WESTBURY HARRIERS WEEKLY NEWSLETTER – 22/07/24
RACE REPORTS
Avon/Yate Masters Open 2024, incorporating Avon Masters and Welsh Masters Championships
by Mark Andrews
A great day out in the sunshine at Yate today! A real mix of Westbury runners put on their Yate vests to compete in the Masters event. Some seasoned track runners but several of us racing on the track for the first time ever!
This event combines the Avon Masters with the Welsh Masters championships. Also an open event so Masters not eligible for either can take part. Avon announce their Catagory Winners later but with outright race wins Vicky Tester and Tamsin Elson Chick can look forward to some Gold medals! Several others look likely to pick up medals too!
The Welsh Masters hand out their medals on the day and we have a number of proud Welsh Champions and medal winners! Richard Hughes and Geriant Torrington were brave enough to try something different and entered the 100m! Both were rewarded with Medals, Richard a bronze medal in the V60, Geriant a silver in the V50! Geriant didn’t stop there, also winning a silver medal in the 800m, and gold in becoming the V50 Welsh Champion in the 1500m! Congratulations both!!
For the ladies Melinda Savva won her race to become Welsh V60 Champion. Sarah Andrews is a double Welsh Champion, the V55 winner of gold medals in both the 1500m and 3000m! Brilliant running from both ladies!
Watching and taking part with Masters runners across a large range of ages and abilities was really inspiring! I would really encourage others to think about giving it a try! Well done to everyone who ran today! Great support for all the runners, thanks to everyone who stayed to encourage me round in the last race of the day!
Yate & District / Westbury Harriers athletes in Midland League action at Yate track last Sunday
by Mike Mewse
Whilst some of our athletes were in Birmingham for the English Schools championships we had a good turnout of younger and more mature athletes racing in the Midland League. Great to see youngsters Tom Darton, Tom Cummins and Alex Wilson running in team formation ! Big sprint finish from Tamsin Chick at the end of the 3000m – after top class run in the 1500m earlier – the girl has potential ! Elliott Chard again showed good form as our top 1500m runner. Still waiting for full race results but here are some photos.
Purdown Pursuit
by Ben Wood
It was Club Championship time again, and we were at the TACH 10km event at Stoke Park, the Purdown Pursuit. It was a warm and humid summer evening and I think everyone felt it. However, it was a beautiful evening and a cracking hilly trail course.
We had 2 ladies on the podium, Sophie Voller in 2nd and Rachel Liston in 3rd. Ben Wood was a close 4th overall after getting 3rd place taken off him in a finish line sprint. Jack Derrick was in pole position for most of the race, but unfortunately took a wrong turn! Age catergory wins for Sophie Voller, Kate Hoffen and Sandy Masters and Westbury Harriers took Gold in both the Men’s and Women’s team events. A great night, and a very sweaty one!
CLUB NOTICES/UPDATES
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ACADEMY
Last session will be on Monday 22nd July. We will be having a session in Blaise 7-8pm. Please all meet at the Westbury Harriers hut – teal building by the children’s playground at 7pm. There will be the opportunity to run in the river during the session and my experience is that children often end up completely wet. Please bring a change of clothes/towel /bag to sit on if you think this is your child. There is no need to go in the river so if you do not want your child to do this please let me know – this will only be a part of the session.
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MEMBER OF THE MONTH
Senior: Felicity Russell
For being the lead organiser at Wednesday Hill sessions since Richard stepped back. Supporting a team to run the session and coaching herself. Qualifier and competing for English Masters team at the Birmingham 10km back in May and recent V65 age group win at the Rose Inn 4 mile race in a time of 32.42
Junior: Elizabeth Hutching
She is having an amazing season ranked in Top Ten u/13 1200m with a pb time of 3.52.49
BIG THANK YOU TO EITHNE NOONAN
Massive thanks and gratitude to Eithne for organising the teams for the Cotswold Relays and marshalling, earlier this month. It’s never an easy job to sort out the logistics, and a lot of time and effort has gone into this. Great work Eithne! We look forward to next year.
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AVON ROAD RELAYS
A reminder about the next club relay which is the Avon 5km Road Relay Championships being held on Sunday 25th August 2024 (bank holiday weekend) at Cleeve Cricket club BS49 4PP, 11am start. 5km each leg on a relatively flat course. No cost, club pays the entry fee.
