Westbury Harriers Weekly News

Today was apparently the hottest May on record in the UK, temperatures passed 34degrees in Kew Gardens. This week continues to look blisteringly hot, so please take care to hydrate, put sun cream on, wear a cap and funky sunglasses and choose wisely what time of day you go out for a run, take the pace easy.

We have 1 more week to go until the club puts on it’s annual show stopper – Blaise Blazer race. Please don’t forget to bring your home baked cakes and treats, you know how hungry runners get after a race.

Two race reports, an amazing achievement from Sandy Masters who ran Cape Town Marathon with a PB, and Seema Srivastava who overcame horrid weather conditions in Wales a week ago at the UTS UTMB earning herself a 50km finish.

Myself, Olivia and Hannah are officially launching Making Tracks on Sunday 7th June, hosting a social 5km run meet up at Blaise. This will be a specific trail community for women and marginalised genders, to support others to run off-road on their terms. If anyone in the club is interested, or if you know of anyone who is curious about trail running or wants to take it further and learn more, there is a link below to sign up to our event for free (More details about the event below).

I’m now signing off for the week, while I take a well deserved break and by that, I mean running in the mountains fast packing, perfect timing with glorious weather and ideal way to spend my birthday. Have a great half term everyone 🙂

Thanks Yvette

In this week’s newsletter:

1. Club notices
2. Training this week
3. Race reports / results
4.  Upcoming races

1. Club Notices

1 WEEK TO GO – BLAISE BLAZER – FINAL CALL FOR ENTRIES 

Entry only £10/£12. Event is on 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/

GET BAKING! WE NEED YOU TO MAKE CAKES FOR BLAISE BLAZER – 1ST JUNE

Cupcakes, cookies, sponge cakes, vegan, gluten free, brownies….get baking. All the sweet delights you can think of, please bring to the race.

If you don’t have time to bake, or your baking skills aren’t up to scratch, then you can always pop to your local shop.

WESTBURY HARRIERS FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM

Keep up to date with our Facebook members group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/westburyharriers/ plus if you’re on Instagram, give us a follow too: https://www.instagram.com/westbury_harriers/

If anyone is on the Instagram, we would love to share your posts/stories showing off your club tee, just tag us and we can share your race updates.

SOCIAL MEET UP – BOAT TRIP (WITH FISH N CHIPS)

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 £24ph + 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.

Please pay the deposit into Sarah’s monzo account.

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

MAKING TRACKS TRAIL COMMMUNITY LAUNCH EVENT – SUNDAY 7TH JUNE (FREE EVENT)

Three members (Olivia, Yvette and Hannah) are officially launching Making Tracks on Sunday 7th June.

Making Tracks is an initiative with a view to break down barriers, increase representation and encourage participation in off-road running.

Sign up on the link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/making-tracks-trail-community-launch-event-tickets-1990045906878?

***

WHERE?
📍 Blaise Castle Estate, BS10 7QT (Meet at the green pavilion next to the children’s play area)
📌 what3words: ///lions.solve.gravy

WHEN?
🗓 Sunday 7th June
⏰ 10:00–12:00pm

WHAT TO EXPECT?
👋 Group introductions before heading out for a relaxed 5km trail run. All abilities and paces are welcome — whether you’re brand new to trails or an experienced trail runner.

After the run, we’ll head back to the clubhouse for refreshments and plenty of time to chat, connect, and be part of shaping the future of Making Tracks. Your thoughts and ideas will be valuable in how we can grow this community. Come solo or bring a friend — we’d love to see you there!

NOTE: There will be a bag drop. Bring trail shoes, or sturdy road trainers. Dress appropriately for the weather.

***

Are aim is to create an informal Bristol-based mentoring community that aims to empower women and other marginalised genders to run more off-road – we’re really hoping to bring together experienced trail, fell and ultra runners of all ages and abilities with those who are keen to try trail running for the first time or who would like to develop their confidence. We’re hoping to build a specific trail community where people can share ideas, experiences and learn new skills.

Our rough plan is to organise monthly or bi-monthly workshops/sessions that focus on different topics – e.g. finding local routes, navigation, kit, juggling training for longer races with families/work/life commitments, intro to fell races etc.

If any WH members are interested in getting involved or know of anyone that would find this useful, please share this.

We’re also on @makingtracksbristol on Instagram, and you can email us on makingtracksbristol@gmail.com.

2. TRAINING THIS WEEK

MONDAY – Tempo Session: 

Group runs from Blaise Castle Pavilion 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 x 90 secs (1min recovery)
5 x 60 secs (1min recovery)
5 x 30 sec (30 secs recovery)

Aim to increase pace as the intervals become shorter. Maintain consistent pace for each interval length.

Option to complete 4 of each. This will be the day before the Mob Match – treat as pre-race leg stretch if you want to attend the session.

