Westbury Harriers Weekly News
Evening all,
Hope you’ve all had a lovely weekend. A lot of important notices in this week’s newsletter and some brilliant race reports. Very importantly, don’t forget that adult training resumes tomorrow (Monday 7th September) with all Senior groups back at Coombe Dingle for the autumn/winter.
In this week’s newsletter:
- Club notices
- Training this week
- Race reports / results
- Upcoming races
1. CLUB NOTICES
Charity Run & Cake Sale – Latest Update!
A huge thank you to everyone who baked, brought cakes, made donations, served refreshments, and helped with the cake stall. Your support made the whole evening such a success.
Thanks to your generosity, we’ve already raised well over £500, plus an additional £402 from the Academy — all in support of St Peter’s Hospice. An incredible achievement and a real testament to the spirit of our club.
A big thank you also goes to Sarah Andrews for Co ordinating. We’ll share the final total soon. If you would still like to donate, please use the link below:
Date for the diary – Saturday 24th October 2026
Horspath Athletics Stadium, Horspath Rd, Oxford, OX4 2RR
Just want to draw your attention to the British Masters Cross Country Relays so you make a note of it.
https://bmaf.opentrack.run/ro/x/2026/GBR/bmaf-xcr/
Women: It is 4 in a team for V35, V45, V55 and 3 in a team for V65, V75 each running 3km. Race at midday.
Men: It is 5 in a team for for V35, V45, V55 and 3 in a team for V65 & V75 each running 3km. Race at 13.45 V35/45/55 and midday for V65/V75
Team managers will be in touch nearer the time to see if there is any interest. Entries close 10/10/26. This event used to be held up north, where as this venue is much easier for us to get to. Entries close 10/10/26 – so will check in with people nearer the time who is interested.
GWENT LEAGUE DATES
Provisional dates for the first three fixtures for the Gwent XC League are now available. Please save the dates for these and dust off your spikes, ready for a fun season of running loops around muddy fields! More details to follow but XC really is a fantastic experience and it’s great if the club can get as many runners out as possible.
Pembrey Park (Round 1) – October 10th
Cardiff (Round 2 – in conjunction with Cardiff X Challenge) – November 8th
Blaise Castle (Round 3) – December 5th
Saturday/Sunday February 13th/14th (date and venue TBC)
Saturday/Sunday March 6th /7th (date and venue TBC)
Black to the Trails – Sunday 11th October at Blaise Castle Estate – Call for WH volunteers to help
Westbury Harriers are proud to be supporting the inaugural Black to the Trails (BTTT) Bristol trail running event on Sunday 11th October from 9am at Blaise Castle. This is an opportunity for Westbury to support local communities in Bristol, many of whom are new to running or running off-road. There is a 1K, 5K and 10K race. BTTT is the UK’s most ethnically diverse running event and all are welcome.
We need at least 3 volunteers to be at the Pavilion clubhouse to support the event, with 1 volunteer per shift from 8-10, 10-12, 12-2pm. Please contact Seema Srivastava (WH Committee Joint EDI officer) on seema.the.doctor@gmail.com if you are able to help. We would encourage WH members to sign up to the BTTT event – under 16s are free. https://www.blacktothetrails.co.uk/bristol
MEMBER OF THE MONTH
The Senior member of the month for August is Hannah Large. Hannah has had an amazing summer of running with highlights including wins in the Nailsea 10k, several Fell races and Race to the Stones 100k. Between races she set the fastest known time for an unsupported female in a 30 mile North to South crossing of Dartmoor. But if you want go get nominated for member of the month then finishing as first female in the Crook Peak Cake Race and winning a cake to be shared with your team mates is a really smart move!
Congratulations Hannah!
(Editor’s note: A very unexpected surprise to read when compiling the newsletter this evening – thanks for the nomination!)
Reminder for parents of Juniors/Academy
Please pay any overdue subscriptions for your children ASAP. Academy groups start back next Monday (14th).
Students
Good luck to all Westbury members moving from Juniors to Higher Education this Autumn. We would like to remind you that you can still be part of Westbury using the “Students Away from Home” membership. This membership is for adults aged 18 and over who want to train or compete for the club periodically. It is £23 per year (proof of study required).
2. TRAINING THIS WEEK
MONDAY – Tempo Sessions:
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.
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.
1min, 2min, 3min, 4min, 4min, 3min, 2min, 1min efforts with 90s recovery between 4min efforts and 60s recoveries between the rest.
3. RACE RESULTS/REPORTS
Avon 5km Road Relay Championships Results – Sunday 30th August 2026
Women’s write-up by Tamsin Chick
We had 5 women’s teams at the Avon 5km Road Relay Championships representing the club over the bank holiday weekend in Cleeve. After a long hot summer which has made training challenging at times and many people having just arrived home from their holidays shortly before this event, no one was quite sure what to expect. But what a fabulous set of results and individual performances.
This event is a great way for the club to come together as the season starts again. Always a great atmosphere, with lots of support and encouragement from teammates and the local running community.
