Weekly News – Sunday 7th March

March 7, 2021

Sunday 7th March

Westbury Harriers – Weekly News

Editor’s Piece

There’s something for everyone this week. If you were old enough you may already have had a crack at the BMAF 1 mile challenge (although some of the youngsters did it in solidarity with us oldies). You still have today to get a 1 miler in and the weather is looking great with very little wind, perhaps even a PB? If you any energy left after that what about a 30 minute cool down and include in in the EA30 challenge?

Guest Speaker – Nigel Gates and Running for the Older Runner and Young Ones as Well- Friday 12th March.

Westbury Harrier Nigel Gates is a life long runner. An English Schools medallist, a senior international (with best times of 28.19 for 10k and 63.01 for half marathon,) a 20 times world masters champion on track, road, cross country and mountain running and 3 world age records. Nigel will show you how you could improve your running times or just enjoy your running – especially if you are getting older! Zoom details to follow.

Club Intervals-Short and Simple!

Last weeks interval session was all about preparation for the mile attempt. Now that’s over we’re keeping it short and simple this week, but focussing on speed. The session is 10 x 90 seconds with a 60 second recovery. Not forgetting warm up, warm down and stretching.

I do have to ask our members not to encourage meetings at the same location and time for training, for example by posting suggested locations on the facebook page. We are allowed to run in pairs but not in large groups, not while Covid-19 restrictions are still in place.

For Vicky’s intervals I will therefore only suggest you try to find somewhere that is local and free of traffic and pedestrians. A quiet street or open area of parkland are ideal. I’ll let you as individuals decide on the location and time, but please don’t publicise it. Many thanks.

Facebook 5km Relay

We’ve covered an amazing 28 legs so far and I’m looking forward to seeing Sandra on leg 29. I’ve personally found them very interesting and learning the reasons for people taking up running and joining the club. I’ve also discovered some things about members that I never knew, such as Jayne was a rower and Richard has a 4x100m relay gold medal from his Uni days.

Just as a quick recap the 28 legs have been covered by those listed below. I’ll try and keep this updated so we don’t lose track!

Tamsin, Hannah McAlpine, Anne Lovell, Mark Andrews, Kate Wills, Jenny Godden, Ewan Cameron, Clair Cusack, Linda Phillips, Marilyn Palmer, Jane Derham, Alex Hamblin, Ben Rawlins, Mike Mewse, Anthony Glover, Dan Summers, Scott Campbell, Chris Palmer, Vicky Tester, Rhi Paton, Robyn Ellis, Dara Goodluck, Jayne Pemble, Kate Howard, Rosie Hamilton-James, Emily Whitaker, Ewan Paton, Richard Hughes and Sandra Sforza is next.

Although I’m enjoying each relay leg some of you may be losing interest. If that’s the case let me know (using my e-mail) and we’ll consider ending the relay once normal training resumes.

EA Weekly30 Challenge

Up to second place now all, thanks to the encouragement of our coach, Valerie Hughes. Notts Ladies are currently in first place and we need at least 25 more runners to catch them up. So, if you’re out running today why not make the first 30 minutes part of the EA30 Challenge? Instructions are via the link in the diary section below.

Member of the Month Winners

It seems only fitting that our senior member of the month is Valerie Hughes. Valerie has been an inspiration to us all, her encouragement has got many of us out and running each weekend for 30 mins. She has also provided a massive amount of guidance in uploading files, fixing Strava settings, solving Garmin issues, etc, all so we can successfully upload our runs. I do wonder if Val had a career in IT? Val pictured on the right, taken at the Minehead Triathlon.

Kate Howard is our junior winner this month and her nomination was for her very interesting 5k relay biography. I should also add she takes her running very seriously indeed, even recovery runs result in Strava crowns! A slightly more current photo of Kate than the one I used in the relay montage is below.

The Big Brecon Weekend 8-10th October

This has proved extremely popular and all the places went very quickly indeed. The event is now full and I apologise if you were not successful, the good news is the club will be planning on doing something similar next year.

Those that were successful have been added to the Whatsapp group and all information about the trip will be published there.

MBAF Virtual 1 Mile Challenge

Well done to all those that have already run their 1 mile challenge. The competion ends today but you have until tomorrow to submit your results. Once all the results are in our very own race reporter, Ewan Paton, will provide a race report.

https://data.opentrack.run/en-gb/x/2021/GBR/bmaf-virtual-1m/?fbclid=IwAR33obisFpsFug8LFFDKV8k__i61RN-jggFChHCIf2wOCgjL4Q2CGko_xt0

First Aid Training

Around June there is the possibility of some first aid instructor lead training for our members, subject to the covid rules. If interested please provide your details to our Chairman, Jim Murphy (chariman@westburyharriers.co.uk) , with a little bit of information about your involvement in the club, for example are you a run leader, helper with the academy, club regular etc.

Return to Training

From Monday 29th March, under Covid-19 guidance, we can return to training. This means we will be able to run in small groups (up to 6) and commence training at Coombe Dingle. Instructions for the juniors will be provided by the coaches and the seniors will need to make bookings using the Runtogether app again. More details will be provided towards the end of the month here, and on facebook. Details to the latest England Athletics guidance can be found using the link below. https://www.englandathletics.org/athletics-and-running/news/guidance-update-2021/