Lancashire Sports Hall Championships

THERE was a dramatic climax to the Lancashire Sports Hall Championships when the Hyndburn under 11s girls team defied the odds to lift the overall title.

Such were the overwhelming odds stacked against them that organisers had already written out winning certificates for St Pius of Preston!

Hyndburn lay in third position going into the last of three league meetings but took a total of 62 points out of 140 to beat the Preston school by one point.

Hyndburn owed much of their memorable victory to Joanne McVey and Thea Smith who took a staggering 42 points between them.

McVey was the top performer winning 22 points and rightly won the athlete of the match award.

She won the vertical jump and long jump competitions and came third in both the ball throw and four lap race to finish in second place overall.

Smith, who came third, earned her club 18 points after coming first in the two lap race and runner up in both the triple jump and vertical jump.

What made the victory even more special was the fact that the team had not been given a chance after finishing third in both the previous league meetings in Preston and Blackpool.

Burnley's Danielle Walker also had a good match when she took third place with 20.5 points after winner the four lap race and coming equal second in the speed bounce and third in the long jump. While Hyndburn's under 11s win was dramatic the club's under 13s girls team victory was a forgone conclusion.

Having already won the Blackpool and Preston heats, the girls completed a hat-trick of wins on home soil.

And the undoubted star of the show was Charlotte Baron who picked up a maximum 28 points after winning all four of her events.

Baron had already won the individual titles at Blackpool and Preston but she saved her best until last when she came equal first in the two lap race with team-mate Anna Griffiths, and won the long, triple and vertical jump events.

Griffiths herself had a good event for after tying for first place in the two lap race, she went on to win the four and six lap races to pick up a total of 21 points.

The feats of the two Hyndburn teams meant that they finished as third placed team overall after the three league meetings.

Pendle finished in fourth place overall after finishing in second place in both the girls under 15s and boys under 11 events at Hyndburn.

Sam Crabtree was the pick of the Pendle boys under 11s team when he finished in third place with 18.5 points after winning the vertical jump and coming second in the long jump.

He also came joint third in the two lap race and fourth in the one lap event.

Hyndburn's Callum Fitzpatrick finished in second place with 19 points thanks mainly to his long jump victory. He also finished as runner up in the triple jump.

The star of the under 13s boys event was Kieron Turner who was the only entry from Clayton Harriers.

Turner won the athlete of the match at Preston on his Sports Hall debut.

And he continued his rich vein of form at Hyndburn where he won the two and four lap races and was third in the triple jump.

And while there was no local team success in the under 15s category, Hyndburn's Mark Griffiths took the overall award after compiling 23 points.

Griffiths won the one and two lap events and was runner up in the shot put. He also finished third in the triple jump.

Now the top athletes in the under 13s and 15s sections will be chosen to represent Lancashire in the regional finals in Wigan in March.

Charlotte Baron and Anna Griffiths of Hyndburn have already been selected for the girls under 13s squad, alongside Burnley's Rebecca Gregory.

In the boys under 13s, Andrew Charlesworth of Hyndburn and Kieron Turner of Clayton Harriers have made the squad.

So far the only inclusion in the under 15s squads is Hyndburn's Mark Griffiths.

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