Westbury Harriers Weekly News
Evening everyone. It feels like we are finally out of summer now. Especially as the XC season has well and truly kicked off yesterday at Pembury. I was gutted to miss out, but am nursing a fractured ankle after a mountain race went wrong in County Donegal (long story). Looking forward to reading the Womens and Academy reports this week (we are having the mens report next week as we dont want to overload you with excitment). We also have a report from our volunteers at the Black to the trails event at Blaise castle.
In this week’s newsletter:
- Club notices
- Training this week
- Race reports / results
- Upcoming races
1. Club Notices
Black to the trails at Blaise castle.
Message from Seema Srivastava, Westbury Harriers EDI Officer and Event Route Lead for Black to the Trails, Bristol:
Westbury Harriers proudly supported charity Black Trail Runners today (Sunday) with their first event in Bristol, Black to the Trails at Blaise Castle. Huge thanks to the Westbury pavilion clubhouse committee who enabled the charity to use the clubhouse for the BTTT core event team. Huge thanks also to Westbury members Dan Davies, Tamsin Chick, Elaine Coulthard, Phil Brooks, Hannah Large, Robyn Ellis, Olivia Zeltner and our Chair Geraint Torrington, who volunteered throughout the day.
This was a true community event, supporting inclusive trail running, with participants from diverse backgrounds. We also saw a few Westbury folk out on the course too. Black to the Trails Bristol will be back next year so look out for the comms if you’re interested in participating, volunteering or both!
HALLOWEEN RUN…
If you go down to the woods this Halloween what do you think you will find? On Wednesday 28th October around 6:30pm you might perchance upon this scary mob. Why not join them in Blaise for off-road ghostly running followed by spooky treats, Trail shoes and running lights recommended, scary fancy dress encouraged – you might win a prize. FREE to brave participants.
A fantastic £1,418.12 raised for St Peter’s Hospice!
On Monday 27th Sept, the Academy welcomed a very special guest after training. Megan from St Peter’s Hospice joined us as the club celebrated its summer charity fundraising efforts with the presentation of a suitably huge cheque!
Together, the club raised an incredible £1,418.12 through the charity bake, online donations and the Academy’s summer running challenge. The Academy runners made a brilliant contribution through their sponsored running challenge.
Beth, Jess, Penny and Erin, who pushed themselves throughout the summer running challenge, took great delight in handing over the oversized cheque, supported by Geraint and cheered on by the rest of the Academy. Their fantastic efforts also earned all four the title of September Runners of the Month – congratulations!
A huge thank you to everyone who ran, baked, donated and supported the fundraising, and to the club for giving the children the honour of presenting the cheque. What a wonderful achievement for the whole Westbury Harriers community!
BLAISE PARKRUN SATURDAY 17TH OCTOBER. OPEN CLUB HOUSE
Join us for a cuppa and a catch up, bring along friends family or anyone who would like to find out more about Westbury Harriers.
THE GWENT LEAGUE…
For anyone new to the club or that has not participated before, the Gwent League is one big team effort. Whatever age or ability you are, you score for the team, your age group team (and all the age group teams younger than you) and as an individual. So we really encourage everyone to get involved as we need you. We have people come back year after year, so we know it is ‘fun’. We appreciate your time coming to participate and know some people can’t make all fixtures, but do try to make 1 or more.
Team managers will assign you a number and these will be available for you on the day in the team folder, located in the club tent. DO NOT throw away this number, it is for all fixtures. We now return these to the folder in numerical order after the race so we don’t lose them. Please sign up in advance particularly for the first fixture so team managers can get numbers sorted.
You will need to wear you club vest or T-Shirt (White with blue hoop). Spikes or trial shoes are usually needed. However, for Pembrey you would be OK usually in trainers.
If you can’t make this first fixture but are definitely running at one of the others, please let us know so we can assign you a number. Last year the league lost a lot of money on unused allocated numbers. So we don’t want to allocate anyone a number who is not running but it is much easier for us to get the majority of people signed up to begin with. We can add people throughout the season.
The other Gwent League fixture dates are below. Please get them in the diary and note this year we have both Saturday and Sunday fixtures.
Sunday 8th Nov. 2026 Llandaff Fields, Cardiff (In Conjunction With Cardiff X)
Saturday 5th Dec. 2026 Blaise Castle, Bristol (Westbury Harriers hosting)
Sunday 14th Feb. 2027 Trelai Park, Cardiff (Cardiff AAC)
March 6/7th 2027 Date and venue to Be Confirmed
Your team managers for the Gwent League are Geraint Torrington (manager.men@westburyharriers.co.uk) for the men and Tamsin Chick (manager.women@westburyharriers.co.uk) for the women.
Any questions please speak you your team manager at training or message them
British Masters Cross Country Relays
Saturday 24th October 2026 at Horspath Athletics Stadium, Horspath Rd, Oxford, OX4 2RR
Team managers have already been in touch but a reminder that entries close for this event on 10th October. If you want to run, please let your team manager know ASAP.
