Running News in the South West

Men and Women produce epic displays at the Midlands Cross Country Champs

2012-01-29T18:19:00.000Z

Westbury's senior teams did the club proud finishing 5th team in the ladies and 6th team in the men, as a very high standard of athletes turned up to contest the 2012 Midland XC Championships at Woollaton Park in Nottingham.

First off were the ladies who agonisingly lost Debbie Marsden to injury during the race, but this didn't stop Emma D'Alton producing her best ever run over the country to finish 13th in 29.44 and with great support from Sophie Voller (23rd, 31.41), Lizzy Smith (53rd, 34.00) and Kelly Winstone (75th, 35.53) they finished with 167 points and 5th place, just 13 off of a medal.

Teams: Charnwood 50, Notts 82, Telford 151, Coventry Godiva 152, Westbury 167.

Then it was the turn of the senior men, who were led (initially) by John Collier, who adopted a front-running approach and jostled for the lead with James Walsh (Leeds City) and Rory Fraser (OWLS). Unfortunately the 4.57 first mile took its toil, and Matt Ellis established his position as top Harrier over the remaining 3 laps of an undulating 12km course. An incredibly high standard of running in the mens race saw 50 runners run sub 5.30/mile and 128 sub 6.00/mile on a fast but challenging course. Ellis finished 32nd in a time of 39.41, followed by Collier (60th, 41.37), John Terry (76th, 42.49), Charlie Jones (102nd, 44.05), Gregg Ward (117th, 44.41), Karl Dunn (123rd, 44.50), Ken Ham (143rd, 45.45) and Robin Phillips (193rd, 47.40).

The scoring 6's total of 510 points placed them a creditable 6th place, as both our mens and womens teams finished top performers from the West country!

Teams: Notts 79, Tipton 97, Coventry Godiva 157, OWLS 231, Charnwood 504, Westbury 510

Well done guys and girls!

Midlands XC Beckons

2012-01-26T13:06:00.000Z

Saturday sees a return to Woolaton Park for the Midlands Area XC championships and Westbury Harriers will be seeking to replicate their successes of last year. The womens' team of Debbie Marsden, Emma D'Alton, Sophie Voller and Lizzy Smith will be seeking to at least match the bronze medals they secured last year at Leamington Spa, whilst the men will be hoping to match the 5th place they secured last year with a squad of Matt Ellis, John Collier, John Terry, Gregg Ward, Charlie Jones, Karl Dunn, Ken Ham and Robin Phillips all competing for a place as one of 6 scoring counters. Ken will also be seeking individual glory in the V.50 class!

With rumours of availability problems for our local rivals B&W, there could be a battle for top club in the SW beckoning!

Knights circumnavigates Anglesey!

2012-01-25T18:08:00.000Z

Well done to Kevin Knights who finished 14th in the latest round of the endurancelife Coastal Trail Marathon which took place in Anglesey. On a hilly course, Knights clocked a time of 4:34:43. The winner was Mark Tickle who clocked a time of 3:39:07, to give an indication of how tough conditions were.

Good running!

Ham leads the way in the Morland Multi Terrain

2012-01-22T21:53:00.000Z

Ken Ham was the leading Harrier in Sunday's TACH winter race the Morland Multi Terrain, finishing in a time of 43.07, which gave him 11th place and top V.50. The race itself was won by the unattached Rob Hayes in 38.39, with Marcus Mumford 2nd in 41.23 and Craig Berryman of Havant AC 3rd in 42.00.

Also running for the Harriers were Jullian Bailey-Gard Jnr in 44.45 (15th), Terry Jewell-Davies 45.29 (18th), Jullian Bailey-Gard Snr 49.08 (42nd), David Baber 55.33 (96th), Shirley Hume 56.09 (100th), Victoria Howlett 57.34 (112th), Anneke Bull 57.44 (113th), Sarah Thorne 58.01 (117th), Roger Long 61.30 (141st), Glyn Jones 61.40 (143rd), Chris Hume 61.42 (144th), Michael Cullum 62.15 (150th) and Sandra Bailey-Gard 78.02 (199th).

Well done all!

