Glover makes top 3 in weather affected Stratford Race

The organisers of the annual Shakespeare marathon and half marathon took the decision to cancel the full race just minutes before the scheduled start, but this did not stop Anthony Glover, who was only entered for the half! Despite the atrocious weather conditions Anthony battled round in a great time of 1.18.02, which secured him 3rd place overall, on a day when people were several minutes down on their normal times.

Anthony commented that for the first half of the race it looked like a sub 75 would be comfortably on the cards, and then unfortunately the wind arrived!

Still a great effort, especially from a vet!!!

Unstoppable Collier wins 3rd race in 8 days!

John Collier stormed to victory in atrocious conditions as he won the Pensford 10k and with it a £100 bonus. Undeterred by driving wind and heavy rain, Collier ended up a comfortable winner.

Lizzy Smith also ran well to secure 2nd place in a time of 41.33. Shonie Mackie finished in 45.29 and Colin Marrs in 55.27 to complete the brave Harriers turnout! Well run all!

Collier makes it 2 in 2 at the Parkrun!

John Collier made it 2 wins in consecutive weekends, as several Harriers turned out for the Ashton Court Parkrun today. His time of 17.32, was enough to win by 7 seconds from the unattached Robin Judson. With club championship points up for grabs, Jullian Bailey-Gard Jnr was next home in 7th place and a time of 19.07, followed by Robin Phillips, "fresh" from the London Marathon, in 12th and 19.55. Kelly Winstone ran a great race to win the ladies event in 20.55, with Tamsin Chick running 22.07 for 4th lady. Tim Synge ran 22.07, Sarah Thorne 23.00, Tim Carr 24.03, Victoria Howlett 24.17, Caroline Potter 26.11, Jane Thornton 26.34, Richard Hughes 27.08, Roger Long 27.12, David Nash 27.31, Eithne Noonan 28.32 and Caroline Scapens 30.24.

Well done to all the Harriers who braved "the hill" and lived to tell the tale!

4 Harriers break 3 hour barrier in great London Marathon

There were some outstanding individual performances from Westbury Harriers in yesterday's London Marathon, as the club had 17 runners in the race. Leading the way was Charlie Jones, who ran sub 2.50 for the first time in his career, clocking a time of 2.49.51! Joining him in breaking the 3hr mark was Steve Adams in a time of 2.52.24 - another big PB. For our ladies, stars of the show were Lucy Richens who clocked a massive PB of 2.55.30 to finish 27th lady in the masses race, with Sophie Voller also securing a PB of 2.57.34, for 35th lady in the masses!

Also running we had Ian Ruck securing a monster PB of 3.06.54, a great time, which was good enough to beat Robin Phillips who ran 3.08.04. Then Vicky Tester ran 3.20.06, a great debut time for her, then Mike Hopkins in 3.24.20, Nick Marshall in 3.24.40, Simon Gardiner in 3.25.12, Keith Hill in 3.26.55, Richard Hughes in 3.29.32, Edd Gould in 3.33.41, Tim Synge in 3.39.48, Jane Goodwin in 3.43.29, Linda O'Shaugnessy in 3.51.49 and Ruth Moore in 5.02.13 - awesome running from you all!!!

Also of note from a Bristol perspective was Claire Hallissey's 2.27 which puts her in contention for the third and final place in the British Olympic team!

Good luck to all Westbury marathoners

Best of luck to all of the members of Westbury Harriers running club who are taking part in this weekend's Virgin London Marathon. There will be high hopes for sub 3 hour showings from Charlie Jones, Robin Phillips and Steve Adams for the men and Lucy Richens and Sophie Voller for the ladies. With a supporting cast including Vicky Tester, Tim Synge, Mike Hopkins, Rich Hughes and many others, I'm sure they'll be some exciting stories to report on come sunday afternoon!

PS Despite terrible weather conditions last night, Dan Summers comfortably beat his PB at the Weston Prom, clocking a time of 28.28! Well done Dan!

Weekend Roundup

It was a busy weekend for members of the Harriers. First off our ladies had two teams out running in the National 6 stage Road Relays up in Sutton Park, where despite missing several athletes, the A team finished 24^th and the B team 34^th. Leading the way for the A team were Debbie Marsden and Lizzy Smith, who were well supported by Kelly Winstone, Evita Gonzales, Rebecca Lee and Shona Mackie. Our B team comprised Sarah Thorne, Maria Hobbs, Victoria Howlett, Linda O’Shaugnessy, Allison Foote and Hayley Johnson. Meanwhile across in Swindon Anthony Glover gave the Swindon Parkrun a go and emerged a comfortable winner in 16.58.

Today saw the running of the Great Welsh Marathon, where Graham Bazley and Jane Thornton both secured PBs, in times of 3.43.30 and 4.05.30 respectively. Trish Robson was also running and there were maybe others too!

Richens wins the Easter Bunny

Westbury Harrier's Lucy Richens was the ladies winner of the Easter Bunner 10k, hosted by Yeovil Running Club on Easter Monday. Richens secured a new PB in the process of 36.30 as she makes her final preparations for the London marathon next week! Just behind her was Adam Kula-Przezwanski in 36.33, with Dean Gardner running 40.54 and Andreas Lomvardos running 46 minutes on the nose!

Great running guys and girl, hope you enjoyed the easter eggs!!!

Collier at the double, with two wins in two days!

John Collier triumphed in today's Hanham Horror, just 24 hours after clocking 17.05 to win the Ashton Court Parkrun! Collier ended up 40 seconds clear of Clevedon's Julian Emery, as he added another off-road victory to his growing collection of titles! With Robin Phillips, Terry Jewell-Davies, Jullian Bailey-Gard Jnr also making the top 15, it was a highly successful day for the men!

It was just as successful for the ladies as Lizzy Smith and Evita Gonzales-Szamocki scored a 1-2 in the ladies race!

Full results to follow when available!!!

D'Alton stars again at Reading Half

Emma D'Alton showed no signs of fatigue as she finished 8th in the Reading 1/2 marathon, less than 24 hours after her starring role in Westbury Harriers' 6 stage win. D'Alton clocked a time of 1:18:32 to finish 6th place British runner, as the leading two athletes were both Kenyans. Also participating for the Harriers were Keith Hill and Ian Ruck, who both clocked sub 90 minutes, with Dean Gardener finishing just outside. Robyn Golding also got round, as she paced a friend to a PB of 2hr 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, closer to home Lizzy Smith finished 3rd in the Forest of Dean half marathon, a race also ran by Hayley Johnson. I suspect there were other Westbury participants but sadly their search facility is not friendly on that count!