4 Legs Men & MV40 4 Legs
3 Legs All Ladies, U20 Men/Ladies, MV50,MV60
Categories – Seniors, MV40, MV50, MV60 FV35, FV45, FV55, FV65,
Anyone is welcome to take part, we will try and have teams in all age groups and people run in their vet age category but we may have to move people around depending on the teams. Please sign up on RunTogether (men, women and U20s) as soon as you can to help make the team managers jobs easier.
Any questions do chat to Tamsin, Geraint, Chris Palmer or Mike Mewse.
https://groups.runtogether.co.uk/WestburyHarriersRunningClub/BookClass/4cf13315-d971-493d-aa14-d6c59f13c553
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VACANT CLUB ROLES
The committee still has a couple of vacant roles. Please do get in touch with Tamsin if you’re interested in taking on either role:
Vacancy – Parent helpers for junior age groups at the Gwent League (to give out numbers, help lead the warm up etc.)
Vacancy – Someone to manage new enquiries for juniors
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ANNUAL CHARITY HASH AND CAKE SALE
On Monday 19th August, the club will be running the annual charity hash from Blaise. There will be a cake sale afterwards so please do bake or buy cakes to contribute to the event.
To celebrate the club’s 100 years, each Westbury Harriers member will receive a special Centenary Mug. Thank you Mark and Sarah Andrews for organising this. The mugs will be handed out at the charity hash.
THIS WEEK’S TRAINING
Monday
Group tempo runs from Blaise at 6.30pm, with Wellbeing run at 7.15pm
Tuesday
Track session at Yate 7pm – seniors book on via RunTogether. Check the FB page for session details.
Wednesday Hill Session
Adults, all abilities. Meet every Wednesday at 12pm at the traffic lights by Saville Road on the Downs. Book on via RunTogether. Coffee in the Downs Café at 1pm for anyone that wants to come along.
Thursday Intervals
Juniors 6pm, Adults 7pm at Coombe Dingle
Senior session this week –
10 x 90 secs (1min recovery), 6 x 20 secs (20 secs recovery)
Aim for quicker than 5k pace
*option to do 8 or 9
**Options are suitable for those coming back from injury/time out, but remember as well it would be more beneficial to sometimes take the reduced option and run quicker, than to complete the full session and run at the same speed as previous training blocks.
EVENTS CALENDER / UPCOMING RACES
A reminder that we have an events calendar on our website where you can keep track of dates for training, events and races. (Thanks, Vicky, for keeping this updated). https://westburyharriers.co.uk/events/events-calendar/
Friday 26th July – Towpath Series 10k Race 3 – Club Championship #9
Sunday 4th August 2024 The Westonbirt House Summer 10k – Westonbirt House Summer 10k, 4th August 2024 — icompete Club Championship #10
The issue with the club declaration on entry for this race has now been resolved.
Wednesday 7th August – Bitton 5k Series
Wednesday 14th August – Crook Peak Fell Race, Club championship #11
Monday 19th August – Annual charity hash run and cake sale @Blaise Castle
Sunday 25th August – Avon 5km Road Relay Championships: Cleeve Cricket Club
Saturday 14th September – The rearranged English National Cross Country Championships. Weston Park, Staffordshire. Team managers will send out details in due course. Club pays entry fee. Target team race. ADD THE DATE IN YOUR DIARY.
Saturday 21st September – Midland 6/4 stage Road Relays – Sutton Park. Target team race.
A great website for races within an hour of Bristol is https://www.runfinder.co.uk/find-your-next-run
TRACK RACES
Midland League at Yate – endurance runners needed.
Check out Yate Midland League FB group https://www.facebook.com/groups/735921887780553
27th August 2024
Avon open meeting at WISE
Avon open https://www.entrycentral.com/festival/3466
Track fixture list – https://yateac.co.uk/track-field-fixtures-list/
July 26th – 27th British Masters Track & Field Championships Derby https://bmaf.org.uk/fixtures/
As a Westbury member you get free membership to Yate AC – so join up to find out what goes on https://yateac.co.uk/yate-district-ac-membership/
If we have missed any race events that you think should be listed or would like to send a race update that you participated in, please contact – communication@westburyharriers.co.uk
This week’s editor: Yvette Casallas
