding performance from both teams in only our second year in the League. Well done. Results

Sefton Park 5miles : Liverpool:20 July

Sarah Charnock (31.00) was second lady in this event, Julia Eccleston (35.07), seventh and Chris Dempsey (38.46), 24th. In the men's contest John Appleton (31.19) 45th, Tony Hargreaves (40.07) 216th, Tony Roche (43.31) 284th and Trevor Prescott (47.33), running as an over 70, 322nd. Results

Grand Prix Meeting : Stretford: 19 July:

Seven club  members ran at Stretford, Steve Mayers recording 1.59.47 in the 800, Dave Twigg 2.02.52 (and 4.11.94 for the 1500), Andrew McDonagh 2.05.7, Jourdan Cotter 2.21.6 with Tom Griffiths (4.16.64) and Greg Williams (4.25.16) contesting the 1500m. The following day at Sports City Andrew recorded 38.91 into a headwind.

Young Athletes League: Warrington 17 July:

Eight new records fell as a weakened team finished fourth at another dubiously officiated Young Athletes League match. Andrew McDonagh set a new club U15 400m record of 55.2 to take track athlete of the match and while Joanne Sturgeon did not break the club's 1200 record she took the girls' track award for another club double. This takes the club's total of Athlete of the Match awards this season up to seven.

Mike Ehlen set club U15 records in the shot (10.19), discus (23.92) and hammer (29.29), Andrew Armson set a new U13 hurdles best (14.7), Daniel Hughes raised his shot record to 8.51 while Hannah Carrick's 300m win was a new club best of 45.8. The final record came in the 4x400 as Dave Hill, Jake Healy, John Dumbell and Andrew McDonagh took four seconds off the club  record in 4.02.2.

Helen Grady, Mellissa McLoughlin, debutant Kim Taylor and Jessica Cretu were our under17's today, Helen and Kim running while Mellissa and Jessica did the throwing, the latter managing a double in the discus.

Julia Bennett made her debut competing in the 300 and long jump, Anna Howard was third in the 800m, Holly Keenaghan competed in the 100 and high jump and Anna Powell completed the Rainfordian quartet in the 100 and long jump. Becky Keegan was excellent in the throws, winning two out of three and getting close to the javelin record, Rachael Hutchinson switched from high jump to javelin for a win to add to her hurdles victory. Claire Tansley continues to gain  vital throwing experience, high jumper Stephanie Leyland raised her p.b. to 1.30 and Sarah McLoughlin competed in the 1500m.

Laura Crook and Katie Waterhouse were imperious in the U13 sprints, Laura adding victory in the shot. Jemma Shaw set another p.b. in the 800, Heather Drillingcourt making it a double, Lauren Bradshaw running another excellent support race in the 1200. Heather Leyland stepped up to the A string hurdles while Natasha Le Surf contested both the long and high jumps. enny Hamon won the B string shot putt and the 4x100 was an excellent second.

Jason White and Dave Forrester were our U17 team today contesting all races up to 800. Alex Shaw showed he has a great sprinting future, Anthony Marsh's throwing and sprinting afternoon was only ended by a hamstring pull. Adam Fackey continues to improve with every outing as does Dave Hill and Jake Healy in the 1500. John Dumbell and Steve Clague had a good battle in the 3000m, while Graham Coombs was robbed of a chance in the high jump by the lateness of the programme.

Matthew Pilling provided valuable support in the shot putt, Steve Clague raised his hammer best and Graham Morley was close to 25m in the javelin as well as acting as results runner for the afternoon.

Tom Green and Elliot Barron showed the club has plenty left for next year in the sprints, as did Jamie Webb, Jamie White and Alex Harrison in the middle distance events. Luke James did well as a long and high jumper, Drew Atherton taking the B string long jump.

Our officials today were Pam Appleton, Janet Holmes, Dave Green, John Irwin, Mr Hughes, George Mullineux, Mike Shaw, Julia Hayes, Roseanne Hutchinson, Andy Drillingcourt and Adrian Webb.

Joe Ehlen and Dave Morley were the team managers, Hazel Morley, Stephanie Forrester and Chris Dempsey joined Phil Thomas on the results, although Phil did his work through most of Monday. There was plenty of parental support for which are grateful. What we need now is the same level of support and a full turn out at the final match at Stockport on Sunday 31st July. Results: Men  Women

BAL Cup : 16 July: Stoke.

Despite having a weakened team the club took fifth place overall in the semi-final of the BAL Cup breaking five club records en route. Craig Knight took two ducking under the 11 seconds barrier for the 10.9w he's been threatening all season. Caroline Morley also set junior and senior records in the 100H recording 16.7w. and Nicola Quinn set a new hammer best of 24 metres.

Last minute draftee Julia Eccleston collected two thirds in her solid team contribution in the 800, 1500 and 3000. Tom Griffiths won his debut 5000m, Greg Williams was fourth in the 1500, Dave Twigg came within five seconds of Greg's junior steeplechase best in his debut at the event.

There was a second place for triple jumper Lucy Mitchell. Phil Robinson was his usual busy self in the field where Ben Fisher showed he is returning to his best form with a 54.46 in the javelin. Men's team captain, Ian Hayburn, surprised himself by taking second place in the 10,000m. Natalie Mullineux again contributed to the field with solid throwing.

Julia Hayes and Ray Vose acted as team managers, George Mullinuex offered his services as a field judge. The club finished fifth only sixteen points behind third placed Blackpool and fourteen adrift of Cardiff beating Notts A C, Dudley & Stourbridge and Wrexham. Results.

Preston 10k : 10 July & Other Races:

Sarah Charnock, after two days illness, returned to Preston where she won the ladies' race of the 10k in 39.53 defeating the host club's Phillipa Walsh for the title. The following Thursday Sarah won the Bull Hill Fell Race recording 45.59 to finish 42nd overall. The previous night Trevor Prescott was 102nd in the Haig Hall Races. On July 10th Andrew McDonagh won the U15 800m in 2.12. We understand other athletes competed but, as yet, have no details.

ESSA Championships : Birmingham 8/9 July

Having broken the club record with 4.00.7 in the heats David Forrester set another one in finishing third in a time of 3.58.74 in the Inter-Boys 1500m final. Mike Ehlen (high jump) cleared 1.69m after waiting a day and a half to compete and Becky Keegan recorded 24.28m for the javelin in her first English Schools and has bought her own implement to practice with between now and then. We hope all three of them will be there in 2006. Well done.

Forest Ladies' 5km : Birchwood: 6 July

Julia Eccleston (8), Chris Dempsey (25) and Dorothy Fairhurst (87) consolidated their position in the ladies road race championship by competing in the penultimate race at Birchwood. Julia recorded 20.39, Chris 22.59 and Dorothy 27.35, Dorothy missing the over 55 prize by twenty seconds deespite a sprint finish.

Grand Prix Meeting : Stretford 5 July

Craig Knight, who ran the 100m in 11.26 at the AAA's Junior championships to finish sixth in his heat at the weekend, was second at Trafford in 11.06 in conditions which were far from ideal for sprinting. The magical sub 11 can't be far off. There was a raft of new personal bests from the middle distance fraternity, details of which will be posted as soon as they are notified. In addition, Ben Fisher continued his return to fitnesd throwing the javelin 52.95 and clearing 1.80 in the high jump for the second time in three days.

Kirkby Gala Race: 2 July

James Farghar won the under 17 race at the Kirkby Gala event recording 18.45 and finishing 32 seconds ahead of the second placed athlete.