Harriers dominate the prom

2012-01-19T23:05:00.003Z

Westbury Harriers continued their domination of the local race scene as Matt Ellis won the January Prom in a time of 26.32, with new recruit Scott Campbell finishing 2nd in 28.02. John Terry also made the top 5 in 28.44, as gale force conditions prevented quick times in this month's race. Hot on his heels, Charlie Jones finished in 6th place and just behind was Lucy Richens who finished 2nd lady in 29.21, with Sophie Voller a minute further back in 3rd. Only Steph Barnes managed to spoil the Westbury party as she ran a great race to finish 1st lady and 4th overall in 28.41!

Also in action we had Robin Phillips running 30:35 for 24th, Jullian Bailey-Gard Jnr 31:11 for 30th, Alex Miller 31:59 for 42nd, Richard Hughes 33:49 for 72nd, Jullian Bailey-Gard Snr 34:44 for 92 and also making the top, 100 Zoe Dixon who finished 95th in 34:58.

Then we had Rebecca Lee 122nd in 36:28, James Cant 135th in 37:10, Jane Goodwin 143rd in 37:44, Zoe Wildgoose 146th in 37:51 and Valerie Hughes 148th in 37:55. Then we had David Baber 165th in 39:20, Anneke Bull 184th in 40:29, Jane Thornton 206th in 42:30, closely followed by Roger Long in 42:40 for 207th.

And still they come! Myriam Camboulives 213th in 43:08, Eithne Noonan 219th in 43:53, Diane Heys 220th in 44:04, Kay Ridgwell 227th in 44:27 and Sandra Bailey-Gard 256th in 54:33.

Great running from so many Harriers in testing conditions!

Harriers Rollick along the Riverbank!

2012-01-15T13:50:00.001Z

Congratulations to Lucy Richens, Anthony Glover, Sophie Voller and Scott Campbell who finished 1st lady, 2nd man, 3rd lady and 4th man respectively in this year's riverbank rollick organized by Thornbury Running Club. For Glover that makes it three times he has finished 2nd in the 9 mile off-road event. Luckily for the runners, the wind was blowing in the opposite direction to normal, making the charge alongside the river Severn much more enjoyable than usual!

Also in action we had Ken Ham 17th in 1.02.22, Jullian Bailey-Gard Jnr 25th in 1.04.03, Terry Jewell-Davies 32nd in 1.04.51, Jullian Bailey-Gard Jnr (again!!!) in 44th in 1.06.17, Ian Ruck 45th in 1.06.21, Jullian Bailey-Gard Snr 73rd in 1.09.34. Then we had Richard Hughes 144th in 1.15.51, Ian Louden 161st in 1.18.35, Jane Goodwin 200th in 1.22.21, Andrew Gibbons 204th in 1.23.05, Victoria Howlett 216th in 1.24.12, Roger Long 233rd in 1.26.27, Jane Thornton 270th in 1.32.57 and Sandra Bailey-Gard 301st in 1.53.42!

Well done to you all!!!

Floren triumphs at Avon Schools!

2012-01-14T18:31:00.000Z

Cracking result today from Floren Scrafton, who put behind her the nightmare of persistent injury problems to triumph in the Avon Schools XC Championships today. She was well supported by other Harriers, with Lauren Ellis 3rd and Zoe Barber 4th! Great running from all of the girls and we look forward to seeing your progress with the Senior Ladies moving forward!

Westbury's Senior Men romp to SouthWest XC Title

2012-01-08T17:20:00.002Z

A great start to 2012 for Westbury Harrier's Senior Men, as their squad came away with the Club Prize at the SouthWest XC Championships at Bicton Agricultural College in Devon. Ken Ham also did the club proud take individual silver in the V.50 category!

Despite missing the likes of John Collier, Scott Campbell, Gregg Ward and Simon Everington, the team of Matt Ellis, first home in 10th place, followed by Anthony Glover in 21st, Felix McGrath in 30th, John Terry 32nd and Charlie Jones in 39th, was strong enough to hold off Cornwall AC by 132 pts to 137, with Wells City Harriers 3rd with 176.

Also in action Chris Palmer in 41st, Ken Ham 53rd (2nd V.50), Colin Johnson 65th (12th V.40) and James Cant 86th. Great running from all the guys!

