Westbury Harriers Weekly News
Hello,
I hope everyone is enjoying their bank holidays. Lots of race reports to read this week, and some great performances in the Cleeve relays (provisional report) and Severn Bridge 10k. We had a great turnout for the 5km time trial that replaced intervals on Thursday 2 weeks back, a very enjoyable event and I wonder if we can squeeze another in before the ground softens and the nights grow dark. Thanks to Vicky and Chris for organizing, and a huge metal fence for the festival didn’t stop us having a top session.
RACE REPORTS
Cleeve 5K Road Relays 2025
incorporating the Avon County AA Championships
Congratulations to all the runners in Westbury Harriers 18 teams !! Yes – we had 9 Men’s teams and 9 women’s teams racing today.
Hot dry conditions and some superb performances in all age groups with most of the winners coming from Westbury Harriers or Bristol & West.
Our Senior Women came away as winners and the Senior Men’s A team were silver medallists. Our Under 20 Men, V40 Men, FV45 Women and FV65 women were also winners and became Avon County AA Champions 2025.
Full race results, report and photos to come!
Severn Bridge 10k – club championship 19th August 2025
Lots of buzz at this Rogue Run organized event, with a warm up routine to some heavy beats (maybe something we could do at Westbury on a Thursday!) Good conditions, a light breeze. It is quite a fast out-and-back race, across the bridge and along the lanes in Aust.
Some great running by the Westbury team and lots of encouragement along the way. Westbury A men and women won the team prizes, and the B teams came 2nd and 7th respectively.Katie Hughes and Olivia Zeltner were first and second women. Sandy Masters won the age grade table with a remarkable 97.39%, Katie in second. And lots of category wins as highlighted in yellow below.
All rounded off with cake, a hot drink, and the obligatory team photo.
https://sites.google.com/site/roguerunsevents/home/results
5 1408 Mark STATTER M V40 00:38:52
6 1369 Jonathan RILEY M V40 00:39:10
7 1323 Chris PALMER M V45 00:39:19
8 1016 Alex BANKS M Sen 00:39:29
9 1195 Katie HUGHES F V50 00:39:34
20 1414 Paul STUART M V55 00:41:45
21 1496 Olivia ZELTNER F Sen 00:41:56
23 1290 Alex MILLER M V50 00:42:35
31 1300 Jerry MUSSELWHITE M V65 00:43:50
33 1271 Sandy MASTERS F V65 00:44:06
52 1114 Trevor FITSALL M V50 00:47:30
68 1180 Kathryn HOFFEN F V55 00:49:06
74 1057 Mark CANWELL M V55 00:50:09
110 1473 Sandra WILLIAMS F V50 00:53:49
145 1064 Louisa CHOWNS F Sen 00:56:22
238 1059 Tim CARR M V55 01:03:04
239 1142 Heather GRIFFIN F V45 01:03:06
300 1093 Carolyn DENT F V60 01:09:20
Crook Peak Cake Race 2025
Everything about this race suggests that as a runner who prefers a flat road race, I should hate it! The nearest thing on our local calendar to a proper fell race, the ups are too steep and tricky to run properly, and the downs, yes you’ve guessed it, they are too steep and tricky to run properly too!
For the second year running I loved it! Not sure if it was the great company of fellow Westbury Runners that you always get at a Club Championship event, the fabulous views as you run along the ridge, or the cake and beer in the traditional village pub garden at the finish, or maybe a combination of all of these things!
The race itself is such a unique experience. You have to run/walk for over a mile from the registration point to the start line at the bottom of the steep climb up Crook Peak, being called forward one by one just to check no one has got lost before we even start!
The first part of the race is brutal, the steep climb to the top of Crook Peak. The brain telling you this is the start of a fairly short race and you should be moving forward quickly, the legs saying it’s impossible to even run up this incline and over this rocky terrain!
