IT was a fantastic weekend for the athletes of Bury Athletic Club as their members came home with a host of medals from the Greater Manchester Track and Field Championships.
Despite sending a small team, Bury won six medals, including four golds.
Double gold was taken by Katie Buckley in the Under-17s women’s event.
On the first day of the Championships, Katie convincingly won the 1500m in a time of 4.55.08.
She returned the following day, in pouring rain, to produce a devastating last 150metres to sprint away from the 3000m field and take victory in a superb personal best of 10.33.62.
Another double medallist was Christie Cook. In her favourite event, the 800m, she ran the whole race from the front to take a comfortable first place in 2.23.01. She then returned to race the 1500m final, only being very narrowly edged out for the victory and having to settle for second place in 4.58.94.
Not to be outdone by the youngsters, John Conroy was Bury AC’s other gold medallist, recording victory in the veterans’ 800m race.
John’s winning time of 2.20.01 was a national standard for his age group (Vet 50).
His daughter, Katrina, knocked nearly 10 seconds off her personal best, finishing sixth in the U17s women’s 800m in a time of 2.39.82.
James Colbeck took a bronze medal in the senior men’s long jump, leaping 5.52m. Nik Dodd took fifth place in the senior men’s 100m (11.92) and Dominic Clarke was unlucky not to reach the U17s men’s final in the same event, recording a time of 12.64.
A large contingent of Bury athletes took part in the Bupa Great Manchester Run 10km. David Fowler-Gibbs led the group home with a time of 44.56, followed by Sharon Stembridge (47.16), Janet Rigby (48.25), Evie McDermott (48.48), Nichola Wood (49.14), Luke Smith (54.50), Philomena Widdowson (56.19) and Oliver Harrison (62.58).
Many of these runners are members of Bury AC’s successful jogging group, which meets every Tuesday and Thursday at 7pm at the track on Market Street.
Bury AC is organising two events for primary school pupils in Bury.
They are designed to give youngsters the opportunity to run, jump and throw and compare themselves against the efforts of Usain Bolt and Jessica Ennis .
The events will be held Wednesday June 8 and Wednesday, June 29 at Bury AC's track on Market Street. Events start at 6.45pm and comprise a range of events for pupils in years three to six. For further details, go to www.buryac.co.uk.
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