The race also doubled as the SouthWest Inter-counties championships and many of our club were actually running in the colours of Avon as Matt Ellis, Anthony Glover, Daniel Jones (Team Bath), John Terry, Charlie Jones and Chris Palmer finished 3rd, behind the two powerhouse counties of Devon and Cornwall, where the race itself was won by Bideford's Kevin Heywood in a phenomenal 24.40, nearly a minute clear of Bristol and West's Robbie Bugden.

Westbury / Avon SM squad (l-r) James Cant, Charlie Jones, John Terry, Matt Ellis, Anthony Glover, Chris Palmer, Colin Johnson

The ladies were sadly underrepresented both at county level and for the club. Fortunately Lizzy Smith made the trip down to Bicton and did club and county proud finishing 15th overall! Laura Parsonage was 3rd and first Avon counter, with first and second being Cornwall runners (Miranda Heathcote 1st, Emma Stepto 2nd).

Ken Ham - V.50 silver medalist (photo Lizzy Smith)

Hangovers fail to deter intrepid Harriers!

2012-01-01T16:14:00.001Z

11 members of Westbury Harriers made the trip over to Kewstoke to mark the New Year with a 10k. First home in a time of 37.45 was Steve Adams which placed him 13th. Next home was Adam Kula-Przewanski in 38.36, followed by Richard Hughes in 43.49. Then the rapidly improving James Cant ran 46.23, with Shirley Hume just behind in 46.40. Then we had Valerie Hughes and Hayley Johnson running 47.22 and 47.41 respectively. Rich Bloss managed 48.36, with Linda O'Shaugnessy in 51.28, Chris Hume in 52.00 and Roger Long in 52.19.

The race itself was won by Hayley's husband Michael Johnson in a time of 31.46, not bad considering he finished 7th in the Nos Galan 5k only hours earlier in a cracking time of 14.47.

Well done all!

Harriers runners receive county call ups!

2011-12-31T14:45:00.000Z

A substantial number of Harriers have received call ups to represent Avon in next weekend's SW Intercounty XC Championships, to be held at Bicton Park near Exeter. County squads were chosen from entries received for the race and supplemented by choices from the team managers (Keith Brackstone and Mike Down), with up to 12 athletes per category.

For the senior men: Karl Dunn, Matt Ellis, Simon Everington, Anthony Glover, Ken Ham, Charlie Jones, Chris Palmer, Robin Phillips and John Terry are all selected.

For the senior women: Emma D'Alton, Debbie Marsden, Lizzy Smith and Vicky Tester.

For the U20M mountain running specialist Felix McGrath is selected.

For the U13G Ellie Leather, Georgia Taylor and Emma Tomes.

Many congratulations to all selected athletes, a reflection in no small part on the club's performances in the Gwent League in both SM and SW categories and the recent team victory in the tri-counties championships for the SM.

Harriers turn up for Parkrun training session!

2011-12-31T14:32:00.001Z

Westbury Harriers ended the year with a training session at the Parkrun in Ashton Court with 11 members running. Top of the shop was Anthony Glover who won the event in a time of 17.34, which was very competitive considering the massive hill and gale force winds which combined to make running more like walking towards the top of the hill! Then John Collier ran 17.53 for 2nd and new boy Scott Campbell who recently joined the club from Southville Runners was 3rd in 18.15. John Terry was 5th in 18.48, Chris Palmer 6th in 19.14 and then another new girl, also from Southville, Lucy Richens won the ladies race in 19.21 and finished 8th overall!

Next home in 10th was Kane Lee, from our partner club Yate and District in 19.34 for 10th, Robin Phillips was 12th in 19.40, Debbie Marsden 22nd in 20.54, Vicky Tester 32nd in 22.17 and Tim Synge 34th in 22.24.

For those runners still with any energy left, the run was followed up with 8x40s strides and then coffee and cake (which seemed to attract more runners than the efforts for some reason). Well done all!!!

Christmas successes for Bailey Gards and Glover

2011-12-21T15:55:00.001Z

Jullian Bailey-Gard Jnr made his customary trip to Burnham on Sea for the Jingle Bell 4 this past weekend, and didn't disappoint finishing a fine 3rd place behind Clevedon's Stuart Hancock and Minehead's Laura Parker (yes a lady did beat Jullian!). Not to be outdone, dad Jullian Snr took the V60 prize in a time of 28.15.

