Westbury Harriers – Weekly News
Evening All,
If anyone braved the weather conditions (safely) on Saturday, you are hardcore! Some may have escaped to warmer, sunnier temperatures to do the Venice race or Valencia Half. Today on the otherhand, felt like Storm Austen was fake news….still windy, but barely a cloud in the sky, plenty of sunshine and warm enough to be wearing a tee again. Delightful 🙂
Halloween outfits at the ready, Heidi Andrews is hosting a spooky night run at Blaise on Wednesday 28th October, sign up below. We also have some other Gwent League Pembury reports from the Men and Juniors. Get the next Gwent League fixture in the calendar, Sunday 8th November! Links are below to register.
Lastly, some wonderful pics from the British Masters XC Relays, finishing with an epic result. Congrats!
In this week’s newsletter:
- Club notices
- Training this week
- Race reports / results
- Upcoming races
1. CLUB NOTICES
FINAL REMINDER: HALLOWEEN RUN – Wednesday 28th October
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.
INFORMATION ABOUT THE 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.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: GWENT LEAGUE – BLAISE CASTLE
We are asking for volunteers for the Gwent League at Blaise Castle; which Westbury Harriers host to great success each and every year. This year, it is on Saturday 5th December.
I know a lot of our members will be running; but we would greatly appreciate your help, as there are multiple volunteering slots throughout the day (see below). We need > 20 Marshals out on the course at any one point, with some floating volunteers able to respond where / if needed.
Approximate volunteering times are noted below, based on last year (full schedule for the Gwent League has not be released yet); but may change closer to the time.
If there are specific slots that you’d like to have, please let me know and I’ll do my best to accommodate.
Volunteering Slots:
- Early Setup: 09:00 -> ~11:00
- Early Marshall: ~11:00 -> ~13:45
- Late Marshall: ~13:45 -> ~16:00
- Late Cleardown: ~16:00 onwards
- Club House: time to be agreed on at a later date, but expected to be the following day / week.
As usual, all timings will be thought out such that you won’t miss your race and have time to warmup and cooldown.
If you are able to help, please email me at – volunteers@westburyharriers.co.uk
Kind Regards, Alastair Blackwood – Volunteer CoOrdinator.
2. TRAINING THIS WEEK
MONDAY – Tempo Sessions:
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.
6 mins (90secs recovery)
6 x 90secs (1min recovery)
6 mins
*Option to drop the 6mins to 5mins
6mins @10k pace/effort
90secs @5k pace/effort or slightly quicker
3. RACE RESULTS/REPORTS
British Masters XC Relays,
by Tamsin Chick
A wet, soggy but triumphant day for our V55 and V65 masters in Oxford. Both bringing home a silver medal!
Congratulations and well run. V55 – Sandra, Helen, Antonia & Monica. V65 – Lyn, Julia & Anne
Gwent League Pembrey Senior Men and Masters 65 Men’s Report,
by Geraint Torrington
The sun was shining there was no mud but it was a great day out in Pembrey for the start of the Gwent League season.
First up for the men were Peter Murphy and Phil Hayward in the Masters 65 race. This race has gotten more popular over the past few years and the first fixture had 64 runners. Peter had a great run to finish 25th with Phil finishing in 54th. As a team they’re 20th of 39 teams.
The senior men’s race had 385 finishers and it was Greg Hayward that led the team home in 6th place. Earning Gwent League t-shirts in 36th and 38th place were Oli Beale (also an excellent 3rd masters 45) and Olly Sheppard respectively. Tom Reed was 74th and the final A team counter in 112th was Jack Derrick. This performance was good enough to get us to 7th place in Division 1 so a good solid start to the season.
The B team was led home by Josh Adler (118th) followed by Scott Campbell in 143rd who warmed up with a few slides on the toboggan with his sons. Third home and enjoying the track like conditions was Ryan Blythe in 152nd. Alastair Blackwood continued his good form from last season in 165th and Chris Treble completed the team in 217th.
First up for our C team was Paul Stuart in 245th followed by Robin Philips in 292nd and having a great race in 301st was Patrice Flageul. George Griffiths continued his comeback with a solid run in 310th with George Pickering completing the C team in 354th place.
The D team only had one person with Geraint Torrington having a steady run to finish in 361st after making sure every other Westbury man had made it safely home.
A great start to the season and with Cardiff being a bit closer we expect another strong showing.
Gwent League Pembrey Junior Girls Report,
by James Michael
Thanks to the 21 girls (and parents etc) that raced at Pembrey on Saturday, which is a record number for us at this course, for the opening fixture.
Novices opened the show with our girls finishing in 2nd place, just 13 points off top spot and already 52 points in front of 4th place.
Chloe led the team home in 5th, with Autumn 14th, Jess 19th and  Penelope 30th.
U14s finished 10th, led home by Sophie in 7th.
U16s finished 10th with Iris in 25th.
U18s finished 3rd in a tight battle with only 11 points between 2nd and 5th. Kardia on her debut 6th, Lilia 13th, Elsa 20th, Brooke 34th.
Some great performances from the girls to start the season. Well done 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
Upcoming Club Relays
Saturday 24th October – British Masters Cross Country Relays – Oxford
Provisional Gwent League Dates 2026/27 seasonÂ
Sunday 8th November, Cardiff (Rugby fixture on the 7th)
Saturday 5th December, Blaise Castle
Sunday 14th February 2027, Trelai Park, Cardiff (Cardiff AAC)
Saturday/Sunday March 6th / 7th (Date and Venue TBC)
Other local races:
Sunday 1st November 2026: Nightingale Nightmare (CLUB CHAMPS) – Nightingale Nightmare 2026  (This sells out quickly!!)
Thursday 19th November 2026:Â Weston Prom #3 –Â (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:Â communication@westburyharriers.co.uk
SOCIAL MEDIA
WESTBURY HARRIERS FACEBOOK:Â https://www.facebook.com/groups/westburyharriers/
WESTBURY HARRIERS INSTAGRAM:Â 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: Yvette Casallas
