Westbury Harriers Weekly News
Evening everyone,
Tamsin and Geraint have written a race report from the Cardiff Gwent League, grab a cuppa and have a read. Always love their race updates! Plus, well done to those who took part in either the Bath Skyline Day Race 10km or the Bath Hilly Half today. Congratulations to our Juinor and Senior Members of the Month, Inga Bannister and Anneke Bull.
Don’t forget about Club Supper tomorrow after tempo training at the Coombe Dingle Pavilion at 7.45pm, I sadly won’t be there as I have to attend a 3 day event with U&R and Brands in Nottingham, but I wish you all a fun evening. We also still need volunteers for Blaise Gwent XC on 6th December, if you’re able to help please see details below and get in touch.
In this week’s newsletter:
1. Club notices
2. Training this week
3. Race reports / results
4. Upcoming races
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CLUB NOTICES
TCS LONDON MARATHON – 2 CLUB PLACES AVAILABLE
We have 2 club places allocated for the TCS London Marathon on Sunday 26th April 2026 this year and they need to be registered by the deadline of 16:00 on Tuesday 16th December 2025.
In line with the committee, this year Members must show that they had entered the ballot and they must also have been a member at the time that they were rejected.
If you are a primary yate member, then you should apply through Yate as they will also have club TCS London Marathon places.
Please register your interest in entering the Draw by e-mailing secretary@westburyharriers.co.uk with the proof you have entered and been rejected from the ballot, and confirmation that you were a member at the time (which will be checked) by Midnight Friday 28th November 2025.
The lucky recipients will then be drawn at random, hopefully on Monday 1st December 2025 @ Training at coombe dingle!
The winners still need to pay the entry fee for the places. As such if you are interested, and would like to be entered for the draw, and will be aged 18 or over on Marathon Day, please send me the following:
Please enter me in the TCS London Marathon draw!
Your full name:
E-mail:
Confirmation that you are a paid member:
Proof reject of entry into TCS ballot: (pdf or otherwise)
Will be aged 18 or over on Marathon Day:
I will send a confirmation e-mail that I have received your entry, and that you have been entered into the draw! Good Luck!!
JUNIOR MEMBER OF THE MONTH – INGA BANNISTER
Inga has had a brilliant start to her first XC season, placing 10th at Margam Park and 15th at a very competituve Cardiff fixture (having asked her family to change their plans to make sure she could be there). She also always brings buckets of enthusiasm to training – she’s a joy to have in the Academy!
SENIOR MEMBER OF THE MONTH – ANNEKE BULL
Anneke has been a member of the club for a long time, making a positive contribution in many areas. She has recently completed her LiRF Run Leader qualification and is already helping us with Group 4 and 5 on a Monday as well as the Wednesday Hills session.
REMINDER – NEXT XC RACE COMING UP – VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
The next Gwent League race is at Blaise Castle on Saturday 6th December. Sign up will be on Run Together soon, but Alastair STILL NEEDS VOLUNTEERS PLEASE.
Volunteers have been coming forward to help support the event and ensure its continual success. With 3 weeks until the event, we are still looking for volunteers:
> 6 for the Early Marshal Slot: 11:00 ~13:45
> 3 for the Late Marshal Slot: 13:45 ~16:00
The split typically allows for Senior Men to volunteer in the Early shift and then have time to get ready for their race.
Senior Women will need to go to their position after running as promptly as practical for a smooth changeover.
If you are able to help volunteer, please let me know, or email volunteers@westburyharriers.co.uk
CHRISTMAS TRAINING SCHEDULE
There will no formal training in the weeks commencing 22 and 29 December 2025.
Our last Monday session of the year on 15 December will be the annual Brailsford Lights run. Meeting and running in our usual groups the route will take in the lights display in Brentry. Fancy dress is encouraged but optional. We will be holding another Club Supper in the pavilion afterwards, further information will be circulated in due course.
Training will resume on Monday 8 January 2026.
MOVE UP MONDAY: 17th November 2025
Many of our Monday runners will have thought about moving up to the group above them. We understand that this can be a daunting prospect: how quick are they, will I be able to keep up?!
We always encourage people to give other groups a try, our Leaders and other runners will always welcome you and look after you.
Move up Monday creates a formal opportunity to give it a try. Leaders will be aware and plan the route and pace accordingly. If a few of you move up together you will have some additional support and reassurance.
