Westbury Harriers Weekly News
Hi everyone,
It’s been another strange week of weather, with some glorious sunshine mixed in with the cold, windy weather (and we even got some snow and hail during a trip to the Scottish Highlands last week!) but the lighter evenings still feel like such a treat. It’s been another busy weekend of racing too, with the Big Cheese in the Mendips and the first club champs race of the season at the Kymin Dash today. Further afield, big shout out to Olivia Zeltner who zoomed around 15 very hilly miles of Cornish coast path to take the win at the KVK race today!
This newsletter is packed full of notices and dates for your diary. This week, Up & Running is organising another try-on event with Puma on Tuesday, and on Thursday, club intervals will be a bit different – we’ll be meeting on the Downs at 7pm for a 5k time trial. Also please do remember to come along to the AGM on Thursday 23rd April if you can, and sign up for the club supper and the boat trip.
Best of luck to all those racing in the next few weeks!
In this week’s newsletter:
- Club notices
- Training this week
- Race reports / results
- Upcoming races
1. CLUB NOTICES
CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP 2026-27
The new 2026-27 Club Championship season kicked off today with the first race – The Kymin Dash. Next weekend, it’s the turn of Frenchay 10k. Your best 10 results in selected races across the year count and it’s a great way to experience lots of different types of races with fellow club members! For full information and a list of Club Champs races so far, visit the website.
MONDAY SENIOR TRAINING LOCATION – RETURN TO BLAISE DELAYED UNTIL 11 MAY
We had planned to return to Blaise Castle on Monday, April 20th but, following the break-in, the clubhouse isn’t currently available. The work on the door should be completed in the next couple of weeks. Whilst it’s disappointing we can’t yet go back to Blaise, it’s easy to get into Blaise to run from Coombe Dingle and it’s only two additional Mondays that we’ll run from Coombe Dingle as Monday, May 4th is a bank holiday. This applies to all groups who would have expected to return to Blaise Castle – seniors, juniors and academy.
CLUB SUPPER – THURSDAY 30 APRIL
Our next club supper is on Thursday 30th April at 7:50 for 8pm, straight after training upstairs at the Coombe Dingle Pavilion. Lasagne and garlic bread – £6.60 per head. Please comment on the post on Facebook, or message Sarah Andrews. Please mention any dietary requirements when you book. Deadline to book is 23/4/26.
BOAT TRIP – ALL ABOARD!
We are trying to organise an upriver boat trip on Saturday 20th June 19:00 – 22:00 on Bristol Packets ‘The Bagheera. We need to pay the deposit to secure the boat asap. We are asking for a non-refundable deposit of £10 per head. We need at least 22 people to make this work, but can go up to 50.
The approximate cost of the trip is about £24 ph + about £13:75 for onboard fish & chip. This cost of the trip will depend on numbers, could be under £20 + F&C if we get 50 people!
Please do think about signing up as we need more people and it’s great that there will be a club social event. The photos below give you a sense of what it was like last time.
THURSDAY INTERVALS DURING APRIL – PLEASE READ
Thursday Interval Training for the Seniors continues at Coombe Dingle throughout the summer.
With lots of summer activities going on we do have to move around the site, so won’t always be on the field we use during the winter.
- On Thursday 16th April we will be meeting at the Watertower on the Downs at 7pm where the session will be a 5k time trial. This is suitable for all abilities, runners are set off in reverse order so that everyone should finish at about the same time. Runners will need an approximate 5k time so that we can sort out a starting order. Our coaches and leaders can help you with this if you are unsure. It is really helpful to have a few people who aren’t running to act as marshals and supporters put on the course. If you can help with this please speak to one of the Thursday team or email mark.andrews65@me.com
- On Thursday 23rd April we have the clubs AGM at 7pm. We will hold a shortened training session beginning at 6:15pm that evening so the our leaders and runners can attend the AGM. Please arrive on that day ready to go straight into drills and the session itself. We hope that as many runners as possible can remain to attend the AGM, it is your opportunity to see how our club is run and to have your say.
- On Thursday 30th April we will hold a Bring A Friend session. A formal opportunity to invite a friend, neighbour or work colleague along to the session.
Booking for all sessions on Run Together in the usual way
DID YOU JOIN WESTBURY HARRIERS OVER 5YRS AGO? – MEMBERSHIP START DATE IS NEEDED
We are trying to update our records around some of our longer standing members. Our membership system came in long after some of our members joined. If you know the date you joined Westbury Harriers and have been here over 5 years please contact manager.women@westburyharriers.co.uk and let them know. We can then add this to your membership record. This supports us in some of award categories (vice presidents and life members).
BRING A FRIEND TO INTERVALS – THURSDAY 30TH APRIL
With the lighter evenings and sunshine improving, this is a great time for people to experience what spring/summer training can look like at Westbury Harriers. We are encouraging people to bring a friend to senior intervals on Thursday 30th April. They can book on via RunTogether or just come along (details and emergency contact information will be obtained if not booked on via RunTogether, so please arrive a little bit earlier so we have time to obtain this). Session suitable for all abilities.