Meanwhile up in Staffordshire, Anthony Glover finished 6th in a snowy Christmas Cracker 5 organized by Staffordshire-Moorlands AC.

Well done all!

Marsden impresses with 37th position in Lotto Cross Cup

2011-12-18T15:57:00.001Z

Debbie Marsden ran an excellent race in today's Lotto Cross Cup event in Brussels finishing 37th in a top class field in a time of 24.29. On a mud bath of a course, the winner was Kenya's Caroline Chepkonwy (who also won the event last year) in a time of 21.17. A good indicator of how tough the conditions were was that Chepkowny's time was nearly a minute slower than her winning time from last year. Leading Brit was Hatti Dean who finished 6th in a time of 21.44, just holding off Steph Twell who ran 21.45. Top Midland participant was Stroud's Emily Pidgeon who ran 21.54 for 9th place.

Marsden, who is on the road to recovery after a serious chest infection during November, was happy with her performance: "I really enjoyed it, although it was a serious challenge. I tried to start off easy, but with the quality of the field you can't help but get carried along too fast. Fortunately I seemed to get stronger in the third and fourth laps and managed to pick off a few athletes towards the end!"

Marsden's next target will be the South West XC champs, where she will hope to help Avon to secure victory in the inter-regional event, as well as Westbury to overall team victory!

Marsden steps up a level!

2011-12-16T09:31:00.001Z

Good luck to Westbury's Debbie Marsden, who is heading over to Brussels this weekend to represent the Midlands in an inter-regional match as part of the Iris Lotto Cross Cup. Teaming up with Debbie for the Midlands is Jane Potter (Charnwood), Emily Pidgeon (Stroud) and Alison Lavender (Oswestry).

Marsden, who made the team by finishing 2nd behind Lavender at the Midland Women's 5m championship - which served as the main qualifying event for the competition - will be hoping to improve on the 35th place she secured in her debut at the event last year!

Go Debbie!

Victorious Vicky escorted to the Prom!

2011-12-15T23:42:00.001Z

Westbury's Vicky Tester enjoyed her first win at tonight's Weston Prom, clocking an excellent time of 30.37, with club mate Sophie Voller 2nd. Meanwhile in the men's race Matt Ellis was a comfortable winner in 25.58 from Wells City Harriers' Matthew Dickinson. Anthony Glover was 4th in 27.16 and John Terry 7th in 28.41, with club mate Dan Summers just behind in 28.46.

Also competing were Jullian Bailey-Gard Jnr 30.07, Ken Ham 30.30, Robin Phillips 30.35, Chris Palmer 30.40, Sophie Voller 31.24, Kevin Knights 31.39, Alex Miller 32.16, Richard Hughes 32.27, David George 33.14, Tim Synge 34.47, James Cant 34.50, Jullian Bailey-Gard Snr 34.54, Rebecca Lee 35.43, Zoe Wildgoose 35.54, Trish Robson 36.04, Hayley Johnson 36.20, Valerie Hughes 36.25, Jane Goodwin 37.27, Kim Ingleby 38.28, Sarah Tucker 39.23, Anneke Bull 39.59, Jane Thornton 41.05, Gill Anagnostakis 41.28, Roger Long 41.28, Kay Ridgwell 43.02, Eithne Noonan 43.32, John Percival 45.16, Sandra Bailey-Gard 53.51.

Well done to you all!!!!

Great end to 2011!

2011-12-13T10:03:00.003Z

Time to reflect for a few moments on where the Senior Mens' team have come over the past 12 months. The year started well on the country with 3rd place in the SW Intercounties, followed by 5th place at the Midlands, where we finished behind the powerhouse clubs of Notts, Tipton, Cov Godiva and local rivals B&W. The Gwent League ultimately ended with us a gallant 4th place, as we paid the price for a sticky start in the early race at Bridgend, but it sowed the seeds for what we could achieve!

Some stand out performances during the spring and summer: John Collier and Matt Ellis at the Reading Half; with Matt taking his form on the road throughout the remainder of the Run Britain Grand Prix series, finishing an excellent 10th place. At the London marathon, Rich Collinson ran 2.46 to be part of a world record breaking mother and son team! In June the team capturing the man v. horse team competition for the third year in succession and a truly great performance from Rich Collinson to finish 2nd, well supported by John Terry in 4th and Anthony Glover in 7th.

