Walker records season's best

Taken from The Lancashire Telegraph, published 14/01/2012.

Blackburn's Paula Walker gained her best result of the season in her latest FIBT World Cup Tour race in Königssee, Germany.

Pilot Walker and brakesman Gillian Cooke finished joint-seventh in their first race as a pairing, a result which sees Walker sitting in 9th position in the overall rankings.

The 25-year old British number one didn't have the best of starts as she sat in twelth after her first run, but a strong start in the second run meant that the pair were able to move up five places in the final positions.

Walker, who finished eleventh in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, finished in a combined time of 1.44.92, and had the fastest second run outside the top five competitors.

The former World Junior Bobsleigh champion has recovered from a poor start to the season to secure two top-eight finishes since the turn of the new year, and her new partnership with the 2009 World Champion will hopefully start to bear fruit as the tour moves to St. Moritz in Switzerland next week.

Waterfoot's Kristan Bromley goes today in the men's skeleton race as he looks to bounce back from a disappointing 14th place finish last week.

Murray can win Australian Open, says East Lancs tennis star Thomas

Taken from the The Lancashire Telegraph, published 14/01/2012

East Lancashire's top tennis player believes Andy Murray could go all the way in this year's Australian Open, which begins on Monday.

Elizabeth Thomas, who has a career-high world ranking of 529, feels the Scot can put his defeat to Novak Djokovic in last year's final behind him and pick up the first Grand Slam trophy of his career.

She says "He's got a very good chance. He got to the final last year and he's got his new coach in Ivan Lendl now so that should help. He obviously won in Brisbane last week so he's in good form too."

The 27-year old, who in the past twelve months has begun coaching at the Ribble Valley Tennis Centre in Clitheroe, thinks that a Murray victory in Melbourne could be the catalyst to an increased interest in British tennis.

"If he won it would be fantastic for the sport in this country" she explains. "Hopefully it would get more kids playing in the playground wanting to be like him when they're older."

Whilst Murray's quest to become Britain's first male Grand Slam winner since Fred Perry in 1936 may grab the headlines, Thomas believes that the women's game is in a much stronger position than its male equivalent.

"We've got Elena Baltacha, Anne Keothavong and Heather Watson all in the main draw for the Australian Open, as well as Laura Robson and Naomi Broady in qualifying, which shows how much depth the women's game has, especially compared to the men, who only have Murray and then there's no one.

"It's fantastic because it's a long time since we had three girls qualify automatically for a Grand Slam, and hopefully they can do well."

In the current world rankings, there are four British women inside the world's top 200, compared to two in the men's game, and the former Clitheroe Grammar School student is hopeful that the success of Britain's women can lead to more interest in the game from the wider public.

She says "Obviously Andy Murray is always going to grab the headlines because he's number four in the world, but hopefully if the likes of Robson and Watson can do well in the next few years then the women's game will get a bit more press."

Thomas ended her professional career during 2011 and began coaching some of Lancashire's brightest tennis hopefuls, and she feels that tennis in Great Britain has a bright future.

"At the minute there's a lot of positives in British tennis. We've got a lot of good juniors like Liam Broady who reached the boy's final at Wimbledon last year, and if we can work on widening the pyramid at the bottom and get more kids playing then we could have some success in th next few years."

Thomas will this year be looking to become a senior performance coach as she looks to move up the national coaching ladder. For the time being, however, she will be remaining in the North-West as she tries to uncover the next British tennis sensation.

Hall keeping cool as Barlick roll on

Taken from The Lancashire Telegraph, published 11/01/2012

Manager Ben Hall is refusing to talk up Barnoldswick Town's chances of promotion, despite his side picking up a pair of victories over the festive period.

 

Town, who currently sit third in the North West Counties Premier Division, picked up wins over Padiham and Congleton Town either side of New Year, and are three points behind leaders Bootle with four games in hand.

 

Despite their seemingly strong position, Hall still believes there is a long way to go in the battle for promotion to the Evo-Stik League, saying "We're not thinking about the title at the minute, there's about five teams who can still win it and we're just going to take every game as it comes."

 

Amongst the sides who can rival Barnoldswick for promotion are Ramsbottom United, but Hall doesn't believe that there is any animosity between the two sides.

 

"There isn't really a rivalry between us and Ramsbottom, we're just looking to win as many games as possible and get promoted" he said.

 

Hall was pleased with the way his side performed over the Christmas season as they bounced back from defeat at Glossop North End to win 3-1 against a Padiham side who currently sit in mid-table.

 

Rob Smith bagged a brace to give Town an early 2-0 lead, whilst top scorer Spencer Jordan grabbed a third late  on, despite Sam Heap pulling one back for the visitors.

 

Hall was unhappy that his side gave their opponents a chance to get back into the match, but was pleased with that his side were able top pick up a vital three points.

 

After a postponed match against Colne, goals from Liam Garbutt and Jordan secured a 2-0 win over Congleton, a game which gave Hall a great deal of pleasure.

 

"We weren't at our best against Padiham, but we were excellent against Congleton in what was a tough game" he said.

 

With 2012 now well and truly underway, Hall and his co-managers Stewart Aidrie and Kevin Richardson moved to bring in Chris Ridehalgh from Padiham and Hall admits he is still looking to improve his squad, saying "Chris has come in and done well, and although we can't afford some of the players that we want, hopefully we'll be able to bring in some new faces."

 

The manager's attentions must now move onto their match on Saturday against lowly St Helens Town, a game which could kickstart a run towards promotion for Hall and his side.