New British hammer champion Tara Simpson-Sullivan will make her National Athletics League debut for Wigan at the Championship North fixture in Manchester this weekend.

Simpson-Sullivan has recently returned from university in the United States where she has improved her PB by nearly 10 metres this season. Her best of 68.91m puts her fourth on the UK all-time list and is further than the current league record.

The Rice University student, who was a regular with her Lancashire-based club for the UK Women’s League before leaving for the States, said: “This will be my first combined national league with both men and women, but I know a couple of years ago when it was the UK Women’s League all the ladies were so supportive and we all had a great team spirit, which is something that I really like and strive for when I’m looking to be part of a team.”

Also throwing for Wigan will be Beth Lishman, who has competed three times at the Deaflympics.

Wigan will face hosts Sale and City of Liverpool but, unfortunately, Jaguars Track and Field Club will be absent due to Scottish Covid travel restrictions.

The fixture will be combined with the Premier North match, in which Trafford, Birchfield, Notts and Sheffield & Dearne will be competing.

Trafford will be represented in the 100m hurdles by Alicia Barrett, who was second in the Müller British Athletics Championships last weekend. England junior heptathlon champion Abigail Pawlett will compete for them in the long jump and 200m. Halle Ferguson, who won England under-20 high jump gold earlier this month, is another on their team.

Team managers – please tell us about your expected teams this weekend so we can promote the league in the press. Email paul.halford@righttrackcontent.com.