Overview
Wells City Harriers is one of the leading running & athletic clubs in the south west, with formal coached training sessions on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. We compete at track and field, road, multi-terrain and fell running. We are an inclusive club for all abilities, ages and genders. We are affiliated to the Somerset County Athletic Association, the South of England Athletic Association and England Athletics.
We currently have over 200 members aged 8 and upwards. Over 100 of the members train regularly at one or more Harrier sessions. Our traditional home is Wells and for over 30 years Senior members have gathered on a Wednesday by the Rugby Club to train on the road (esp. in winter) or off-road going up onto the Mendip. On Monday & Tuesday evenings we hire Millfield School track and guided by qualified coaches, we have supported juniors, age 8 upwards, and seniors, up to age 80 and beyond, at Track & Field, and endurance running (for XC).
On some weekends we have up to 100 members of different ages competing at different events. We were one of the founding members of the Somerset Race Series which encourages road and multi-terrain runners from across the County and beyond.It also encourages the Somerset affiliated Clubs to work together.
For track and field, since 2000, we have been part of the Yeovil Olympiad's team and compete at regional and National level Leagues. At Cross Country we compete at the Gwent XC League and the Wessex XC League. A number of our individual members have gone on to compete for England or Wales, and 10 have now competed for TeamGB.
In addition we have a number of non-competing and social members and a few second claim members. A number of our members started with one of the Club's many Couch to 5k programmes, and have then continued to enjoy the social running we offer, especially at a Wednesday Club session or by informal arrangements with other Harriers on, say, a Sunday morning.
All parts of the Club come together to support our annual Street road race Series which has been going since 1999/2000. The 5 lap 5k race is held on the 2nd Wednesday of every month from October to March. We held the 200th edition of the Street Series (named the Clive & Angela Thomas Street 5k Series) in December 2023. There is also an accompanying 1k and 2k race for juniors on the same course.
The Harriers also support with advice and guidance, and sometimes the lead personnel, a number of community races aimed at raising money for local causes. These have separate committees: Babcary, Butleigh, Baltonsborough; and the Wells Festival of Running. We nominate all of these races to the Somerset Series of races.
We hold annual and one off social events. The Club's Annual Dinner is most often held at the end of November or early December. There are occasional pub runs on a Wednesday eve for those who attend to stay for a drink and a meal afterwards. The Tuesday track sesssions finish off the calendar year with a parlauf event followed by a curry night in a local pub in Street. The Harrier AGM held in May sees the Club's Annual Awards made.
If you are interested in joining see our membership page for more details or find out about our club training sessions here.
To see our members UK rankings, click here.
About Our Club Kit
Wells City Harriers members wear a Royal Blue & Yellow vest when competing at all Cross-country, Road & Multi-terrain Championship events. For Track & Field competitions with our partner club Yeovil Olympiads (YOAC), members wear their Orange vest which is available direct from YOAC. Wearing Club kit – particularly the vest – is required for all team events where we compete as a team. This is especially true when we compete at cross-country, road or fell running events where we are hoping to win a team prize.
In the autumn and winter months the Yeovil Olympiads that compete as part of our combined team will wear our Royal Blue and Yellow Harrier vest. In the summer at Track & Field events, we will wear their Orange Yeovil vest. Given that we attract members from near and far wide and provide many and varied training sessions across the week, wearing the vest is a good way to meet fellow Harriers at the races. Even when running at a small event somewhere you may come across someone else wearing the Royal Blue and Yellow, and straight away you’ve got a team-mate. To purchase our club vest or other kit, visit our Shop page by clicking here.
Photos
Below are are range of photographs of different Wells City Harrier members training and participating in a variety of events. For regular up-to-date photos, visit our Instagram page.
