Westbury Harriers Weekly News
Evening everyone,
Yesterday was a miracle, I think it was the first time since the start of 2026, that I saw the sun and not a cloud in the sky. Unfortunately, Mother Nature was teasing us and the rain was back. Tamsin and Geraint have written fantastic race reports from the recent Gwent League at Chepstow Racecourse. The next and final race is on Saturday 28th February at Parc Bryn Bach. We need as many Westbury Harriers as possible to attend for the big finale!
In this week’s newsletter:
- Club notices
- Training this week
- Race reports / results
- Upcoming races
1. Club Notices
BOAT TRIP
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. I am 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 £24 ph + 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!
DATES FOR THE DIARY
AGM: Thursday 23rd April at 6:30pm for 7pm start at Coombe Dingle.
AWARDS NIGHT: Saturday 21st March at St Peter’s Church, Henleaze.
CLUB KIT
Membermojo store is now updated with new vest stock. Junior sizes now available.
Westbury Harriers at membermojo (XL club hoodies at discounted rate. £13)
Club training kit available via our online store:
Westbury Harriers RC
Blaise Blazer
Entries are now open for this year’s Blaise Blazer. Entry only £10/£12. 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/
2. 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.
Wellbeing Run:
7.15pm at Coombe Dingle – a slower pace, sociable run – open to all.
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.
Road/Hill Session.
The wet weather has prevented us from using the field for training for some time now. If the rain continues we will have to remain on the roads. When the rain stops we hope to get back on the field more regularly. So over the coming weeks we might be swapping from the published session. Please keep a look out on Facebook and for emails so that you are of any changes!
Please remember when out on road sessions to wear light/reflective clothing so you are visible.
3. RACE RESULTS/REPORTS
Women’s Gwent League Chepstow Racecourse Team Report
by Tamsin Chick
It was good to be back at Chepstow racecourse after last racing there in 2020. This is great venue for us, as only a short journey away and plenty of parking. Although I was selling the event to the team on the amount of toilets there would be. Thinking race courses always have loads of loos. Sorry ladies, I mis-sold this. Unfortunately, there weren’t many toilets, usual queues for the ladies and quite a walk from the start. Anyway, enough on the toilets!
A new revised course was more interesting and the recent weather conditions made it proper cross country. The ladies, as often we seem to be, were lucky with the weather, the rain held off and it was actually really warm out on the course. The long grass meant you had to lift those legs up and by lap 2 it was pretty tiring. A steep muddy down and uphill made things interesting. The rest of the course was actually not too muddy, although I am yet to clean my spikes! The ladies unfortunately did a detour and ended up running an extra 600m or so, not really needed! As we ran across the finish mats on the first lap, I was thinking it was abit odd and how they would manage this in the men’s race when lapping occurs. Then as we seemed to be on the wrong side of the tape I thought maybe an error occurred. Anyway, we all ran the same, so no harm done. Why I ask Alaistair for a marshal point where I cant be responsible for people going the wrong way, as I am too easily distracted.
Well done to our neighbouring club, Bristol & West for hosting the event. Westbury know how much go into putting on these events. The marshals despite standing out in fairly unpleasant conditions were enthusiastically cheering everyone on. We hope they host it again.
Also to say well done to the Westbury men’s team for having more numbers out than the women for the first time in years. Great to see.
Belinda had her run of the season leading the squad home in 7th place and gaining herself a Gwent T-Shirt. Hannah, whose legs surely must have still been feeling those 82 miles along the Cornish coastal path right behind Belinda in 8th. It was lovely to have Bridget back who has been managing an injury which won’t shift. Even Bridget tootling along at her steady pace, meant she made the top 40 and top 10% of the V35s, so we were very grateful she came along. Rachel continued her fine form of this season, placing in the top 50. We welcomed newcomer Jo to the squad for the first time, having been a member of Yate in the 1990’s she had shown an interest in returning. A few gentle words of encouragement from the team manager at Blaise parkrun to come and give us a try and she was fully on board with giving the Gwent a go. A great debut for the club just outside the top 100. We also welcomed Elaine to her first Gwent. Challenging conditions for a first Gwent. It was great to have Elaine along which meant we have 2 complete V65 teams.
A team (Belinda Dow 7th, Hannah Large 8th, Bridget Belfourd 38th, Rachel Liston 46th, Lucy Richens 50th)
B team (Tamsin Chick 58th, Hannah Batchelor 72nd, Laura Smith 77th, Monica Warnock 87th, Katie Ramsden 97th)
C team (Antonia Gooder 103rd, Joanna Hill 103rd, Tracey Li 135th. Helen Sawyer 137th, Lyn Jenkins 174th)
D team (Sophie Rimmell 186th, Eve Blackmore 188th, Anne Dockery 191st, Seema Srivastava 198th, Catherine Flaguel 206th
E team (Louisa Chowns 209th, Julia Hoskins 223rd, Eithne Noonan 224th, Elaine Coulthard 239th)
Senior team 4th on the day, B Team 12th, C team 23rd, D team 44th, E team 60th. 70 teams in total.
The A team moved down from 4th to 3rd in the 1st division.
Reserve Division – B team have moved up to 2nd overall. C team have held their 6th place, D team moved up 1 place to 10th, E team moved down a place to 18th.
