Harriers of the Month and Chair’s Blog – August 2024

A slightly quieter month as races slowed for the summer holidays, but still lots of great running and HPH-led events!

Firstly, huge congratulations to our Harriers of the Month for August 2024!

  • Chris Kemp (multiple nominations):
    • Chris proved his superhuman credentials by completing the Frog Graham – 40 miles of fell running across the Lake District, plus swimming across four lakes en route. Amazing stuff, well done Chris!
    • Chris for completing the Frog Graham round. Chris couldn’t really swim a length of the pool 2 years ago and only ran a casual 10km once a month. He then joined the HPH, did PECO and learnt to swim with the HPH tri club. Chris set his next goal as the Frog Graham, with the 3 peaks race and tea round as training runs. It’s been a big year and you’ve smashed it, well done Chris. 
  • Grace, Honor and the Track Day volunteer team – Thank you to everyone involved in organising and running the Track Day this year – great to see so many people running fantastic times and enjoying the HPH Sports Day!

Well done to all our nominees, copied below:

  • Chris Lodge – Congratulations to Chris for a great PB at the Leeds 5K series this month!
  • David Grealy – It was really great to visit David’s hometown to run the Streets of Galway 8K – thank you David for suggesting the trip, and being an excellent guide!
  • Ed Shakespeare – Ed did a cracking job of putting together a video of the club’s activities for our England Athletics awards nomination – huge thanks to him, and to everyone who contributed to it!
  • Eliza Taswell-Fryer – Well done to Eliza for a great performance at the Lotherton Hall Trail Race, finishing as 2nd woman!
  • Flick Burton – A cracking run to finish 3rd woman at the York 5K series this month – well done Flick!
  • Grace, Danni, JP and Julie – Big thank you to these four for helping out with the Canal Canter – really appreciated the help!
  • Hannah Long – Hannah ran a great time at the Track Day 5,000m, posting the biggest improvement since last year’s event – nice one!
  • Katie Johnson & Danny Fawcett – Katie and Danny managed to coordinate a seamless group swap for a newbie runner who accidentally joined a speedier group than intended. Along with Ed leading the other group, they figured out where we each were & communicated perfectly with their respective groups to cross paths & continue the runs. It was quite magical!
  • John Pratt – JP smashed the York 10K, running to a new PB! Well done sir!
  • Jonny Spain – Congratulations to Jonny on a new PB at the Golden Mile!
  • Mike Vargas – Big kudos to Mr Vargas for his epic trek across Finland! Very impressive stuff – we’ve come to expect a certain level of grit from Harriet’s most committed athlete, but this was a real demonstration of his resolve! Really enjoyed reading the blog posts along the way too – top stuff Mike!
  • Ruth Draisey – Ruth smashed a new PB at the York 5K series – brilliant work!
  • Tom Moulding, Ciaran Tracey and Jonny Spain AKA the Lap Docks – Massive props to these three gentlemen for their performances at the Leeds Dock Relay race – a victory for team HPH and they essentially carried yours truly as the slowest fourth member of the squad. Cheers lads! Oh and honourable mention to Joseph for coming down to support despite being injured!

THANK YOU!

A huge thank you to all our leaders this month – Anne A, Ben H, Caite B, Cat M, Charlotte E, Chris H, Clare E, Craig M, Curtis B, Daisy W, Ed S, Ellie W, Honor B, Jane P, Jon C, Jonathan S, Kevin L, Lisa B, Lucy R, Matt B, Mike G, Naomi A, Richard G, Richard K, Samantha T, Sarah U, Sharron N, Victoria S and Will D.

Thanks also to those who led the North Running Club runs from Springwell!

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 AUGUST 2024

  • Great to see Team Prust at the Flat Cap 5 on Yorkshire Day, complete with HPH caps!
  • Another hot evening race saw many Harriers trek to Lotherton Hall – the off road championship is in full swing! Congratulations to Eliza, who finished 2nd woman!
  • Your humble scribe had a frustrating experience with the York 10K (grumble trains, grumble reliability, grumble grumble), but it was brilliant to see lots of cracking performances at a beautiful city centre race. Congratulations to JP on a new PB!
  • A mini-trip for the Streets of Galway 8K was a great way to spend a weekend – lovely to catch up with the Norfolk-based HPH contingent. Galway’s a really fun city and it was brilliant to have David as a local guide – definitely up for a repeat visit in the future!
  • After last year’s torrential rain, the HPH Track Day was back in blazing sunshine this year! Huge thanks to Grace, Honor and the team for putting on a fantastic day of racing and other sports – looks like everyone had a great time!
  • Some cracking performances at August’s edition of the York 5K series – Flick came third woman, Jonny ran a sub17:30 and Ruth smashed her PB! Well done all!
  • We had one team at the Leeds Dock Relay, who stormed the field to finish first! Special mention to Tom M, who subbed in at the last minute and had come off a night shift with just two hours sleep…
  • Huge congratulations to Chris K, who completed the incredibly tough Frog Graham! This is a bonkers Lake District ultra challenge, involving 40 miles of fell running interspersed with four lake-crossing swims. Chris managed it in 14.5 hours – brilliant stuff!
  • Kudos to Kev L, who took on the intimidatingly-named Ring of Hell 10 Mile race in Edale and finished first male! Apparently “undulating” was the word of the day…
  • Seven HPH gentlemen took on the Golden Mile – the track-based counterpart to our own Summer Mile. Some cracking performances, well done chaps!
  • Half a dozen fell fanatics braved the brutal Burnsall Classic – 300m of ascent and descent in under two miles! Well done folks!
  • Some great runs at the Leeds 5K August edition – three laps of Bodington never gets any easier, but it’s always a fantastic opportunity for a PB!
  • Well done to Alan and Helen who took on the The Heights Trail 10K in the late summer heat!

As ever, if I’ve missed anyone’s achievements this month, I do apologise! Keep up the good work everyone – it’s brilliant to see and celebrate all your achievements!

September gets off to a cracking start with the Leeds Country Way Relay, a perennial HPH favourite. Do come and join us for a pint at the Head of Steam in Headingley in the evening of 01 September to begin the month in the best way!