Westbury Harriers Weekly News
Evening all,
I hope you’ve all had a great start to the week. Not long to go until the April marathons kick off (London, Brighton, Newport & Manchester), the final few weeks of training still to go, then it’s taper mode and carb feasting. If you need to stock up on last-minute race items, head to Up & Running, Westbury Harriers receive 10% club discount. Let’s get straight into the newsletter as we have some important dates coming up. Plus, amazing results from the UK CAU Inter Counties Cross Country Championships & Cross Challenge Final 25. Congratulations to Freya Bradley for becoming only the second Westbury Harriers to win an English National and a C.A.U. Inter-Counties Cross-Country title. In September of last year, Freya won the English National Under 17 Women’s title at Weston Park, Shropshire. Last weekend she completed a remarkable double, by winning the Inter-Counties Under 20 Women’s title at Nottingham.
Firstly, who is coming to the Awards Night on Sunday 23rd March at 6pm? Have you RSVP’d?
Please let us know if you’ll be attending or not. If you do not have Facebook, you can email communication@westburyharriers.co.uk to let us know.
Secondly, The Bristol Running Show will also be on Sunday 23rd March, 9-3pm. A few volunteers needed.
Mark Andrews could do with a few more people. If you can help on any of the slots below, please email Mark Andrews asap if you would like to help: mark.andrews65@me.com
Currently we have:
9:00-10:30: Mark, Sophie Daguenet Rimmell
10:30-12:00: Maggie Salter, George Griffiths
12:00-13:30: Jim Murphy, Lyn Jenkins
13:30-15:00: Helen Sawyer, John Percival
RACE REPORTS
Bath Half Marathon Sunday 16th March 25
by Mike Mewse
Cool, dry, sunny conditions for this popular local Half Marathon with a good group of Westbury athletes in action.
Chris Palmer was our lead runner in a top class 1.19. 46 with an exhibition of great even pace running for 6th in his category.
Jon Riley (MV40 1.22.55) and Sean Lee (MV35 1.22.58) both had excellent runs with Mark Tooski registering a superb 1.28.11 for 6th place MV60. Our other Westbury runners are shown in the screenshot results.
The race was a superb battle between three top class runners. Dewi Griffiths (1.03.30 Swansea Harriers) made the initial pace before Omar Ahmed (1.02.43 Birchfield ) broke away with the eventual winner Jake Smith (1.02.20 Pontypridd) .
First woman was Abbie Donnelly (1.09.54 Lincoln Wellington )
Jonny Brownlee (Bingley) was taking a break from triathlon and recorded a very respectable 1.10.32 .
Bristol & West had strong runners out with Peter Le Grice winner of the V40 category.
UK CAU Inter Counties Cross Country Championships & Cross Challenge Final 25
Wollaton Park, Nottingham, Saturday 8th March 2025
by Mike Mewse
Greg Hayward and Freya Bradley in action at Wollaton Park.
Great racing in fast conditions at the Cross Challenge final which was run in conjunction with the UK Inter Counties Championship. Some of our Westbury Harriers athletes were in action for the 3rd consecutive weekend – this time in the black vests of the Avon & Somerset representative teams.
Greg Hayward has been in top class form and followed up his National XC and Gwent XC League (3rd in Brecon) races with an excellent 49th place and 2nd place in the Avon & Somerset team, behind Bristol & West’s Jack Millar.
U20 Champion Freya Bradley (see previous posts) had a fabulous day with a superb win, two trophies and some nice prize money! Well done also to Katie Ramsden – 2nd finisher in the Avon & Somerset team.
U13 Elizabeth Hutchings came 3rd place
Tom Cummins was racing for the 3rd time in 3 weeks and was top scorer for the Avon & Somerset Under 17 team with a 63rd place finish.
There was more success for our Westbury junior girls.
More photos to follow but results are out on MyLaps website and the races are available on YouTube.
CLUB NEWS
MASTERS 5KM ROAD RELAY – Saturday 3rd May, Mallory Park
The email has gone out about the Masters 5km Road Relay Championships. Sign up on RunTogether. Sat 3rd May – Mallory Park. Please check your inbox and read through the details.
Men: https://groups.runtogether.co.uk/WestburyHarriersRunningClub/BookClass/3a4a5fba-a675-4346-a895-d9f1ecd342c5
Women: https://groups.runtogether.co.uk/WestburyHarriersRunningClub/BookClass/095b82f1-c886-4e21-ab0e-8f24949dadd9
Westbury Harriers AWARDS NIGHT – REMINDER
This year’s awards’ evening is being held on Sunday 23rd March 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.
ANNUAL BRISTOL RUNNING SHOW, Sunday 23rd 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!
Westbury Harriers are looking for volunteers to help cover it throughout the day.
It would also be great to have some people from the Junior section of the club this year too.
Please see intro to newsletter with rota times.
URGENT – New club treasurer needed:
The club urgently needs a club treasurer, it’s 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
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.”
PROVIZ SPORTS DISCOUNT:
Westbury Harriers members can benefit from 15% off at provizsports.com
MEMBER OF THE MONTH EXPLAINATION
For those people newer to the club an explanation of our member of the month recognition scheme. Each month, prior to the committee meeting which is usually the first Friday of the month, we ask for nominations for the member of the month award. We give out 2 Up & Running gift vouchers. 1 to a senior member and 1 to a junior/academy member. The member must be a paid up member of the club or a volunteer member registered with the club. You can nominate people for their athletic achievements, contributions to the team, training efforts, participating in events, helping out with the club, coaching or leading, encouragement of others or anything else you can think of.
Nominations are emailed to member.of.the.month@westburyharriers.co.uk – our next award will be decided on Friday 4th April 2025. Winners are announced via the newsletter.
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 – Are you interested?
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 – HILL SESSION
(Location: Falcondale Hill)
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/
– Saturday 3rd May: Masters 5km Road Relay, Mallory Park (see above in Club News to enter)
– 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: Yvette Casallas