Why not give it a try on Monday 17 November! Just book onto the Group using Run Together in the usual way
CLUB SUPPER: 17th November 2025
It’s too late to sign up now but just a reminder for those who have booked that the club supper will be happening in the Coombe Dingle Pavilion at 7.45pm after Monday training. Over 45 people have signed up so it should be a great evening.
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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 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, meet at 7pm.
5 sets of 1min (30secs recovery) – 3mins (90 secs recovery)
1min @quicker than 5k pace/effort, 3mins @5-10k pace/effort
Option – Complete 4 sets
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RACE REPORTS/RESULTS
CARDIFF GWENT LEAGUE & CROSS CHALLENGE – WOMEN’S REPORT BY TAMSIN CHICK
The 2nd Gwent League fixture at Llandaff Fields, incorporating the British Athletics Cardiff Cross Challenge had perfect race conditions. A lovely temperature, no wind and good underfoot. With club flags flying, music pumping, big screens showing all the action out in the course and some amazing athletes from Britain and beyond, there was a great atmosphere. With most of us feeling this is one of the easier Gwent courses going, catching up on livestream recording afterwards, the commentator talked about the technicality of the course, maybe we are underestimating it. In line with last year the field of runners was enormous, with 417 women participating. The runners in the field were top class and exciting to see our young Westbury women so close to them.
With the cross challenge in full action what we did not appreciate was the Westbury history unfolding. Rosie winning the Gwent league with nearly a minute lead and Rhiannon in 2nd place. Westbury has not had a 1, 2 at the Gwent League in my memory. Will need to consult with the Westbury historian. The last Gwent league winner for Westbury was Floren Scafton in 2019. Rosie and Rhiannon both ran outstandingly (25th and 36th in the cross challenge). Sorry they didn’t quite get to experience the glory of first and second place as when it is run in with cross challenge no one quite knows where they are in the Gwent league until the results come out.
Westbury had an amazing turnout of 33 ladies. We had the 2nd biggest club team behind Les Croupiers. Thank-you so much ladies. 😊 We welcomed Reiko Lukes and Tracey Li to the Gwent league for the first time and who were great additions to our V35 team. A huge well done to everyone who took part, it very much is a team effort.
Congratulations to Rosie, Rhiannon, Katie, Hannah, Sophie.W, Robyn, Tamsin, Monica and who were in top the 10% of their age groups (see the * next to your name in the results). Don’t forget to pick up your complimentary T-Shirt at the next Gwent, 1 per season. Katie, 14 places up on her position from last year meant she was in the top 10% of not only the V45s, but the V35s and senior ladies! Wow!
A team (Rosie Hamilton-James U23 1st, Rhiannon Paton U23 2nd, Katie Hughes V45 19th, Hannah Large V35 23rd, Olivia Zeltner SL 45th).
B team (Belinda Dow SL 63rd, Sophie Westmacott V45 71st, Elizabeth Spence SL 77th, Robyn Ellis V45 84th, Tamsin Chick V45 90th).
C team (Hannah Batchelor SL 110th, Rachel Liston V35 117th, Laura Smith V35 125th, Monica Warnock V55 158th, Antonia Gooder V55 170th).
D team (Reiko Lukes V35 177th, Tracey Li V35 187th, Kate Hoffen V55 190th Lucie McNair V35 211th, Helen Sawyer V55 234th).
E team (Debbie Hunt V45 241st, Helen Kirkwood V35 254th, Sandra Sforza V55 257th, Felicity Russell V65 265th, Louisa Chowns SL 268th).
F team (Anne Dockery V75 309th, Sophie Rimmell V45 311th, Lyn Jenkins V65 318th, Svetlana Jones V55 343rd, Anneke Bull V55 354th).
G team (Nicola Derrick V55 368th, Catherine Flaguel V45 384th, Eithne Noonan V65 400th).
Senior team 2nd on the day, B Team 11th, C team 22nd, D team 35th, E team 50th, T team 64th, G Team 96th. 109 teams in total
The A team remained in 4th place in the 1st division.
