New Course Record at Street 5K, Gwent and Wessex XC, Full Monty Cute, Friday Night Under The Lights, Christmas Meal, English School's Cup and the Launch of our New Club Kit!

Details: Written by: Alexander Coombs; Created: 13 December 2025; Last Updated: 13 December 2025; Hits: 377

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Emma Rigby eats mud for breakfast

It has been another packed and memorable period for the Harriers, with standout performances across road racing, cross country, club events and beyond. From a record-breaking night at the Street 5K—where junior Jonah Barrington stole the headlines with a new 1K course record—to strong team showings at the Gwent League and Wessex League fixtures, Harriers of all ages have been delivering impressive results in challenging conditions. Add in successes at the Full Monty Cute, crazily fast times in London, national schools competition honours, a well-attended Christmas meal, and the launch of our new club kit, and it’s clear the club is finishing the year with momentum, with plenty still to come in the next few weeks.

Street 5K (Race 3)

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The start of the junior race

We enjoyed another strong turnout this week, with 92 runners finishing the 5K. The highlight of the evening came in the junior 1K race, where Jonah Barrington continued his impressive form by breaking the boys’ 1K course record. Jonah stopped the clock at 3:24, taking two seconds off the previous mark set by Rowan Kelly in January 2025.

Jonah

New 1K course record holder, Jonah Barrington

In the 2K race, Heath Hughes-Davies delivered another consistent performance to finish first in 7:07, while Zoe Frost was the leading girl and second overall in 7:58.

Full junior results can be found here.

The 5K race saw Team Bath’s Elliot Avis lead for much of the course, but he was eventually caught by Oscar Beck, who surged past to take the win, just dipping under the 16-minute mark. Adam Fieldhouse continued his run of improvement, recording a faster time in each of the three races to finish third.

In the women’s race, the finish could hardly have been closer, with Tilly Nickell and Fiona Davies both clocking 17:25. Tilly was awarded first place on the tie-break, while Daisy Davies of Taunton AC edged Louise Mills of Woking AC by just one second to claim third.

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The start of the 5K

Full results can be found here.

We look forward to seeing you all for race four on January 14th.

Harrier Results:
1 – Oskar Beck – 00:15:59

5 – Matt Lusby – 00:16:33
8 – Addie Butcher – 00:16:58
15 – Owen Astington – 00:17:40
20 – Bailey Clark – 00:18:06
22 – Noah Chapman – 00:18:12
23 – James Hodges – 00:18:13
24 – Stellan Corp – 00:18:17
27 – Joe Nelson – 00:18:32
32 – Jack Barker – 00:18:58
33 – David Hirst – 00:18:59
37 – Toby Hirst – 00:19:07
47 – Josh Fenton-Thomas – 00:20:16
52 – Michael Visser – 00:20:35
60 – Helen Allen – 00:20:57
61 – Jonathan Williams – 00:20:58
62 – Sean Honan – 00:20:58
64 – Mike Bosley – 00:21:26
69 – Fergus Crawford – 00:22:11
70 – Thomas Kendrick – 00:22:19
72 – Mark Pople – 00:23:35
74 – Susan Williams – 00:23:45
85 – Kim Clark – 00:27:02
87 – Gary Tubridy – 00:27:43

Did you spot yourself running on our latest Street 5K reel?

Gwent League - Blaise Castle (Race 3)

[Report by Jon James]

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Adam Gibson led the Harriers in the senior men’s race

The third fixture of the Gwent League series took place last Saturday at the Blaise Castle estate; last year I commented on the irony of having the club tent up at this fixture in unseasonably warm weather – this year we didn’t have the tent, and it was blowing a gale! Conditions underfoot were soft and muddy, so giving athletes a proper cross- country experience.

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Jonah Barrington had a solid race

It was good to have a representative in the U11 boys race and Jonah Barrington, making his Gwent League debut, ran really well finishing 8th out of 105 finishers. The best WCH performance of the day came in the U13 girls’ race where Harriet Scott finished 2nd – this now places her 3rd overall in the series. Zoe Frost also ran well, coming 14th of the 75 finishers. Leila Chatard ran her second Gwent League fixture and improved on her performance at Cardiff coming 50th out of 66 finishers – she’s only in the first year of this age group as well.

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All smiles from Zoe and Harriet

The U15 boys continue to do well, coming 4th in the team competition; Jamie Williams had his highest finish yet coming 4th (even more impressive in that he had raced in the South Somerset school x-country championships the day before), 3 seconds ahead of Joe Whelan in 6th place. Having been neck and neck with his two fellow WCH runners, Oskar Beck slipped back on the second lap, but still finished a creditable 16th out of the 59 finishers. Toby Hirst also ran well again, finishing half way down the field in 30th position.

