There were some great early season marks by Wells City Harrier members at the track & field Open meeting at Yeovil and some impressive running by Harriers at the Manchester Marathon, whilst others competed at the Exe to Axe, Penselwood 10k or Combe Gibbet XC. Talented u17 athlete Elise Thorner ran her first ever Steeplechase event and finished 5.07 for the 1500m. Elise goes top of the UK 2017 u17 rankings for the event, and 16th on the all-time records for u17 women.
Elise was part of a strong Harrier contingent competing at the Bill Whistlecroft Arena, Yeovil. Busiest over the weekend was her twin brother, Ollie, who recorded 5 bests at Discus, 30.35m; Shot put, 11.05m; Long Jump, 6.09m; Javelin, 36.41m; and 100mH, 14.6; and also 1.90m at High jump. Ollie goes into or confirms his top 5 national ranking for some of the marks - at Hurdles and High Jump.( He is also currently No 5 at pole vault). Elise cleared 1.60m in the High Jump; went out to 4.77m in the Long Jump; and achieved 8.94m in the Shot put.
U17 Dylan Dukes also achieved a big personal best and goes 6th on 2017 u17 rankings for 3000m in 9.26. Other pbs were achieved by u13 Ollie Bishop, 31.65 for 200m, and 2.47 for 800m; u13 Maisy Unsworth, 16.1 for 100m; and 3.10m for LJ.; u11 Owen Dukes 2.00 for 600m; u11 Jake Watson 13.7 for 75m and 2.91m for LJ; u15 Bernard Mealing 2.30 for 800m. Close, but not quite pb's, were achieved by others: u20 Michael Biss ran 57.96 for 400, whilst u15 Toby Watson ran 2.28 for 800m, and Senior Sam Harding ran the same distance in 1.58.
Well done to all of the competitors from the joint Yeovil Olympiads/Wells City Harriers squad. The first fixture in the South West League is on Sunday 7th May. Please make sure you have contacted the team managers for the SW League match as soon as possible to state your availability for the first fixture, and all others across the season.
At the Manchester Marathon, which was definitely the full distance of 26.2 miles this year (*) Peter Grist ran a new best in 2.38, for 32nd place with Tim Hawkins close behind in 40th in 2.40, and claimed 3rd V45 positon; and Duncan Verel was not too far back in 3.29. (*)It is sometimes a surprise that some big city events where the entrant has paid signifiant money, later discover that they have incorrectly measured the distance!
NOTE: All athletes will be able to see how their performances in any UKA permitted event (track & field; road; etc) rank against others in the region/nationally by age group, taking a look at the marks on the Power of ten website. If you spot any of your performances not recorded on there then please let them know! Out of interest take a look at Ollie Thorner’s impressive list of marks as an example of the depth of recording which goes into that website; or for those of you who never venture on the track but want your current or old road marks to be included have a look at Pete Grist’s list, where he, like myself, has added some back data where he has been able to source it….
Meanwhile at the Exe to Axe Fell Race, 22 miles (plus) with over 4,000 feet of climb along the South-west coastal path, Clare Prosser was an excellent 2nd woman home in 3hrs 33mins; with Chris Kelsey 1stV60, following a recent big birthday, in 3.47; Lucy Heath 4.11 and Paul Chadwick 4.18.
On the road, Graham and Cath Goldsmid ran the more local Penselwood hilly 10km in 42.13 for 8th and 53.24 for 2nd woman and new member Oli Harras was home in1.50 at the Bournemouth Bay Half. Finally, over in Hampshire, Nick Weaving was 68th at the Combe Gibbet to Overton 16m cross-country/multi-terrain race in 2.13.
UPDATE ON HARRIER TEAMS AT THE OFF ROAD RELAYS
As previously promoted on the Harrier website front page and at training sessions on a Tuesday and Wednesday eve by Paul.
Wessex Ridgeway Relay Sunday 21st May – We now have 11 names for the two teams of 6 – 1 space remaining! Here are the 11 confirmed to date: Nick Weaving; Paul Chadwick; Mike Rusca; Peter Clothier; Laura Darby-Jones; Andrew Piper; John & Rachel Glaisher; Justin Thomas; Gary Tubridy; Oli Harris. Legs will be allocated in the next week
Cotswold Way Relay Saturday June 24th – We now have 19 names for the two teams of 10. We are particularly keen to enter a competitive, potentially fast mixed team made up of 7 men and 3 women – we have 1 space left for a female member. We also have a less competitive, but going to 'give it all they have got' team – and that team is now full, with 1 reserve.
Katrina Prior; Alice Knight; Andrew Tindal; Andrew Pate; Mike Bosley; Pete Clothier; Justin Thomas ; Hywel Thomas; Andy Piper ; Liz Green; Laura Darby-Jones; Nick Weaving; Graham Goldsmid; Steve Masters; Simon Carr ; Pete Darton; Mike Rusca; Luke Prior; Paul Chadwick; (reserve Simon Prior). Legs will be allocated in the next week.
Contact Nick Weaving for the Wessex Relay and Paul for the Cotswold Way team if you want to be in the team or a reserve. As usual, places are free for Harrier paid up members; £10 for any non-Harrier if we have space.
REPORTS TO THE MID-SOMERSET SERIES of NEWSPAPERS: Please note that we have now said fairwell to Geraint Tucker who was the Sports Editor of the local newspapers for several year - he was very helpful in ensuring that the Harrier reports produced every week reached a wider audience in print. We will see Geraint at the Cotswold Way relay where he runs with his local team. The new reporting system will reduce the number of words we can send in every week although we still hope they will have room for good news, and of course good photos, such as the ones that Al takes. If you have performances that need reporting on, then please send them to me, Paul, no later than Monday eve each week. Given the space considerations we can't say that all results will get into print! (but if you dont tell us then, for sure, they never will!)