London Marathon Report

A big congratulations to all the Harriers who took part in last weekend's London Marathon. Some great achievements on the day, including 3 sub 3 hour performances. First home for the club was Matt Ellis, who ran a consistent pace to finish in a time of 2.51.25 - knocking 4 minutes off his time from Paris last year. Next home was John Collier, who pre race was planning for a crack at sub 2.30. All seemed to be going to plan with the first half reached in 1.15.47, but a stress fracture to his shin caused him to slow right down - amazingly he still finished in a time of 2.52.04.

First lady home was Emma D'Alton, who ran her first sub 3 hour marathon, finishing in a time of 2.56.54. This was an improvement of some 13 minutes, on her time from Edinburgh last year. Next home Colin Johnson, who got agonisingly close to the 3 hour mark, unfortunately tiring in the final few miles finishing in 3.04.39. Hamid Khan was very close behind in 3.06.19 and Graham Clark just sneaked in under 3.10 - 3.09.39. Congrats to all the men who have earned GFA entries into next year's event!

Edd Gould ran an excellent marathon finishing in 3.15.38, Tim Synge ran 3.26.56, Nick Marshall 3.43.02 and Aidan Naughton 3.55.54. Next home was Gill Jones, just outside of 4 hours, running 4.01.03. Laura Tanna ran 4.06.42, with Jane Goodwin close behind in 4.17.37, Simon Gardiner in 4.22.05, Jane Thornton in 4.22.45, Robert Hawkins in 4.36.46 and Lizzy Meadows in 4.54.15.

Well done to you all!

Anthony on the road to recovery - no bull!

After several months suffering from IT band problems, Anthony Glover appears to be heading back towards his best form. The Horton Spring Bull is a 4 mile romp around several hilly points surrounding the village of Horton, but Anthony made light work of it, winning the race in a time of 24.42. Jon Goodland showed no ill effects from his recent jaunt across the Sahara in the Marathon des Sables, finishing 2nd in 25.15. Full results here.

Bridge Inn 5k

The Bridge Inn returned for its summer series, with Allister Sheffield once again prevailing in a time of 15.46. This time he was given a run for his money by the University's David Green who finished just a second behind him. Bristol & West's Phil Parry was third in 16.00 dead. In the ladies race, our own Debbie Marsden had a humdinger of a battle with Severn's Johanna Fletcher, with Marsden prevailing in a new PB of 17.34, 2 seconds ahead of Fletcher, who is preparing for next week's Prague Marathon.

Meanwhile for the Harriers, Gregg Ward showed he continues to run well, with 10th place in 16.59, Anthony Glover, returning from injury, ran 17.07. The 14 yr old Kane Lee ran a new PB of 17.10 and we look forward to his continued improvement over the summer months. Talking of improvement, Malc White ducked under 18 minutes with 17.57, Bob Pringle in 18.28 and Alex Miller in 18.35 - all running well! Tony Jefferies finished 2nd V60 in 20.03, Roger Long ran 23.31 and Richard Hughes 24.06

Great running all!

Stratford Half

A bit of a trek from Bristol, but it didn't stop two Harriers taking part in the annual Shakespeare 1/2 marathon. Rich Collinson continued his return to form with a 1.18.42 for 6th place, whilst David Taylor ran 2.02.27. Well done guys! The race itself was won by Coventry Godiva's James Griggs in 1.13.43, with Kenilworth's Phil Gould second in 1.16.54. Full results are here.

London Marathon this weekend!

Well I can hardly believe it, but this weekend the big event is finally upon us! The Harriers have a fair few runners in the event and potentially 6 sub 3hrs (that I am aware of!) So good luck to John Collier, Rod Jones, Matt Ellis, John Terry, Emma D'Alton, Colin Johnson, Graham Clark, Tim Synge, Edd Gould, Hamid Khan, Aidan Naughton, Laura Tanna, Jane Thornton and Rob Hawkins! There may well be others - so good luck to you too, I'll find out your results after the race!

Road Relay Results

A great weekend for the girls up at Sutton Park in the ERRA National 6 stage road relays, where the ladies A team finished 14th overall - their best finish for several years! Vicky Plume took the opening leg and despite it being her first time on the course (which can take a couple of goes to get the pacing right) ran a time of 17.43, to put the girls right in contention in 19th. Emma D'Alton took over and ran the joint fastest Harrier time of the day (17.27) to put the girls into the top 10. Robyn Golding took over and her time of 18.13, was enough to keep them in 9th. Tamsin Chick then ran a great leg of 20.32 to leave the girls 13th after 4 legs, Zoe Dixon's 20.19 took them to 17th after 5 legs, before Debbie Marsden anchored the team to 14th, equalling D'Alton's time of 17.27! Great effort girls!

3 ladies also made up a B team, with Sarah Thorne running 21.30, Vicky Jones ran 20.09 - suggesting she will be pushing for A team selection soon - and Hayley Johnson ran 23.09 - well done girls!