Reserve Division – B team are 4th overall. C team 7th, D team 12th, E team 19th, F team 25th, G team 43rd
Current Age groups team standings:
U23 – 3rd (moving up a place from Margam Park)
V35 – 2nd (staying the same)
V45 – 1st (staying the same)
V55 – 2nd (moving down from 1st)
V65 – Joint 1st (moving up from 2nd)
Individual standings after 2 fixtures
V35s – Hannah Large 4th, V45s – Katie Hughes joint 1st, V55s – Monica Warnock 7th, V65 – Fliss Russell 3rd
The 3rd fixture is Saturday 6th December at Blaise. Ladies I expect you all there. There was 36 of us last year, with 50 being our team Blaise record. This event incorporates the ‘prestigious’ Westbury inter club trophy. (Westbury men vs women who has the biggest team?). The men are out in force this year, can we keep our streak?
CARDIFF GWENT LEAGUE & CROSS CHALLENGE – MEN’S REPORT BY GERAINT TORRINGTON
As team managers we get used to late withdrawals the reasons are generally “I’ve got a niggle”. I’ve searched the web and Anthony Glover’s “I can’t make it as we’ve bought an old red telephone box which currently on it’s side and needs to be put upright and it weighs 750kg” is a world first!!
Nevertheless, due to the strength of the men’s team this year Anthony’s withdrawal was a small blip as we had 30 men representing the club.
First up were William Baker and Phil Hayward – who only became eligible for the masters 65 a week prior to the race – in the Senior women and Master 65 race. It was William’s Gwent League debut and Phil’s second following his run in the senior men’s race at Margam. The masters 65 race has grown a lot over the past few years and there were 70 finishers in Cardiff. William had a great run to finish in 18th place with Phil in 53rd. They were 14th team out of 45, so a great effort. Hopefully we’ll see them continue for the rest of the season.
The senior men’s field was huge with 592 Gwent League finishers and another 107 in the Cross Challenge. The Cross Challenge brought some of the country’s best XC men to Cardiff and with the additional lure of the race being a World Cross Gold Label race there were some very fast athletes on course. The start of the race was a little chaotic for me. The race start was two minutes away, I was in the start pen, last minute preparations, thinking about how I’d tuck in a few hundred places behind the race leaders when Katie Hughes’ voice called out “Geraint, you’ve got the wrong number”. Huh? I had the right number on, but Chris Trebble had forgotten his. Before the race “Chris, you’ve got your number?”, “Yes I have”. What Chris had failed to mention that the number was at home a fact he realised as he made his way to the start. Cue last minute number reallocation by Tamsin who inadvertently gave me a new number, realised and gave Chris a new number too! With the gun about to be fired my race number was on, but by now I was mentally destroyed and trotted around to statistically my worst Gwent League race ever. I need an excuse for the performance and I’m using this!!!
Meanwhile the race went well for the team with the first team matching their 6th place from Margam to stay in touch with the top teams. It’s tight at the top with only 120 points separating first from sixth. Greg Hayward improved from 7th in Margam to an impressive 3rd in Cardiff, Ben Rawlins 14th (then a swimming gala at 4pm and the Sodbury Slog on Sunday), Tom Reed 31st, Piers De Voil 40th and Matthew Cant 60th scored for the first team. The team’s points haul of 2812 is our highest since at least 2016. Paul Gardiner 75th (22nd M35), Olly Sheppard 108th, Iain Large wearing XC spikes for the first time in 110th (37th M40), Joe Addrison 117th and debutant Joshua Adler 141st brought home the B team.
The C team was led home by Jack Derrick in 167th followed by Rob Poole in 219th, Alastair Blackwood in 228th, David Steller in 290th and Paul Stewart in 323rd (12th M55). Such was Paul’s dedication to the team he’d been on holiday during the week, but changed his arrival airport from Bristol to Heathrow so that he could catch a better flight to make sure he’d be home in time!
The D team was led home by the fresh new number of Chris Trebble in 334th, Martin Fielding in 368th, Richard Finch in 437th, Ewan Kilgour in 465th and Paul Turner in 489th.
Our E team was headed by Trevor Fitsall in 496th, Martyn Clayton in 520th, Mark Andrews in 527th, Ian Derrick in 550th and Richard Hughes in 563rd.
Our F team was made up of one runner – me – in 564th place.
