Bury AC have been shortlisted by England Athletics as North West Club of the Year for the second year in a row.

And trustee Byron Edwards has been shortlisted as Club Leader of the Year, junior coach Fiona Healy is in the running for Coach of the Year and volunteer official Clare Devine has been shortlisted as New to Volunteer of the Year.

Last Saturday, eight club members travelled to Blackpool to compete in the final Mid Lancs Track and Field League meeting of the year, formatted as a medal meeting.

The standout performance came from Ben Clarke, taking gold in the under-15 boys’ javelin. In his best throw he launched the spear out to 50.41m - a new personal best and his first time over 50m. The throw moves him up to fourth in the UK rankings.

Another gold medal performance came from Isabella Robinson in the U15 girls’ 75m hurdles, which she won in 12.9secs. She also placed fifth in the 200m with 29.1.

Silver medals went to Faye Gribbin, in the U15 girls’ 200m (29.1) and Halle Davies-Fernyhough in the senior women’s javelin (28.31). Halle also took a bronze in the discus (24.04) and placed fifth in the hammer (23.33). Bronze medals also went to Etham Statham, third in the U13 boys’ 800 in 2:24.8, Esme Davies-Fernyhough in the U17 women’s discus (20.47) and Anabelle Hinze in the U13 girls’ shot (6.36). Annabelle also placed fourth in the 70m hurdles (15.0) and javelin (14.68). Reinforcing how the club’s strength in the throwing events is improving, Lucy Hill placed fourth in the senior woman’s hammer (23.33) and eighth in the discus (16.84).

On Bank Holiday Monday, the club hosted an Open Track Miles meeting with some high-quality British Milers club races.

The meeting commenced with a series of BMC 800m races in which many athletes set new PBs on Bury’s fast track. The winner of the men’s A race was Holmfirth’s Ted Chamberlain in 1:49.31. The women’s A race saw a plunge to the line between Falkirk’s Olivia Vareille and Loughborough’s Elena Inch, with Vareille prevailing in 2:09.43.

The performance of the day came from 15-year-old Evan Grime in the BMC Mile A race. Although he placed fifth behind Salford team-mate Harry Wakefield, his time of 4:05.48 is a new world best for a 15-year-old and it places him first in the all-time UK U17 rankings. Wakefield just missed out on a sub-four clocking, crossing the line in a personal best of 4:01.21. He is coached by Evan’s father, Ian.

The Bury Open Miles saw some great performances from home athletes across the six races. In the A race, Martin Clark stormed to victory in a new PB of 4:26.67, while Luke Harreld took second in 4:39.93. Conor Wilkinson placed eighth (4:43.37) and Jack Griffiths was 10th (4:47.34). In the B race, Luke Drinnan placed ninth with 5:38.23, while in the C race, U13 Ethan Statham ran strongly to take third place in 5:12.91 - a massive PB. U15 Lucy Dent took ninth in the D race with 5:59.72.

It was a Bury one-two-three in the E race with Matthew Finch winning in 5:24.71 ahead of Giles Bennett (5:27.56) and Finlay Wheatcroft (5:35.86). Ella Straffon-Finch took an excellent second in the F race, the U13 finishing strongly to record 6:28.98. Meeting organiser, Byron Edwards, was delighted with the quality of the races and the support from the officials and volunteers.