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

Heatwaves, monsoons and lots of running – that was HPH’s July! Read on for some incredible achievements, including our…

HARRIERS OF THE MONTH – JULY 2025

Congratulations to our Harriers of the Month!

  • Paul Ramsden (multiple nominations):
    • Absolutely smashing the Bob Graham Round! Stuck to his plan and looked remarkably fresh on the Moot Hall steps at the end.
    • I mean he did the Bob Graham which is reason enough but his training was absolutely inspiring – please can he count up his reps of the Chevin! 
    • Paul became one of a very select group of people to have completed the Bob Graham Round – 66 miles and 42 peaks of the Lakes within 24 hours. A superhuman effort and a testament to a lot of hard work and grit. Well done Paul!
    • Successful Bob Graham Round 
    • The reason doesn’t really need highlighting. Bob Graham, completed, all that hard work to achieve it, what a fantastic achievement.
  • Russell Webster – Russ completed the Rat Race 100 – that’s 100 miles from Bamburgh in Northumbria up the coast to Edinburgh. An incredible achievement!

Well done to all our nominees, copied below:

  • Adam Lomas – An absolutely stunning weekend of racing from Adam this month, with third place in the Baildon Canter and 6th in the Ilkley Half Marathon …on consecutive days!
  • Ben Douglas – For running a sub 15 minute leg at Golden Acre Relay whilst continuing to recover from and battle with long covid. He’s a classy runner.
  • Colin Tranter – Colin’s put some cracking performances in in July. Whernside fell race, top 20 at Baildon Canter fell race and 12th place at Easingwold 10k as well at solid first legs at golden acre relay and Washburn Valley relays.
  • Daniel Allison – For keeping going at Ilkley half on the heat when his diabetes was playing up
  • Helen Noyes – Congrats to Helen on a fantastic job representing HPH at the Loch Lomond Wee Beastie Triathlon!
  • Matt Barton – For his kindness and dedication at the Ilkley half to ensure Dan finished safely.
  • Paul Milligan (multiple nominations):
    • He may not have completed the full round but he gave the Bob Graham a good go, putting in a solid effort and still managed 50k in a very respectable time.
    • A valiant attempt at the Bob Graham round. For all the training leading up to it and then making the tough decision to call it quits. Hopefully he’ll be back to try again in the near future.
  • Sam Townson – Sam’s had some incredible race results lately including 5th place in Eccup 10 and 6th place at Otley 10, as well as some of the strongest leg in Washburn + Golden Acre Relays. He’s experienced a few set backs with his training this year but his determination and consistent training has enable him to reach new levels!
  • The Bob Graham support crew – Extremely proud of literally dozens of Harriers who headed up to the Lakes to support and help with the Pauls’ Bob Graham weekend – we had so many folks out running, providing lifts and logistical support. Wonderful to see!
  • The Fast and the Flatulent (AKA Adam, Ben and Abdu) – The overall winning team at this year’s Golden Acre Relay race – nice one lads!
  • The Washburn Relay Team (Colin, Jonny and Sam) – Well done to the lads on a cracking third place finish at the Washburn relays – great that we got a team out on its return edition, and fantastic to place so highly!

THANK YOU!

A huge thank you to all our leaders this month – Alex B, Alice H, Bethan M, Bethany C, Chris H, Clare E, Daisy W, Dan S, Ellie W, Emily C, George A, Grace R, Helen N, Honor B, Jane P, Joe L, Jonathan S, Lisa B, Lorraine B, Lucy B, Lucy R, Megan F, Mike G, Naomi A, Olly H, Richard G, Richard K, Samantha T, Sarah J 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 JULY 2025

  • Six intrepid Harriers headed back into the Dales for the Whernside fell race – a rare opportunity to slog up the Y3P race route… A beautiful sunny evening for a race, great work all!
  • The Danefield Relay race saw a few teams take on the Chevin course; always good to see HPH represented!
  • Josh D took on the Wharfedale Murder Mile – an uphill-only race from Silsden. Great work sir! And if this sounds like fun (…really?!), you can take part in the very similar Ilkley Incline in September…
  • Team Garratt enjoyed a nice relaxing holiday in the Dolomites but, of course, being Team Garratt, they couldn’t sit still for too long! Both took part in the Primiero Dolomiti races, with some serious ascent and descent across both. Excellent Garratting!
  • We had a strong turnout at the ever-popular Eccup 10, organised by our friends at Abbey Runners. Always a great race and we came away with the Open Team prize – nice one folks!
  • The YVAA Grand Prix continued, with the usual suspects taking on the Middleton course (and some hot weather)!
  • Speaking of hot weather, the conditions were brutal for the Baildon Canter – nothing like extreme heat to make a hilly 5K even tougher! Well done everyone who part!
  • The hot weather continued into the following day, with 20 Harriers taking on Ilkley Half Marathon. Your humble scribe has run this race five times now and it’s never been tougher than this year’s edition – so proud of everyone just for getting to the finish line!
  • After the heat, the monsoon! Golden Acre was more swimming pool than running track for this year’s relay event, but it didn’t stop HPH turning out in force! We had the outright winning team, plus the second place women’s team, but more than that we had a great evening – great to see everyone having fun!
  • Summer is the season for relays, and 2025 saw the return of the Washburn race after a gap of quite a few years! Our team of Colin, Jonny and Sam did the club proud, finishing third overall.
  • We had half a dozen Harriers head east of the city to St Aidan’s for the ever-popular 10K race – well done everyone! Not content with running the race once, quite a lot of them were back the very next week to do the course in reverse!
  • Nearly 30 Harriers and friends headed to the Lakes to support Paul R and Paul M on their Bob Graham Round attempt – for the uninitiated, that’s 66 miles and 42 hills, all to be completed within 24 hours. A huge congratulations to Paul R, who completed the round with 30 minutes to spare, and well done to Paul M for his valiant effort – we’ll be back to support on your next attempt!
  • Whilst the Pauls were slogging round the Lakes, Russell W was taking on an even longer challenge – the Rat Race 100 from Bamburgh Castle all the way to Edinburgh. An incredible achievement, well done sir!
  • The next YVAA Grand Prix race was at Stainland, with a small squad taking on soggy conditions – hey, at least it was a break from the extreme heat!
  • The Leeds 5K series was busy this month! A huge field of runners, and HPH was well-represented – shout-out to Daisy for setting a 30 second course PB!
  • We finished the month with some serious triathlonning – well done to everyone who took on the inaugural Leeds Ironman (also great that so many Harriers supported around the course)! Meanwhile, Helen N did the club proud at the Loch Lomond Wee Beastie Triathlon!

As is always the case, apologies for missing any achievements and events – there’s always so much going on it’s tricky to keep track! Can’t wait to see what August brings…