My race started with the number fiasco, but that wasn’t the only incident in my race. Some of you will know that during a training run in the summer in Blaise I was running with Mark Andrews when he tripped me up and I fell heavily. He was at it again in Cardiff! Mark was clearly intimidated by my pace and on the turn just before the second climb he pushed me ensuring that I fell over whilst he surged clear! Note – some creativity may have been used to describe both those incidents! Our best placed masters team is the masters 55 team who currently sit in 6th overall only 44 points from 3rd place. Unfortunately we had two runners withdraw during the race, Josh Moorland and Ben Wood, both are OK and will be back soon.
It was so good seeing so many men represent the club and with our home fixture at Blaise next month I’m hoping that we’ll get another bumper turnout and boost the club’s position in the respective divisions.
There was a sad element to the day though. After 20 years and multiple cross country races, it was the final ever outing for my Asics spikes. I was hoping for another full season, but with spikes poking through into my foot and the upper coming away from sole it’s time to say a fond farewell and invest in some new shoes. The last post being played before the fixture was apt in many ways.
RELISH RUNNING RACES – BATH SKYLINE DAY RACE 10KM – BY JONATHAN RILEY
Really pleased to win my first ever running race!
There were not many club runners racing today, probably because it was the same day as Bath Hilly Half. It was a Club Championship race so I was hoping for maximum points.
I started at the front but there was a young man who seemed stronger than me, and he ran away on lap one, out of sight.
I was quite pleased to be holding second place after one lap, but then he slowed down during lap two and I slowly reeled him in with even pacing, my second lap was only 16s slower than my first.
I have improved a lot thanks to three years of structured training that started when I got a place for London marathon 2023 with Westbury Harriers. At the moment I try to do 10 hours of exercise per week, running 5 days, plus some cycling, elliptical or stepper in the gym, and recently some strength work.
I plan to keep doing this for as long as I can!
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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
See race listings at the bottom of the newsletter for a new Club championship race 🙂
REMINDER OF GWENT LEAGUE DATES
This is our main cross-country team event. Suitable for all club members, all ages, all abilities. Everyone scores for the team, individually and for their age group. We want FULL teams in each age group. Cost is £5 + admin fee per race, payable via RunTogether. Running can be quite an individual sport, but this is really where it comes together as a team and a club with a great atmosphere. Do come and give a Gwent League a go, whether you can do one race in the season, or all five, whatever your contribution, it really does help.
Saturday, December 6th 2025 Blaise Castle
Saturday, February 7th 2026 Chepstow Race Course
Saturday, February 28th 2026 Parc Bryn Bach
AVON CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
Sunday 14th December 2025 Bath University
Held in conjunction with the Gloucestershire Cross Country league fixture. Suitable for all. Has age category prizes.
SOUTH WEST CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
Date not yet available – usually first weekend in January (2026)
More suitable for those who run in groups 1-3.
ENGLISH NATIONAL CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
Saturday 21st February 206 – East Park, Sedgefield, County Durham.
Suitable for all ages and abilities. It is a mass celebration of running – fantastic fun and always a true cross-country course (slightly challenging but totally doable!) The Club has in previous years organised coach transport for runners taking part but the distances involved means coach travel on the day is not a realistic option this time. This remains a prestigious National event and whilst recognising that the length of the journey and the lack of an organised travel option will put off some runners, we still hope that some of you will take part. The club will contribute towards the travel expenses of runners in accordance with our Expenses policy as set out on the Website.
MIDLAND 6/12 STAGE SPRING ROAD RELAYS
Midland 6 / 12 stage road relays – 28th March 2026, Nationals 11th April 2026
2026 British Masters Road Relay championships
date not yet confirmed
Other local races;
Saturday 29th November: Machen 21km & 42km trail races, Ridge Runners – https://www.ridgerunners.co.uk/machen-races
Saturday 6th December: Limitless Trails, Secret Santa Series – https://www.limitlesstrails.co.uk/secret-santa-12k-half
Saturday 13th December: The 12k’s of Xmas at 9:30am (Club Champs Race) – https://www.gertlushevents.co.uk/12ks-of-christmas
Sunday 14th December: Weston AC Christmas Cracker – https://westonac.co.uk/races-2/christmas-cracker/
Sunday 18th January 2026: Riverbank Rollick (Club Champs race) – Riverbank Rollick – Thornbury Running Club
If there are any races or interesting events that you think should be added, please email: communication@westburyharriers.co.uk
Editor: Yvette Casallas
