Westbury Harriers Weekly News
It’s been a week of glorious sunshine and it feels like Spring may finally be arriving! Hopefully you’ve been able to get out and enjoy some sunny runs this week. There’s lots of news and announcements today but particularly urgent is that voting for the Richard Bloss Personality of the Year Award closes tonight at 11:59. More details and a link to cast your vote below so don’t delay!
RACE REPORTS
Senior and Master’s Ladies: Gwent League (race report from Tamsin)
A scenic finish for the senior and master’s ladies at the final Gwent League fixture at Brecon on Sunday. It is a beautiful drive up to Brecon and with the sunshine we all felt we had a little mini break by the time we returned.
The joy of cross country is you never know what you are going to get. Gale force winds (as some of you may remember the epic Gwent at this venue in 2014), a mud bath, sleet, snow, rain or what we got, good conditions and glorious sunshine. We have not run at this venue since 2017. Since then, a school has been built on the start/finish so it all looked a little different. A relatively flat course around some rugby pitches could have been a little boring, but all the twists and turns and a few undulations made it a great course. Those with the National XC still in their legs from last weekend were not sorry for a shortish course. We had lost quite a few of our age group members to the Chippenham 10 mile event and with team standings close, we needed every point. As always it was a great team effort, thank-you everyone for such a fabulous set of results.
We welcomed newcomer Belinda to the squad and it was wonderful to have her lead the team home in a fantastic 9th position. There were some great Westbury packing going on with Katie and Catherine in one after another, Hannah and Rachel clocking the same time and Anneke and Emma-Jane having a friendly sprint finish. Antonia, Helen and Fliss had their best runs of the season. We were grateful to Lorna for fitting the race in on tired marathon training legs and with Lyn completing 3 Gwents this season I’m hoping she may be a cross country convert.
A team (Belinda Dow 9th, Katie Hughes 16th, Catherine Treble 17th, Tamsin Chick 49th, Olivia Zeltner 58th). B team (Hannah Batchelor 61st, Rachel Liston 62nd, Antonia Gooder 84th, Lorna Miller 87th, Helen Sawyer 92nd). C team (Felicity Russell 114th, Sophie Rimmell 121st, Anneke Bull 129th, Emma-Jane Orchard 130th Lyn Jenkins 137th). D team (Anne Dockery 164th, Nicola Derrick 213th).
Well done to Belinda, Katie, Catherine and Fliss coming in the top 10% of their age group.
On the day at Brecon the Senior team came 4th, B Team 12th, C team 23rd (highest C team of the day), D Team 57th out of 61 teams.
Final Team Standings
Division 1 – 4th
Reserve Division – 2nd
U23 Team – 6th
V35 Team – 1st
V45 Team – 2nd
V55 Team – 2nd
V65 Team – 1st
Congratulations to people who did well over the season. A particular mention to those that ran all 5 fixtures, Catherine Treble, Katie Hughes, Hannah Bachelor and Helen Sawyer who have done brilliantly overall. Shame that Monica had to miss the last fixture as in her first cross country season she has done so well. Likewise hoping Antonia, Sandy and Fliss can make all 5 next season as they are well up in their age groups. Sandy may not be so keen on that!
Final Individual standings
Overall seniors – Catherine Treble 3rd, Katie Hughes 7th, Hannah Batchelor 24th
V35 Catherine Treble 2nd
V45s – Katie Hughes 3rd
V55s – Monica Warnock 6th (4 fixtures), Antonia Gooder 11th (4), Helen Sawyer 15th (4), Anneke Bull 18th.
V65s – Sandy Masters 3rd (3 fixtures), Fliss Russell 5th (3)
A huge thank-you to the 50 ladies in total who ran over the season. We can’t do it without each and every one of you. Every person contributes. I am extremely grateful for you to giving up part of your weekends to be part of the team.
Also a HUGE THANKS on behalf of all the WH ladies to Tamsin for organising us and supporting us so brilliantly throughout the whole season. We really appreciate all the time you give up to make the Gwent League such a success for WH ladies.
Senior Men – Brecon Gwent League (race report from Geraint)
I had the pleasure of being President Mewse’s chauffeur for the trip to Brecon and unfortunately there was a lot of fake news being spread. He claimed that he’d never seen the sun shine in the area despite numerous previous visits. We all know the sun always shines in Wales, it’s just that the clouds obscure it from time to time.
The men turned out in force with 15 runners making the scenic trip. It was the shortest course of the year, advertised as 7.4K but closer to 7.6K as there was a slight extension added to help with the larger numbers than the course had from a recent fixture. There were lots of twists and turns a short sharp climb and a great straight by the club tents to help non-runners encourage their team runners.
First Westbury man home and continuing his recent great form was Greg Hayward in third place (25.13). Jack Derrick followed in 97th(31.13), Ben Wood 118th (32.08), Chris Treble 121st(32.15) and Captain Alastair Blackwood 134th (32.42) completed the A team. The team were 8th on the day in Division 1, finishing the season in 7th place overall which is a great result.