Sadly our men's team suffered, with a number of last minute dropouts - it is highly frustrating when runners are carrying injury or illness, but do not inform the managers until Thursday or Friday before the race - in future I would ask all of you - if there is a chance you won't run to let us know EARLY - that way we can find reserves. As it was only 8 runners were able to participate and the team performed strongly with Rod Jones opening up on the 5.5m long leg in 31.19. Sam Dalgleish then fired the team into the top 50, running 15.33 for the 3 mile short stage. Gregg Ward ran the 2nd long leg in 31.59, and then Joe Dalgleish ran 15.44. Chris Palmer then ran 31.42, before Dan Studley ran 17.47 - which put the team 50th after 6 legs. Malc White then ran 32.47 before the team bowed out with Bob Pringle running 18.19 on the short stage. Great running guys and with the likes of John Collier, Matt Ellis, Rich Collinson, Anthony Glover and the Halliwell brothers waiting in the wings. The midland 6 stage promises to be an interesting affair!

National Road Relay Weekend

Good luck to everyone who is competing at the road relays this weekend in Sutton Park. The ladies must be hoping to finish in the top 15, and with a team consisting of Vicky Plume, Emma D'Alton, Robyn Golding, Debbie Marsden, Tamsin Chick and Zoe Dixon, they must be confident of achieving this. The men's squad has been affected by injuries, leaving it looking a little light at the end, but there are still plenty of big names out there: Rod Jones, Sam Dalgleish, Joe Dalgleish, Matt Craythorne, Chris Palmer and Gregg Ward to name but a few!

Weston Team Prize Down to Wire!

With one race to go in the series, Westbury's lead in the team prize has been cut down to 142 points, after a great showing from Clevedon's Vet A team (2,4,7,12). On a sunny but windy evening, Westbury's 4 counters were John Terry, Gregg Ward, Alex Miller and Graham Clark, who finished in consecutive places: 20-23. Meanwhile Weston ACs challenge faded, as they fielded an incomplete team for the second consecutive race.

With one race to go, it looks likely that the Westbury Men will complete a hat-trick of team prizes, emulating Clevedon's achievement in the early 2000s and GWR from the 1990s!

Overall in April's race, which was once again won by Ben Morley of Great Western Runners - agonisingly 1s outside his PB from the previous month - the Harriers had 16 runners out. First home was Jullian Bailey-Gard Jnr, who after 15 years of trying, finally broke the 30 minute barrier, with a time of 29.55 for 9th place - great running Ju! Then we had a whole string of athletes, John Terry (20th), Gregg Ward (21st), Alex Miller (22nd) and Graham Clark (23rd) with times from 31:10 - 31:21. Phil Court and Geraint Torrington fought an historic battle, both finishing in 32.10 for 36th and 37th places. Jullian Bailey-Gard Snr finished 62nd in 34.20. Then our first lady, Laura Tanna, finished in 117th place in 37.50, Graham Bazley was 118th in 37.54 and Sandra Price 119th, also in 37.54. Andrew Gibbons was soon after, 122nd in 38.17, Jane Thornton 152nd in 41.08, Kay Ridgwell 180th in 45.29, Caroline Scapens 182nd in 45.54 and Sandra Bailey-Gard finished 183rd, cracking the 50 minute barrier in 49.03 - great running everyone!

Offa proves no horror for intrepid Harriers!

Chepstow Harriers' annual Offa's Horror 20k off-road feast took place last Sunday and the Harriers had six fine athletes competing! Leading the way was David Hobbs, who finished a very creditable 18th place in 1:35:00. Next home was Mike Harris, who finished 66th in 1:49:15,  Brian Edgar was 113th in 1:56:23. Coming home in 145th was Andrew Gibbons, in 2:04:02, Jane Goodwin was our first lady in 2:14:49, closely followed by Emma Powell in 177th in 2:16:13. Full results are here.

Well done to all of you!

Big night out in Weston!

This Thursday sees the penultimate Weston Prom Run - the usual 7.30pm start from the Pavilion Bar. We have to return the team trophy to Weston this week for engraving, but if all goes to plan our senior men's team will be walking off with the trophy after May's race, having emulated Manchester United and achieved a hat-trick of titles. With 2 races left, the men's team have opened up a lead of 169 points over the home club. So a big cheer to the team - Gregg Ward, Graham Clarke, Alex Miller, Phil Court, Jullian Bailey-Gard Snr and yours truly - why not come along and take part in the race. We normally go for food afterwards at the Cabot 5 Bars, where they do a good selection of 2 4 1 meal offers!

Racing Update

Great news from Westbury Harriers 2 half marathon runners this weekend - Matt Ellis smashed his PB in finishing 3rd in the Taunton 1/2 marathon in a chip time of 74.51! Matt has come on leaps and bounds, since returning in Janaury after a long spell out injured. He can only keep on improving as his stamina and confidence grow week on week! Meanwhile, at the opposite end of the country, Colin Johnson also set a PB at the Paddock Wood 1/2 marathon, finishing in a chip time of 1.23.13, which gave him 73rd place out of nearly 2000 runners! Both are looking in tip-top shape for the Virgin London Marathon in 2 weeks time,  where I predict a sub 2.45 from Matt and a sub 3.00 from Colin.

