Team Isle of Man fielded a depleted team for the opening round of the North of England Track and Field League match held at Witton Park in Blackburn recently.

But the athletes who were available did themselves and the team proud on a very warm day.

Having won last season’s division the team were promoted to the Western Premier Division where the opponents in this summer’s four matches are Blackburn Harriers, Sale Harriers, Southport Waterloo AC, Trafford AC and West Cheshire AC.

The team finished fifth in this match but, with many of the more experienced athletes returning for the three remaining rounds, they should be more than capable of competing with all the teams.

No fewer than nine first-year under-17s made their league debuts, having graduated from last year’s youth development team, and that experience stood them in good stead to make an impressive transition to senior competition.

One of the standout competitors was debutant Frankie Kennedy who added an astonishing 20 centimetres to her high jump personal best with 1.55 metres and also set a new personal best in the 100 metres.

She performed without any obvious nerves and looked to enjoy the whole experience.

Two team members achieved victories in the A-string events, Carla Teece and Aimee Christian in the women’s 100 metres and 400 metres hurdles respectively.

The former’s winter training was ruined by illness but she was both surprised and delighted to set a time of 12.3 seconds, close to her best.

Finlay Taggart was another young debutant who had a fine day and was very unlucky not to win the men’s high jump.

Having cleared 1.70 metres he had to dash off to compete in the 100 metres, only to find on his return that the officials had ended the competition without him. This denied him the opportunity to challenge the winner’s height of 1.73m.

Several of the Island Games athletes were in good early-season form, with Meghan Pilley setting a new personal best of 25.3 seconds in the 200 metres.

Ben Sinclair looked sharp in the 200 and 400 metres races, as did Daniel Clague in the 100 and 200 metres. Ryan Corrin was very close to his pb in the 800 metres with 1m 58.8s and set a new best of 52.7 in the 400m.

Tegan Thompson equalled her high jump pb with 1.55 metres, Lucy Ormsby was just outside her best with 59.2 in the 400 metres, and distance runner Dawn Atherton was pleased with a new pb in the 3,000 metres.

One of the best performances of the day came from Harry Stennett with a big pb of 4:20.1 on his league debut.

Multi-eventer Ewelina Hand was delighted with a new best distance of 10.17 metres in the triple jump, and youngster Cosmo Kinley impressed with a huge pb of 2:04.3 in the 800 metres.

With the very last action of the afternoon, Lucy Cartwright set a new pb of 29.57 metres in the javelin.

Grateful thanks go to team manager Petra Atchison and to the officials who travelled with the team for their efforts in ensuring an enjoyable and successful trip.

The second match takes place at Trafford on Sunday, June 22.

DAVID GRIFFITHS