World Athletics Championships, Southern Road Relays, Uphill to Wells Relay, and junior Harrier success

Details: Written by: Alexander Coombs; Created: 02 October 2025; Last Updated: 02 October 2025; Hits: 432

EliseJapan3

Elise Thorner competed at the World Athletics Championships in Japan

It’s been another exciting fortnight for Wells City Harriers, headlined by Elise Thorner’s outstanding performance at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. Representing Great Britain in the 3000m steeplechase, Elise set a new personal best in the heats to qualify for her first World Championship final, where she finished an impressive 11th in the world — a fitting end to a breakthrough season. Back home, club activities have been in full swing with record attendance at junior training, strong team performances at the South of England Road Relays, a fun day out at the Uphill to Wells Relay, a superb win for young Heath in the Dave Jones Weston Prom Run, and excellent results from our juniors at the Barnstaple 10K.

World Athletics Championships - Tokyo

[Report by Al Thorner]

EliseJapan2

Going strong in the Heats, obtaining a PB and qualification to the final.

On Monday 15th September 2025 at 10.30am local time, Wells City Harrier Elise Thorner lined up on the track at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, Japan for what could have been the last 3000m steeplechase of her season at the World Athletics Championships.

Since moving to the New Balance Manchester training group a year earlier under the guidance of head coach Helen Clitheroe, it has developed into a breakthrough year for the 24 year old culminating in representing Great Britain for the first time on the world stage in Tokyo. Back in December Elise gained her first senior podium position at the European XC Championships in Turkey with a bronze medal in the mixed 1500m relay. The next indication that it was going to be a special year was in Boston in January in a 3000m indoor race where she took 30 seconds from her PB to record 8 mins 47 seconds. In May, in only her second 3000m steeplechase of the 2025 season in Los Angeles, USA she took 11 seconds off of her PB winning the race in 9 mins 17 seconds to sneak under the automatic qualifying time for the Tokyo World Championships. She confirmed her selection by winning her first UK Championships over the distance in Birmingham taking 7 seconds off of the previous Championship Best Performance clocking 9 mins 22 seconds.

EliseJapan

Elise made it to Tokyo!

Elise also competed in her first Diamond League races during the summer in Oslo and Lausanne finishing in 7th and 4th places respectively recording a personal best in Oslo of 9 mins 15 seconds. This qualified her to run in the Diamond League final in Zurich, but as this was close to the World Championships, the decision was taken to not compete in this additional race.

EliseJapan2

Finishing third in the Heats against some strong international athletes.

In a difficult heat in Tokyo where only the first 5 were to qualify out of 12 for the final, and Elise ranked 5th on this season's times, it was touch and go if she could get through the heat. In temperatures in excess of 30 degrees and 85% humidity, Elise produced a dominant performance taking the lead at the last water pit coasting home in 3rd place behind the No 2 and 5 ranked athletes in the world with the US Champion finishing behind in fifth place to reach her first world final at her first attempt in a new PB of 9 min 14 seconds.

EliseJapanFinal

Racing in the final was a huge achievement, finishing 11th.

The final two days later was late in the evening at 10pm with temperatures still at 28 degrees and high humidity. A very fast pace set by the leaders saw Elise go through 2000m only a few seconds off of the UK record for the distance and with one lap remaining she was still looking at a new personal best. The early fast pace saw her close out in 9 mins 19 seconds, a time that was 9 seconds faster that her PB at the start of the season finishing in 11th place out of the 15 starters. It is a mark of how far she has come this year that her first emotion was one of disappointment and that she has got to a point in her career where she expects even more. A two week break from running now before planning begins for two home championships in 2026 beginning with the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow closely followed by the European championships in Birmingham.

Monday Night Training

We’re now four weeks into the new season for our Junior Harriers, and attendance has reached record numbers! It’s fantastic to see so many young athletes joining in with such enthusiasm across all our age groups.

This week, our juniors had a special treat — a visit from Elise Thorner, freshly returned from competing in the World Athletics Championships in Japan. Just over ten years ago, Elise was herself a Junior Harrier training on Monday nights. She’s a wonderful role model for our young athletes and a great example of where dedication can lead.

