Harriers runners receive county call ups!

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!

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

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

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!

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!

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!

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

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

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

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

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!