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

Spring has sprung – I hope everyone’s been enjoying the sunshine (although perhaps not so much in the last half of a marathon…)! Read on for details of what the club has been up to this month, but first:

HARRIERS OF THE MONTH – APRIL 2025

Congratulations to our Harriers of the Month!

  • Kevin Longmate (multiple nominations):
    • The man, the myth, the legend – fresh from his 50 mile ultra a few weeks back, Kev completed the 100 mile Chester ultra this month. Absolutely super human effort, super proud of you mate!
    • Completing the Chester 100 mile
  • Sarah Jewers – She put in such an amazing and dedicated training block for the Y3P race. Although the race may have not gone her way, the block and training she put in should not go unrecognised. Also co-winning LURGY.

Well done to all our nominees, copied below:

  • Adam Lomas – Sub55 for 10 miles? Seriously, for goodness sake…
  • Amy Ramsden-Young – An incredible run at the Tenerife Bluetrail 73K – brilliant effort!
  • Caite Burke – A phenomenal sub 3:30 run at Manchester Marathon – well done Caite!
  • Chris Jones (multiple nominations):
    • Chris has set some fantastic new vet records in the last month, including Thirsk 10 and Vale of York 5 – inspiring stuff!
    • Congratulations to Chris on continuing to smash the club’s veteran records; some incredible running this month at 5K and half marathon distances!
  • Clare Evans – We had a record number of members renewing and joining HPH for the start of the new season – as ever, Clare has done all the hard work in making sure everyone is registered with England Athletics. Very much appreciated, thanks Clare!
  • Ed Shakespeare (multiple nominations):
    • Ed absolutely stormed the Y3P fell race, finishing comfortably under 4.5 hours – well done sir!
    • Ed ran a fantastic time during his debut at the Three Peaks Fell Race. Running 4:24:59 on his first try and finishing in the top 180. Ed’s someone who has struggled with injuries in the past and it’s great to see him running so well at the moment – even if he does keep nabbing my strava segments.
  • Ellie Williams – Congratulations to Ellie for her PB at Manchester Marathon, despite tough conditions!
  • Grace Roberts (multiple nominations):
    • Great to see Grace run a strong marathon; sounds like conditions were decidedly chilly but a well-deserved new PB!
    • A brilliant PB at Vienna marathon
  • Jane Prust – Well done Jane – a cracking run at Boston marathon, with a new veteran club record!
  • Nick Shakhlevich – Nick completed the Boston Marathon – a fantastic achievement in itself, but especially after a very unfortunate illness immediately beforehand. To start, let alone finish, the race was the epitome of “ain’t no barriers” – well done mate!
  • Richard Cartwright – Massive thank you to Rich for all his efforts in organising our Y3P relay teams – we had a great time (before and after – not sure about during!); thanks very much mate!
  • Richard Garratt – Consecutive run streak of 2,500 days
  • Sam Tecwyn – Brilliant 3rd place run at Vale of York 10 mile

THANK YOU!

A huge thank you to all our leaders this month – Adam L, Ben H, Cat M, Chrissy D, Clare E, Curtis B, Daisy W, Dan D, Dan S, Ed S, Ellie W, Grace R, Hannah L, Helen N, Honor B, Jane P, Jenny C, Jonathan S, Kevin L, Laura G, Lisa B, Lorraine B, Lucy R, Mike G, Naomi A, Richard C, Richard K and Will D!

Great to see several new leaders this month; it’s very much appreciated! 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 APRIL 2025

  • Huge congratulations to Kev L for completing the Chester 100 Mile Ultra – seriously impressive stuff!
  • Phil H and Steve B took on the Woldsman races – nice one chaps! Special mention to Phil for completing his 275th marathon/ultra!
  • Grace R ran a freezing cold but very strong marathon in Vienna; a testament to some seriously dedicated training; great work Grace!
  • The York 5K series saw some brilliant times, including Chris J running 21:00 – a new V65M club record!
  • Thank you to everyone who attended the HPH awards evening – a fantastic evening celebrating the achievements, contributions and general awesomeness of our club over the last year. Congratulations to all our winners!
  • A small crew of Harriers headed to Boston (Lincolnshire, rather than Massachusetts!) for the 10K, half and marathon races – congratulations to Jane P and Chris J for setting new veteran records in the marathon and half marathon respectively!
  • The April Brownlee 5K race saw Gordon C set another V70M club record and strong running from Dan D and Jamie R, well done all!
  • Congratulations to Curtis and Amber, who got married this month – always great to see a Harrier wedding!
  • We had a huge contingent of HPH at the Yorkshire Three Peaks, including two relay teams and 13 solo runners – some great performances all round and we were by far the loudest cheer squad at the finish line! Well done everyone, and thanks to everyone who came out to support and take photos!
  • Kudos to Ben D on his podium finish at the Burnsall 12K!
  • Half a dozen Harriers took on the Manchester Marathon – congratulations all, and congratulations to Hussein S, who set a new V55M club record! And a special mention to Jonathan P, who ran a marathon before he even got to the start line as part of his seven marathons in 70 days – just one more to go now!
  • We also had a squad of eight HPH at London Marathon – seriously tough conditions by all accounts, well done for getting it done folks!
  • Pete N, our man in Germany, ran a blistering 2:56 at the Hamburg marathon – amazing stuff Pete!
  • Slightly further north, our 24/25 Chair’s award winner Lee T ran a treble of events in Oslo – Toyen parkrun, then the Oslo 10K and 5K!
  • We finished the month with our first race of our 25/26 season with the Piglove-by-the-River 5K – a very warm evening, but we had a great turnout! HPH swept the podium in the 5K (well done Jonny S, Rich K and Mike V!) and we had first finishing women in the 5K and 10K, plus winners in the M55 and M65 categories of the 5K!

As ever, I’m sure there’s all sorts of excellent Harrier activity I’ve missed – apologies if so, and do keep up the amazing running everyone.

Finally, as we come to the end of my first year as Chair, I’d like to say a huge thank you to the committee and everyone else who gives their time and energy to make this club the wonderful community that it is!