In the autumn we saw the club leap up the finish positions at the 6 stage relays, as Dan Studley, Matt Ellis, John Collier, Sam Dalgleish, Will Massey and Si Everington combined to great effect to finish 9th. What an exciting day it was as the top 3 combined to be leading at one point and in 3rd at the end of leg 3! But we shouldn't forget that we had 4 teams out running that day, as we were one of the best represented clubs on that glorious Autumn day in Sutton Park!

Then the cross country season kicked off again and this time we made sure we learned from our mistakes of last season and got out a competitive team in the first Gwent League of the season, finishing 4th on the day at Bridgend. We then followed this up with 5th at Bath University, before claiming 1st on the day at Singleton Park and taking top spot overall. At the same time our B team is flying high, 2nd place in the B league, testament to the strength in depth of the squad, and a great achievement to have 16 men make the long trip to Swansea to represent our great club!

Senior Mens Squad at Avon XC Championships: (back) Robin Phillips, Colin Johnson, Karl Dunn, John Terry, John Collier, Charlie Jones, Ken Ham and James Cant. (front) Anthony Glover, Chris Palmer, Matt Ellis, Bob Pringle, Jullian Bailey-Gard Snr and Tony Jefferies.

Then this past weekend at the Avon Championships we saw Matt and John get individual Avon medals (silver and bronze) and Matt qualify as of right for the combined Avon/Somerset intercounties team (3rd overall). The team didn't disappoint as Anthony Glover, John Terry, Karl Dunn (cracking sprint finish) and new boy Charlie Jones, who in the few weeks he has been with the club has come on leaps and bounds and already has a gold medal to show for it. With another new runner, Ken Ham taking gold in the V.50 class and Tony Jefferies and Jullian Bailey-Gard Snr taking medals in the V.60, it was a great day out and great way to end the year!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for making the, often long, journeys to represent our great club and together we can build on the success of this year and make 2012 - Olympic year - one to really remember for the club.

Cracker of a run from the Westbury Harriers

2011-12-12T20:15:00.003Z

15 Harriers opted to make the short trip to Weston for the annual Christmas Cracker 10k and didn't disappoint as they all put in great performances. Leading the way was David George in 74th place in a time of 41.52. He was followed by Matthew Lee-Charnock in 42.09, Richard Hughes 42.43, Graham Bazley 47.14, Ian Louden also 47.14 and Rebecca Lee 48.12. Then we had David Baber in 48.46, Clair Cusack in 49.06, Dianne Heys 57.03, Sue Wood 58.37, Helen Cook 58.55, then Jane Thornton, Lauura Tanna and Jane Goodwin all in 59.16 and then Kirsty Burns ran 1.14.07.

Well done to you all!

Westbury Seniors Dominate in County Championships

2011-12-11T17:04:00.001Z

Westbury Harriers Senior Men took the Gold medal in the Tri-Counties XC Championships held today at Bath University. With a squad of 14 to call on, Westbury always looked to be favourites, but an early push from Swindon Harriers gave the boys a bit of a scare, as a wall of 6 Black and White Harlequins were placed just behind Anthony Glover. Fortunately with Matt Ellis finishing 5th overall and taking the Avon silver medal, just ahead of John Collier who took the Bronze medal and with Anthony Glover, John Terry, Karl Dunn and Charlie Jones. Chris Palmer finished just behind the scoring six and shortly afterwards Ken Ham came home to win the Gold medal in the V50 class. Robin Phillips and Colin Johnson fought out a great battle, but were separated in the end by a strong finish from Jullian Bailey-Gard Jnr. Colin was then followed by Bob Pringle and then James Cant, before we had the two V60s in Jullian Bailey-Gard Jnr and Tony Jefferies, although the medals are not yet clear for that category.

The ladies were also well represented and are currently silver medalists (Vicky Tester 6th, Lizzy Smith 7th, Kelly Winstone and Zoe Wildgoose), although some confusion remains over whether this should be silver or gold.

Sadly, despite combining Avon, Somerset and Wiltshire, the event still only produced a small turn out and organizers will need to think about ways of improving participation in what should be one of the highlight events of the XC season.

