Ham on top for Harriers at Bradley Stoke 10km

Ken Ham was the leading Westbury Harrier at today's Bradley Stoke 10k. Ham completing the course in a time of 38.43, around a minute clear of the next runner - Lizzy Smith - whose time of 39.30 was enough for 2nd place in the ladies race. Mike Hopkins finished 71st in 44.23, Andreas Lomvardos ran 46.48, Victoria Howlett 47.09, Dean Gardner 52.30, Paul Mooney 52.42, Kay Ridgwell 55.02, Diane Heys 57.14, Caroline Scapens 58.35 and Victoria Jones 1.00.01.

The overall race was won by Matt Hooper in 34.37, with unattached James Shorney 2nd in 35.56. Bristol & West's Jenny Jagger was first lady in 37.42.

Well done all!

Richens leads the way at the Bath Half

Westbury's Lucy Richens was the top finisher for the club, as she broke the 80 minute barrier for the first time in today's running of the Bath Half. Richens who finished 12th lady, was well supported in the race as Sophie Voller ran 1.22.05 to finish 21st, Lizzy Smith 1.26.07 for 34th and Vicky Tester 1.28.25 for 43rd, as we had four ladies break 90 minutes. On the current results, they look strong contenders for the overall team prize!

For the men, leading the way was Andrew Yuill in 1.32.35 and Aidan Naughton in 1.42.28. I suspect we had others running too, but at the moment this is all Harriers listed on the official results.

Await a further update later! Well done all!

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!

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!

Men and Women in 2nd place!

With the results in from Round 2 at Bath, Westbury Harriers men's team have moved into second place, whilst the ladies have moved from 1st to 2nd, despite fielding a weakened team.

In the men's league, Cardiff strengthened their lead at the top with a strong showing of 1214 points, but Westbury's 1116 was enough to finish 4th on the day and to move into 2nd place, as Swansea Harriers fielded an incomplete team.

For the ladies Lizzy Smith finished 16th, Vicky Tester 21st, Kelly Winstone 41st, Kirsty Robertson 50th and Jennifer Cummins 72nd completed the A team. Leading the way for the B team was Hayley Johnson in 73rd, with Vicky Jones in 74th, Anneke Bull in 90th, Eithne Noonan in 126th and Kay Ridgewell in 139th. Then we had  Caroline Bannister in 150th and Sandra Bailey-Gard in 156th.

The ladies finished 2nd on the day and now lie 2nd overall, following a strong showing from Les Croupiers...

Westbury flying high in the mens and womens Gwent League

In the opening round of this season's Gwent League, Westbury put in a strong showing across both the men's and women's league. For the ladies Debbie Marsden finished a strong 4th place, behind winner Rebekah Randall of Bristol and West. Vicky Tester put in an outstanding run to finish 10th, one place ahead of team mate Sophie Voller. Lizzy Smith completed the ladies A team in 27th.

For the men, Matt Ellis ran a steady pace throughout to finish 18th, John Collier 27th, Simon Everington 40th, Anthony Glover 48th and John Terry completed the A team in 52nd. For the B team, Gregg Ward was 65th, Colin Johnson 101st, Robin Phillips 102nd, Ken Ham 119th and Jullian Bailey-Gard Jnr 134th.

Then we had a guest - Andy Buck - finishing 174th, just ahead of Tim Westmacott in 178th, Mike Hokins was 196th, Tony Jefferies 208th, Jullian Bailey-Gard Snr 216th and Mike Harris 273rd.

We also had two other guests Andreas Lomvardos and Dean Gardner turn out for the club in a strong first showing.

In the U.20s former Harrier Dan Studley, now running as an individual for B&W, finished 2nd behind Blair Brown of Taunton!

I'll put a more detailed report, completing the ladies squad and details of the juniors as we have them!

Harriers ladies dominate at Oldbury

Westbury Harries ladies team were in dominant form as they finished 1st, 3rd and 4th to easily take the team prize. Fresh from her recent win at the Bridge Inn 5k, Sophie Voller eased round the course on a hot and humid October's day to win in 63 minutes. Marking her formal debut for the club Vicky Tester ran 66 minutes for third place, whilst Lizzy Smith continued her recent good form to finish 4th.

