WESTBURY HARRIERS WEEKLY NEWSLETTER 15/09/24
Today I was at the Up & Running shop opening our doors on a Sunday. That’s right….Sunday! We now have new store opening times, Monday – Saturday 9:00am – 5:30pm and Sunday 10:00am – 4:00pm. So we’re open 7 days a week. I look forward to seeing your familiar faces and catching up, especially as I’m not currently running and miss training/sharing miles with you all. It’s not fun being injured, but i’m ok with that. I’m also happy to have the season off and get my niggle sorted and get back to full strength. In the meantime, I take great pleasure in seeing everyone’s race updates and hope to lace up again soon.
This week’s editor: Yvette Casallas
RACE AND EVENT REPORTS
10,000m under the edge
by Kate Hoffen
Ali White and I ran Wootton 10000 under the edge today. An event organised by Wootton under edge Lions where all proceeds go back into supporting the charity. The route was a surprisingly tough mixture of road and trail in a lovely countryside setting. It felt non competitive on individuals with the overarching aim of running for a good cause. These are often our most rewarding runs, hope we can run it again next year! Thanks to whoever advertised it in the WH newsletter.
English National Cross Country, Sat 14th Sept, Weston Park
by Mike Mewse
What a great day, beautiful weather and great results for Westbury Harriers and our local rivals Bristol & West.
First race – and a first National Champion for Westbury Harriers!! Freya Bradley won the Under 17 Women’s race.
Last race – and our Senior Men clinched a top 10 place in the Team competition! Brilliantly led out by Greg Hayward, but with a series of top class runs from the whole team.
In between some very good racing from our younger runners and our Under 20 Men.
Our congratulations to Bristol and West and their Team Managers and Coaches Chris Elson and Mike Down who won their first English XC Championship after chasing it since 1882. Full report and further photos to follow but WELL DONE to our Westbury Harriers runners.
WESTON PROM RACE – #1
by Heather Griffin
Got to love the prom series! 1 down, 8 to go
CLUB SUPPER
Lovely food, company and new faces at the Club Supper on Thursday. Stay tuned for the next meal date, it’s always a fun evening getting together for a social.
CLUB NOTICES
SUMMARY OF THE LAST COMMITTEE MEETING
The committee met in September. We discussed the idea of a centenary challenge event being incorporated in the Blaise Gwent League fixture the club is hosting on Saturday 30th November. We talked about how the arrangements are going for organising this fixture, which is always quite a big undertaking (thank-you Neil). We discussed changes in the academy section of the club. With Carrie stepping down from leading this, many thanks Carrie for your years of hard work, and the willing group of parent volunteers who have stepped forward, thank-you. Discussed the systems and processes they need to be enabled to manage the academy section effectively. Further support is needed in the club for the junior boys section with Neil doing most of this and needing to share the load.
We reviewed the agenda and how we can ensure we check through all the necessary areas each month but have time for discussion to allow decisions to be reached. We reviewed the charity event in August and agreed to trial this next year on the first May bank holiday (Monday 5th May 2025 6pm). The reason for this, is a lot of people are away in August and we would like more juniors/parents to be able to attend. This year it is also got quite dark. Lots of Monday night training session are lost due to bank holidays, Blaise Blazer and the Wipeout so did not want to add another one in. We also agreed cakes would be boxed up for people whilst they were out on the run, so people got to take more home.
CLUB MEMBERS FEED BACK EVENING – MONDAY 23rd SEPTEMBER
On Monday 23rd Sep 6pm-8.30pm in the committee room (upstairs in Coombe Dingle Cricket pavilion, next to the bar) we will be holding our 2nd feedback evening. This is your time to contribute views and ideas into the clubs development plan. We will be asking your thoughts around communication, training and improvements.
You can come along and speak to members of the committee. There will be post it notes where we will ask you to add your comments into the different areas we are asking about. If you can not attend you can email your feedback to manager.women@westburyharriers.co.uk
TIME TO BE SEEN…IT’S GETTING DARKER
As the evenings draw in and it starts to get dark much earlier, please remember to bring a headtorch/light and/or wear bright/hi vis clothing to training sessions from now on.
WESTBURY CENTENARY MUGS
If you haven’t already received your centenary mug, please collect one from Mark and Sarah Andrews. All club members get one so don’t miss out!
GWENT LEAGUE FIXTURES 2024-25
Fixtures confirmed for this season are:
- Sat 12th Oct: Pembrey Country Park (entries now open on RunTogether so do sign up. The details still show last year’s race times as they have not yet been confirmed for 2024. We will confirm ASAP. Please sign up the Friday before the race)
- Sat 9th Nov: Llandaff Fields, Cardiff
- Sat 30th Nov: Blaise Castle (date provisional)
- Sat 8th Feb: Margam Park, Port Talbot
- Sat 1st March (or Sun 2nd): Venue TBC
SOUTH WEST CONFERENCE
On Saturday 28th September the South West Regional Council will be hosting a conference in Exeter (1-4pm). This is targeted at volunteers, coaches, officials, athletes and parents. The conference will include networking opportunities, a presentation on club standards and updates from both EA and the South West Regional Council. Please find attached a copy of the conference flyer containing further details. Please note it is FREE to attend but you need to book your place by emailing Keith Reed
YEOVIL OPEN ATHLETICS DAY
In partnership with Yeovil AC, England Athletics are delighted to be delivering an open day on Sunday 29th September. This is being led by Regional Club and Coach lead Mark Brace and many of you will know Mark from the fantastic work he has done around the South West Endurance Network (SWEN) and through the various webinars he has helped deliver. This open day is FREE to attend and is targeted at coaches, officials and athletes (the minimum age for athletes is Under 15 and those under 16 will require a parent/guardian to be in attendance). A series of specialist coaches will be supporting on the day and the open day will include support for coaching under 11’s, hammer and javelin coaching, endurance (including steeplechase), sprints & sprints hurdles, supporting masters athletes, physical preparation and opportunities for officials to learn more about specific events and the use of the Rosta platform. Attendees will choose both a morning and afternoon session to attend. Further details can be found on the attached flyer and to book your place please email Mark Brace (mbrace@englandathletics.org) and include the required info listed on the flyer.
THIS WEEK’S TRAINING
MONDAY: Group tempo runs
Coombe Dingle 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 19TH: Intervals
Coombe Dingle at 7pm.
Warm up & running drills:
5mins (2min recovery) – 5mins @10k pace/effort
6 x 90secs (1min recovery) – 90secs @5k pace/effort
5mins
*option: Drop 5mins to 4mins
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/
Club Championship info and rules on this link: https://westburyharriers.co.uk/events/club-championship/
Saturday 21st September: Midland 6/4 stage Road Relays – Sutton Park. Target team race.
Sunday 29th September: Forest of Dean Autumn Half Marathon, Club Championship #12
Saturday 12th October: Pembrey Park, Gwent League XC
Sunday 20th October: Keynsham Dandy – Club Championship #13
Saturday 9th November: Cardiff Cross Challenge, including second Gwent League fixture
Thursday 11th November: Severn Bridge 5 Night Race #1 – – Club Championship #14
Sunday 24th November: Brent Knoll Race – – Club Championship #15
Saturday 30th November: Blaise Castle, Gwent League XC
Saturday 12th December: The 12kss of Xmas – – Club Championship #16
Thursday 19th December: Weston Prom Race #4 – – Club Championship #17
Saturday 8th or Sunday 9th February: Margam Park (TBC), Gwent League XC
Saturday 1st March: Venue TBC, Gwent League XC
Thanks and have a great week everyone
