Wells City Harrier junior Dylan Dukes came through from behind to win the first race of the 30th Series of the Street 5k races on Wednesday (10th October). His winning time of 17.14 was a good return for his effort, ahead of Neil Golding (u/a) and Owen Astington (Running for Time). For the women, Rachel Astington (Running for Time) had the winning run in 20.10. There was a good turnout of runners from across the wider area, with a number taking part for the first time, including some who frequently take part in one of the local Parkruns. For the junior races, Owen Dukes emulated his elder brother by winning the 2k race, whilst we had a new winning boy of the 1k race, Nick Lawrence whilst Alice King won again for the girls. Well done to all that took part whether it was for the first time or the 100th time! Read on for results & next month's challenge.
The start of edition number 175
The 5k race, edition number 175 in the long sequence, attracted 76 runners in total – 12 of whom had competed at a local Parkrun on the Saturday before and duly collected their bottle of local Cider or Apple juice if this was their first Street 5k. The Challenge for all the runners last night is to improve their October times by 15 seconds at the November edition (Wed 14th November) to gain a bottle of Bullbeggar Cider or Apple Juice (made by the Village Cider co-operative in Lamyatt – more supplies available from Paul! - link here).
The conditions at the race seemed good for running – still and warm – but the Street 5k always tests out the runner for even pace judgement with the race clock every 1k lap giving clear indication of whether folk have got it right. Dylan paced it best of all on the night, with Neil & Owen left chasing. Owen’s time of 17.28 wasn’t too shabby given that he’d trained hard the night before with the Harrier’s Tuesday group at Millfield track! First V40 was again Harrier Tom Dukes in 17.34 (4th overall) which meant that all of the Dukes family won a prize on the night; 1st V50 was, again, Keith Littlewood (Barnsley AC) in 18.04; 1st V60 was Martin Lascelles (Maiden Newton Runners) who had made the journey back, specially from the States to compete (!), in 19.18. 1st V70 was, evergreen, Len Horlock (South West Veterans) in 25.40. 1st Junior (other than Dylan) was Will Pate (Wells City Harriers) in 18.18.
For the ladies, the winner Rachel had a gap of 14 seconds on 2nd place, 1st F45, Linda Lascelles (Maiden Newton Runners) who with her 20.24 had the best age-graded performance of the evening with 86.4% (husband Martin with 83.5% was best for the men). 3rd on the night, was the Harrier’s Zoe Kurle in 20.30; 1st F35 was Verity Elston (Minehead) in 20.49 (a bottle of wine awaits her when she next returns); 1st F55 was the Harrier’s Karen Shears in 26.47. 1st junior was Jessica Hudson (Wells City Harriers) in 21.30.
All that race at least 5 races in the 6 race Series will receive a Series award, and as it’s our 30th anniversary year you can guess that it might be something special! Remember the challenge to run 15 seconds quicker next month – come and train with us on a Tuesday evening if you need some help to achieve your targets! Park Runners who haven't raced at the Street5k before can enter the November race and claim a bottle of Bullbeggar. Encourage fellow runners and juniors to come and give the races a go.
The juniors set the pace:
Our thanks to the Race Director, Ed, and to the Harrier volunteers that help make the races go smoothly.
The Street 5k Series was started by one of the Club’s significant persons, Clive Thomas, way back in 1988 as a monthly time trial to encourage folk to train hard over the autumn and winter months. Clive was himself an international athlete and he gave back a lot through coaching juniors and seniors to achieve better times and performances. His wife Angela was one of the stalwarts of the Series in charge of time-keeping over many years. The Street Series was renamed the Clive & Angela Thomas Series in memory of their efforts.
Well done to the juniors that competed. That sets a good mark for you to beat next month!
October Junior 1k & 2k Results
English (National) Road Relays & Burnham Half Marathon
This past weekend (Saturday 6th October) Wells City Harriers had members competing at the National Road Relays, held at Sutton Park, Birmingham, and also at the local Burnham on Sea Half Marathon, which was race number 16 in the 2018 Somerset Series.
At the English Road Relays which brings together the best teams from across the country, the Harrier teams again flew the flag for teams from the South-west with the u15 boys team of Tommy Hummel, Daniel Maydew and Toby Watson finished 22nd out of the 75 teams competing. Their times for the approximate 3.9km hilly circuit were 13.27, 13.44 and 13.51. In the u17 men’s race, the team of Matthew Quarterman, Charlie Cook and Leo Stockham were 20th with times of 12.11, 13.17 and 13.20 respectively. This was yet more good experience for these age group teams and now the juniors turn their attention to the cross-country season.
At Burnham, on the Sunday 7th October, in perfect running conditions, Christian Green was first home for Harriers, and an impressive 2nd place overall, finishing in 1:15:50, just 24 seconds behind first place. Next home for the Harriers was Justin Thomas in 44th place finishing in 1:32:51 and in 50th place Andrew Piper in 1:34:39. Other positions and times:52 Craig Foley 1:35:00; 87 Mike Rusca 1:42:20; 104 Harriet Burr 1:45:27;128 Robert Moore 1:48:20; 161 Barbara Mercer 1:55:50; 210 Karen Shears 2:14:57.
Harriers at the Burnham Half
Christian Green has now taken over as overall leader in the Somerset race Series; and team mate Ali Blaney continues to lead for the women. The next races in the Series are the Exmoor Stagger and the Herepath Half.
TRAINING WITH THE HARRIERS
Some of the Harrier training sessions are now switching into autumn/winter mode with more emphasis on cross-country training for the many juniors and seniors; whilst some sessions are suitable for long distance runners preparing for a marathon
Half-price Membership now available
From 1st November the Wells City Harrier Membership rate is reduced by 50%. This Membership will take you through to 31st March 2019, and for those who compete a lot it will include England Athletics (EA) Membership (£15)
Juniors
Over 10's
£20 - £5 for half year Club Membership + £15 If needing EA Registration
Under 10's No EA Registration
£5 - £5 for half year Club Membership
Seniors
£25 - Competing with EA Registration
£10 - Not competing, no EA Registration
£20 - Competing unwaged with EA Registration
£5 - Not competing unwaged
Membership gives various benefits including reduced cost of training sessions. Contact Alice for more information.
LONDON MARATHON BALLOT
A number of Harriers have now been receiving the inevitable rejection e-mails following their application for the 2019 London Marathon. We understand there was in excess of 400,000 applications for the places. Those who were fully paid up members in April this year can be entered into the Harrier Club ballot for one of the Club places – please let Paul know so that your name can be included in the hat at the draw on Friday 30th November (Annual Dinner night).
WEBSITE REPORTS
If you are a Harrier, or a parent of a Junior Harrier, please ensure you send a report and any photo of your performance to Paul. If you are part of a team or there are other Harriers competing at the same event, we expect the report to cover all of the Harriers that took part. If you send the info by 9pm Monday eve it may also make the local newspaper that week in addition to being in the website article that week. When Paul is away send the info to Graham or Al and they can also add to the website.