Wednesday, 1 February 2012

Palmer is back!

Chris Palmer showed he is fast returning to his best form, after clocking a cracking time of 17.14 in January's Bridge Inn. He was kept company by several other Harriers, including Dan Summers and Karl Dunn who clocked 17.35 and 17.38 respectively. New boy Ed Boyles clocked 17.55, just ahead of Robin Phillips in 17.56, who in turn was just ahead of the winning lady, our own Emma D'Alton in 17.57!

The we had Jullian Bailey-Gard Jnr in 18.12, Sophie Voller in 18.26, Malc White in 19.15, Ray Hooper 19.56, Richard Hughes 20.04, Tony Jefferies 20.15, Mike Mews 22.02, Mike Harris 22.11, Sarah Thorne 22.17, Valerie Hughes 22.23, Tim Carr 24.00 and Sandra Bailey-Gard in 32.22

The race itself was won by Bristol & West's Andrew Woods and there were 138 finishers!

Well done to all runners!

Sunday, 29 January 2012

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

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!

Thursday, 26 January 2012

Midlands XC Beckons

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!

Wednesday, 25 January 2012

Knights circumnavigates Anglesey!

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!

Sunday, 22 January 2012

Ham leads the way in the Morland Multi Terrain

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!