Congratulations to our teams;
3rd V35 (1.03.46) Dawn Stygall 21:01, Sophie Westmacott FV45 20:45, Laura Smith 22.00
1st V45 (1.11.06) Judy Knights FV55 24:21, Sophie Rimmell 25:31, Tamsin Chick 21.14
1st V55 (1.10.14), Antonia Gooder 23:20, Helen Sawyer 24:20, Monica Warnock 22.34
1st V65 (1.11.53) Felicity Russell 24:52, Maggie Salter 25:30, Sandy Masters 21.31
3rd V65 (1.24.25) Anne Dockerty FV75 26:03, Julia Hoskins 31:26, Lyn Jenkins 26:56
Sandy (V65) and Anne (V75) clocked the individual fastest time of the day for their age groups, both with outstanding times. This puts Sandy 3rd and Anne 5th in the national rankings for 5km. The team of Anne, Julia and Lyn was the first time we have ever fielded a V70 team at the event. It was great to have Julia and Dawn take part in the event for the first time. Well done to Sophie.R on her first county medal.
Thank-you to the ladies as ever for being available to compete and so accommodating in which team they ran in. Many thanks go to Sophie.W and Judy for running down an age group. Thanks also to Alex Miller for organising the gazebo and snacks.
And on to the cross country season…………….
UTMB’s 100k finals – CCC
by Olivia Zeltner
108 km (67 miles) / 6200 metres (20,700 feet) vert total.
17:46:10, 84th woman, 5th British woman
100k debut and third ultramarathon. What a day! There were a lot of things that went well during the race, and some not so much (aka my stomach deciding it had had enough for a few hours from Martigny to Vallorcine and having the biggest bonk of my life. Cue: tears, contemplating life decisions etc). But overall I think I executed well and made smart decisions given the information I had. Original (and completely arbitrary) goal based on previous results was 16 hours and top 75 women, so with the additional 8km and 300m + added due to the rock slide diversion, I really wasn’t too far off!
It’s been a dream of mine to race in Chamonix at UTMB week so was so so grateful to have been able to make this happen. Massive thanks to all my club mates who were cheering me on from the sidelines and accompanying me on various training runs. As for now, I’m kicking my feet up for a few weeks and not thinking about the next ultra I have planned in January.
Waun Fach fell race – Sunday 6th September
by Hannah Large
It was great to see 7 Westbury Harriers at the Waun Fach fell race today, particularly as this was the first fell race for several club members. The weather was pretty perfect for running and the visibility at the top was great so the views were amazing. This is a classic horseshoe race, with about 2.5 miles of climbing, a mile or so of undulating ridge running, and then a steep descent with some technical rocky sections, before a very nasty sting in the tail – a short sharp climb to the finish up to the ruins of Castell Dinas. The atmosphere was really friendly – everyone got a free beer, and there was free tea/coffee, crisps and cakes at the end. Huge congratulations to everyone who ran today, with a particular shout out to Yvette Casallas for winning 1st FV40 in her first official fell race! Helen Sawyer also had a great run to place 2nd FV60. Full results available here https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fN-Yx2yE8BfuWRyo-3f8z29N11fkVqXN/view and some brilliant race photos here.
It was especially great to see six WH women take on this really challenging race. Fell racing often tends to be fairly male dominated but the women’s field was big today (29% female) for a fell race. Well done to Seema, Liz, Laurie, Yvette and Helen for helping to massively boost the female numbers on the start line and putting in such brilliant performances. I was sneakily running for my second claim fell club Mynydd Du (only cheating on WH for fell racing purposes!) but was very happy with 2nd female.
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
Upcoming club relays
Saturday 19th September – Midland autumn 4/6 Stage Road Relays – Sutton Park
Saturday 24th October – British Masters Cross Country Relays – Oxford
Provisional Gwent League Dates 2026/27 season
Saturday October 10th Pembrey County Park
Sunday November 8th Cardiff (rugby fixture on the 7th)
Saturday December 5th Blaise Castle
Saturday/Sunday February 13th/14th (date and venue TBC)
Saturday/Sunday March 6th /7th (date and venue TBC)
Other local races:
Sunday 20th September: Oldbury 10miler (CLUB CHAMPS) – Thornbury Running Club: https://www.thornburyrunningclub.co.uk/trc-races/oldbury-power-10-miler/
Sunday 27th September: Forest of Dean Autumn Half marathon (CLUB CHAMPS): https://www.forestofdean-halfmarathon.co.uk/autumn/
Sunday 27th September: Black Nore 10k https://www.fullonsport.com/event/black-nore-10km-2026/profile
Please send anything you might want to see in the newsletter to: communication@westburyharriers.co.uk
SOCIAL MEDIA:
WESTBURY HARRIERS FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/groups/westburyharriers/
WESTBURY HARRIERS INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/westbury_harriers/
If anyone is on Instagram, we would love for you to tag us, so we can share your posts/stories taking part in club events or other races!
Editor: Hannah Large