Due to the popularity of our Monday junior sessions, we are currently operating a waiting list for any new members. If you have a child, or know someone who loves to run and would like to join, please complete the online form here — one of our coaches will be in touch when a space becomes available.

d33e3d49 ff47 4173 a3e4 ad514de32ee5

Elise Thorner with our junior Harriers and Monday night coaches

SEAA 3/4/6 Road Relays

[Report by Jon James]

DanM

Dan Maydew closed the race for the Men’s Senior A Team

On Saturday 20th September, a number of WCH teams competed in the South of England road relays at Rushmoor Arena near Aldershot. The relays were first held here in 1988, and many famous athletes have competed in them, e.g. Georgia Hunter-Bell, who has just won silver in the 800m at the world championships, ran the quickest leg in the U13 girls race in 2006! A great course, being traffic-free, but not easy as it is hilly and has tight turns -pacing is crucial.

U15B

U15 Boys Team

First off was our U15 boys team with Jamie Williams running a really sensible leg (3K distance)) to bring the team home in 15th in a highly competitive first leg, running a time of 9.52. Oskar Beck then moved the team up to 9th on the 2nd leg (9.57), before Joe Whelan on the last leg ran 9.59, enabling the team to finish in 13th position out of 91 teams.

U15 Girls

U15 Girls Team

The U15 girls also performed really consistently with Lara Pinsent running 12.58 for the first 3K leg, followed by Sadie Littlechild on the 2nd leg running 12.41 and moving the team up 9 positions, and finally Freya Dencher, with a time of 12.22 that moved the team up 5 places to their finishing position of 40th out of 65 teams.

U17 Boys

U17 Boys Team

Next off were the U17 races, boys first and what a highly competitive race it was, particularly the first leg. Addie Butcher ran well with a time of 16.01 for the 4.6K course, but came in 61st, before Casper Rawbone gained 18 positions on the 2nd leg running 15.50. Harry Dawson then consolidated that position, running 16.18, and this meant that the team finished 44th out of 80 teams.

U17 Girls

U17 Girls Team

The girls U17 team put in one of our performances of the day finishing 8th out of 52 teams. Isabelle Whittle set the team off nicely, running 17.22 for the first leg, coming in 9th. Florence Tibbatts then maintained our top ten position running 17.42, before Ayla Chard ran 17.17 on the final leg moving the team up a couple of places. Well done girls!

SeniorMenVets

Senior Men and Vets Teams

And so to the men’s event which saw a mass start of senior men, and M40, M50 and M60 age group men, running a 6K course, made up of two 3K laps. The first lap is traditionally fast and furious, so Zak Hurrell did well to pace things sensibly and run a time of 20.04, meaning that the team were halfway down the field. Mark Duffet ran really well in gaining 16 positions on the 2nd leg (19.14), and the remaining runners all advanced the team a few places on their legs. Alex Coombs running 20.10 on leg 3 to move us to 46th, Matt Lusby 20.08 (45th), Chris Green 19.56 (42nd), and finally Dan Maydew on leg 6 running 20.11 so that the team finished 41st out of 113 teams. Qualification for the national road relays (top 25) still alludes us, so this as to be a key target for next year.

Pete and Zak

Pete and Zak running leg 1.

It was great that we fielded a men’s B team and they finished 71st. Good to have Robbie Hawkins running again for us, and he recorded 23.06 for the first leg before Tim Ingle took over and ran 21.19 on leg 2 – his first time running this type of event and a really encouraging performance. There were good runs then from Fred Rawbone running 22.08, and Laurence Badman 21.59. Steve Nicholls will soon be eligible for the V60 team, but held his own running 24.11 on 5th leg before Pete Grist ran 20.58 on leg 6.

Laurence Road

Laurence’s leg featured a short downpour of rain.

The M40 team was a mixture of runners at both ends of the 40-49 range, and they did well to finish 13th out of 28 teams. Pete Grist ran 20.18 on first leg to leave the team in their highest position of 7th, before David Hirst ran 21.45, Stuart Nash 23.04 and Dan Williams 23.36.

Jon

Jon James was the fastest V60 of the day.

The M60 team just missed out on winning their age group as they finished second. Nick Stevens set the team up nicely on leg running 23.54 (6th position), before Jon James ran 21.07 (quickest M60 individual leg of the day) and moved the team up to 1st place. Newcomer David Hall ran well with 24.26, though we were now in 2nd, before club stalwart Steve Masters consolidated that position running 26.02. An example to the younger members of the club from a team of 4 with a collective 250 years between them!

V60team

Team V60 with their 2nd place medals

The national road relays are on 4th October in Birmingham and we hope that a few of our junior teams can run in those.

Watch a video of the day here.