The B team was led home by Martin Fielding 139th(32.52) with Paul Stuart 146th (33.10) and a tie on time for George Griffiths 195th and Ewan Kilgour 196th both recording a time of 35.16. Paul Turner 203rd (35.41) completed the scoring for the B team. The B team finished 7th on the day and 7th overall.
Our C team was lead home by cross country convert Dom Hurford 213th (36.25) followed in by George Pickering 244th(39.27), Geraint Torrington 248th (40.17), Ian Derrick 257th(41.41) and the ever smiling Mark Monday 260th (42.03). The C team are in the reserve division and finished the season 11th out of 61 teams.
The team were refuelled by homemade Welsh cakes supplied by team manager Geraint Torrington.
The Brecon fixture was the final Gwent League fixture of the year and over the season we had 39 different runners turn out for the club with Alastair Blackwood, Ben Wood, Chris Treble, Geraint Torrington, Jack Derrick and Paul Stuart being at all 5 fixtures.
Thank you to everyone who makes the effort to represent the club in these fixtures. It’s been great to see some people try cross country for the first time and those who just can’t wait for the season to start.
And yes, I know what you all want to know, did they survive another season? Of course they did, the good old Asics spikes are still going strong! Some have suggested that I may be faster with a new pair of spikes, but I think training more and fewer biscuits will have a greater effect!
Results from Inter Counties XC Championships
U20 Champion Freya Bradley
U13 Elizabeth Hutchings 3rd place
Amazing results – well done both!
Chippenham Spring 10 miler (2nd March)
by Ian Gawinowski
A fantastic morning to run a 10 miler! Bright sunshine, blue skies, no wind and a perfect running temperature, not too hot, not too cold.
This was a good ‘leg tester’ as some of us will be heading out to Berlin for the Super Half Series. Others were using today’s race as training for upcoming marathons, such as London.
There were a few PB’s but a special mention must go to Sandy Masters with an age category win in 1:13:08. Great running and bodes well for both Berlin and London.
A flattish road course with a few, short muddy sections thrown in. Not a massive issue but it did mean a few of us have to give the Vapourflys a bit of a clean this afternoon. A least they’ll dry off quickly in the sunshine!
I do recommend the event, well organised by I-Compete, the same organisation who host the Lightning Bolt 10k Series. I was impressed there were plenty of pacers at regular 5-minute intervals from 60-minutes downwards. Special thanks to Martin Clayton who volunteered as the 80-minute pacer.
CLUB NEWS
Westbury Harriers performance training group
Westbury Harriers has a number of faster runners and runners that want to train for performance, however, rarely do those runners all train together. We are hoping to encourage a group of these runners to be more connected, support each other, train together and to work towards the targeted club events in the calendar, where possible. We intend this to help runners that want to push on and take advantage of all the benefits of training together. This should also encourage and hopefully attract similar runners to choose Westbury Harriers as their club in the future.
We are planning to offer the following sessions through the week:
- Monday night: a more structured “tempo” session. Booking on will work in the same way on RunTogether as the current Group 1 booking. Example sessions may include Portway “out and back” tempo intervals or a consistent effort of 20+ mins.
- Thursday night: a performance interval session. There will be longer and more dynamic warm ups and the objective is to make this a high energy session.
- Weekend longer runs: We recognise the huge benefits of doing longer runs in a group. We’ll set up a What’sApp group to help everyone organise their own longer runs at specific distances and paces.
The sessions are aimed at Group 1. We are hoping that runners will know whether they want to join this group based on the explanation given here. There is no need to always run with this group and you can choose each week if you want to or not. Finally, we really want this group to be integrated and part of the club and for runners to feel welcome to join it at any time we will be meeting at the same time as the existing runs. Any questions, please do let us know (contact Dan Summers, Ben Wood, Vicky Tester or Chris Palmer for more information).
WH Awards’ evening
This year’s awards’ evening is being held on Sunday 23rd March at St Peter’s Church Hall, Henleaze. Doors open at 6pm with the ceremony starting at 6.30pm. BYO drink, buffet will be provided. If you’re planning on attending, please do respond to Sarah Andrews’ event post on Facebook as it will really help to have some idea of numbers.
Richard Bloss Personality of the Year
The nominations for the Richard Bloss Personality of the Year have been submitted and you can now vote for who you’d like to win the award. The winner will be announced at the awards evening on Sunday, March 23rd. Voting closes at 11:59:59 on Sunday, March 9th 2025 so there’s still time (just!). Any vote received after this time will not be counted.
Lyn Jenkins: England Athletics article
Yesterday was International Women’s Day and Westbury has a whole host of inspiring women in the club from the academy to the masters who shine at training, in cross country, track, on the road and in the mountains.
This great article from England Athletics charts Lyn Jenkins’ inspiring journey into running and to an England vest. Well done Lyn!
WISE track sessions: Wednesdays
If you’re keen to train on the track but struggle to get to the WH track sessions at Yate on Tuesdays, you might be interested in the WISE track sessions that happen at SGS College in Stoke Gifford. According to Ian Gawinowski who is one of several WH members who go regularly, “it’s a great interval session, led by qualified coaches, and it caters for all abilities from various running clubs. It’s also popular with many Westbury Harriers that don’t have the time to travel to Yate. Training is on a Wednesday, starts at 6:15 and caters for all abilities. We finish about 7:15. Each session costs £3 and you have to pay for parking at SSG college. Booking via RunTogether here.”
