HPH Chair’s Blog and HOTM for February

A short month, but with so many achievements. We had fell races, the finale of PECO cross country, road races, and our usual Tuesday night and Thursday night sessions, as well as some Sunday long runs – so plenty of opportunities to be nominated for Harrier of the Month. This month also saw a number of our championships wrapping up, in some tight end of season battles. Well done to everyone for your achievements this month. Read on below for who was nominated for HOTM and why.

This month’s winners are: Daisy Wales and Honor Baldry.

Daisy Wales: Daisy has got sneaky quick recently. She’s been smashing it at Peco, regularly scoring for the ladies team (alongside captaining) and recently took it to the road at Dewsbury 10km with a quite brilliant 42mins!

Honor Baldry: It is fabulous that Honor has recently obtained her coaching qualification – she regularly leads for HPH and this year started doing warm ups on a Tuesday that are brilliant! Especially in the chillier months, having a warm up before group runs is so useful and Honor makes them so much fun!

Our other nominees were:

– Mike Vargas: For an outstanding performance at Kirkstall Calverley Cutter trial race which resulted in a first place finish.

– All HPH non members: Non-members are a hugely valued part of the running club. Many lead groups, support others in races and provide great company. Thank you!

– Jaz Bangerh: After so many years of always selflessly championing and encouraging others, great to see Jaz get a 10k PB at Dewsbury and her first time under 60mins. AMAZING!

– Dan Donnelly: for working his way back up the club groups just a few months after breaking many many bones!

– Vicky Houghton: Nominating Vicky again because for me she just stands out for the Chairs award this year. Her performance and improvement has been phenomenal, a real inspiration. So much hard work and she has just smashed out PB after PB.

– Amber Bolton: Smashing her first ever race at Dewsbury 10km. Amber trained really well for this, coming along regularly on Tuesday nights and Hills and it paid off.

– Steve Prust: is such a trailblazer for HPH spirit. Steve regularly leads Tues group runs, but even recently when he’s been unable to run, hes turned up to support at PECO and he’s helped contribute to the HPH website. Basically, if Steve is able to help his fellow club mates, he will! Thanks for all you do Steve 😁

– Amy Ramsden-Young: Growing and caring for beautiful Ada can’t slow her down, both running and contributing to the club. She delivered a phenomenal performance at Dewsbury 10K, her first race back. She has also continues to work hard behind the scenes to make sure the club run smoothly on top of turning up every week to lead a Tuesday run.

– Chris Kemp: After an impressive start to his XC career, he continued that form into his first big fell race. He raced well against a strong field and was rewarded with a great position at the finish. Things are looking good for his other races and goals over the coming months!

– the HPH PECO Mens team: “Whilst the HPH men didn’t retain the Peco team title for the third year running despite being tantalising close, there were nevertheless some key performances:-

Richard Sykes – a truly superb first year of cross country for HPH where he completed all five races, positioned 20th overall and 2nd in M40
category. Excellent work. 💪

Adam Lomas – as expected a consistent cross country season where he completed all five races, positioned 7th overall and 5th in MSEN category. Running strong as ever and has finished in top 10 overall for the past couple of years. 👍

George Anderson – another consistent cross country season where he positioned 12th overall, 5th in M35 category and has finished in the top 12 overall for the past couple of years too. 🏃‍♂️

Richard Knighton – an excellent captain who demonstrated plenty of grit and graft in all five races. 👑 “

– Curtis Parker-Milnes: Dedication to training, regular contribution to leading groups, fantastic performance at the Rombalds stride then sadly getting injured trying to lead a north run club group the following day! I
Wishing CPM a speedy recovery!

As always, keep an eye on the weekly email bulletin for more of the news from our members out running at events as well as for info on discounts, races and other running news. Our next committee meeting is Sunday 24th March where we will cover a number of agenda items. Our email hello@hydeparkharriers.co.uk is always open to receive your suggestions, feedback or blog posts. Our club couldn’t run without you all, so keep it coming.