In the men's race, Colin Johnson ran 62 minutes, which secured 2nd place in his age category in the Avon Championships.

More details when the full results are in!

Awesome Harriers so close to glory!

A huge congratulations to the 4 ladies and 23 men who turned up to Sutton Park to make it one of the best days in Westbury Harriers' recent history. The ladies team finish 4th, whilst the men's A team finished 9th, the B team 33rd, the C team 62nd and our D team were battling hard in 77th, when they had to call it a day after 5 legs!

For the ladies Debbie Marsden started the race and came home a strong 5th in a time of 15.34, before Sophie Voller ran a great leg to take the team up to 3rd, having briefly led the race outright along the top stretch of the course. Then Robyn Golding took over and overhauled Notts AC into 2nd, before Annabel Gummow from Bristol and West came storming through into the lead with the quickest time of the day (14.23), Robyn put in a great effort up the final hill to finish in a time of 16.18. On the last leg Lizzy Smith put in another great performance knocking over a minute off her previous best time over the undulating 4.3km course finishing in a time of 16.40 for 4th place - which gave the ladies their best finish for many years, behind winners Bristol and West, Birchfield Harriers and Notts AC.

The men produced an equally amazing performance. First off Dan Studley ran the leg of his life to finish 5th in a top quality field with a time of 18.08, handing over to Matt Ellis. Matt then put in the leg of his life as he overturned the 26s advantage of Bristol & West and was within 2s of the lead as the finish of the leg arrived. Matt running 18.17. A third incredible leg, this time from John Collier - who knocked nearly a minute off his previous best time in 18.49, to hold on to 3rd place (in fact he too briefly led the race!), as Notts AC's Tim Hartley raced through the field with a time of 18.11. Then Will Massey took over and ran 20.09, handing over to Sam Dalgleish in 5th, who then ran 20.01. Si Everington then ran the final leg to close the side out in 1.55.39 for 9th place - the best performance for the mens team since 2004! The race itself was won by our neighbours Bristol and West in a time of 1.49.06, to complete what must be a very rare mens and ladies double! Well done to them. 2nd were Notts AC - just 4 seconds behind - and 3rd were Coventry Godiva.

The B team were an outside bet to reach the top 25 and qualify as of right for the Nationals and were given a perfect start as Anthony Glover ran 20.05 and Rich Collinson 19.53 to haul them into 29th place. Robin Phillips then run 21.17 for 28th place, Colin Johnson ran 21.51 for 36th place, Gregg Ward held position running 21.11, before John Terry closed the team out with 20.44 for a time of 2.05.01 for 33rd place - inside the top 25 A teams, but not the top 25 itself - still only 2 minutes away, a definite target for next year!!!

There was more to come from the Harriers as the C team of Karl Dunn (22.01), Jullian Bailey-Gard Jnr (22.29), Matt Lavis (25.02), Malc White (23.03), Bob Pringle (24.19) and Warren Pickles (20.40) ran home in 2.17.34 and 62nd place.

Our D team of Chris Palmer (23.42), Tony Jefferies (24.41), Geraint Torrington (25.00), Tim Westmacot (23.40) and Alex Miller (24.42) were in 77th place, when they had to bow out of the action. Such was the strength in depth of the club, only 2 sides had complete D teams out, and ours was the next biggest contingent - awesome!!!

A massive thanks to all you guys and girls for taking the trouble to represent and support the club on its travels - you were all great and gave us all some real excitement. It can only be a matter of time before the club rightly retakes its place amongst the medals!!!

Phillips and Smith top Harriers in Bradley Stoke 10k

Robin Phillips finished 4th overall and Lizzy Smith was 2nd lady in yesterday's Bradley Stoke 10k. Phillips clocked a time of 37.24 and Smith 40 minutes precisely in a race won by Peter Morton in 35.26.

Also in action for the Harriers we had Steve Fowley 42.11, Mike Hopkings 42.21, James Noott 44.44, Matthew Lavis 45.21, Richard Hughes 46.20, Andy Schwartz 46.52, Caroline Potter 49.39, Julian Pyrke 49.53, John Percival 54.11 and Victoria Jones 58.53.

Well done all!!