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Big points scored from Joe and Jamie

Another athlete to finish in their highest position so far was Florence Tibbatts, coming 5th in the U17 women’s race, and hence moving to 7th place in the overall series – she was another who had raced the day before! Also in this race was Sally Bruce and she improved on her run at the previous fixture coming 19th out of the 41 finishers. We had 3 athletes in the combined U17/U20 mens’ race – first in was Fred Rawbone, but just one second ahead of Gabriel Chatard – they came 6th and 7th in the U20 race, while not far behind them was Fred’s brother, Casper, finishing 15th in the U17 race.

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Another close battle between Jo and Rosie

It's becoming the norm now to have a good turnout for the women’s race, and it was no exception for this fixture. On the 6.7K course, it was Phoebe Aspinall, again travelling back from Uni to compete, who was first in for WCH coming 15th – she is still coming back from an enforced layoff, and will be looking for a top ten finish at the next fixture. Next in was Victoria Ryan, putting in a good run to come 29th and finish 3rd in the W45 age group; only 20 seconds behind her was Louisa White, someone very much in form at the moment. Emma Rigby had not been well in the run up to the race, but although below par, she still put in a solid performance coming 49th. Jo Tibbatts and Rosie Park have been neck and neck in the two previous fixtures; it was no different here, but this time it was Jo who won out, finishing 69th, with Rosie one second and one place behind in 70th. Similarly close, 3 seconds and one place apart, were Amy Reakes and Ellie Constable, in 88th and 89th positions respectively. There were 277 finishers in the race, and as can be seen from the women’s positions, they inevitably did well in the team competition, winning division 3 and in fact they would be leading division 2 if in that division. Men over the age of 65 are permitted to run the shorter distance that the women run, another perk of reaching pension age, and it was good to have Michael Coombs running – making his Gwent League debut as well. He performed solidly coming 30th out of the 57 finishers.

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Michael Coombs making his XC debut at 67

And finally, to the men’s race where we must have had a record turnout of WCH runners – 22 – and with 5 to score in a team, we actually finished a D team! There were a number of Gwent League debutants – Ray Rawbone, Bailey Clark, James Hodges, and Josh White – who all acquitted themselves well, and will hopefully be back for more – and a couple of runners who were making their season debuts, Adam Gibson and Mark Duffet, both putting in very useful performances for us. Positions were as follows, in a field of 425 runners:

12th - Adam Gibson (4th M35); 20th - Chris Green (7th M35 and 3rd overall in the series); 22nd - Mark Duffet; 24th - Alex Coombs ; 30th – Pete Grist (4th over 40); 34th – Matthew Lusby; 140th – David Hirst ; 143rd – Laurence Badman;159th – Henry Sage; 187th – Stuart Nash; 196th – Ray Rawbone ;207th – Adam Blencowe; 213th – Ollie Frost; 228th – Nick Stevens (2nd M60); 240th – Bailey Clark; 246th – James Hodges; 249th - Stephen Nicholls; 281st – Jonathan Williams; 321st– Steve Masters; 322nd – Josh White ; 349th – Graham Goldsmid; 406th – Mark Pople.

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Josh White negotiating the muddy descent

Overall the A team came 6th in division 1, retaining their position of 6th overall in the series, and the B team also came 6th in the division for B teams. The M45 team finished 5th in their age group, but star team performance of the day came from the M55 team – second, but moving into first place overall in that age group!

Full results and league tables can be found here.

See the men racing here.

See the women and juniors racing here.

A bit of a break now until the next fixture on 7th February 2026 at Chepstow racecourse – get ready for trotting/cantering/galloping (delete as appropriate!).

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Fred Rawbone did enough to stay ahead of his brother

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The deadline to enter the South West Inter-Counties XC Championships is Saturday 13th December - Click here to enter now! The race will take place on Saturday 3rd January 2026. It would be great to see many Harriers represented there!

Full Monty Cute

[Report from Paul Chadwick]

Full Monty

Full Monty Cute 10mile mt - Sunday 7th December

This tough little race from Ham Hill Country park near Montecute closed entries in early October when it reached its limit of 250 runners. The host club, Crewkerne Running Club, once again achieved a well organised event.

Following a similar format and course as the previous 20’odd editions it includes 10 hills and some challenging ascents and descents on tracks which very quickly get turned to deep mud. On occasions runners turn to using all fours to get up the steeper sections of the hills to avoid sliding back down.

Matt Rawlingson-Plant led the Harriers home, beating his time from last year. Former Harrier Fergus Pate also competed in a very good time.

Results

36th Matt Rawlingson-Plant 1.32.27

132nd Paul Chadwick 2.00.46

177th Alice Knight 2.14.27

194th Andrew Pate 2.21.37

15th Fergus Pate 1.27.02

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The Harriers styling out their new beanies.

Friday Night Under the Lights 5K

This race is a fast, flat, 2 lap course around Battersea Park in South West London. This race occurs multiple times throughout the year, and they also host a 5 mile route on different evenings. Harrier starman Tom Webb raced the 28th November event in the elite men’s wave, recording a PB time of 14:23 finishing 28th.

Full results here.

His next race is Telford 10K, where he will be joined with a small group of Harriers. His target - sub 30!

