Harriers men get round the Bupa 10!

Westbury's men's team successfully closed out a team in today's BUPA London 10k, which doubled as the UKA 10k team champs. Running for the Harriers were Anthony Glover (35.53), Karl Dunn (37.35) and Robin Phillips (37.53), with Dunn securing a PB. In the ladies race, Lucy Richens was top performer for the Harriers as she completed the course in 38.50. Supported by Lizzy Smith and Tamsin Chick the ladies finished 16th team, the men 37th.

Well done everyone!

Weekend Roundup

A few Harriers were in action over the weekend. Last Friday saw the first of the GWR Towpath runs, with Robin Phillips leading the way in 7th overall in a time of 37.31. Ken Ham also made the top 10, and first V50 with a time of 38.22. Robyn Golding ran 43.32, Rebecca Lee 44.54, James Bardwell 46.28, Julian Wilson 49.17, Kay Ridgwell 57.37, Richard Hughes 1.00.14 and Tracey Bain 1.04.05!

Then on Saturday Anthony Glover turned out for our partner club Yate and District in the Midland League and ran 4.16 for 1500m, whilst John Collier flew the flag at the Olympic Stadium for Southampton Uni in the BUCS track champs over 10k. Collier led for the first mile in characteristic style, before allowing a few other through to sample the glory!

Onto Sunday and a few Harriers tackled half marathons - first up at Lichfield Half Karl Dunn led the way with 14th place in a time of 1.22.01 - great running from Karl! Also in action was Dean Gardner in a time of 1.32.48! Over in Richmond, Dan Summers put in an excellent run to clock 1.16.56 and finish 10th place there - awesome running!!!

This week sees the first of the TACH series, which has a number of Harriers entered, before the Bristol 10k on Sunday week!

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!

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.

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!

Stone wins South West XC champs

Kairn Stone followed up his win in the first chance 10k with a win in the south west XC champs, holding off a concerted challenge from Bristol and West's Rob Bugden. For Westbury, Matt Ellis was 10th in a time of 27.53, Gregg Ward 30.09 for 34th. John Terry was 38th in 30.18. Colin Johnson was 53rd in 31.55, just ahead of team mate Karl Dunn in 32.09.

Westbury were 3rd team in the south west competition, behind Bristol and West and Wells City Harriers. Avon were also 3rd county, although the make up of the team was unclear!

More on the ladies and other results later!

Westbury Club Awards

Last Monday saw the Westbury Harriers annual Club Awards evening, for prizes in the 2009-10 season. There are prizes over a range of categories, from 'Best Newcomer', 'Most Improved', through individual categories (juniors and seniors) through to the overall male and female athlete of the year. The overall men's winner was Sam Dalgleish who has performed very consistently for the club over the past 12 months, including a great 18.37 at the National 6 stage relay, which got us off to a great start (well 50 something, which at the nationals is a great start!) as well as a very recently ran 32.14 over 10k in Eastleigh!

The overall female prize went to Debbie Marsden - a throughly deserved award (even though I am biased!) - for a series of great performances throughout the year: Avon 10k champion and winner of the Clevedon 10k, winner of the Bridge Inn 5k series (including a PB of 17.40). A time of just over an hour for 10 miles at Bramley and 2nd place in the Tunbridge Wells 1/2 marathon in a PB of 81.53.

The senior men's prize went to Anthony Glover for a series of strong performances, including race wins at the Dundry TACH race, the Hogweed Muggles event, his 78 min half at Stratford and finishing 5th in the Man v. Horse marathon, an event in which Westbury claimed the team prize.




The senior ladies prize went to Emma D'Alton for a series of strong performances, particularly over the half marathon distance, where she set a PB of 1.21.25 at Stroud last October, and also set course records at the Blackmore Vale 1/2 and the Hogweed Hilly 1/2 - the latter breaking the record by over 3 minutes!

The best newcomer awards went to Emma Jones, for a series of fine performances in the Gwent League and to Karl Dunn, for taking to running like a duck to water and running a sub 40 10k and a sub 6 minute mile 5k. The most improved runner awards went to Abigail Johnston (girls), who was prolific in the XCs throughout the winter and to Kane Lee (boys), for a series of great performances in the Bridge Inn 5ks, ducking below 17.30! For the seniors Siana Jones won the most improved female for consistent improvement throughout the year, culminating in a 33rd at the final Gwent League. For the men, "working his way through the ranks" Jullian Bailey-Gard Jnr. Jullian put in a number of sub 18 5ks, as well as breaking 90 minutes for the half this year.

The club also had lots to celebrate from the Gwent League - for the girls, U.11 Ellie Leather was individual champion and the team were also champions. At U.13s Poppy Thompson was individual champion and the team finished 3rd overall. U.15s were the team champions, U.17s Zoe Barber was 3rd overall and the team were champions. In the ladies the team were 2nd overall and the ladies B team won the reserve division. At vet level, the W.35 were 3rd overall, the W.45s were 3rd overall, with Wendy Tippett 3rd lady and Marilyn Palmer was 1st at the V.55 level, with the team finishing 2nd.

The men weren't quite as strong - but the U.17s had 3rd placed team, and Felix McGrath (known to many of us for his antics in the Blaise Blazers) was 3rd individual. The mens team were 6th in the top flight and Rick Wallis was 2nd V.50 overall and Tony Jefferies was top V.60, as the men's V.60 team finished 2nd!

Well done everybody!