3. RACE RESULTS/REPORTS

CAPE TOWN MARATHON

by Sandy Masters

Massive shout out to Sandy Masters who ran an incredible marathon finishing 3:24:48 and came 2nd in her age category. Another PB!

Plus, her name was on the Age Group World Championships list for Cape Town 2026. How cool is that. Hall of fame for Sandy.

She’s now enjoying her post-race achievement having a wonderful safari trip. Enjoy!

Ultra Trail Snowdonia UTMB 50KM

by Seema Srivastava

This time last week I was clinging on to a ridge in strong gusts, persistent rain and a wind chill of -1° half way through the Ultra-trail Snowdonia 50K (well actually 58K). As a back of the pack runner, with pretty aggressive cut-offs, my training focused on fast uphill hiking and quicker downhill running. Living nowhere near mountains meant a lot of Goat Gully hill reps (77 times this year 😵‍💫), treadmill sessions at 15% incline, plus a few trips to Snowdonia, the Black Mountains and Bannau Brycheiniog — all alongside starting a very demanding new job.

Race day started mild and calm weather-wise but we all knew what was coming with the forecast. The first climb and descent of Snowdon was busy and slow but I managed to get to the first checkpoint with an hour to spare. Things changed on the second ascent via the South Ridge where the rain, wind and cold really hit. The scrambling in soaked alpine gloves (emergency purchase the night before), poor visibility and bitter conditions made it one of the toughest sections I’ve ever done. I got badly behind on nutrition because I couldn’t open my fuel with my gloves on, in the wind and rain, and by the summit my teeth were chattering. At the next checkpoint I finally got extra layers on, changed gloves, ate some quiche and was ready to go out again.

Mynydd Mawr was brutal in a different way. Facing the same fog, rain and wind up the mountain wasn’t fun but the steep grassy descent had become a total skid-fest after more than 1000 runners had churned it up. I went flat on my back twice and completely lost confidence in the mud. After that I picked my way down far more cautiously than planned, but still made it to the final aid station with 50 minutes spare. The support from the TrailFam volunteers was such a boost — they formed a welcome tunnel at the entrance of the tent and could not do enough to get me sorted and back on the trail towards Moel Eilio and one final battle with the wind, rain and clag.

The descent down from the summit was thankfully less slippery and I realised I wasn’t in danger of timing out. I found a new energy running down the long descent into Llanberis. After 13 hours out on the course, I could finally hear the music from the race village and soon I was running under the UTMB finish arch. In a race where 22% of the field DNF’d, I felt incredibly proud just to finish. I wasn’t near the front — 139th woman out of 172 finishers — but my goal was always to finish strong and stay ahead of the cut-offs. Mission accomplished.

The biggest takeaway? Consistency really does pay off. The training, strength work and hill reps got me through some horrible conditions. UTS50 is an incredible race — technical, wild and genuinely tough — and seeing the runners tackling the 100K and 100 mile races was seriously inspiring.

Distances I’d love to achieve one day and with inspiring women like Hannah Large, Olivia Zeltner and Yvette Casallas who have been bossing these kinds of big races for a while, I’m sure I’ll get there, especially as they embark on their work to make big racing more accessible to women. There’s so much more to do. The proportion of women to men for the UTS 50K was around 20% and this gets lower as the distances go up.

Anyway, I’m now having a short break before I start training for the Lakeland 50 miler in July. Another big race but with much less aggressive cut-offs and hopefully some better weather.

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:

Friday 29th May: Towpath 10k Mob Match – Club Champs – Towpath Series – Great Western Runners
Wednesday 3rd June: Bitton 5k – Club Champs – Bitton Road Runners – RaceNation
Tuesday 9th June: Clevedon Midsummer 10k – Club Champs – https://clevedonac.co.uk/our-races/midsummer-10k-race/
Thursday 18th June: Thornbury 10k – Clubb Champs Thornbury Running Club
Friday 26th June: Beer and Banger 10k – https://www.stuweb.co.uk/race/3yS
Wednesday 8^th July: Brean Banger – Club Champs Brean Banger | Burnham on Sea Harriers
Thursday 16th July: Purdown Pursuit (TACH) – Club Champs https://www.sientries.co.uk/event.php?event_id=17733

15% discount for Westbury Harriers at the Gravel & Grit Backyard Ultra May 1st 2027 .
We have a few WH runners signed up for this race, let’s get a group of us for some loop fun and support.
If you’re up for the challenge and fancy trying a backyard event, then G&G have kindly offered us 15% off the entry ticket.
https://www.gravelandgritevents.com/

We would also love to see more female representation too.

Please send anything you might want to see in the newsletter to: communication@westburyharriers.co.uk

Editor: Yvette Casallas