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.
TUESDAY – Track Session:
Track at Yate
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:
7pm at Coombe Dingle Sports Complex.
5/10k pace
5mins (90secs recovery)
4mins (1min recovery)
3mins (1min recovery)
3mins (1minrecovery)
4mins (1min recovery)
5min
*Option to drop the 5mins to 4mins and 4mins to
3. RACE RESULTS/REPORTS
WOMENS XC TEAM, PEMBURY…
Well done to our senior and masters women’s squad at the first Gwent League fixture of the 2026/2027 season at Pembrey Country Park. A big thanks to everyone who came and ran. I know Pembrey is a long way, but so worth the drive. It is a beautiful course and we were rewarded with a lovely sunny day. Although you certainly noticed the wind when you were running into it.
Catherine led the team home in a stunning 9th place (2nd V45). Having been injured last season she was clearly pleased to be back. Next in was Elizabeth, who placed in her best Gwent position to date. Antonia heeded the call when we had no V55’s signed up to defend their 2025/2026 team title and had a fabulous run to be 3rd V60 home overall. Kez, Tracy and Katie.R all packed in around Antonia, with Kez making the top 100. Anne championed the V65 team and also supported the V55 team in 211th. We welcomed Carmel and Natalie as new addition to the women’s team. And we welcomed Michelle back to the squad having been a member many years ago. All have children at Westbury, so thought they were there anyway so might as well run. So glad they did, what assets to our team, all had fantastic debut races. If you are a parent there anyway, think about giving it a go.
Congratulations to Catherine & Tamsin for being in the top 10% of their age groups, don’t forget to pick up your complimentary T-Shirt at the next Gwent.
A team (Catherine Treble V45 9, Elizabeth Spence SL 43, Tamsin Chick V45 57, Rachel Liston V40 69, Michelle Jones V40 78) B team (Keziah Sheppard SL 95, Antonia Gooder V60 119, Tracy Li V40 126, Katie Ramsden U24 128, Carmel Pattinson V40 152) C team (Natalie McBradia V40 168, Anne Dockery V75 211).
Our teams placed well. A team 6th on the day, B team 22nd and C team 45th out of 80 teams on the day. This put us 5th in Division 1 and B team 5th in the reserve division. Our age group teams are currently U24 13th, V35s 2nd, V45s 1st, V55s 8th, V65s 3rd. We were sadly a little depleted in women team numbers at this first fixture and did not have complete teams in the U24, V55s and V65 age groups, so we have a bit of work to do. But good news we have 4 fixtures to achieve this. So make sire the next date is in your diary. SUNDAY 8th November at Cardiff. This is a good course for any newbies or people who don’t like hills/mud and is not too far to travel. You also will get to see some fantastic talent as this event combines the Cross Challenge which attracts some elite level athletes and yes you can watch it all back on YouTube.
ACADEMY STARS SHINE AT PEMBURY….
Brilliant to have such a good turn-out at the first Gwent XC League fixture from our Academy runners. We are so proud of how well they all ran, particularly those running their first XC race with us! Particular nod to an amazing performance from Alex who won the U12s boys’ race in a nail-biting finish – absolutely fantastic running!
Big thanks to all of their parents too for taking the time to drive them there, helping them get ready, and of course, all their supportive cheering!
Girls (2nd U12s team overall)
Chloe (5th of 68 finishers), Autumn (14th), Jessica (19th), Penny (30th), Erin (35th), Zola (40th), Phoebe (47th).
Boys (4th U12s team overall)
Alex (1st of 91 finishers), Jack (9th), Max (22nd), Casper (37th), Zach (59th), Teddy (63rd), Freddie (69th).
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
Upcoming club relays
Saturday 24th October – British Masters Cross Country Relays – Oxford
Provisional Gwent League Dates 2026/27 season
Sunday November 8th Cardiff (rugby fixture on the 7th)
Saturday December 5th Blaise Castle
Sunday 14th Feb. 2027 Trelai Park, Cardiff (Cardiff AAC)
Saturday/Sunday March 6th /7th (date and venue TBC)
Other local races:
Sunday 25th October 2026: The Clock Change Challenge (CLUB CHAMPS) – AUTUMN – Clock Change Challenge – Course Maps
Sunday 1st November 2026: Nightingale Nightmare (CLUB CHAMPS) – Nightingale Nightmare 2026 (This sells out quickly!!)
Thursday 19th November 2026: Weston Prom #3 – (CLUB CHAMPS)
Thursday 17th December 2026: Severn Bridge Night Race – (CLUB CHAMPS) RogueRuns – Severn Bridge 5 Night Race (This also sells out quickly)
Please send anything you might want to see in the newsletter to: communication@westburyharriers.co.uk
SOCIAL MEDIA
WESTBURY HARRIERS FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/groups/westburyharriers/
WESTBURY HARRIERS INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/westbury_harriers/
If anyone is on Instagram, we would love for you to tag us, so we can share your posts/stories taking part in club events or other races!
Editor: Ben Wood
