HPH Chair’s Blog and HOTM for April

Well, April was busy, wasn’t it? With the PECO awards do and our amazing haul of trophies; the start of our 12 week interval plan; WHM’s 700th parkrun; a great result for PBs at the Leeds 5km series; Aroudn teh Park, Around the Clock; Yorkshire 3 Peaks Race, Burnsall Half and loads of other races, it’s no wonder that we have a truckload of HOTM nominations this month. Keep reading to hear about some amazing achievements by HPHs in April.

This month, we look forward to seeing you at the AGM on Friday 6th May; we have a bonus #runandtalk on Tuesday 10th to celebrate Mental Health Awareness week; we race in our first fell race of our champs (Jack Bloor – 10th May); our first trail race of our champs (Cookridge 10km on 22nd May); there’s another opportunity to score points at the Brownlee Leeds 5km; we run at Middleton park parkrun for our champs. All that, plus we continue our intervals plans and we will be out and about to support Harriers at the Leeds Half and beyond. Good luck to all of you out and about racing and training.

Our winners of Harrier of the Month for April are: Nicola Forwood and Richard Garratt!

Nicola Forwood was our first winner this month – winning, not just for one smashing event, but for a whole host of achievements and adventures. In April Nicola not only ran, but WON(!!!) the Punk Panther 100 mile river Aire and having time to complete a parkrun mid race! Not only this, but after her mad Feb run the date challenge and a 5 marathons in 5 days in March Nicola is also smashing it out the park at shorter distances too: consistently coming to the Leeds 5km series to attempts PBs and cheer on everyone else. Nicola has also been instrumental in creating our Marathon and Ultra championships for 2022/2023. She’s a cracking example of a HPH. Thanks Nicola, and well done.

Richard Garratt snuck right in to the last day of April to steal the votes this month with his incredible 3 Peaks Race (4 hours 11 minutes – can you believe that!?) on Saturday, followed by running 36 laps of Woodhouse Moor the next day. Anyone that say him on either of those days will have witnessed how much effort Richard put in to both of those events. Rumour has it that Rich is planning for some big things this year. Well done, good luck Richard, and thank you for taking that red and white vest out and about on some epic adventures.

Here are all of our nominees this month, please be sure to read these – as there’s some absolutely astounding achievements in there!

• Jonny Spain: for smashing through sub3 at Manchester Marathon; a testament to all the hard work and effort he’s put in!
• Chris Worfolk: for coming back so strongly from a broken ankle – it’s been brilliant to see him back running again, especially at the Roche Abbey trail race.
• Chris Harris: Achieving a 10k personal best at the big flat runway race as well as regularly leading on Tuesdays and Thursdays
• Jonny Coade: he’s getting stronger with every race, including a ridiculously fast 1:18 half marathon in Barcelona
• Chloe Brooks: For running the 50 mile River Aire ultra with a smile on her face! Chloe puts in so much training and dedication to her running and it shows. What a great performance ☺️
• Josh Dawson: For an amazing consistent approach to his running over the last 2 year. Josh has consistently ran 50 miles a week and the results show in his races! Well done Josh 👍 this has shown in April, when he pulled out significant PB’s in both 5 & 10k distances within a week! Fantastic achievements.
• Michelle Dickson: for her amazing training plan leading up to an ultra this summer. Michelle has run long runs, short notice runs, club runs, intervals… You name it, she’s there and she’s putting her all. She’s determined and her running is amazing. Well done Michelle! Good luck with your training and races!
  Indi Lacy: She’s a machine and an inspiration!!! Indi runs far and fast, she cycles far and fast and she swims like a mermaid. She’s committed to her progression and she is truly improving at all disciplines as the weeks go by.
• Lucy Jobson-Wood: For running a 3:40 marathon in Brighton for her first ever marathon! What a performances. Lucy’s training has been committed and consistent despite a little injury. Well done Lucy – hope those tan lines don’t last too long!!
• James Tarbit and Oli Clarkin: for running a half marathon on the Saturday then 16 mile race on the Sunday. Madness! It takes a lot of training to get to a place when you can do this type of weekend… So well done to you both for getting to this epic level!
• Caitlin Crockford: for completing an 100km ultra race – mega – well done!
• Claire Hougham: for, despite significant health challenges, Claire smashed it at parkrun and got her first sub-30 in quite some time!
• Naomi Adkins: for her commitment and enthusiasm into the weekly roundup with her last hurrah now having gone out and for generally being a fab committee member for the last few years, especially on the website and the weekly round-up.

As always, keep an eye out on the weekly bulletin emails and in the Facebook group for more information about races, discounts, sessions and club activity. If you have any ideas for sessions, any feedback or want to organise a social or event, please get in touch with the committee by emailing  hello@hydeparkharriers.co.uk or messaging one of us directly on Facebook. You know who we are. But if you don’t, you can find out here. Our next meeting is actually the AGM on 6th May, but our first official committee meeting as a new committee is June 16th at 6pm – make sure you send us anything for discussion before then.

Don’t forget you can submit any future HPH of the Month nominations at any time of the month/year at this link.