This week we celebrate Dan Maydew’s call up for Team England. He is off this coming weekend to Oderzo, near Venice, to run in the annual invitational 10km team for England against the best u20s from across Europe. Without a doubt there will be some really strong teams competing at this road race.
We also have in this report:
- links to the full results and free photographs, of all the great races at Sunday’s Wells Festival of Running;
- a final summary on the SW Track & Field League which concluded on 4th September;
- a note on the Southern Fell Running Championships held last weekend;
- and a reminder about the forthcoming team road relays and cross-country season coming up, with dates & venues (mostly) having been set.
As usual all these things haven't and won’t happen unless senior Harriers and parents of juniors volunteer to play their part - so a big call out to all to volunteer.....
Below: some of the Harriers after Sunday's races in Wells
Dan Maydew Selected for England u20 Team
Graham reports:
“Good luck to Wells City Harrier member Dan Maydew who has been selected for the England u20 team to compete over 10k at the Trofeo Opitergium Road Races to be held in Oderzo, Italy on 17th September. This selection caps a great season for Dan who is the Wells City Harriers male athlete of the year.
Earlier in the Summer Dan Maydew was also selected for the Midland Counties team that competed over 5k at Cardiff against England, Wales, a Northern team and an Army tea. In this elite field Dan came 11th overall and 5th u20 in a new pb of 14.36.
Dan who has been a member of Wells for a number of years is a great example of a junior runner who has shown real commitment to his running as he has worked his way up through the age groups and achieved this England selection through hard work under the supervision of his Wells Harrier coach Simon Prior.
Well done Dan and good luck next weekend.”
Dan - send us a photo & report for next week’s website.
Dan’s name for his England selection already appears on our roll of honour recorded on our potted history page here.
Wells Festival of Running – Sunday 11th September
By all accounts the series of races held this past Sunday went smoothly. All the results from the races are on the link here.
The Harriers are pleased to have been able to support the races which have been organised by a separate committee. Congratulations to Nick Stephens, in particular, but also to a whole host of other Harriers who stepped in to organise this year’s races, after a gap of some years due to Covid restrictions and some worries earlier this year about the escalating cost of road closures.
Nick reports
"We had just under 700 entries across the 4 races races, and I think all went well. The Queen’s minute applause was supported with great enthusiasm.
Our own Christian Green won the senior 10k race with a record time of 33 minutes dead, and the record was broken in the women’s race too by Sophie Nicholls.
I had lots of positive comments about the good atmosphere. Great weather. Friendly marshals. Jon James set off as a great hare and Pipes was a great sweeper. We will meet to review all aspects but further comments welcome. Well done to Chairman Graham winning V60! "
Nick also advises that all race photos off this link are free:
What’s not to like about getting lots of people out running and raising good money for local good causes?
I know a number of our Monday juniors were pleased with their taking part in the junior races as they told me so at training –
1 mile race (actually slightly longer than a mile!): Charlie Franchomme (1st); Toby Hirst (2nd boy); Alfie Beck (3rd boy); Milo Cook (6th); Mason Chant (7th); Florence Perkins (4th girl); Florence Hirst (5th girl)
3.2km race: Oskar Beck (3rd); Dominic Cook (7th); Elspeth Perkins (9th, 4th girl)
& in the 5km: Amelie Cook (5th girl)
Well done all, and to all other Harriers and competitors for taking part. If anyone has a report to add from the 5k or 10k races, please send it in so I can add it here.
Photos below show Harrison Williams just leading from Zak Hurrell (both in yellow numbers for 5k) near the start of the 5k - they finished 2nd & 1st respectively; and Matt Lusby, Alex Coombs & Dan Williams - Matt was 2nd in the 10k, Alex 4th in 10k & Dan 5th in 5k.
South of England Fell Running Championships – Isle of Wight – Saturday & Sunday 10th & 11th September
Three tough races over a weekend is not everyone’s cup of tea but these Championships attract a good field of runners from across the region and further afield every year. I once again took part in the races and it’s now over 20 editions of the Southern Fell Running Championships at which I’ve competed since 1994.
No medal this year which is unsurprising given my lack of specific training, but in terms of race positions I got better as the weekend went on and the races got longer (or maybe it’s just that fewer and fewer runners survived over the course of the 3 races?). Saturday – race 1 over 2.4miles with 775ft of ascent (78th); race 2, 7 miles with 1500ft of climb (75th) and Sunday – 13 miles with 1500ft of climb (73rd).
As I have done for the past 20 years, I presented the medals on behalf of the SEAA at the end of the Series. This year’s outright Southern Champion was Matthieu Marshall (Oxford City AC) who won all three races, and normally runs about 15.40 for a road 5k. You can see which Harriers have won these Championships in the past on the same potted history page as linked here. Maybe some of the faster Harriers who like the hills will have a go next year?
Below - Race 1 & 2 go from the Ventnor Promenade up onto the Downs behind the town
South West Athletics League – final fixture Sunday 4th September
Congratulations to all the team members that have contributed to the success of the joint team with Yeovil Olympiads this past season. I’ve not received any reports but I know a number of our Monday junior training group have been enjoying their first season of competitive Track & Field League matches and had some good times & marks at this final fixture. Photo below shows u15 Sam Austin competing in his first 3000m on the track just behind Jay Carey of our partner Club (both in the YOAC colours of course).
Many thanks to the team managers, and of course the officials as without them these fixtures wouldn’t happen. Final SW League standings are here – Wimborne were just too strong to catch but we finished ahead of Taunton AC to clinch 2nd place overall.
| Overall | |||
| Pos | Club | Mch Pts | Lge Pts |
| 1 | Wimborne | 7672.5 | 51 |
| 2 | Yeovil | 6745.5 | 46 |
| 3 | Taunton | 6191 | 45 |
| 4 | Armada | 5725.5 | 38 |
| 5 | N. Abbot / Torbay | 5662 | 38 |
| 6 | Poole AC | 4642 | 28 |
| 7 | Cornwall AC | 4442.5 | 28 |
| 8 | Exeter H | 3600 | 24 |
| 9 | Newquay & Par | 3709.5 | 23 |
| 10 | North Devon | 2213.5 | 17 |
| 11 | Dorchester | 1162 | 10 |
| 12 | Poole R | 992 | 8 |
| 13 | Mendip | 622 | 8 |
COMING UP
See Team tab as usual for all team info as I have it, but in a nutshell:
- Road Relays at Aldershot on Saturday 24th September – age group teams being assembled by Simon & Jon. Regional relays then may lead on to National Road Relays at Sutton Park in October.
- Final Track & Field Open Meeting at Yeovil on Sunday 25th (postponed from 11th)
- Cross Country League fixtures now arranged – we need parents to take on responsibility for team managing an age group. Harrier entries for Gwent League & Wessex League are paid by the Club – enter with Club name. NOTE – no entry on the day this year for Gwent.
- Street 1k,2k & 5k Series re-starts on Wednesday 12th October. Entries should now be open. See previous article with flier. Volunteers needed to marshal and assist new Race Director Stephen Nicholls. Contact him at Tuesday training or via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
FINALLY - remember items for the website to me when I'm around by 8pm Monday for posting up the following day in the usual weekly round up covering all sections of the Club. Short articles on word doc and good quality photos please. If you don't submit then it won't reach this front page!
Previous items you might have missed :