Uphill to Wells Relay

[Report by Rosie Park]

Amy and Rob

All smiles from Amy and Rob

The annual Uphill to Wells Relay raising funds for Boys in Mind took place on Saturday 20th September. Organised by Mendip Hills Hash House Harriers, the 29-mile off road race from Uphill beach in Weston-Super-Mare to Wells Cathedral takes runners up Crook Peak and across Cheddar Gorge before a final descent through Ebbor Gorge.

Teams can be made up from two to five runners who either run in a relay or run the whole route together. Categories include open teams (anyone), mixed (at least two women) and ladies (no men). A choice of three different start times from Uphill beach mean runners of all abilities can take on the challenge and ensures everyone finishes at around the same time.

An event that has long been supported by Wells City Harriers, this year saw two full Harrier teams enter – Wells City Harriers Women (Natalie Wcislak, Rosie Park, Chloe Moss, Melissa Aspinall, Amy Reakes) in the ladies relay and Aged but Not Gone Off (Mike Rusca, Fergus Crawford, Jonathan Williams, George Nicholls, Rob Moore) in the open relay.

Natand Mike

Natalie and Mike getting ready to run.

Harrier Henry Sage also participated in the event but decided to run the entire course himself – which includes 3,259 ft of climb - accompanied by Curtis Stevens as Team Choo Choo.

It threatened to be a very wet day but only those navigating the section between Cheddar and Priddy got the worst of the weather and poor visibility. And, despite a couple of wrong turns (and possibly accidental shortcuts?), an encounter with a barbed wire fence, wonky signposts, very large walking groups blocking the path, a lack of recces and some very steep hills, it was a fun and successful day out for the Harriers.

There was a good battle between Aged but Not Gone Off and Wells City Harriers Women, with the lead changing place a couple of times during the course of the day.

Henry and Curtis won the ‘open whole route’ category finishing in an impressive time of 4h 38mins. Meanwhile, Aged but Not Gone Off finished in a respectable 4hrs 56mins while the Harriers ladies team won the ladies relay with a time of 4hrs 55mins.

The day ended with tea and cake on Cathedral Green where the winning teams collected hampers kindly donated by Seagers.

Watch a video of the day here.

WellsCath

We made it to Wells!

Dave Jones Weston Prom

heathprom1

Heath running in Weston

Young Harrier Heath made an impressive start to the Dave Jones Weston Prom Run Series last week, taking part in Race 1 of the eight-race competition for primary school runners. Competing over a one-mile course, Heath delivered a strong performance to claim victory in a time of 5 minutes and 47 seconds.

The series also hosts a senior 5 mile race starting at 19:30. Enter the next race on 16th October here.

HeathProm

Heath with his winner’s trophy

Barnstable 10K

Casper and Tom

Casper and Tom with their finisher’s medals.

On the 28th September, the Banstable 10K, Half Marathon and Marathon took place with two junior Harriers taking part in the 10K event. Organised by the charity Children's Hospice South West, the 10K route was a two lapped course with parts of it taking place along the Tarka Trail.

Tom Webb is now back to running after a few weeks of illness and is racing strong with a course record performance of 31:31. A super time on a tricky course. Casper Rawbone ran his first competitive 10K giving him a PB time of 36:12, enough to claim second, nearly a minute ahead of third.

Tom Trophy

Tom Webb and his winners trophy with his two biggest fans.

News Reports

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this week’s report. If you’ve raced recently, please remember that we can only include your results if you send us a race report or photos to let us know about it. Send your race details and photos to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to be featured in the next report.

Dates For Your Diary

Here is a list of upcoming races, including WCH supported races, Somerset Series races, road relays, athletics league fixtures and other notable events. Contact club secretary Alexander Coombs if there is an event you would like adding. (SS = Somerset Series race, SRC = Somerset Road Championships)

October 2025

Saturday 4th October 2025 - ERRA National Autumn Relays

(SS) Sunday 5th October 2025 - Mother Tuckers 10K

Wednesday 8th October 2025 - Street 5K (Race 1)

Saturday 11th October 2025 - Gwent League XC (Fixture 1 - Margam Park, Port Talbot)

Thursday 16th October 2025 - Dave Jones Weston Prom Series (Race 2)

(SS) Sunday 19th October 2025 - Herepath Half

Sunday 19th October 2025 - Weston Super Half

(SS) Sunday 26th October 2025 - Mendip Muddle

Sunday 26th October 2025 - Wessex League XC (Race 1 - Learoyd Road)

November 2025

Saturday 1st November 2025 - English ‘National’ Cross Country Relay Championships