Westbury Women tougher then Men at the 2012 Man v Horse Marathon

The tables were turned on the men at this year's Man v. Horse marathon as 5 ladies tackled the full course at this, the 33rd running of the great man v. horse event! Unfortunately only two of the club's men were able to tackle the full course, as injuries robbed the team of the services of Matt Ellis, Rich Collinson and John Terry. This left Anthony Glover to drop down to the relay, which he ran with two school friends from Northern Ireland, and he didn't disappoint arriving at the first changeover point in first place in the relay race (although behind two individuals running the whole thing!) Also in the relay event, Karl Dunn, Jullian Bailey-Gard Jnr and Robin Phillips teamed up to good effect and finished 4th, with Robin rapidly closing down on 3rd come the finish!

Back to the main race, and leading the club home was Emma D'Alton who in her first attempt at the course finished 3rd lady in a time of 3.01.54, enough for 17th overall. Kevin Knights was next home in a time of 3.20.09 for 49th place. Then we had Shona Mackie 67th in a time of 3.25.38, Graham Bazley in 3.56.30, Linda O'Shaugnessy 4.07.12, Jane Goodwin in 4.12.02 and Jane Thornton in 4.38.40. Unfortunately for the club Emma was not listed as Westbury Harriers as the ladies would surely have made the top 3 teams if so!

The top end of the race was a who's who of Man v. Horse with 3 former prize winners in the top 5. The winner was Huw Lobb, who repeated his 2004 triumph, although this time finishing some 20 minutes behind the horse and so there was no cash bonus for Huw this time round. John McFarlane and Mark Palmer, also both former winners, were 4th and 5th. With Mark Croasdale - another man v horse veteran doing the prizes and William Hill once again sponsoring the event, it seemed that the event rolled back the years with another highly successful race, defying the gloomy weather forecasts!

The Happy Harriers post race party - 20 members and their friends celebrated in the heart of Wales in Britain's smallest town, Llanwrtyd Wells!

The men's team will I'm sure bounce back and make sure that next year's 34th running of the event will see a return of Westbury dominance!

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!

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!

Record turnout for Harriers in the Bristol 10k

Near ideal conditions for distance running met the runners at today's Bristol 10k. Stand out performances throughout the field as 65 Harriers took part! At the sharp end of the field Chris Palmer scored a PB as he clocked 34.53, for 59th place, whilst Emma D'Alton narrowly missed making the podium as she finished 4th Brit, as an Ethiopian claimed British residence to make the top 3. D'Alton may (or may not) be consolidated with the thought of being 1st veteran in the field (as runbristol proudly highlighted). At present, it looks like the ladies team of D'Alton, Lucy Richens and Debbie Marsden will be 2nd team!

Results (produced via runbristol's website) are below! Well done all!

PositionBib #AthleteGenderChip Time
591042Chris PalmerM00:34:53
65106Emma D'altonF00:35:13
971137Warren PicklesM00:36:50
1031078Robin PhillipsM00:37:02
1091099Lucy RichensF00:37:19
1181158Andy SwainM00:37:37
1221077Ken HamM00:37:47
1242966Debbie MarsdenF00:37:51
17914008Elizabeth SmithF00:38:57
1801110Ewan KilgourM00:38:59
1921210Anthony BallanceM00:39:14
2371155Mark TooskiM00:39:43
2531254Keith HillM00:39:54
2711556Tim WhitakerM00:40:07
3521502David GeorgeM00:41:00
4661252Michael HaganM00:41:51
4713046Joshua Francis HowlettM00:41:55
5421329Geraint TorringtonM00:42:24
5541534Tim SyngeM00:42:28
6321860Rebecca LeeF00:42:52
6611317Mike HopkinsM00:43:02
7833072Victoria ShufflebottomF00:43:46
7961649Nick MarshallM00:43:51
9721193Alex MillerM00:44:37
10002654Anthony WoodM00:44:44
11953183Graham BazleyM00:45:35
12194031Richard CroninM00:45:41
12412990Goksel DursunM00:45:47
12652542Judy KnightsF00:45:55
12681748Mike MewseM00:45:57
134914169Lisa FeehilyF00:46:19
13912541Jennifer CumminsF00:46:26
147114021Philip CourtM00:46:44
15411874Rich BelbinM00:47:00
15802822Steve MacdonaldM00:47:09
15932656Victoria HowlettF00:47:12
167714157Sarah OrrF00:47:29
17877977Nick HounsfieldM00:47:51
19673214Julian WilsonM00:48:29
20561883Linda O'shaughnessyF00:48:46
20604043William RhodesM00:48:46
21074032Valerie HughesF00:48:57
24592543Robert WallisM00:49:57
26112831Andrew MaddockM00:50:31
28692655Suzanne WoodF00:51:21
31575365Douglas HopkinsM00:52:18
35331269Richard HughesM00:53:18
361010083Roger FarrowM00:53:30
37122652Tim CarrM00:53:47
37825372Sarah Love-JonesF00:53:59
441014434Kay RidgwellF00:55:40
44925366Benjamin HopkinsM00:55:53
47784997Dianne HeysF00:56:35
485114472Jermey SandfordM00:56:47
54311862Andreas LomvardosM00:58:18
55445815Victoria JonesF00:58:37
559510084Sam WhiteM00:58:44
56127524Henry NurserM00:58:46
57498316Caroline ScapensF00:59:08
614011991Victoria JayF01:00:19
639313218Sharon EynonF01:01:08
65418030James FoxM01:01:38
66698356Susan KingF01:02:02
72958358Kirsty BurnsF01:04:32
78229707Kathy KilgourF01:07:17

15 Harriers run the final Prom

The curtain closed on the 2011/12 Weston Prom series, as 15 members of Westbury Harriers made the start line. Leading the way was Jullian Bailey-Gard Jnr who ran 30.14 for 16th place. Robin Phillips was 31st in 31.41 and David George 46th in 42.49. Then we had Tamsin Chick running 33.42, Tim Synge 34.30 and Jullian Bailey-Gard Snr in the same time, Rebecca Lee 34.55, Valerie Hughes 38.13, Caroline Potter 39.51, Jane Thornton 41.04, Roger Long 41.04, Kay Ridgwell 42.57, Richard Hughes 44.52, Sarah Gould 50.51 and Sandra Bailey-Gard 52.22.

The race itself was won by Chippenham's Stuart Leaney in 26.20, with Chris Old running 27.40 and Tim Britton of GWR 3rd in 28.06.

Well done to all of you.