BOLTON Harriers got off to a flying start in the Northern Athletics senior league with victory by almost 70 points at Wakefield.

Tony Valentine continued his winning form as he took first place in the 5,000m and team-mate Ian Selby came second in the B race.

Fraser Jardine was second in the 1500m, and Dave Shaw won the B string while Tom Hope and Scott Whittle dominated both strings of the 400m hurdles, while Colin Bailey and Tom Hope came second in the two 110m hurdles event.

Bolton’s men did outstandingly well in the field events. Simon Bissell won the hammer and the shot putt, while Sean O’Donnell finished second in the hammer B event, and John Nicholson won the second string of the shot.

Matt Osbourne and Colin Bailey were second in the long jump, and Chris Sinclair and Tom Hope took first place in the triple jump.

Brian Hall and Colin Bailey won the high jump strings, and Andy Jones and Michael O’Donnell came second and first in the two pole vault events.

The women’s team outclassed their opponents in the sprints as Sian Pledger and Rebecca O’Keefe won both strings of the 100m, while Katie Eckersley and Rebecca O’Keefe finished first in both the 200m races.

Katie also won the 400m and her team-mate, Rachel Pounds, won the B event. Cath Brogan came second in the 800m B race and the 1500m A event, while Katie Smith took first place in the 1500m B.

Olivia McGreevy had a brilliant race as she won the 400m hurdles, and then went on to come second in the 100m hurdles.

In the long jump Sian Pledger and Hannah Scholes won first place points, and Sian also came joint second in the high jump, and Saffron McKee and Hannah Scholes won both strings of the triple jump.

The Harriers sealed their success in the final relay events of the day.

The men’s team of Christian Eckersley, Bruce Pilkington, Matt Osbourne and Marcin Margnawski came second in the 4x100m relay.

The 4x400m relay was won by Christian Eckersley, Paul Cryer, Fraser Jardine and James Eccles.

The ladies’ teams won both their relays, as Sian Pledger, Katie Eckersley, Rebecca O’Keefe and Hannah Scholes stormed to victory in the 4x100m. Becky Fordham, Rachel Pounds, Oriel Hardman and Katie Eckersley won the final race of the day, the 4x400m relay.

Bolton had two age group victories in the first match of the Young Athletes League season at Ellesmere Port, while the club finished second overall.

The under-17s girls won with impressive performances from Miriam Harold, Chloe Clarkson, Emily Ritchie, Lexi Cochrane, Rebecca Kay, Kate Nicholson and Natalie Philbin.

The under-15s boys also finished first with a grade one throw of 43.82m in the javelin by Robert Makin, and there were maximum points for Will Valentine, James Whitfield, Connor Smith, Jonothan Kay, Callum Ashton and Nathan Simpson.

The under-17s men saw a new personal best by Ashley Marshall in the long jump with 5.78m, and maximum points in his other events.

Other maximum points returns came from Josh Boaler, Adam Ryder, Anthony Dunn, William Singleton, Alex Vanderpuye and Nathan Lee.

The under-13s saw Aaron Stannard and Billy Mort return maximum points, along with Demi Lee Scott, Leah Peploe and Sophie Reaper who jumped 1.30m in the high jump.

The next event is on Sunday, May 17, and has been switched from Bolton Harriers to Leigh Stadium because thieves have stolen the throwing cage net at Leverhulme Park.