Westbury Harriers Weekly News
Hello, I hope everyone has had a great weekend in the sunshine. This week we have the dates for the Gwent League to share, a race report from the last club championship and the usual dates, and training sessions. I was at the Beer and Banger on Friday and it was great seeing such a strong turnout from Westbury. It’s nice that everyone hangs out after on the field, the lure of the sizzling sausages too much to resist!
RACE REPORTS
Nailsea 10k, 2025 (also known as the Beer ‘n’ Banger
A great evening out in Nailsea, pinching a comment from someone else, all running races should finish with Beer and Sausages!
An impressive turnout of 34 Westbury Harriers took part, the attraction of beer and sausages combined with Club Championship points too great to resist!
The intense sunshine and heat of late afternoon was replaced by cloudy conditions by the time the race started, but it was still a very warm and humid evening and the strong breeze always seemed to be against me! The course is a tough one, two loops around the country lanes, undulating throughout and with a nasty hill that you have to do twice! The finish has changed from previous years, the loop of the rugby pitch now replaced with a tough run on uneven grass right up to the top of the playing fields. Particularly challenging when you can hear Yvette Casallas catching you up as you struggle up the slope on tired legs!
Well done to everyone who took part, the usual mix of brilliant runs at the front of the field, age group wins and podium places, personal targets achieved, the enjoyment of taking part, and the lovely mix of encouragement and competition that we always have within our team!
Full Westbury Results below, special mention to our prize winners on the night:
2nd: Iain Large
7th and 1st MV40: Mark Statter
2nd Female: Robyn Ellis
1st FV 40: Sophie Voller
1st Senior Lady: Hannah Large
Top 3 Age Group finishes (but no prizes) for
Olivia Zeltner
Paul Stuart
Kate Hoffen
Judy Knights
Sandra Sforza
John Percival
This is such a good event, great that it was part of the Club Championship this year and that so many of you took part! 33 of the 34 in the team photo, not a bad achievement, (can you spot who is missing?)!
Drone footage of the race can be seen here… Facebook
CLUB NEWS AND UPDATES
ACADEMY NEWS
Please ensure your child arrives at training next week well-hydrated and brings a water bottle.
Training Schedule for the Remainder of Term:
Monday 30th June: Coombe Dingle / Blaise groups
Monday 7th July: Westbury Wipeout – no training
Monday 14th July: End-of-term Sports Day – all groups Y3-6 welcome at Coombe Dingle, 6pm.
Play Park Etiquette – Blaise group
If your child trains at Blaise, we kindly ask that they do not play in the park once signed in. Similarly, children must wait until a parent signs them out before heading to the park after training. With 20+ children, we’re unable to supervise them outside of the session. Please help us by explaining this to your child in advance. Thank you!
Y6 Junior Girls training
Jason will be running Monday sessions throughout the summer . Y6 girls transitioning to Junior Girls in September are welcome to attend – invites will go out on Spond.
Upcoming Races:
Sri Chinmoy Ice Cream Relay – 8th July
3×1 mile relay format – everyone gets an ice cream! 🍦
NO TRAINING ON MONDAY 7th JULY
Advance warning that there will be no training sessions for any Academy, Junior or Seniors on Monday 7th July 2025 as the Westbury Wipeout will be taking place. The event needs volunteers and all help is welcome. See Alastair’s message above.
Saturday Social Run: July
A group of us have enjoyed this lovely run from Chepstow to Tintern through the Wye Valley, across the River and back to Chepstow on a couple of previous occasions and we plan to do it again!
Hoping some of you would like to join us. We will run from the Chepstow Leisure Centre carpark, Welsh Street, Chepstow NP16 5LR, at 9:30am.
The loop is about 13 miles, it is a beautiful route but in places quite challenging with quite a bit of elevation. We will run at a steady pace and probably take about 3 hours to get round including a few stops to admire the views!
See Mark Andrews.
CLUB CHAMPS RACES
The races for July and August have been selected. They are:
Hazelberry Hurrah, Friday 11th July, 19:15. https://corshamrunningclub.co.uk/hazelbury-hurrah/
The Towpath 10k. Friday 25th July, 19:30. https://www.greatwesternrunners.org.uk/towpath-series/
Crook Peak Cake Race, Wednesday 13th August, 19:00. https://www.fellrunner.org.uk/races/5856fd20-4006-49fa-89a2-ee243f26d2d5
Severn Bridge 10k, Tuesday 19th August, 19:30. https://sites.google.com/site/roguerunsevents/home/our-events/sb-10k-half
We hope you enjoy the selection,
The Club Championship Committee
CLUB VESTS
We are currently out of stock of some vest sizes on the membermojo store. An order is in and will take 4-6 weeks to arrive.
TRAINING THIS WEEK
MONDAY -Temp Runs
Group runs from Blaise Castle at 6.30pm. These are perfect sessions for a Tempo pace run. Equally there are plenty of groups available if you want a recovery or social run. Book via RunTogether.
TUESDAY – Track Session
Track session at Yate 7pm – Seniors book on via RunTogether.
WEDNESDAY – Hill Session
Adults, all abilities. Meet every Wednesday at 12pm. Coffee at the Downs Café at 1pm for anyone that wants to come along.
THURSDAY – Interval Session
Coombe dingle sports complex, on grass.
10 x 2mins at 5k pace. Last 30s of each effort try to pick up the pace!
Option to do 8.
Note 1: You can sign up to all sessions via the RunTogether App.
Note 2: There is no longer a separate booking for Group 1 on a Thursday. There is still the same focus as originally outlined, but as the weather and field are in good conditions over the summer, Group 1 can be accommodated into the existing session.
