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!

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!

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!

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!

Harriers dominate the prom

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!

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!

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

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!

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!