Whilst we in the UK are all still in lockdown and only virtual races seem possible, one of the Harriers Hon Members (&Team GB athlete!) Elise Thorner (vest number 521) has been in great action over in the United States where sport seemingly carries on much as usual. We are hopeful that it might be possible for us to resume Harrier coached training groups by the end of March but there are a few steps before we get there. Meanwhile below is the March training programme for you to follow for one of your weekly sessions when you are training on your own, with household members or with one other runner. Read on for all....
Al Thorner reports on Elise’s Stateside run:
“On Friday 19th February Elise competed in her first cross country race for the New Mexico Lobos with an eye on a top seven place finish in a strong team. She completed the flat, fast 6km three lap course in 20 mins 42 seconds (average 5 mins 33 per mile), finishing 34th overall out of 100 starters. Most importantly she finished in 6th place in a closely packed New Mexico team who came away with the team trophy beating Stanford University into second place.
This should ensure Elise a place in the team that travels to Las Vegas again on Friday March 5th to defend their Mountain West regional cross country championships. If the team finishes in the top two places they qualify for the prestigious NCAA National Championships on March 15th in Oklahoma.”
That's some good running by Elise! We will update this webpage when we’ve got the result of any further racing that she is taking part in. Elise & her twin brother Ollie are on Athletic Scholarships over in the United States.
TRAINING UPDATE
I know a number of us have been running solo or with one other pal in our local areas during this current lockdown. I’m lucky in that I can run off-road from my front door, but I have also run a great circuit up Cadbury Castle and along the Corton Denham ridge recently. Until we get the go ahead for larger group training we should continue to follow the current rules.
We are hoping that by the end of the month the UK Govt announcement and England Athletics guidance will start to allow groups of 6 in public areas, and possibly larger groups in ‘Covid Secure’ environments, such as at Strode College, where we can use a field which is not open to the public. Watch this space for any announcements on this. Priority will be for Harrier members, as for some time we may need to follow Track & Trace protocols of taking bookings and keeping a record of who attends.
In the meantime, below at the bottom of this webpage is the quality training session for March as set by one of the Harrier senior coaches, Jon James. Try and do this solo, or with 1 other person.
HARRIER MEMBERSHIP 2021/22
We will also be coming up for a new Membership year from 1st April 2021 and will re-open for new members soon, whilst existing members will get an automatic request to renew soon after that date. The Membership fees for 2021/22 have yet to be set but the Harrier committee will meet soon to determine what these will be.
40th ANNIVERSARY
2021/22 is also our 40th anniversary as a Club and in some future web postings we will look back at the different decades of the Club, some of the individual and team achievements and some of the social events that we have held. In the meantime here is a photo from January 2008 where Frank Tickner ran away from the field at the tough South of England Cross Country Championships. Frank went on to represent TeamGB at the World XC Championships that season and a number of Harriers went to support him at the 'Worlds'. (photo by Paul)
Click on link here for the March training programme:
TUESDAY TRAINING SESSION
In Case You Missed it:
A year ago - Ollie goes 2nd on UK Rankings whilst Nathan wins at Longleat
10 years ago - The Harrier Newsletter January 2011