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

After January’s wash-out (or rather freeze-out), February has been much more conducive to Harrier activities! Read on for details…

HARRIERS OF THE MONTH – FEBRUARY 2025

Congratulations to our Harriers of the Month:

  • Dan Donnelly (multiple nominations):
    • Dan’s incredible running goes from strength to strength since his injuries in 2024 – brilliant to see his performance at Dewsbury 10K!
    • For creating a way to get historical vets records so we can add them to the website
  • Steve Worthington (multiple nominations):
    • Steve smashed his own target for the Rombald’s Stride by more than 15 minutes – really impressive stuff!
    • Steve organised a brilliant headtorch run on Ilkley Moor this month – fog and bog combined for a memorable experience! We had a great time and it was great to run with Steve on his home turf (quite literally)!

Well done to all our nominees, copied below:

  • Adam Lomas – Another month, another club record! Adam is on fire at the moment and it’s so inspiring to see!
  • Beth Chambers – Beth has had terrible luck with injuries recently but hasn’t let that stop her being an invaluable member of the club! Really appreciated her support at the Roundhay PECO race – you can always rely on Beth for excellent baking!
  • Chris Jones – Aside from scoring consistently for the men’s vets at Peco xc, Chris has set yet another club vets record at Dewsbury – this time an outstanding 42:28 10K at Dewsbury (82.5% age grade), breaking his own v65 record.
  • Clare Evans – A brilliant PB by more than 30 seconds at Dewsbury 10K!
  • Daisy Wales – Congratulations to Daisy on breaking 40mins at Dewsbury 10K – a wonderful run and so well deserved!
  • Ed Shakespeare (multiple nominations):
    • Ed ran a fantastic race at Wadsworth Trog, improving on last year’s time by 40 minutes!
    • Outstanding performance from Ed at Wadsworth Trog. Getting anywhere near the top 25 in this race is superb – the hills are awful, and the bogs are unrelenting, whilst racing against some top fell runners from across Yorkshire (and Lancashire). A feat of endurance, fuelling strategy, and seriously impressive navigation skills…and 40 minutes quicker than last year!
  • Gordon Crawford – Gordon ran a brilliant sub48 minute 10K at Dewsbury – so good to see him coming back strong after bad luck with injuries!
  • Grace Roberts and Paul Sawyer – It’s surprisingly tricky finding good venues for our HPH events (especially now Springwell is out of action) – huge thanks to Grace and Paul for their efforts in tracking down a suitable space for the club’s Awards Evening!
  • Honor Baldry – For providing some guidance and structure with her 4-week Dewsbury sharpener plan, definitely wouldn’t have got my new PB without it
  • The HPH volunteers for the Woodhouse Moor parkrun takeover – Massive thanks to everyone who helped out with our parkrun takeover at WHM this month – really appreciate everyone who gave their time and enthusiasm to help!
  • Kevin Longmate – I think the club are indebted to Kevin (who I believe isn’t even a 1st claim member….!) for consistently leading so many groups over the years, including Tuesdays and hills on Thursdays – often stepping in last minute to ensure groups don’t get cancelled due to no leader. We really appreciate your volunteering Kevin! Thank you!!!
  • Nicola Harold – Nicola had a brilliant run at Dewsbury 10K, improving on her previous PB by more than five minutes – well done!
  • Sarah Underwood – A great early comeback from pregnancy, Sarah has been running really well at parkruns recently only 4 months after giving birth. Great work
  • Xeni Perry – Massive thank you to Xeni for leading groups almost immediately upon her return to club! Really appreciated, especially during a busy time of year for HPH!

THANK YOU!

A huge thank you to all our leaders this month – Adam L, Ben H, Cat M, Chrissy D, Ciaran T, Clare E, Craig M, Dan D, Dan S, Ed S, Ellie W, Grace R, Hannah L, Honor B, Joe L, Jonathan S, Kevin L, Laura G, Lorraine B, Mike G, Mike V, Naomi A, Olly H, Richard G, Steve W and Will D!

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 FEBRUARY 2025

  • The month started with some serious fell running – four hardy Harriers took on the Wadsworth Trog, and four more took on Rombalds Stride! Serious terrain, serious climbs, seriously impressive running but looks like everyone had a great time – well done folks!
  • 50-odd HPH (by which I mean circa 50 – only some of them are odd…) charged up and down the Dewsbury valley for what’s always one of the fastest races of the year. PBs abounded, including a new club record for you-know-who – brilliant efforts everywhere you looked!
  • The fourth PECO race at Roundhay saw another fantastic turnout with some awesome team performances, with the mens’ and women’s teams both coming out on top! A tough course in chilly, damp conditions, but the HPH support was top-notch and the club’s bakers excelled themselves!
  • Big thanks to Steve W for leading February’s headtorch run on Ilkley Moor! It was seriously atmospheric (and squidgy under foot) but we had a great time trekking through the dark, with the Ilkley streetlights illuminating us from below.
  • 14 Harriers took part in the Temple Newsam Ten, which had been rearranged from January. Great to see a good turnout at an HPH local favourite, with Abdu finishing on the podium!
  • Huge thanks to everyone who helped out with the HPH volunteering takeover at Woodhouse Moor parkrun – great to see so much red-and-white in our local park!
  • Ten of us enjoyed a bracing day out in the Lakes, taking on Leg 1 of the Bob Graham round as part of preparations for the club’s Billy Bland recce in the summer. Thanks very much to Laura, Cara and Rich G for co-ordinating and leading us; the weather may have been changeable, but we had a fantastic day regardless!
  • Speaking of tricky weather conditions, the Snake Lane 10 was beset by driving rain and strong winds, but half a dozen or so Harriers braved it anyway – well done everyone!
  • HPH rounded off the month with the first Brownlee 5K series race of 2025 – eight people took part on a fairly grim evening of wind and rain with some cracking times, including Jane P completing a clean sweep of HPH V65 records!

As ever, if I’ve missed anyone’s achievements and stories, my apologies! Great work everyone – here’s to even more great running as the evenings get lighter!