Ben Coop was Bury’s sole representative at the British Milers’ Club Gold Standard races at Stretford last Tuesday. Running in the D 800m race in what are always high quality fields, he took 4th place with a time of 1.55.99, writes Mark Granby.

The race gained national notoriety as in 6th place was Olympian Laura Muir who set a BMC women’s record of 1.57.23. The meeting was held in conjunction with a Trafford Grand Prix event and in the open 1500 G race Paul Johnston produced an impressive win storming to a new personal best of 4.37.14.

Coop was competing over 800 again at the weekend, this time in the North of England championships at Liverpool’s Wavertree stadium. He ran a well judged race in the second heat to win it in 2.01.64 to qualify for the final only 2 hours later. His strong endurance background served him well and he took a superb 3rd place in 1.57.12. This is the first senior medal for a Bury athlete in the regional championships for many years and Coop was delighted with the performance.

Seven Bury athletes were selected by Greater Manchester to compete in the schools’ regional Mason Trophy meeting held in Stoke on Saturday. The stand out performance came from Riley Carson who won the intermediate girls javelin event with a best throw of 37.45. Carson is throwing consistently over 35 metres and coach Alison Dale is confident that she can produce a 40m plus throw that will place her in the top 10 in the UK for the event. Samuel Gooddy took an excellent silver medal in the junior boys hammer with a new lifetime best of 34.09. He has thrown 40m in training and is capable of moving into the top 10 nationally. Connie Potts was a little disappointed with her 4th place in the intermediate girls hammer competition. She threw a season’s best of 36.48 but like Gooddy has thrown over 40m in training and will soon realise her full potential.

On the track Blessing Idoko took a superb 3rd in her junior girls 200m event, setting a new personal best of 26.10 that meets the English Schools qualifying standard. Emily Purdy ran a nippy 4.53.28 to take 2nd in her junior girls 1500m race. Evie Elliott set a new personal best of 12.10 to take 3rd in her junior girls 75m hurdles event and move her up the national rankings. Peter Gardner took an excellent 4th place in the intermediate boys 400m hurdles race and underlining his status as a top 20 performer nationally for the event which he is a relative novice in his first year in the age group.