They weren't the only two Harriers out in action though - Laura Tanna ran an excellent 1.50.06, Graham Bazley 1.52.14 and Jane Thornton, completing the set of Harriers under the 2 hour mark, with 1.58.28! Well done to all of you!!!

Back in Bristol!

Have been away to the Norfolk Broads this weekend! Debs and I took her niece on a boating trip from Stalham through to Wroxham, down to Stokesby and then back to Stalham - v. nice it was too! I even managed to keep my training going - 13.7 miles in 1:31 on Friday on an undulating loop through the countryside surrounding Kettering. Then on Saturday a friend of mine from Uni days, picked me up and drove us to Great Yarmouth to take part in the Gorleston Cliffs Park Run. If any of you get a chance to try a park run, I thoroughly recommend it - the idea is a free, weekly 5k time-trial and there are several throughout the UK. It's a shame that the closest to Bristol are in Cardiff and Swindon. There was a plan to start on in Bristol, with the downs the suggested location, but it appears that the council are not so keen on the idea.

The race itself was an interesting one, a young lad kitted out in black plimsols and a german football kit, when off like a complete lunatic - indeed he must have been 20 seconds ahead of me at the 1k mark, which I went through in 3.21 (downhill with the wind!), me and two other guys caught him prior to 2k, before one chap really pushed on and I was left there holding on for 2nd place, which I managed to do in 17.35 - not bad for the day after nearly 14 miles! Dave did well and broke 20m for the first time in 19.58! Winning time was 16.29 from a Norwich Road Runner!

On Sunday I had a pleasant run from Salhouse Broad to Wroxham and back, before commencing our epic day of cruising - I think we covered about a marathon over the course of 6 hours (the boat's top speed is 6mph!!!)

Now back in Bristol, can't believe the marathon is only 13 days away!

Running on the weekend!

Not had any time for running yesterday, as a 'day trip' - literally - to Edinburgh, took up the whole day! Planning to go for a very easy couple of miles in a moment, when I can get myself up and then a final interval session this afternoon around 3.30pm. Think we are travelling up to Kettering tonight, so I will try and do a longer run (15 miles or so) up there on Friday, before we head over to Norfolk.

Not too much news on the racing front this weekend. Matt Ellis is having a final tune-up before the VLM by taking on the Taunton 1/2 marathon and similarly Colin Johnson is heading over to Kent to have a crack at the Paddock Wood 1/2. Hoping for good things from both those boys. I am thinking Matt will be around 76 minutes and Colin 83 - we shall see!

Weekend running roundup!

Back in Bristol now - following a relaxing weekend down on the South Devon coast, near Dartmouth. Made the most of it, despite the weather - which to be fair was very nice on Sunday (if rather windy!)

This was the view from our 'apartment' - a prefab bungalow, but it did have free heating and a well stocked kitchen!!!

On the racing front this weekend, we had Harriers in action at the Hanham Horror - Bitton Road Runners annual Easter shindig. We also had Steve Adams competing in the Exe to Axe - a 21.5 mile off-road epic on the South Devon Coastal Path. Finally today saw a number of Harriers take part in the Yeovil Road Running Club organized Easter Bunny 10k.

So our new lady runner, Vicky Plume, goes from strength to strength in the Hanham Horror. Not content with obliterating the field in last weekend's Forest of Dean 1/2, she finished 7th overall in the Horror, winning the ladies race by nearly 7 minutes! A time of 34.17 was a mighty feat on a 5.5 mile MT course! Westbury also had the third lady home, as Evita Gonzales-Szamocki finished in a time of 41.29. Great also to see Tamsin Chick right back up there - 4th lady in a time of 42.26. Sarah Thorne ran 44.16 and Roger Long completed the team in 52.11.

Meanwhile down on the South Coast, Steve Adams - who is simultaneously preparing for a half ironman and life as a married man (not sure which is the harder ask!) - came 10th in the annual Exe to Axe. Steve settled into 4th place early on in the race, and went through 10 miles in around 76 minutes, but sadly suffered from a number of bouts of cramp in the second half, which meant he ended up 10th. That said, he still managed a highly respectable time of 3.09 and as he said himself "I'm still walking!" - good work indeed!

Finally today at the Easter Bunny 10k, despite strong winds on the exposed lanes around Yeovilton Air base, Debbie Marsden won the ladies race in a time of 37.46, holding off the unattached Angel Felix who ran 38.00. Also out for the Harriers in the ladies race was Hayley Johnson who ran 48.42. In the men's race, Steve Way (of runnersworld fame!) won in a time of 30.55, beating Bristol & West's Tom Mershon and the winner of last weekend's San Domenico 20m - Richie Gardner was 3rd. For the Harriers Chris Palmer, despite suffering from a cold showed no ill effects  coming home in a time of 35.20, with Gregg Ward just behind in 35.27 and John Terry running 36.03 and David Cowles completed the team running 46.53. Well done all!