UPCOMING RACES / CLUB CHAMPS
Sri Chimnoy relay
Sri Chinmoy Ice Cream Relay, Tuesday 8 July 2025
This is a really enjoyable local race, we are hoping to get plenty of teams taking part in this year’s event.
The race is a relay, 3 runners in a team, each running a one mile loop around the park. Whilst there are medals for the winning teams including age group awards, this is mainly a fun event. Every finisher receives an ice cream at the end! Teams can consist of any mix of ages and gender.
Teams need to complete their own entries and pay the entry fee (£5 per affiliated athlete) so the best way to organise the entries is for people to sort themselves into a team. Entries are online or on the night but it was a bit busy last year and best to get it sorted beforehand!
Knowing who wants to run and getting yourself in a team won’t work for everyone and the aim of this post is not only to encourage people to take part but to provide a way of us getting everyone who wants to run into a suitable team.
It would be great to have a range of teams taking part, perhaps teams from the groups you run with on a Monday or a Wednesday, but also encouraging people to mix with people they might not usually run with too!
So if you are interested in running and want to be part of a team please comment below and we can sort things out, you might already have two of you and need a third so post that too!
The link to the event and entry page is below;
Bristol Sri Chinmoy Races Summer Series – Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team
The Gwent Cross Country League
The AGM took place on Friday, June 20th in Cardiff. In terms of participation numbers it was the highest ever with 6590 racing over the five fixtures. The men (615) and women (419) at Cardiff were all time records for a Gwent League fixture. The junior numbers were also very strong demonstrating a continued interest in cross country.
The fixtures for next season are:
- Saturday, October 11th 2025 Margam Park (Swansea Harriers)
- Saturday, November 8th 2025 Cardiff in conjunction with Cross Challenge
- Saturday, December 6th 2025 Blaise Castle (Westbury Harriers)
- Saturday, February 7th 2026 Chepstow Race Course (Bristol & West AC)
- Saturday, February 28th 2026 Parc Bryn Bach (Parc Bryn Bach RC)
There is no Pembrey fixture this year as the main organiser is suffering from ill health. This does give an opportunity for other venues to host and we return to Chepstow Race Course and Parc Bryn Bach in February 2026.
The last we visited Chepstow was the final fixture before Covid hit us in 2020. It’s unlikely to be the same course, some wooded sections are being looked at. There has been been request to include a horse jump in the course!
Some people may be shuddering at the sight of Parc Bryn Bach in the fixture list! There was an infamous fixture in December 2018 where those who took part had to endure a little bit of mud and a trek to get to the course. It will not be the same course in 2026! They’ve held many fixtures there since 2018 and learnt a few lessons.
The lack of a Pembrey fixture does mean there’s no toboggan opportunity for our juniors, but Parc Bryn Bach does have some activities which we may look at.
Our Westbury club chair was also elected as the Gwent Cross Country League President for the next two years in recognition of his contribution to the league over the years.
Club member Peter Burton who deals with the entries and senior results was awarded the Sheila Crump Award for his exceptional effort to the league over the year.
Neil Miller was also re-elected to the Gwent League committee ensuring a strong Westbury presence in its governance.
It may seem odd to be thinking of cross country at this time of year, but it’ll soon be October and the mud will be calling. Get the dates in your diaries now.
Geraint
A reminder that we have an events calendar on our website where you can keep track of dates for training, events and races. https://westburyharriers.co.uk/events/events-calendar/
Club Championship info and rules on this link: https://westburyharriers.co.uk/events/club-championship/
- Thursday 3rd July – Tintern Trot: https://sites.google.com/site/chepstowharriersrunningclub/open-races/tintern-trot
- Saturday 5th July – Cotswold Way Relay: – Eithne has been in touch with those involved/on the waiting list.
- Saturday 5th July – first running of the Fan y Big y Pen y Fan y Big race https://www.breconfans.org.uk/fan-y-big-y-pen-y-fan-y-big-race 18miles and 6000+ft of ascent. They are keen to get good entry numbers as it’s a new race. A few WH have already entered.
- Friday 11th July – Hazelberry Hurrah (Club Champs): https://corshamrunningclub.co.uk/hazelbury-hurrah/
- Saturday 19th July – Brecon Beacons Fell Race: https://sites.google.com/site/welshfellrace/individual-races/brecon-beacons
- Friday 25th July – The Towpath 10k (Club Champ): https://www.greatwesternrunners.org.uk/towpath-series
- Sunday 27th July – Magor 10k: https://sites.google.com/site/chepstowharriersrunningclub/open-races/magor-10k
- Wednesday 14th August – Crooks Peak Cake Race (Club Champs): https://www.fellrunner.org.uk/races/5856fd20-4006-49fa-89a2-ee243f26d2d5
- Saturday 16th August – Limitless Trails Beast of Llangattock: https://www.limitlesstrails.co.uk/beast-of-llangattock
- Tuesday 19th August – Severn Bridge 10k (Club Champs): https://sites.google.com/site/roguerunsevents/home/our-events/sb-10k-half
- Saturday 23rd August – Torbay Twilight 10k: https://torbaytwilight10k.godaddysites.com Use the discount code Westbury3 for a £3 discount on the entry fee
- Saturday 23rd August – The Green Man / The Green Boy: https://www.greenmanultra.co.uk/the-summer-green-man-ultra/
- Saturday 30th August – Mendip Marauder: https://www.albionrunning.org/mendip-marauder
- Sunday 31st August – Wyedean Ultra https://sites.google.com/site/roguerunsevents/home/our-events/wyedean-ultra
If there are any races or interesting events that you think should be added, please email: communication@westburyharriers.co.uk
Editor: Ben Wood