Having scrambled over the top of the Peak you then have a tricky and rocky descent before starting to get the payback for that effort, some easy running along the ridge and the chance to enjoy fabulous views out across the Somerset levels.
Before too long the next climb looms. Easier underfoot but just as steep as the first. However you reach the top of that knowing that the hard work is done! More fabulous views across open moorland and you see the village and that lovely pub getting closer. Then the sting in the tail, for me at least, the last section is a really steep, winding technical descent that some flew down but others, myself included, really struggled with!
It seemed that almost all who raced made it to the Pub Garden, where this year both the male and female winners were happy to share their prize cakes with everyone!
No Prizes presented to the Westbury Runners this year, Judy Knights was the FV60 winner but those not present at the presentation didn’t get their well deserved bottle of wine, robbed again Judy!
The race winner flew around the 3 mile course in an amazing time of 19:34!
Great to see our new member James Pullen leading the Westbury Team home and securing maximum Club Championship points!
The Westbury results:
16: James Pullen 24:03
27: Alastair Blackwood 26:07
41: Ian Ruck 27:20
53: Trevor Fitsall 28:37
63: Kate Hoffen 29:51
67: Mark Andrews 30:49
72: Helen Sawyer 31:36
86: Mark Canwell 33.25
87: Judy Knights 33:45
90: Anneke Bull 34:57
93: Emma Jane Orchard 35:59
97: Sarah Andrews 36:36
98: Heidi Andrews 36:55
103: Richard Hughes 38:42
105: Tim Carr 38:47
108: Heather Griffin 39:12
113: Rachel Clarke 53.16
Westbury Harriers 5km Time trial on the downs.
by Mark Andrews
Runners were challenged to complete a 5k loop around the Downs, setting off in reverse order, calculated so that if everyone achieved their predicted time, all runners would finish together.
It was great to see you all working hard in the evening sunshine! Some really strong performances.
We couldn’t put on events like this without not only the the support of our amazing Thursday team of Coaches and Leaders, but with some additional help as well. This was particularly so when we found out the the early installation of security fencing for the Forwards Festival meant that the planned route had to be changed and now included two road crossings!
Thank you to Vicky Tester and Chris Palmer for organising the finishing results and start timings. Despite my rather harsh criticism regarding the lack of scientific input it all worked perfectly! Also to Anneke Bull, Mark Munday, Sarah Andrews and Yvette Casallas for acting as marshals, assisting with the road crossings and encouraging the runners on the way round.
MUDCREW R.A.T 20 miler.
by Laura Smith
Alex Smith and I had a good day out at the Mudcrew RAT (Roseland August Trail) race in Cornwall yesterday. It’s a beautiful but brutal race along the coastal path and we had some strong winds to contend with too. Alex did the Red RAT (20miles) and came in 6th in 3hrs 19mins and I did the White RAT (11miles) and came 5th woman in 2hrs 11mins.
Great running you two!!
Beast of Llangattock, Saturday 16th August – Limitless Trails
by Yvette Casallas
I’ve heard a lot of great things about the Limitless Trails events and been keen to run one of their races. With a big race coming up in Chamonix on Friday (UTMB – that’s another story), this was the perfect final long training run before taper. I arrived at Crickhowell the day before and camped at this eco campsite for £12 a night! Plus it was a 15min walk to the race HQ and 20min walk into town. Ideal! I signed up on the day to do the 50km/ 1475m and had an earlier start of 8:30am due to the temperatures rising throughout the day. Despite the mandatory kit not needed anymore, I couldn’t downsize my vest pack, so carried most of my essentials anyway as weight practice.
The route is a 10mile section, which the 20 and 32miler runners have to do 2 or 3 loops of the course. It takes you along the Brecon canal then a steep climb up towards the Llangattock escarpment. Plenty of runnable sections, not too technical, rolling hills and descents, awesome views of Sugar Loaf, Brecon Beacon and Black Mountains. There were a total of 14 runners who stuck to the 50km, some had dropped down to the 32km due to the heat or DNF. Strong field of women in the ultra distance, I came 4th female and 5th overall.
