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

What a month! Lighter evenings and better (ish…) weather means the club has been up to all sorts as spring turns to summer.

Firstly, huge congratulations to our Harriers of the Month for May 2024:

  • Jonathan Carpenter and Richard Cartwright, for their heroic efforts in organising and co-ordinating the HPH teams at the Calderway Relay race; and
  • Curtis Ledger and all the Harriers who volunteered to help with the Leeds Marathon and Half races.

We had lots of excellent nominations this month, which I’ve copied below – well done to everyone!

  • Jonathan Carpenter & Richard Cartwright (multiple nominations):
    • Fantastic organisation on two Calderdale Way Relay teams.
    • Jonathan’s help with the organizing of the CWR went above and beyond – he paid the race entry fees for both legs and asked the runners to pay back half and donate the rest to charity, he helped transport leg 3 and leg 1 runners and managed to see all the other legs en route. Except for leg 4 as thwarted by a flat tire. Vargas and Abdu were particularly grateful for his one-man water station on leg 6. He offered to help organize the relay even though he has been suffering from injury for over a year and feels a disconnect from HPH as he can’t run.
    • Jonathan did a brilliant job of organising the Calderdale Way Relay alongside Richard Cartwright. Despite not being able to run himself, he made sure that all teams were organised and ready, turned up to multiple sessions and Parkrun to make sure everyone had a chance to fill out the paperwork. On the day, he supported as many legs as possible even after a punctured tyre. But to top it all off, Jonathan paid the race fees for both teams himself, only asking for half the money back so that the other half could go to charity.
    • Jonathan and Rich have done an amazing job of organising and coordinating the Calderdale Way Relay teams – well done and thank you chaps!
  • Curtis Ledger and the Leeds Marathon and Half volunteers – Huge thanks to all the HPHers who volunteered to help with the Leeds Marathon and Half bag drop, despite the early start – it’s really appreciated! Special thanks to Curtis Ledger for coordinating the volunteer crew and liaising with the event organisers.
  • Grace Roberts (multiple nominations):
    • Grace ran a brilliant Leeds Half, somehow knocking three minutes off her PB, despite tough conditions – great to see, congratulations Grace!
    • A brilliant PB at the Leeds half marathon, she sailed past me at 3km!
  • The HPH pacers at Leeds Marathon – The HPH pacers all did a fantastic job; really well done everyone!
  • Clare Evans – For completing a sub 21 min 5k and has now run in every leg of the CWR for HPH. She may even be the first harrier to do this.
  • Lisa Brannan – Lisa has been frequently stepping forward to lead group 1 this last month, and it’s greatly appreciated by runners and other leaders
  • Richard Garratt (multiple nominations):
    • Rich did brilliantly at the KMF 50K (8th place) – amazing running, but we expect nothing less these days…
    • 4th in his age category, he has knocked almost an hour and a half off his previous time at this race. He generally does well at these kinds of races/challenges and doesn’t actually race that much unless it’s off road, hilly and long! He is also very modest about his own achievements whilst celebrating everyone else’s. It’s easy for everyone to think this is just what he does and it is easy for him. But it isn’t it took a lot of training with long hilly runs and he gave it his all at the race. Well done Rich!
  • Julie Haddon – Julie was first V50F finisher at Ravenscar Half – great to see, well done Julie!
  • Ally Fellows (multiple nominations):
    • Ally did brilliantly at the Outlaw Half Iron Man – comfortably under 5 hours. What a hero!
    • Brilliant performance in the Outlaw half Ironman with a 4hr49!
  • Caitlin Crockford – A 17min PB in her Outlaw half Ironman with a 5.51
  • Victoria Smith – A brilliant PB at the Leeds marathon
  • Alison Hargreaves – A brilliant PB at the Leeds marathon (and writing a brilliant blog about it)
  • Lucy Bonnett – A great first half marathon at Leeds
  • Charlotte Eva – A great first half marathon at Leeds
  • Lee Taylor – Lee absolutely smashed his hometown half marathon – a fantastic sub90, a real testament to all his hard work and training!
  • Emma Brown – Emma completed her final Wainwright in May, a fantastic achievement! That’s 214 Lake District fells bagged… Bob Graham next?!
  • Daisy Wales – For a stunning sub-20 and second female at the Leeds Brownlee 5km
  • Tom Moulding – A podium finish for Tom at the ABC – cracking work!
  • Ciaran Tracey – A phenomenal run to win the ABC by a distance – well done Ciaran, you hero!

THANK YOU!

A huge thank you to all our leaders this month – Ande A, Cara G, Ciaran T, Clare E, Craig M, Curtis B, Daisy W, Ellie W, George A, Grace R, Honor B, James U, Jane P, Joseph E, Kevin L, Laura G, Lisa B, Lucy R, Megan F, Michael G, Richard G, Sarah U, Sharron N, Victoria S, Will D and Zoe B!

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 MAY 2024

What else have we been up to over the last month? I’m glad you asked…

  • The Leeds Marathon and Half Marathon was an obvious highlight – congratulations to all our runners and thanks again to our wonderful volunteer crew, who did a sterling job with the bag drop!
  • We had two teams at the Calderdale Way Relay – it looked like everyone had a fantastic day, despite the heat! A huge thank you to our Harriers of the Month, Richard Cartwright and Jonathan Carpenter, for organising the relay teams and dealing with the logistics – it’s not a small task and they did it brilliantly, so thank you again chaps!
  • 39 Harriers took part in the Apperley Bridge Canter – an HPH favourite! There were some fantastic runs everywhere you looked and we ended up with two Harriers on the podium, with Ciaran winning the whole damn thing! Congratulations to Tom on third place, Mike V for winning the MV35 category, and everyone else for their brilliant efforts! Also special mention to Beth C for baking some extremely tasty chocolate biscuit cake!
  • There have been lots of other excellent race results too, both local and further afield:
    • a fantastic crew at the Cookridge Community 10K;
    • Lee smashing the Sunderland Half;
    • Julie and Adam at the Ravenscar Half;
    • Sarah and Jed at the Edinburgh 10K and Half (respectively);
    • Richard T at the Bluebell Trail (complete with a ride in an ambulance…);
    • multiple Harriers taking on various distances at (a very warm) Keswick Mountain Festival (read about Rich G’s phenomenal run in his nomination for HotM); and
    • an HPH squad at (a very muddy) YVAA Kirkstall Grand Prix race.
  • The HPH Tri team had some brilliant performances at the Tadcaster Triathlon and Ally stormed his first Half Ironman at the Outlaw event.
  • Naomi’s Postcode Postcards challenge has seen some great runs in the Kirkstall valley – keep an eye on Facebook for June’s route and don’t forget to upload your photos to the Postcode Postcards album – I’ve been really enjoying the beautiful pictures of Leeds everyone has been sharing!
  • Oh, and despite the weather, the fourth edition of Around the Park, Around the Clock was great fun! As ever, thank you to all those who came along to run, support or wonder what the hell we were doing!

I’m quite sure I’m missing some fantastic achievements, so apologies if you’ve been doing something awesome that’s not captured in this blog – congratulations again, and keep it up everyone!