Harrier Of The Month – June

We are happy to announce the first every Harrier Of The Month awards! These are for achievements by members during June where fellow members have nominated them for these achievements. Our winners have been nominated for their running achievements, their contribution to the club, or a mixture of both!

PS. Our annual award winners for the Chair’s Award and the President’s Award do not necessarily have to come from our monthly winners (although it is likely that they will) – for example there could be someone who is nominated every month but doesn’t get the monthly award, but makes it for the big one at the end of the year. Each blog will also mention others who were nominated but didn’t receive the monthly award.

This month we have received a lot more nominations for the girls then for the guys – so please keep the nominations coming in!

Our Harrier Of The Month blog will alternate each month between announcing the men’s award and the women’s award first – this month, starting with the men…

Harrier Of The Month – Men’s Award

The first Harrier Of The Month award (in both categories) was a very difficult decision, but we couldn’t look beyond Phil Hammond for June.

Phil Hammond received several nominations for his Pegasus run in commemoration of D-Day. The Pegasus run itself organised by the Veterans Charity is a 75 mile event to Pegasus Bridge over three days, but Phil went a bit further, adding in an unsupported run from Leeds to Tarrant Rushton Airfield in Dorset, about 250 miles. Not only was this an amazing physical challenge, but one that involved a huge amount of dedication and organisation by Phil to organise all of the logistics of his trip, and where he would be staying each night. Phil was supported by several Hyde Park Harriers in the early stages of his run, and I’m sure many of us will have seen how tough the event would be by seeing Phil practising with his weighted pack at various events.

This inspirational achievement helped Phil to go on and smash his fundraising target, raising over £2,000.

This wasn’t Phil’s only nomination for June – alongside Steve Brown Phil received a shoutout for the brilliant photos he took at the Summer Mile.

Pushing Phil very close this month was Mike Vargas. It would be difficult to list every single race that Mike has performed in this past month, but it is safe to say that Mike is currently our fastest Harrier and in the best and most prolonged period of form that I have seen him in. Anyone who has kept an eye on our Facebook group or the weekly roundup will have seen podiums or first Harrier at a huge number of races – with Mike seemingly running every club championship race! – and not only that, but he has also come very close to taking the club half marathon record and has taken the club 5 mile record.

Harrier Of The Month – Women’s Award

The women’s Harrier Of The Month award for June goes to Laura Hastings.

Laura received several nominations for her performances in ultra running through June, the culmination of a lot of improvement in her running over the previous six months. Her great race at the Three Peaks in April led on to her performances in June, where she was first finisher on the Urban Legend Long course Ultra Marathon. Laura’s nominations also praised the discipline that she has shown in working to achieve these goals, which is something that we can all admire and aspire to.

Pushing Laura close this month was Robyn Johnson. Robyn was nominated in June for her continued improvement in her running, including a long run streak, and regularly PBing across various distance from the Leeds 5K series events to marathons. Robyn was also nominated for the persistence, determination and infectious enthusiasm that she brings to her running.

There were a large number of nominations for the women’s award – which is what we like to see! Other nominations included; Nichola Moreland for her brilliant performance at the Punk Panther Urban Legend 50K, Chloe Brooks for taking on and completing the Marathon des Sables from a background of not having run a half marathon back in September last year, Diane Ackroyd for being at park run every week and still running under three hours for a half marathon, Naomi Kellet for her performance at International Age Group level at the European Triathlon Championships and finishing 3rd female in her age group at the Leeds ITU Triathlon, Sarah Underwood for her achievement at the Sierra Leone Marathon and her fundraising and charity achievements, and last but by no means least Nicola Forwood and Amy Young for helping to bring Club Run to Hyde Park Harriers.

Congratulations to our two award winners this month and to everyone nominated. Please continue to nominate people for their achievements in July using the form in your weekly email!

Happy running!

Phil Fisher

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