New club treasurer needed:
The club urgently needs a club treasurer, its a role we cannot do without. The role involves looking after the Westbury Harriers bank account , paying expenses and invoices and reporting on the clubs finances. If this is something you could do then please get in touch. To find out more please contact Judy to discuss. Treasurer@westburyharriers.co.uk
THE MIDLAND 6 (ladies) AND 12 (men) STAGE ROAD RELAYS, SATURDAY 29th MARCH 2025, SUTTON PARK, COLDFIELD
Men’s race – midday 12 legs
Book on via RunTogether: https://groups.runtogether.co.uk/WestburyHarriersRunningClub/BookClass/93703bcf-a928-4079-a6df-afa15667e54c
Ladies race 12.10pm 6 legs
Book on via RunTogether: https://groups.runtogether.co.uk/WestburyHarriersRunningClub/BookClass/db3623cb-80ae-4075-b7ba-eda12f0abd67
Each leg is 3.16 miles. No long legs this year! 🙂 Which should make for a very exciting race.
The road relays is always a great day and it is fun being part of a relay team. All welcome to compete. The club pays the entry fees and contributes towards travel costs. Please get signed up as soon as you know you are available. Sorting teams is always a challenge, especially 12 in a team! If anyone is happy to be a reserve this is always useful to know.
ANNUAL BRISTOL RUNNING SHOW, SUNDAY 23 MARCH 2025, 9-3pm (VOLUNTEERS NEEDED)
This year’s show will again be at the BAWA club on Southmead Road. This is a great event where you’ll get to meet a range of running clubs, race organisers, sports specialists and other local businesses. If you haven’t been before, it’s worth the visit!
I will be there at the Up & Running stand, and looking to team up with a few brands to join us and host footwear try-ons.
Westbury Harriers will have a stand and we are looking for volunteers to help us cover it throughout the day.
In previous years we have have a lovely mix of helpers from those who have been involved with the club for many years to those who have more recently joined. This really is something everyone can help with. It would also be great to have some people from the Junior section of the club this year too.
The show is open from 9:00am until 3:00pm. Mark will be drafting a rota dividing the day into 3 or 4 sessions.
Please email Mark if you would like to help.
SAVE THE DATE – Club AGM, Thursday 24th April, 6:30pm (Buffet provided. No club training)
HAVE YOU SIGNED UP – BLAISE BLAZER ENTRIES OPEN
Entries are now open for this year’s Blaise Blazer on Monday 2nd June! Entry only £8/£10. Scenic/hilly 4 mile course through Blaise Estate. Friendly event, all abilities are welcome. Plenty of individual, team & spot prizes and lots of free cake after. https://race-nation.co.uk/…/westbury…/blaise-blazer-2025
CLUB ULTRA LIGHT PERFORMANCE VESTS
A few members of the club are looking at getting a high quality running vest made in Westbury Harriers colours. These are very lightweight and seamless vests. You may have seen some other running clubs at the Gwent League with these sort of vests (Pontypool – black and white) for example. They come in men’s and women’s fit and are made by Ronhill (our existing vest supplier). Dan Summers has obtained a couple of samples and will try to get down to club nights to show anyone that is interested. If you are interested and want to see the vests send Dan a message on 07776130707. They will costs between £50 and £75 depending on the size of the order we make. Please note, the club is not planning to hold any stock of these, each time we want to order some we will need to order them directly from Ronhill and will be subject to the same price structure based on the order size. Any questions please contact Dan by text message. We are aiming to put the order in with Ronhill by 31 March 2025 so if you are interested please make sure you contact Dan before then.
TRAINING THIS WEEK:
MONDAY – Tempo Runs
Coombe Dingle 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. There is also a Wellbeing run at 7:15pm. Bring running lights and reflective clothing if you have them.
TUESDAY – TRACK:
Track session at Yate 7pm – Seniors book on via RunTogether.
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
Coombe Dingle, 19:00
3 sets of 4 x 90 seconds (45 seconds recoveries with 2 mins between sets) @ slightly quicker than 5k effort.
Bring running lights and reflective clothing if you have them.
UPCOMING RACES / EVENTS
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/
Club Championship info and rules on this link: https://westburyharriers.co.uk/events/club-championship/
Sunday 6th April: The Big Cheese race. 15-mile fell race in Cheddar. https://www.cheddarrunningclub.co.uk/big-cheese
Sunday 13th April: The Frenchay 10km. https://race-nation.co.uk/register/frenchay-10k/frenchay-10k-2025
Sunday 26th April: Butcombe Ultra (50km and 50mile option). https://butcombetrailultra.com/
Sunday 11th May: The Bristol 10km and half marathon.
If there are any races or interesting events that you think should be added, please email: communication@westburyharriers.co.uk
Editor: Hannah Large
