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

A superbusy month for Harriers, with some incredible running performances! Read on below, but first, congratulations to our…

HARRIERS OF THE MONTH – OCTOBER 2025

  • Daisy Wales (multiple nominations):
    • Smashing through the 90 min barrier at Manchester Half – excellent work!
    • Epic half at Manchester, getting faster and slays smiling and helping others along the way!
    • Breaking 90 mins at the Manchester Half!
    • Daisy absolutely smashed her 90min half marathon goal at Manchester last weekend – sticking dedicatedly to a training plan and seeing the results. Massive well done Daisy!!!
  • Jonathan Spain (multiple nominations):
    • An unreal run at Manchester Half, coming in at 1:15:26. A testament to serious hard work and so impressive to see – well done Jonny!
    • The consistency, the grind and it all paid off at Dublin (and Manchester half). The man is a true inspiration and asset  to the club 
    • Obvious 😂
    • The mythical sub2:40 broken – incredible effort from Mr Spain and a real testament to months of hard work and dedication!
    • An insane performance at Dublin marathon going sub 2:40!

Well done to all our nominees, copied below:

  • Adam Lomas (multiple nominations):
    • The scariest thing about Adam is he just keeps getting quicker… I predict by 2030 he’s going to move too fast to be seen by human eyes. Another club record; this time breaking his own half marathon record at Manchester by 14 seconds!
    • Another race, another club record!
  • Alice Houldcroft – Taking part in the OMM, earning 366 points over both days (with her partner-in-crime Sarah Organ, a former Tuesday Club runner)
  • Alison Hargreaves – Alison could not have paced the Chester Marathon more perfectly, coming in exactly on 3:45! Great to see and a testament to a lot of hard work!
  • Anne Akers – A huge thank you to Anne for organising our annual Light Night Art Run!
  • Flick Burton – A fantastic run at the Great Eastern Run to set a new club record – nice one Flick!
  • Jack Gordon – A great performance at Chester Marathon, smashing his target of 3:45!
  • Lee Taylor – Massive kudos to Lee in raising over £1,000 for the MNDA charity in sponsorship at the Royal Park Half Marathon! Great to see so many Harriers contributing to a great cause too!
  • Richard Knighton – A sub3hr marathon at York – brilliant work Rich!
  • Sarah Jewers (multiple nominations):
    • Congratulations to Sarah on an eight minute PB at the Loch Rannoch half marathon, comfortably running under 2 hours for the first time!
    • Running sub-2hrs at the Loch Rannoch Half Marathon after another incredibly dedicated training block!

THANK YOU!

A huge thank you to all our leaders this month – Alex B, Alice H, Andy B, Anne A, Ben H, Bethan M, Caite B, Chris H, Clare E, Curtis B, Daisy W, Dan S, Eliza T-F, Grace R, Honor B, Jane P, Jonathan S, Kevin L, Lisa B, Lorraine B, Lucas J, Lucy R, Michael G, Naomi A, Olly H, Pablo D, Richard C, Richard K, Sam T, Samantha T, Sharron N 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 OCTOBER 2025

  • The inaugural HPH Winter League got underway with the Morley 10K – nearly 180m of ascent makes for a brutal race! Well done to the six Harriers who took part, with Ed H cracking the top 10!
  • Helen, Alan and Mike took part in the final Grand Prix of the Yorkshire Veterans series for the year, this time at Ackworth! Great to see commitment to this series of races this year!
  • Well done to Jack, Alison and Jamie, who took on the Chester Marathon! The winds were strong, but there were some cracking results – great stuff!
  • Rich C represented the club at the Punk Panther Headtorch Half – two laps of Fewston and Swinsty in the dark!
  • Julie and Adam ran Cardiff Half together, apparently entirely fuelled by Welsh cakes!
  • Four Harriers took on the York 5K race this month – well done Abdu, Tom, Coralie and Naomi!
  • Now part of the growing HPH Scottish contingent, Sarah J did a sterling (or perhaps Stirling) job representing the club at Loch Rannoch Half Marathon!
  • Manchester Half saw some absolutely incredible performances, including a new club record for Adam in 1:10:24! Great to see such strong running from all our members.
  • Well done to Richard E, Chrissie D and Mike V who took part in Bramham 6K – an unusual distance, but it looks like everyone had great fun on a stunning, misty morning. Congratulations to Mike on taking victory in the race!
  • Congratulations to Lee T, who not only ran the Royal Parks Half Marathon but also raised over £1,000 for the MNDA charity in doing so – wonderful to see!
  • Flick and Vlad took on the Great Eastern Run at Peterborough, with Flick setting a new club record in the Half! Brilliant work!
  • Jayne took her Harrier t-shirt for its first outing and didn’t do it by halves, representing the club at Vancouver Seawall 10K!
  • There were many incredible runs at the Yorkshire Marathon and 10 Mile races, including lots of phenomenal PBs and milestones shattered – nice work everyone!
  • If you tuned into Radio Leeds on 19 October, you may have heard Will representing HPH in a “club quiz” challenge – and he won!
  • Light Night is always a highlight in the Leeds calendar – thank you to Anne A for leading a merry group of Harriers around the various exhibits!
  • Jonny S ran the fastest HPH marathon since 2019, clocking in under 2:39 at Dublin – absolutely brilliant and a testament to serious hard work and consistency over the last couple of years!
  • Well done to Alice and Izzy, who took part in the Original Mountain Marathon in the Lakes – looks like it was a chilly experience!
  • Three Harriers took on the latest race in our fell championships – the spooky Race You To The Summit! Nice work Ed, Hannah and Andrea!
  • We rounded off the month with our annual trip to Saltaire along the canal – changing leaves, changing weather, but it’s always a fun run, made better by beer, pizza and good company at the end!

What a month! Well done everyone, and apologies to anyone I’ve missed! November sees some cracking races and the return of PECO Cross Country – can’t wait!