Full results for all categories will be published when available.

Harriers look forward to County Championships with Confidence

2011-12-07T10:04:00.001Z

Planning to build on their recent win in the Gwent League, Westbury Harriers look set to field the same squad that took on allcomers in Singleton Park at this weekend's county championships.

Leading the way in the 6 to score competition, will be Matt Ellis and John Collier who between them had a cracking battle in the last Gwent League, with Matt prevailing by four seconds. They will likely be battling it out for the Avon individual medals in the SM category. With Anthony Glover, John Terry and Karl Dunn all available the A team from Singleton Park will be reunited this weekend. Then with Charlie Jones, Ken Ham, Chris Palmer, Robin Phillips and Jullian Bailey-Gard Jnr running, we also have the complete B team from last weekend as well! But the squad doesn't stop there either, with Colin Johnson, Jullian Bailey-Gard Snr and Tony Jefferies also running and looking for medals in their age categories, Westbury will be fielding a strong squad and providing nearly half the entries for the Avon section of the Senior Mens race.

The ladies could also prove a threat, with Emma D'Alton, Vicky Tester, Lizzy Smith and Kelly Winstone all running. Much could depend on the fitness of Sophie Voller, who has had a bad cold in the past few days, as to whether there might be an historic double team win for the Harriers this weekend. It looks set to be a battle between Emma D'Alton and Laura Parsonage for individual honours in the Avon part of the race.

Outstanding performance from the Harriers' men, as they dominate the Gwent League

2011-12-05T21:06:00.001Z

An awesome display from Westbury's senior men, saw them not only top the field on the day, but take a 50 plus point lead in Division 1, as Swansea was turned White and Blue by a Westbury army! The team made light work of missing a number of key members, as they were led home by Matt Ellis in 12th place, with John Collier hot on his heels in 13th. Anthony Glover put in an excellent display to finish 16th, whilst John Terry returned following illness to finish 29th. Completing the A team was Karl Dunn, who produced his best ever performance in the Gwent League to finish 43rd.

Leading the way home for the B team was new boy Charlie Jones, who finished 53rd, Ken Ham finished 71st, Chris Palmer (rapidly returning to form) in 81st, Robin Phillips in 87th, with the team completed by Jullian Bailey-Gard Jnr in 121st.

We also had a complete C team, consisting of Tony Jefferies in 156th, Dean Gardner in 166th, Mike Hopkins in 179th, Jullian Bailey-Gard Snr 180th and James Cant in 204th. Our final representative being Andrew Lomvardos in 228th.

A brilliant performance from all our men.

Despite missing several runners, our ladies also put in a solid display, as they finished 3rd on the day, to keep hold of 2nd place in Division 1. Leading the way was Lizzy Smith, with a best ever finish of 13th place. Next home was Vicky Tester, who paid the price for a hard start up the hill, and finished 19th. Then we had Kelly Winstone in 44th, Hayley Johnson in 59th and Zoe Wildgoose in 62nd.

The B team consisted of Vicky Jones 71st, Sarah Tucker 95th, Victoria Howlett 103rd, Eithne Noonan 133rd and Kay Ridgewell 136th. Completing the squad was Caroline Bannister in 153rd.

A great showing from both our guys and girls at a mud bath of a course, over 80 miles from home. With Brecon in February and the home fixture at Blaise in March, a coordinated effort from our men and ladies could see a double gold for the Harriers!

Glover makes top 10 in quick Bridge Inn

2011-11-30T20:50:00.001Z

Anthony Glover made the top 10 in a keenly contested Bridge Inn 5k last night as he clocked 16.24 to finish 10th. A rare sub 15 minute time from Belgrave Harriers' Steve Davies, as he beat B&Ws Chris Dodd, with former Harrier Joe Dalgleish back in 3rd. English Fell runner Felix McGrath was next home in 17th, with a time of 17.32, Karl Dunn ran 17.46, Chris Palmer 17.47, Alex Massey 18.00 and Robin Phillips 18.04. Then we had Terry Jewell-Davies in 18.57, Jim Massey 19.28, David George 19.53, Tony Jefferies 20.02, Matt Lavis 20.08, Richard Hughes 20.12 and Ray Hooper 20.29.

