Harrier Of The Month – November and December

Firstly, I must start with apologies that Harrier Of The Month went AWOL with the announcements for November, but that means that we can bring you an extra bumper month of announcements for November and December in this blog.

Harrier Of The Month – November Women’s Award

Women’s Harrier Of The Month is shared by two Harriers who both got to the same amazing milestone in that month. Both Nicola Forwood and Jaz Bangerh bought up their 500th parkrun. As mentioned in their nominations this is an achievement which requires around 10 years of running a parkrun pretty much every week. Such parkrunning consistency is not the only reason that they were awarded Harrier Of The Month – both are Harriers that bring joy and positivity to their parkrunning and share that with others and are true ambassadors of Hyde Park Harriers to our wider running community. Jaz also became the first woman of Asian origin to bring up 500 – and if she keeps it up will presumably continue to achieve that for all of the parkrun milestones to come!

Also nominated for November were two of our podium placers at the Leeds 5K Series. Nominated were the eventual winner Amy Young and second placed Clare Slorach. Finishing high up in the Leeds 5K Series shows brilliant athletic achievement, consistency and desire to race and win. Also nominated was Grace Roberts for two brilliant PBs recently at 5K and half marathon distances.

Harrier Of The Month – November Men’s Award

Men’s Harrier Of The Month is also shared between two people. Toby Adkins and James Underwood have both been working on collating and producing our leaders data, showing us how many runners we have in each group on each night. This helps us to gain insight into our sessions and where we need more leaders, support or other changes, helping to back up anecdotal insight. This hasn’t been something that we have had before and has really helped us to make good decisions on our sessions.

Also nominated this month was second claim Harrier Ben Douglas who began his PECO season for us by finishing second overall at Temple Newsam. Ben put in an amazing performance across the mud and is also is a brilliant and enthusiastic member of team Hyde Park Harriers, despite being ‘on loan’.

Harrier Of The Month – December Women’s Award

The recipient of women’s Harrier Of The Month for December is awarded to Laura Garratt. Laura was nominated in particular this month for stepping up and leading more runs on Tuesday sessions, participated as a member of team Hyde Park Harriers in the PECO season, and has supported fellow member Emily Tasker with their marathon training and performances. Not only this but Laura has had a long journey from this time last year with an operation meaning that she couldn’t run for six months. Since being back running she has not only as above contributed massively to the club, but has improved her own running massively, stepping up to group 4 on Tuesdays and getting a 5K PB at Woodhouse Moor parkrun on 28 December.

Also nominated for the December award was Sarah Underwood for taking an amazing 50 minutes off her marathon PB by running under 3:40 at the Valencia Marathon, and Vicky Houghton was nominated for a 2 minute PB over the 10K distance, with 46:19 at the Ribble Vally 10K.

Our final nominees for December women’s Harrier Of The Month were one of our newest members and one of our longest standing members. Louise Gardham was nominated for stepping up to leading on Tuesday sessions despite being a relatively new member of the club, and has really come on with her running this year, including running the Bah Humbug in just over an hour. Liz Jones is one of our longest standing members, and was nominated for her great performance at the Chevin Chase, running her second fastest time on the course since they changed it last, and also put in a brilliant performance at the Middleton Woods PECO. It has been great to see Liz enjoying her running and running strongly.

Harrier Of The Month – December Men’s Award

The recipient of men’s Harrier Of The Month award received a slew of nominations from several fellow members. Steve Milne is this month’s recipient for organising and co-ordinating the HPH volunteers for the PECO race at Middleton Woods and ensuring that everything went okay on the day alongside they Abbey Runners organising team. Running or supporting PECO events are an integral part of the club, bringing in vital income to support what we do.

Also nominated for helping with key club events was Nick Brown who organised the Christmas party this year. Non-running events are a key part of club life and helping to bring everyone together out of vests, and there is so much hard work that goes in behind the scenes to help events like this to happen.

Also nominated was Richard Garratt for, alongside Laura, supporting Emily Tasker with her marathon attempt, running alongside her and helping her to complete her first marathon at her second attempt. Richard was also nominated for his continued efforts in supporting the club on Tuesday evening sessions and supporting the team at PECO races, embodying the ethos of Hyde Park Harriers in supporting the whole team.

Congratulations to all recipients and nominees, and keep your nominations coming in!

Happy running,

Philip Fisher