Great race event with amazing volunteers, aid stations and generous cut offs. I would certainly recommend their races, check them out. Now off to the Alps I go!
CLUB NOTICES
CLUB KIT
Tamsin will shortly putting in a kit order to our supplier. If anyone would like to purchase WH race T-Shirt at £22 seniors/£18 juniors please get in touch with size by Friday 29th August.
Manager.women@westburyharriers.co.uk
Long sleeved T-Shirts are now available too £27 seniors/£22 juniors
Sizing guide attached (same as vests). Please note these take 6-8 weeks to arrive so worth planning ahead if you want one for the winter season.
This is our official kit, so you can race in these t shirts. Vests are always in stock – just check out our store on membermojo.
MONDAY TRAINING GROUPS
We have made a slight change to the structure of our Monday Groups.
Group 3A has not been operating as a separate group for some time. The availability of Leaders and numbers of runners meaning we have been combining that group with Group 2 or shuffling runners up to Group 2 or down to 3B. To simplify things we will no longer be posting a 3A run and the options on Run Together will be Group 2 or Group 3. For those runners who have been booking on to 3B, you will now book on to Group 3. There may be some additional runners towards the front of the group but no change to the group overall.
For those who have been running with 3A the position is a bit more complicated. You will now need to book on Group 2 or Group 3. This might be a tricky decision for some runners, particularly as Run Together doesn’t allow you to see who is booked on and whether or not there will be others towards the back of Group 2 that you can run with.
Our suggestion is that you book on to the Group you intend to run with. When you arrive at training you can speak to the Leaders, see who else is running and change group if necessary. All we ask is that you make sure that the Leaders of both the group you originally booked on and the group you are now running with know what is happening.
This also applies to anyone across the other groups who may be unsure about whether or not they could move up to the group above.
ADD TO THE CALENDAR: The Gwent Cross Country League
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)
TRAINING THIS WEEK
MONDAY – Tempo Sessions:
No formal runs as it is a Bank Holiday
TUESDAY – Track Session:
Track session at Yate 7pm – Seniors book on via RunTogether App.
WEDNESDAY – Hill Session:
Adults, all abilities. Meet every Wednesday at 12pm, corner of Saville Road by the Downs. Sign up on RunTogether App.
THURSDAY – Interval Session:
Coombe dingle sports complex, on grass.
4min effort (5k pace) with 90s recovery, 4 x 1min effort (3k pace)/1 min recovery,
4 min effort 90s recovery, 4 x 1 min effort/ 1 min recovery
4 in effort to finish
UPCOMING RACES / CLUB CHAMPS
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/
Saturday 30th August – Mendip Marauder: https://www.albionrunning.org/mendip-marauder
Sunday 31st August – Wyedean Ultra: https://www.rogueruns.co.uk/home/our-events/wyedean-ultra
Sat/Sun 06th & 07th Sep. Fell race and 5 miler. Blaenavon RunFest25 | Pont-y-pwl
Saturday 20th September – Maverick Trail Race X Series Afan Forest South Wales: https://www.maverick-race.com/products/the-maverick-x-series-afan-forest-2025
Saturday 27th Septmeber – Beat the Beacons, Beat the Beacons – Beat the Beacons
Saturday 27th September – Maverick Original Mendips: https://www.maverick-race.com/products/the-maverick-original-mendips-2025
Sunday 28th September – Forest of Dean Autumn Half marathon: https://www.forestofdean-halfmarathon.co.uk/autumn/
Thursday 6th November – Severn Bridge night run. RogueRuns – Severn Bridge 5 Night Race
Saturday 29th November – Machen 21km & 42km trail races Machen Trail Races | Ridge Runners
If there are any races or interesting events that you think should be added, please email: communication@westburyharriers.co.uk
Editor: Ben Wood
