ST HELENS Sutton Athletics Club juniors sealed promotion by winning the last match of the UK Youth Development League in rainy conditions at Oldham.

The 15 athletes competing for the club in West Three Division completed a set of four league victories with a performance that included six personal bests being achieved.

Those new levels were reached by Daniel Lamb in the long jump, Erin Makin in the 200m and long jump, Jessica Leonard in the 200m, Denni Rigby in the 800m and shot putt.

In the under 17s boys, Lamb clocked 11.7secs in the 100m as well as achieving a pb of 5.78m in the long jump.

George Asson ran 11.4 in the 100m and 22.7 in the 200m.

Makin clocked 28.1 for her best yet 200m and leapt a pb 4.58m in the long jump as well as completing the 100m in 13.6.

Megan Lang ran 14.8 in the 100m, went on to a long jump of 4.27m and competed in the triple jump.

Jessica Leonard registered 42.8 in the 300m and a pb 24.0 in the 200m.

Sam Thomson recorded 55.6 in the 400m, with Jonathan Causer following in 56.8 as well as throwing the shot and discus.

Adam Woosey completed the 400m in 54.7 and the 800m in 2mins 10secs, while Maria McGoldrick finished the 400m in 66.1 and the 800m in 2:34.0.

Denni Rigby’s new best in the 800m is now 3:24.0, while she ended her 1,500m effort in 7:17.0 and putt the shot for the first time achieving 3.28m.

Laura Fairclough threw the hammer 21.99m and the shot 7.15m. Louise Fairclough also putt the shot, achieving 7.39m, and threw the discus.

Jacob Beesley leapt 4.78m in the long jump as well as throwing the shot and discus.

Emily Smith sprung to 1.40m in the high jump, with Hannah Seabrook just behind with 1.35m as well as competing in the triple jump.

n ST HELENS Striders’ runners were out in force at the Sefton Park 5-mile race.

Leading the Striders home was Kevin Brennan, who secured first place in the ‘veterans 45’ category in 29mins 03secs.

Following him over the line were Gary Clare 31:57, Rachael Fairclough (third woman) 32:00, Paul Demore 32:24, Danny Fegan 32:42, Scott Robertson 33:21, Kevin Monaghan 34:10, Ian Wright 34:22 and Gill Lee, who secured first women’s vet 45 position in 34:38.

Then came Tony Padmore 34:47, Dave Navis 35:17, Anthony Cheers 35:54, Tony Horsfall 35:40, Pauling Horsfall (first vet 55) 35:53, Jeanette Fisher 36:11, Adam Gallimore 36:31, Tony Dagnall 37:12, Kylie Maguire 37:31, Jo Keogh 40:44, Charley Ward 41:00, Gemma Webster 41:06, Colin Wilson 41:51, Ruth Besford 42:05, Sharon O’Connell 42:27, Steve Pickavance 43:02, Rebecca McKenna 43:19, Georgie Warner 43:32, Angela Jones 44:14, Anita Hall 44:15, Rachel Tickle 44:18, Paul Carr 45:38, Louise Padmore 47:49 and Lorraine Kelly-Swan 52:32.

On Saturday, Karl Allender tackled the Lakeland 50-mile ultra race, finishing in 14:10.54. Jason Jones and several Striders teams took on the ThunderRun 24-hour challenge, running continuously for 24 hours around a 10k loop.

Jones managed 10 laps and 62.1 miles competing as an individual, while in the team competition Twisted Blister managed 24 laps, one more than Who’s Lap is it Anyway, Striding Through the Dark and Happy Lappers, while Two Sleepless Nights completed 20 laps.