Harriers of the Month and Chair’s Blog – December 2025

Welcome to the final Chair’s blog of 2025 – where did that year go?! Loads of fantastic running to round-off the year which you can read about below, but firstly congratulations to our…

HARRIERS OF THE MONTH – DECEMBER 2025

  • Julie Robson (multiple nominations):
    • A storming run to an all-time 10K PB at the Abbey Dash – well done Julie!
    • Julie smashed her all time 10k PB at this year’s Abbey Dash but is too humble to share the achievement. Preferring to boast other athletes confidence and celebrate their performances in her typical selfless manner.
    • Smashing a PB out at abbey dash, what a way to see hard work pay off!
  • Lisa Brannan (multiple nominations):
    • Thank you Lisa for excellent leading of Group 1 – really appreciated. Phil L specifically mentioned how much he valued your encouragement on his return to running on the Christmas tree run!
    • For her support of runners returning from injury. She set a course that helped me complete over 5k. Also she stopped me from running when I was pushing it past where it would have been so safe for me to run.

Well done to all our nominees, copied below:

  • Adam Melling – First race in club colours and a club 10K record – madness. Well done Adam!
  • Andy Judd – Since having some quite major surgery, Andy has been inspiration on his recovery. He’s recently been working really hard on his running and it’s fantastic to see he got a PB at the Abbey Dash this year!
  • Anne Akers – Mulled wine was a highlight of Ponte PECO, thanks Anne
  • Dan Stevenson (multiple nominations):
    • Yet another storming run from Mr Stevenson to sub35 at Abbey Dash!
    • Dan has performed consistently strongly across races he’s entered this year, setting new 5k and 10k PBs (most recently featuring a phenomenal Abbey Dash where he shaved a minute off his previous PB time!) His persistent and consistently solid training is seeing him go from strength to strength in his running. Keep it up and keep smashing it Danno!
  • Ellie Shipp – Congratulations on a massive PB at Abbey Dash Ellie!
  • Gordon Crawford (multiple nominations):
    • Gordon finished November with an incredible week, setting new club VM70 records at 10 mile, 5K and 10K distances!
    • Smashing all the records like a bull in a china shop!
  • Jonathan Tecwyn – Congratulations on a fantastic PB at Valencia sir!
  • Lucas Johnstone – A cracking run at Abbey Dash, charging through most of the field! Well done mate
  • Paul Sawyer – Paul organised a fantastic Christmas party – thank you for your festive efforts as ever Paul!
  • Robert Butler – Fantastic effort at the Florence marathon to improve on his time 6 weeks before at the Yorkshire Marathon; despite being laid up for a week after the Yorkshire Marathon with sickness.
  • Sarah Underwood – Smashing her first road race as a Mum, with a very solid sub 50 in the bag.

THANK YOU!

A huge thank you to all our leaders this month – Ally F, Andy B, Bethan M, Caite B, Chris H, Chris W, Clare E, Daisy W, Eleanor M, George A, Grace R, Hannah L, Honor B, Jonathan S, Josh S, Lisa B, Lizzie L, Lucas J, Lucy R, Mike G, Naomi A, Pablo D, Richard C, Richard G and Sam T!

If you’d like to give leading a go, speak to any of our existing leaders or committee members and we’ll give you all the support and help you need.

HIGHLIGHTS OF DECEMBER 2025

  • The final York 5K race of the year saw Nick and Alex brave some serious weather, both finishing with cracking times!
  • Our Winter League is in full swing and the club turned out in good numbers for the Bah Humbug 10K (and a bit…) at Middleton! Kudos to Dan, Clare and Alan on their festive attire, and special mention to Mike V (who came 2nd) and Paul M (who came 5th)!
  • Our red-and-white kit is festive all year round, but we get a whole bunch of copycats in December! Well done to those who took part in the Leeds Santa Dash, running with Kevin Sinfield to raise money for MND research.
  • Jo R and Sarah U represented the club at Mytholmroyd fell race; nice work both!
  • Valencia Marathon is a club favourite (seriously, if you’re considering an overseas marathon, there are few better and quicker courses!) and it was great to see Harrier representation at this year’s event – congratulations to Jonathan T on his PB!
  • Come rain or shine, the It’s Grim Up North races can be found on the canal most weekends and December saw several Harriers take part in the Christmas Cracker – well done all!
  • It’s a well-known fact that Father Christmas is a Hyde Park Harrier (you can tell by the red-and-white outfit), so it’s always great to celebrate at our Christmas party! Big thanks to Paul for organising and to Water Lane Boathouse for hosting!
  • Somewhat bleary-eyed and hungover some of us may have been, but more than fifty Harriers made it to the start line of Pontefract PECO! A double lap of slogging through the fields of the racecourse was our initial reward, but then things got lots better due to the mulled wine prepared by Team Akers and some excellent baking!
  • Thanks to Anne for organising the annual HPH trip to the panto – a great time was had by all!
  • We finished our club sessions for 2025 with runs to the campus Christmas tree and then a social run of the Roundhay Rudolph route – always the best way to get in the festive spirit!
  • Adam L did the club proud by finishing on the podium at the Stoop fell race, wearing a santa hat the whole way!
  • What is Christmas without the Chevin Chase? Great to see so many folks taking on the classic race on Boxing Day, complete with excellent outfits.
  • Racing continued right up to the very end of 2025, with several Harriers at the Auld Lang Syne fell race in Haworth – what a way to finish a fantastic year of running!

On behalf of the committee, I hope all our members and friends have had a fun festive break and are looking forward to 2026! It’s the 20th anniversary of Hyde Park Harriers in the coming year – watch this space for all sorts of running-related adventures! Ain’t no barriers!