Weekly News -Sunday 6th September

September 6, 2020

Sunday 6th September

Westbury Harriers – Weekly News

Editor’s Piece

A lot’s been happening over the last couple of week’s. Even though we don’t have any ‘normal’ races taking place in the COVID-19 environment there’s still plenty going on. From time trials to sub-24 challenges. Just see the ‘Congratulations’ section for more details.

I’m afraid this will be the last newsletter for a few weeks as I shall be away. I can promise you that normal service will resume towards the end of the month.

Payment Reminder

Just a final reminder that payment is due for the interval sessions.

You should have received an e-mail from Tamsin with the amount owed and payment instructions.

Member of the Month Nominations

The committee meeting was held via zoom last Friday and I can report we had quite a few nominations for junior and senior club members.

After a great deal of deliberation it was decided that Seamus Robinson was most deserving of the Junior award. This was for his very impressive performances on the track.

The senior nomination was won by John Canning. John has been keeping us all amused and informed with his postings from the Westbury Harriers’ archive which have included black and white grainy photos from way-back to some shocking fashion styles from the 70’s and 80’s.

Treasure Hunt

The popularity of the Treasure Hunt just doesn’t end. In fact we seem to have more postings now than we did during lock-down. The big question is can they find a vaccine to eradicate COVID-19 as well as those showing signs of Treasure Huntillitis?

This week I’ve just picked a winner at random. So, let’s give the tombola a spin and what name pops out…It’s Sandra Williams. And guess what picture she’s used…. the astronaut is back with a link to ‘barrier’. Well done Sandra.

A reminder of last week’s treasure hunt items are below.

Theme: Guess the TV game show
A road marking
A barrier
Something beginning with P
Something blue and yellow
An Acer
A map
A police, ambulance or fire station.

Your treasure hunt something’s for this week are…

Theme: Guess the country
An advertising billboard
Giant Redwood (also known as Wellingtonia)
Something beginning with Q
Something brown and white
A piece of art
Something that lifts something
A deer

Thursday Club Intervals

It was back to running around in circles last night. I don’t know about the rest of you but I don’t mind it. I seem to go into a zen-like state which helps with the pain. I still could not keep up with Chis though, even after cutting off all the corners!

Last week we even had the club’s selfie queen capturing the session for posterity (see some of the photos below). Thank goodness we were not pictured doing the Morecambe and Wise high knees skipping routine!

This week Vicky has us doing some longer intervals for a change. It will be 6 x 3 minutes and 1 minute recovery with the option of 6 x 20 second sprints to finish.

If you would like to take part just make sure you respond to the facebook reminder that will be posted later this week.

Congratulations

Lot’s to get through this week so I’ll start with Carol Fee’s virtual Greenman.

Carol reports, ‘Friday 21st August and running out of time to do the virtual Greenman, after eating enough pasta for a small family I decided last minute to do the original ‘midnight express’ leaving from the Downs at midnight I headed down Julian Road on my own (don’t tell my Mum!). It was a bit spooky filling my water bottles at the tap in a graveyard and the Frome Valley was especially dark. But the sun finally came up as I stopped on a bench above Warmley for breakfast.

The first person I saw was Robin Phillips as he overtook me on the cycle path and Tim Carr hearing I was enroute waited for me at Keysham which was a wonderful surprise. I have to say the clockwise version seems a lot harder that the winter anti-clockwise route as everything seemed uphill after that. But Tim and Trudi met me again at Dundry and a flask of hot chocolate fuelled the last section up to ashton court and back to the start. A few Saturday stragglers were still at the downs cafe to welcome me home.

A good finish to a strange year of solo running

Congratulations to Henry Watson who raced in the Yeovil open track meeting yesterday. Henry was leading from the front of the pack, so a bit of a solo time trial effort. Even so, Henry managed to shave off 5 seconds off his 800m personal best.

Some very impressive running by Dan Summers who ran the Paddy Buckley round in 22 hours 29 minutes. Dan tells us it was one of his toughest days out, both mentally and physically. I’m not surprised with 62 miles and over 8,700m of climbing to conquer!

Well done to Robin Phillips who took part in his first race since the pandemic. It was the Keswick 15k Fell race. Robin completed the race in just over an hour.

Strava Results of the Week.

It was supposed to only be a recovery run around Redland but Kate Howard still achieved 2nd overall on segment Sefton Park Road home straight in an impressive time of 1:41.

Rob Spate was off-road for a circular loop around Blaise. He achieve a 3rd fastest time on segment Blaise Castle backdoor in 12.39. The crown is held by Oli Beale in 7:04

If you want the chance to be named in this section of the weekly news then just add yourself to the Westbury Harrier club section of Strava.

Diary Dates

Sunday 20th September. Hullavington 5k. A 5-kilometre run over a certified accurate course and compliant with the with the latest UK Government health advice concerning COVID19. Medal and Cake for all finishers. RACE FULL

Sunday 4th October. 40th Anniversary Virtual London Marathon. https://www.virginmoneylondonmarathon.com/index.html

Sunday 4th October Clarendon Marathon (with half and mini options). A trail event that takes place from Salisbury to Winchester along the ancient Clarendon Way. https://www.clarendon-marathon.co.uk