Harriers July 18th 2005

Harriers have once again been busy on both the road and at track and field this past week. Amongst the record field of 146 Harriers at last week’s Yeovil 5km Road race there were 25 Harriers on the start line. Conditions were hot and affected times for many of the runners.

First Home for the Harriers was Peter Grist in 5th place in a time of 15.51, closely followed by the Wells Fun Run winner Tom Bush in 10th, 16.00. Peter has only recently signed for the Harriers and along with Tom hopes to secure a place in the Harrier’s strong 6-man road relay squad for the autumn. Overall winner was Frank Baddick of North Devon AC in 15.15.

Dickie Wythe used the race as preparation for the following weekend’s British Masters Track & Field Championships and ran conservatively for the first half before pulling back many runners to finish in 43rd place. Also developing good pace judgement is 14 year old Ben Kelsey who sliced a minute off his previous month’s time to finish in 97th place with his time of 22.10. Another to run a personal best at this race was Sue Hammer with her 23.36, whilst new member Graham Watts ran 23.29 for 113th place. Two of the Club’s women team members who last month had raced as part of the Harrier’s Edinburgh Marathon Relay team, Angela Thomas and Tatiana Storie also had good runs

Other Harrier positions and times:
46th Chris Kelsey 18.56; 52nd Paul Knight 19.12; 54th Tim Hamblin 19.19; 61st Paul Chadwick 19.55; 64th Nick Edwards 20.02; 80th Tracey Halliday 21.07; 86th Martin Collins 21.28; 90th Ian Roberts 21.42; 95th Ian Carpenter 22.04; 105th Carol Buckland 22.45; 114th John Sutton 23.24; 118th Chris Storie 24.13; 119th Terry Exell 24.22; 123rd Syreena Squirrel 24.43; 126th Angela Thomas 25.05; 128th Pat Challis 25.50; 132nd Tatiana Storie 26.19; 135th Jenny Slade 26.39; 143rd Corrine Hawkins 30.16

Meanwhile on the track at the recent Southern Men’s Division One Match held at Milton Keynes, the Harriers again bolstered the Yeovil team to help secure valuable points. As a result the combined Yeovil-Wells team now lies in 2nd place out of 25 teams after four fixtures. If the team maintain this form they once again expect to be involved in the end of season decider for promotion to the (national) British Athletics League.

Pick of the Harrier performances was the 2nd place by Carl Morris in the 5,000 metres with a time of 15.27. Guy Pointer also secured good points in the B string Discus with his throw going out to 38.26. From the Yeovil team, Andrew Baker’s 9.39 in the 3,000m Steeplechase together with his 1.58.4 for 2nd place in the B string 800m was one of the best set of performances.

Fixtures:
Sunday July 24th Women’s Race for Life at Millfield School, assisted by the Harriers; Monday-Wednesday July 25th- 27th Running, Jumping & Throwing training camp for 7-14 year olds at Whitstone School, Shepton Mallet, 9.45-3.15; Saturday July 30th Southern Men’s League (as part of YOAC team); Sunday July 31st UKA Young Athletes League (as part of YOAC team).