Then we had our first lady - Kelly Winstone who ran 20.42, Valerie Hughes 23.11, Tim Carr 23.44, Caroline Potter 24.22, Jane Thornton 24.46, Laura Tanna 25.34, Gill Anagnostakis 25.36, Eithne Noonan 26.13 and Kay Ridgewell 26.15.

Well done all!!!!

Hellrunner Collier claims yet another win

2011-11-27T14:21:00.001Z

It seems that John Collier can't stop racing - and winning - at the moment! Today he headed down to Longmoor Camp in Hampshire to run in the "Hell down South" race in the Hellrunner Series! Collier didn't disappoint, as he stormed to victory in the second fastest time in history. His prize? Not a one way ticket to hell, but another pair of Brooks shoes of his choosing!

Well done John, now rest up ready for the Gwent League next weekend!

Ashton Court and Sefton Park

2011-11-26T16:09:00.001Z

Westbury athletes have been in action up and down the country today. This morning Matt Ellis decided to try his hand at the infamous Ashton Court Park Run, and promptly destroyed the field and the course record, clocking a time of 16.39 on the challenging hill run course! Also in action were Robin Phillips who ran 19.24 for 5th place, Tim Synge who ran 22.49 for 39th, Tim Car who clocked 23.59 for 50th and Julian Wilson with 26.10 for 65th.

Meanwhile this afternoon at Sefton Park in Liverpool, Emma D'Alton was taking part in the European XC Trials as part of the McCain Challenge. In a top quality event, won by Hallamshire's Hatti Dean, D'Alton broke into the top 50, finishing 43rd in the end. Joining Hatti on the trip to the European XC champs are Charnwood's Gemma Steel who finished 2nd and Freya Murray of Edinburgh AC who was 3rd. The selectors also get to pick 3 others, with Charlie Purdue and Steph Twell both of Aldershot, likely to figure strongly in their discussions!

Weekend Round Up!

2011-11-20T19:37:00.001Z

For the 2nd weekend in a row John Collier doubled up and with some success! On Saturday he finished 2nd in the Bushy Park Park Run, running a cracking time of 15.49, although he was someway behind winner Paul Pollock who ran an outstanding 14.33! Then today he tackled the Epsom Downs 10m race, finishing 2nd again in a time of 55.52 and pocketing £70 in the process! Great running JC!

On Saturday Julian Wilson braved the Ashton Court Park Run, clocking 25.00 for the hilly course! Sunday saw Tim Synge take on the Castle Combe 10k, where he finished in a respectable time of 45.57, particularly considering he was one of 7 Harriers who took part in the Duathlon earlier in the morning! The others were David George, Andrew Lornvardos, Richard Hughes, James Cant, Ian Louden and Clair Cusack. At the same venue, Will Massey finished 21st representing the University of Plymouth in the Inter-University Duathlon championships!

Also in action today were Lizzy Smith who broke her PB again with a time of 38.03 at the Swindon 10k. Ken Ham finished 2nd and top vet in the new Bath 10k multi-terrain race! Well done to all of you!!!

Harriers in action at the Weston Prom

2011-11-20T19:29:00.001Z

Despite missing several of the quick guys, Westbury still provided an impressive 26 runners at this month's prom run. Leading the way was new runner Charlie Jones who ran 29.52, just holding off Robin Phillips in 29.54. Then came Jullian Bailey-Gard Jnr in 30.26, before ladies winner Sophie Voller who ran 30.39. David George ran 32.09, Alex Miller 32.35, Richard Hughes 32.56 - who is improving every race - Jullian Bailey-Gard Snr 34.35 and James Cant 35.46. Then we had Zoe Wildgoose 36.43, Valerie Hughes 37.00, Rebecca Lee 37.10, Jane Goodwin 37.58, David Baber 38.23, Anneke Bull 39.52 and Caroline Potter 40.00. Then Roger Long in 40.46, Myriam Camboulives 40.59, Jane Thornton 41.45, Gill Anagnostakis 42.07, Eithen Noonan 42.46, Dianne Heys 43.50, Kay Ridgwell 44.14, Caroline Scapens 48.11 and Sandra Bailey-Gard 53.42.

Great running all!!!