This week’s web report includes news of the celebrations at the track on Tuesday for one of our long-standing (long-running) members Terry Kingham - seen above after the training session; brief news from the South of England Road Relays held last Saturday – back at Aldershot on a traffic-free circuit for the first time in 5 years or so; and a report of another Marathon pb by David Hirst from his trip to Berlin last weekend.
We had some fun at the regular Tuesday night training session when Terry KIngham, who used to enjoy competing at the relays at Aldershot, celebrated a very big birthday (80!) and after training was presented with his card & cake. Congratulations Terry Kingham.
Terry started training and running with us in the early 1990's - starting out as a regular at the Wednesday night training sessions from the Wells Rugby Club and joining in the Marathon group's training on a Sunday morning to help him achieve his 3.06pb at the distance when he was in his early 50's.
The Aldershot Relays has been a big part of the Harrier history over the years. It's such a major event with a very long pedigree. Those of us with long memories will recall seeing a young Mo Farah competing there in a number of years. It’s a great road running circuit with an undulating profile - open, long sections and tree-lined shady parts - some sections with fantastic crowd support and other parts where you could hear your heart beating! Only 10 Harriers made the starting line this year for the relays which is some way down on the team exploits of the 1990’s and early 2000’s.
There’s also a link to a video explaining the work on the new multi-user paths around Shepton & Wells, which may enable us to have some additional training routes in the future.
Read on too for a call for entrants and volunteers to help at the Street 5k, 1k & 2k races coming up soon on Wednesday 11th October.
South of England Road Relays – Aldershot – Saturday 23rd September
The Harriers have competed in these Championships for 3 decades or so – my first recollection is from 1994! In our heyday we would have 10-12 teams out competing at all the different age groups and we have seen individual and team success over the years by juniors and seniors.
The Southern Championships returned to Aldershot after a gap of a few years and maybe the lack of continuity affected the number of teams entered and competing this year from the Harriers? Only 2 Harrier teams completed and 1 individual made the journey to get good experience in an incomplete team.
I’ve not received any detailed report but there are some photos of the senior men’s team on other Social media.
I understand the u13 boys team was 20th out of 63 teams with Oskar Beck 10.26; Jack Barker 11.40; Dominic Cook 12.26. That’s some great running for the 3km undulating circuit.
U17 Amelie Cook was the only member of the u17 womens team entered that competed and she finished 31st out of the 47 runners in 19.04 on the first leg over the 4.6km leg (a lap and a half of the standard circuit). That would have been a fast and frantic first leg!
The quality in the senior men’s race was as high as ever and the 6 Harriers in the relay team managed a 42nd position finish out of 106 teams competing. Mark Duffet - seen below in photo - ran the quickest leg for the senior men on leg 2.
The individual honours and team honours by Harriers can be seen as usual on our honours list - see history tab, but some of our earliest web-postings about the relays (same relay circuit used) are here:
Berlin Marathon - Sunday 24 September
David Hirst reports:
“On the weekend of 23 and 24 September, I travelled to Germany to run the Berlin marathon, one of the 6 majors. Over the weekend, not only was there this event, but an in line skating marathon and numerous shorter running races for younger age groups. This gave a feeling that the whole city was taken over by runners and athletes for the weekend.
On Sunday 24th, the day of the marathon, the weather was near perfect for running on what was a very flat and fast course. Both the mens and women’s world records have been broken in Berlin over the past 2 years.
Despite spending hours walking and cycling round Berlin the day before, I managed a very consistent pace over the first 30k, with each 5K split at or just under 20 minutes. Digging deep over the last 7k I managed to keep within my target time of a sub 2:50 to finish in 2:48:29, a personal best by over 4 minutes.”
Somerset Circle progress – extended multi-user path – ongoing work
A number of Harriers, past and present, have been working hard in a voluntary capacity helping to extend the multi-user paths based on the old railway lines out of Shepton Mallet (north through Windsor Tunnel) and west towards Wells (to link up with Dulcote track into Wells). A new video explains how far they have progressed on an ambition to create the 74 mile circuit around Somerset – lots of hard work! There will be plenty of scope for new running routes when completed.
There’s a short video here on youtube explaining the project and its progress – see if you can spot the Harrier!
Progress with the Somerset Circle - YouTube
Street 5k and junior 1k & 2k races coming up
The 34th year of the Street 5k Series starts on Wednesday 11th October. For full details of how to enter the Series see the information here.
Volunteers needed: behind the scenes and on the course. Please contact Stephen Nicholls or Alex Coombs to sign up for a voluntary role. There will be a need for marshals, finish line crew, help in the hall before or after - anyone to help with the tea & bscuits? This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
First of the Cross Country League matches - good luck to all Harriers from either the Harrier or YOAC side who will be competing this coming Sunday in the first of the three Wessex League fixtures. Contact Alex, or Jon at Tuesday training, if you are planning on competing in the Gwent Leage fixture coming up. All Cross country information can be found here.
No report received from the Mells race - if anyone has any good photos or a brief report please send in so that it can be added to this web-posting. The next Somerset Series race will be the Burnham Half Marathan.
NEWS for the website? - Good quality photos and brief reports in Ariel12 point by Monday at 8pm please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.