Harrier Of The Month – October

We have previously shared (in August) Women’s Harrier Of The Month, but this month due to the amazing nominations, both the men’s and women’s award will be shared this month – and there’s also a bonus award. So without further ado…

Harrier Of The Month – Men’s Award

Men’s Harrier Of The Month is shared between two amazing Harriers this month – Rob Butler and Richard Garratt. Rob Butler is one of the recipients this month for two amazing performances in October, running a PB of 4 hours 18 minutes at the Yorkshire Marathon and then a 1 minute 15 second PB at the Abbey Dash, performances coming as a result of consistently strong recent running. Rob is also a very proud member of Hyde Park Harriers who always passionately represents the club in all of his performances. Our other recipient this month is Richard Garratt, who has been an unsung hero for the club in recent months. Richard has really stepped up in recent weeks and months leading in the groups 6 to 7 range on Tuesdays. Without Richard leading consistently on Tuesdays, and with such enthusiasm, run club would have struggled at that top end.

Also nominated this month were Matt Armstrong for his performance at the Panther Takes The Hindmost Ultra, completing 8 laps (54 miles) and finishing joint 6th with someone who is also nominated below… , Mike Gallagher who was nominated for completing a guide running qualification and making amazing progress in his running, and Curtis Broadhead was nominated for his 2nd place finish at the Bramley 10K. Tobias Adkins and James Underwood were both nominated for their work in collating the data of the number of runners in each group each week to help give us insight into developing our Tuesday run club sessions.

There were several nominations from the two big races this month – the Yorkshire Marathon and the Abbey Dash. John Hayes was nominated for breaking sub-4 at the Yorkshire Marathon, Steve Brown was nominated for putting in a great performance and almost breaking sub-5 at the Yorkshire Marathon with 5:00:22, Mike Webb was nominated for a 3 minute PB at the Abbey Dash, and John Pratt was also nominated for a 3 minute PB at the Abbey Dash.

Harrier Of The Month – Women’s Award

As mentioned, just like with the men’s award, this month Women’s Harrier Of The Month is shared between Grace Roberts and Caroline Sanders. Grace was nominated for two brilliant PB performances recently at half marathon distance, and for a huge PB running 26:32 over 5K at the Leeds 5K Series, a performance that left Grace absolutely ecstatic, both performances again being the result of lots of hard work, and performances through which Grace positively and passionately represents the club. Caroline Sanders was nominated for an amazing 17 minute PB at the Yorkshire Marathon. In 2018 Caroline had to run walk the marathon, and Caroline has done amazingly to come back from injury. Caroline is a worthy recipient for delivering an astonishing level of performance and one of the biggest PB performances by margin that I’ve ever seen, but also having the determination and tenacity to come back from injury to such a high level.

Also nominated this month was Louise Gardham. Louise was nominated for completed her first half marathon, and also for stepping up to lead groups at Tuesday run club. Laura Hastings was nominated for alongside Matt Armstrong for completing 54 miles at the Panther Takes The Hindmost Ultra and finishing joint 6th, and Sarah Underwood was nominated for her sub 22 minute performance at the Leeds 5K Series – and also for another reason, mentioned in the bonus awards later on in the blog…

Behind the scenes several of our members were nominated for the work they put in to the club. Naomi Adkins and Zeni Bellwood were nominated for the work that they have done in taking over the weekly round-up, and Amy Young was nominated for the work that she has been doing with work on helping organise out leaders and sessions, and for co-ordinating the leaders forum meetings. Also nominated for work helping others in the club this month was Lucy Rider who was nominated for the work that she is doing helping others with they marathon training.

Like with the men there were several nominations for PB performances at the Abbey Dash and Yorkshire Marathon. Laura Garratt was nominated a 3 and a half minute PB, as well as contributing massively to leading groups this year, Robyn Johnson for a continued run of PBs including breaking sub-5 at the Yorkshire Marathon, Alison Hargreaves was nominated for a 3 minute 22 seconds PB at the Abbey Dash, and Catherine Wallis for a 6 minute PB at the Abbey Dash.

Harrier Of The Month – Bonus Award

As a special bonus this month, we had several nominations for groups, so they’re going to get a deserved mention in this bonus section.

In true Hyde Park Harrier style, Hyde Park Harrier support crews cheering on our runners at events in October such as the Yorkshire Marathon and the Abbey Dash were nominated for their loud and supportive cheering, helping Harriers to perform to their best, enjoy their run, and feel part of our Hyde Park Harrier community wherever they were in the field. Also nominated this month were the whole Hyde Park Harrier team at the British Fell Relays. This is the first time that we have had a team at this competition, consisting of Jack Rose, Becky Gray, Jo Rhodes, Steve Rhodes, Laura Hastings and Adam Lomas. This is also a testament to both Colin Tranter who started off Hyde Park Harriers’ participation in fell events and Becky who has continued this in recent years.

However in this section there is one bonus award for our Longboat of Hyde Park Harriers – well, mostly Hyde Park Harriers – at the Yorkshire Marathon. In total 40 people were part of the world record attempt running in a 40 person viking longboat costume, fundraising for Children With Cancer. This amazing world record attempt – comfortably within the time limit but going through verification – was an amazing achievement, making Hyde Park Harriers part of one of the biggest stories at the Yorkshire Marathon this year.

Congratulations to our Harrier Of The Month winners for October! With our four (and one bonus winner[s]) this month I’ve been slightly indecisive, but that’s only because of the great nominations. Keep them coming through November to make sure those Harriers who are impressing you are in the running for Harrier Of The Month for November!

Happy running!

Phil Fisher