Wessex League - Kings Park (Race 3)

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Blue skies in Bournemouth

The third race in the Wessex League XC series took place on Sunday 30th November at Kings Park in Bournemouth.

Harrier Results:

U11 Boys

19th – Hugo Pearse – 9.03 (10th in series)

U13 Boys

2nd – Noah Chapman – 10.15

22nd – Ronnie Legge – 13.46 (5th in series)

U13 Girls

2nd – Harriet Scott – 11.20

12th – Glennie Thorman – 12.47 (6th in series)

U15 Girls
8th – Freya Dencher – 15.42

12th – Sadie Littlechild – 16.20

U17 Women
5th – Esmé Littlechild – 21.25

Senior Men

14th – Laurence Badman – 40.43

Full results can be found here.

The final race in the series will take place on Sunday 14th December at Canford School, Canford Magna, Dorset.

Christmas Meal

There was an excellent turnout of Harriers at our annual Christmas meal, held this year at Wells Golf Club. The evening began with a delicious two-course meal, followed by a review of the past year’s highlights from our chairman, Ed Tickner.

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Ed’s review of the summer

We also raised valuable funds for the club through our raffle, which featured some fantastic prizes kindly donated by Pro:Direct Sports’ Clarks Village outlet store (don’t forget—Harriers receive a 10% in-store discount!). Following the raffle, we drew the ballot for our club places at the 2026 London Marathon. This year we were fortunate to have two places, thanks to our sister club, Yeovil Olympiads, also receiving an allocation. Congratulations to Louisa White and Treasurer Michael Coombs, whose names were drawn.

On Monday, those who applied for the London Marathon via the ‘Good for Age’ category also received their results. Many Harriers were delighted to secure a place—including Louisa! This meant we were able to redraw her club ballot spot, which went to Melissa Aspinall. Good luck to all Harriers who will be lining up in London next year—training plans start soon!

After the ballot draw, Dan Williams could barely contain his excitement as he introduced this year’s recipient of the annual Bog Seat Award. With a long list of nominations and plenty of worthy contenders, Vice Chairman Christain Green had the honour of presenting the award to Chairman Ed Tickner, who earned it in style with two outstanding howlers.

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No more howlers next year Ed!

The evening wrapped up with a lively ceilidh dance, which was enthusiastically enjoyed by all. You can watch a reel of the night’s highlights here.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas, and we hope you enjoy a well-deserved festive break!

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Many Harriers did well ceilidh dancing after racing XC earlier in the day.

English School’s Cup

Tom Webb and Evie Horsfall made their way to Rugby in Warwickshire to race at the National English School’s XC Cup in classic muddy conditions. Tom finished runner up in the senior boys race. He was pleased with the result as on the more unfamiliar surface away from his usual road running.

Evie came 38th overall in the senior girls race. She was also really happy with the result - her best to date at that level. Well done to both of them!

Senior girls results

Senior boys results

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Tom Webb (right) on the podium

Kit Launch

We are now live! Our new kit is available to purchase online from our new kit provider, O’Neills. Thanks to Stuart Nash who has worked extremely hard to get things organised.

O’Neills are offering a 10% discount until 16th December on Harrier kit. If you would like to try on any samples before you buy, we will be offering a sample try-on session on Tuesday 16th December at the Millfield track training evening. Visit the online store here to make your purchases.

Want to see what some of our new kit looks like? Click here to see some Harriers, modelling the different ranges.

If you are looking to buy our club race vest, you can still order them online at our SumUp store or speak to kit manager, Stuart Nash, to place an order.

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Get 10% off until 16th December

Club Welfare

Wells City Harriers has two club welfare officers, Sarah Massey and Jon James. They are available to support any concerns athletes, parents or coaches raise or would like to discuss in relation to safety and wellbeing, and to help the club implement welfare policies and procedures. All officials and coaches have DBS clearance and have received training related to safeguarding and health and safety.

Further details can be found on the WCH website safeguarding page: Safeguarding: including links to forms where incidents and concerns can be logged.

Please do contact us if you have questions: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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)

December 2025

Saturday 13th December 2025 - Southern Athletics Indoor Combined Events and Middle Distance Championships

Sunday 14th December 2025 - Southern Athletics Indoor Combined Events and Middle Distance Championships

Sunday 14th December 2025 - Wessex League XC (Race 4 - Canford School)

Sunday 14th December 2025 - Somerset County XC Championships (Bath) [Quad County XC Championships]

Sunday 14th December 2025 - Wellington Monument 10K

Sunday 14th December 2025 - Joe’s Santa Express 5 & 10K

Sunday 14th December 2025 - Cardiff Met. Christmas Classic GP (Indoor)

Sunday 14th December 2025 - Telford 10K

Monday 15th December 2025 - Final junior training session

Tuesday 16th December 2025 - Final training session at Millfield (Paarlauf)

Tuesday 16th December 2025 - Christmas Curry (The King Alfred)