Current Age groups team standings
U23 – 3rd (staying the same)
V35 – 2nd (staying the same)
V45 – 1st (staying the same) (B team 8th)
V55 – 1st (staying the same) (B team 8th)
V65 – 1st (staying the same) (B team 7th)
Individual standings after 4 fixtures
4th senior lady Hannah Large (2nd V35), Monica Warnock 4th V55, Helen Sawyer 7th V55, Rosie Hamilton-James 5th U23
Congratulations to Belinda, Hannah.L, Bridget, Lucy and Monica, 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, only 1 per season.
Last fixture Saturday 28th Feb March Parc Bryn Bach – get signed up please on RunTogether.
Men’s Gwent League Chepstow Racecourse Team Report
by Geraint Torrington
What a day at Chepstow – the men did the club proud!
Wales is green for a reason and the liquid sunshine poured down for much of the day which made the underfoot conditions soggy, but for the Masters 65 and Senior Men’s races it was just about dry.
The men’s day started with Phil’s Brooks and Hayward taking part in the masters 65 race which is combined with the senior women. A marshalling error meant that they ran an additional 700M or so, but neither were affected with Phil Brooks coming home in 17th and Phil Hayward coming home in 33rd.
It was another big field for the men’s race with 338 finishers and with all of our A team finishing within the top 25 they guaranteed themselves a top 10% t-shirt.
The men’s race was three laps, and after the previous 9 races, conditions were challenging underfoot with the water feature now a mud bath and the hill with the jump a bit of a slog. We had five complete teams on the day meaning that we had 27 men race compared to just 24 for the women – why couldn’t it have been this way around at Blaise?
Our A team have been creeping up the Division 1 table all season and after Chepstow they’ve made it to a podium position and are currently in third place. A 44-point deficit to Les Croupiers has now become a 99-point lead which is a great achievement.
Leading the A team home on the day with a brilliant second place was the galloping Ben Rawlings followed by Greg Hayward in fourth, Mathew Cant in 21st, Josh Morland in 22nd and Tom Reed in 25th. They all worked hard for the points to ensure we got to the podium.
Our bucking bronco B team was headed up by Josh Adler in 63rd, Jack Derrick in 94th, Chris Palmer in 119th, Jon Riley in 132nd and Tom Peaston in 152nd.Swapping the level surface of Yate track for the mud Jeremy Westwood made light of the conditions to bring the cantering C team home in 156th followed by some great team packing with Alastair Blackwood in 188th, Edward Thompson in 190th, Dan Davies in 192nd and Tim Clothier in 198th.
The dark horses of our D team were led home by Paul Stuart in 214th, Paul Turner in 261st, Ewan Kilgour in 268th, Rich Finch in 287th and Patrice Flageul in 294th. Paul Stuart was 14th master 55 on the day and is fifth overall going into the final fixture. His performances mean that the masters 55 team are in 6th overall.
The extraordinary equines of the E team had Alex Sheard leading the final Westbury pack in 302nd, Dom Hurford in 304th, George Pickering in 312th, Trevor Fitsall in 313th and the final horse home was myself in 316th. As with most horseraces there are fallers and I managed my second fall of the Gwent League season on the hairpin turn. I was carrying too much speed into the corner trying to hunt Trevor and George down! Or was Mark Andrews hiding on the course to trip me up again?
I had hoped to continue the head-to-head with Ian Derrick but Ian couldn’t make it. Was he injured? Unwell? No, he was looking at a new Toyota!!! Hopefully the new car will make it to Parc Bryn Bach for the final fixture of the season.
It was great having a new course and it provided a good test for us all. Let’s finish the season on a high in Parc Bryn Bach!
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
REMINDER OF FINAL GWENT LEAGUE DATE
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, February 28th – Gwent League, Parc Bryn Bach
Other club races:
Saturday 21st February – English National Cross Country Championships
Saturday 14th March. The Frampton Globe Trot 8ish miles (Club Champs race) Frampton Globe Trot
Monday 1st June – Blaise Blazer
Other local races:
Sunday 22nd February: Two Tunnels 5km, 10km, Half, Marathon & 50km – Relish Running Races
Saturday 7th March. Green Man ultra marathon – Could You Conquer The Green Man? – The Green Man Ultra
Saturday 14th March: Brechfa Trail Races, Half marathon and marathon – Brechfa Trail Races | Ridge Runners
Saturday 14th March: Limitless Trails Beast of the Blacks 10, 20, 40mile – https://www.limitlesstrails.co.uk/beast-of-the-blacks
Sunday 15th March 2026. 20 mile & 21km Fission. Berkeley Power Station – RogueRuns – 20 & 1/2 Fission
Sunday 12th April. 5 miler. Penallta Pony Trek – Penallta Pony Trek 2026 – CAERPHILLY RUNNERS
Saturday 18th April: Beast of the Beacons 10, 20, 40mile – https://www.limitlesstrails.co.uk/beast-of-the-beacons
Saturday 25th April: Butcombe Trail Ultra (50 mile and 50k options) Highly recommended local races – TACH BTU
Saturday 2nd May: Gravel & Grit Bristol Backyard event – https://www.gravelandgritevents.com/
Please send anything you might want to see in the newsletter to: communication@westburyharriers.co.uk
Editor: Yvette Casallas
