This year’s ‘Up & Running’ course – ‘couch to 5k’- came to an end on Wednesday 23rd May before their successful winning team performance at the Wells Fun Run 5k. The individuals were presented with their T-shirts on the Wednesday, and then gained the 5k team award on the Sunday. The same Wednesday also saw the 37th Annual General Meeting of the Club, with one change to the Committee as Christian Green has stepped up to be Deputy Chair. Following on the formal AGM there were also some annual awards to individuals for their performances this past year: well Done Ali, Matthew & Hannah! Read on for details and more reports on recent performances by Harriers.
WELLS CITY HARRIERS
Annual Awards for 2017/18
Junior Boy/Youth: Matthew Quarterman (for his 3rd place at the County Schools Championships, 5th at the SW XC Championships; amongst other performances)
Junior Girl/Youth: Hannah Blundy (for her 9th place finish at the London Mini-Marathon regional race when representing SW England, winning outright the Gwent u13 girls XC League; and her 3rd place in SW XC Championships and 2nd at Somerset Schools XC Championships; amongst other performances)
Female athlete: Ali Blaney (for her 2nd place finish in the Somerset Race Series 2017,amongst other performances)
Marathon: Tim Hawkins (Tim was selected to compete for Team England in the V45 category at the Chester Marathon held in October 2017. Tim ran 2.59, despite not being at full fitness)
Club Person of the Year: Ed Tickner (for his steady Race Directing of the Club’s flagship Street 5k series over recent years)
(More photos at the bottom of this article)
The committee’s thanks to all athletes & parents who have gone the extra mile this past year – we still need more to volunteer to become qualified officials, team managers or coaches. Contact details for the Committee are as usual here.
HARRIER COMMITTEE MEETINGS IN 2018/19: dates for the diary
Please make a note of these provisional dates which follow the usual pattern. All meetings start at 8pm and last an hour. 6 meetings per annum.
Tues July 3rd at a venue in Street: planning for 2018/19 inc recruiting more volunteers
Wed Sept 5th at Wells Rugby Club Street 5k preparations; XC preparations- team managers & entry secretary appointment; planning Social events before Xmas
Tues Nov 6th at a venue in Street: XC review to date – inc prep for XC Championship races; Club support for races in 2015
Wed Feb 6th at Wells Rugby Club: XC review to date; Preparation for new membership year; Preparation for track season
Tues April 2nd at a venue in Street: Street 5k review; Financial summary for past year; Preparation for AGM
Wed May 15th AGM at Wells Rugby Club: Annual report; election of committee; Annual awards.
Any member of the Harriers is invited to attend the committee meetings.
UP & RUNNING GROUP 2017/18 PHOTO
REPORTS of recent performances
Saturday 26th & Sunday 27th May: National Combined Events Championships (u18s) at Bedford
Al Thorner reports:
“Ollie Thorner competed at the National Combined Events Championships in the U18 decathlon on 26th & 27th May with the target of 6900 points which would enable consideration for selection for the European Youth Championships in Hungary beginning on 8th July. Although competing in the U20 competition, Ollie would be using lighter Shot, Discus and Javelin along with a lower hurdle height.
Day 1 saw warm temperatures but cloudy with a swirling wind creating slight following winds for some and strong headwinds for others. The 100m began well with a PB 11.67 seconds into a headwind followed up with a 6m 47 long jump, 4cm shy of his PB. Next up was the Shot Put and a solid 11m 55 which was a decathlon PB. The High Jump was next and a long wait before the senior men had finished saw Ollie win the event with a PB equalling 1m 98. The competition is now into the evening and the 400m 30 mins after his last jump, did not start until gone 7.30. Ollie had a tremendous run in the "A" seeded race coming 2nd in an official electronic time and PB of 50.07 but to his dismay was disqualified for stepping on the inner white line of his lane between 200m and 300m.
With gaining the required number of points for the European Youth Championships an impossible task, it was a big consideration to not start Day 2 but Ollie wanted to put in a good performance regardless. Day two started in hot, humid conditions which were to last throughout the day and end with a torrential downpour. Ollie completed the 110 hurdles one hundredth of a second outside of his PB into a headwind, so a good start to the day. The Discus was next up and, on a day where few were recording big throws, Ollie threw a solid 35m 20 followed with an equally solid 4m 22 in the Pole Vault. The conditions by this time were very hot and thundery and, with the competition running around one and half hours past scheduled times, athletes were all showing signs of fatigue. The Javelin began at around 6.30pm and Ollie launched a final throw to record a new pb of 45m 07 with only the 1500m to go. With thunder and lightening around the race began in a downpour with Ollie needing around 4 mins 35 to score a virtual 6900 points if his 400m time were included. He ran a very well paced race to come 3rd overall and record a time of 4 mins 25, a decathlon PB by over 16 seconds.”
Ollie (182) coming into the home straight of the final event in the Decathlon - the 1500m
Saturday 19th May: Night of the 10000m event
Two of our Honorary Life Members (for their selection for TeamGB - the full list is as shown on the Potted History page here), had good runs at the Night of the 10000s event held once again at the event organised by Highgate harriers at the Parliament Hill (London) track. u23 Oliver Fox recorded 30.16 for the 10000m - a new personal best. Also going well with another pb was fellow u23 Luke Prior with a 30.37 clocking.
Former British 10000m record holder Dave Bedford, with trademark 'tache', with to his left = Oliver Fox , Luke Prior and Simon Prior at the 10000m event
Sunday 20th May: Wessex Ridgeway Relays 100km - 2 Harrier teams of 6 per team were entered for this event which took place on in very hot conditions. Nick Weaving team-managed and was pleased at how ell everyone ran. The teams finished 7th & 8th out of the 24 teams entered. We continue to be the only team that runs the event with our two runners running together (it's more sociable that way!) and each runner running two consecutive legs of the 12 legs per team of six, as opposed to the other team runners who have a rest in between legs.(it's easier in terms of logistics doing that!)
Top running performance by a Harrier pair on the day was by John Glaisher and Justin Thomas who were the quickest, of the 24 teams, on leg 11. Potential bog seat nominee was Paul Chadwick who mis-read last year's results and managed to get to his relay start 11 minutes after his team had arrived - it being a continuous relay. (unlike the Cotswold Way where every stage has its own defined race start time). The teams consisted of a good blend of Tuesday and Wednesday night Harriers who like off-road running: Nick Weaving; Andy Piper; Dave Cory; Mike Rusca; Ali Blaney; Rachel Glaisher; Paul Chadwick; Rod Little;Peter Cothier; Jonathan Davies; Justin Thomas; and John Glaisher. Full Results here
MORE PHOTOS FROM AGM/ANNUAL AWARDS