U&R BRISTOL x PUMA TRY ON EVENT – TUESDAY 14th APRIL
Up & Running store has another demo event coming up. You can test the Puma MagMax Nitro 2 (max cushioned shoe daily, long distance or recovery trainer) and also the Deviate Nitro 4 (carbon composite PWRPLATE trainer for responsive tempo runs)
Free event – Click the link to sign up:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1987115564144
YATE AC – TRACK RACING
As the sun comes out and we move into the spring/summer you may fancy giving the track a go. As a Westbury Harrier member you can join our sister club Yate AC for free. As Westbury is registered for road and cross country disciplines only, for track we compete for Yate AC who are only registered for the track discipline.
- To do this join Yate as Westbury associate member.
- Complete the other discipline form. Attached to this email. This needs to be signed by a WH committee member/team manager and then sent to both Westbury and Yate membership secretaires (membership@westburyharriers.co.uk and yatemembership@outlook.com). You only need to complete this form once.
- Once registered you may want to check your power of 10 profile updates to show Westbury and Yate so your results show. Any issues email power of 10
BRISTOL URBAN ORIENTEERING SERIES 2026
BOK’s Urban race series kicks off this Wednesday evening at the University of Bristol. Short, medium and long courses available at each event, plus a course for U16s at most locations. If you’ve never done it before, your first event is free. Late entries for this Wednesday’s event close tonight (Sunday 12th). More info on the BOK website: https://www.bristolorienteering.org.uk/index.php/urban26 Lots of people will be on hand to show you the ropes if you’ve never tried urban orienteering before.
REMINDER – DATES FOR THE DIARY
AGM: Thursday 23rd April at 6:30pm for 7pm start at Coombe Dingle. Everyone should have received an email from Mike Hopkins with full details and the AGM pack. Please do read through and consider attending if you can.
BLAISE BLAZER – ENTRIES OPEN
Entries are now open for this year’s Blaise Blazer. Entry only £10/£12. Monday 1st June 2026.
Scenic/hilly 6k through Blaise Estate. Friendly event, all abilities are welcome. Plenty of individual, team & spot prizes and lots of free cake after.
https://westburyharriers.co.uk/events/blaise-blazer/
2. TRAINING THIS WEEK
MONDAY – Tempo Session:
Group runs from Coombe Dingle sports complex 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.
WEDNESDAY – Hill Session:
Adults, all abilities. Meet every Wednesday at 12pm, corner of Saville Road by the Downs. Sign up on RunTogether App.
THURSDAY – Time Trial Session:
This week our session is a 5k time trial which will take place on the Downs. We will meet at the Watertower at 7pm (for location What 3 Words – https://w3w.co/critic.charge.fallen) – our warm up run will take us through the final part of the time trial route which starts and finishes at the point marked here on What 3 Words: https://w3w.co/roof.rides.fence. Any latecomers meet us there.
Runners will set off on the route in groups with the slower runners starting first. We should all therefore finish at about the same time and the session is suitable for all abilities.
The route is straightforward and will be fully explained before we set off.
Please can you try and book on using Run Together as early as possible, this will help us put you into suitable groups. Please also wear club kit if you have it!
3. RACE RESULTS/REPORTS
WESTONBIRT 10k and HALF
Huge well done to Kez Sheppard who knocked a massive 18 mins off her time from last year, running the half marathon in 1:41 this year and placing 3rd female. A year of attending Tuesday track sessions, facilitated by Nicola Derrick, has certainly paid off! Also well done to our other WH half runners: Joe Addrison in 1:21, finishing 6th, and Ali White in 1:59, finishing 4th V60.
In the 10k, Olly Sheppard took 5th place in 36:39. Other Harriers were Thomas Reed (40:49), Lyn Jenkins (52:00 and 1st V70), and Caroline Scapens (1:02:48). Great running everyone!
4. 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/
And club champ races here: Club Championship – Westbury Harriers
Other club races:
Monday 1st June – Blaise Blazer
Other local races:
Saturday 18th April: Beast of the Beacons 10, 20, 40mile – https://www.limitlesstrails.co.uk/beast-of-the-beacons
Saturday 25th April: Butcombe Trail Ultra (50 mile and 50k options) Highly recommended local races – TACH BTU
Saturday 2nd May: Gravel & Grit Bristol Backyard event, (Use code WESTBURY15 for 15% discount) – https://www.gravelandgritevents.com/
Tuesday 9th June: Clevedon Midsummer 10k – https://clevedonac.co.uk/our-races/midsummer-10k-race/
Friday 26th June: Beer and Banger 10k – https://www.stuweb.co.uk/race/3yS
Please send anything you might want to see in the newsletter to: communication@westburyharriers.co.uk
Editor: Hannah Large
