HPH Chair’s Blog and HOTM for July

July was, unsurprisingly, another jam-packed month for Hyde Park Harriers! Coming off the back of the Summer Mile, the first weekend of July saw HPH at Leeds 10k, as well as descending onto Bramham Park for Endure24. Later in July came the heatwave (ouch!) and some brave Harriers took on Ilkley Half Marathon, Golden Acre Relay, and much more! We also had the HPH Day of the 5000m PBs, the culmination of many weeks of Thursday interval sessions, in which we saw plenty of impressive efforts and even some PBs – a huge achievement in what are very undesirable conditions.

Well done everyone!

HPH flying round the track in some serious heat!

Coming up next month, we’ve got plenty in the diary, including Ultra Tour North Bar, in partnership with North Brewing Co, the HPH Festival of Parkrun, and lots more. Keep an eye on the Facebook group and the weekly email roundup to see how we get on!

What a month! July saw a record number of nominations since HOTM began. Thanks to you all for your nominations. Our winners this month are Richard Garratt and Caitlin Crockford!

You could say that Richard had a nice little trip around the Lake District… Justifying the eponymous term Garratting, he took on the infamous Bob Graham Round and conquered over 100km of distance and 8000m of elevation, in well under the 24 hour cutoff and in great spirits. A real Jornet from start to finish – I bet his legs were Kílian! Massive congratulations, Rich.

(L-R) Rich with his victory pint, the support runners, and a map of the route itself

Caitlin completed her second 100km race of the tear at the Ultra X Summer Trail Series in the Hebden Bridge area. More than 3000m of climb, some very technical descents, and the July heatwave didn’t stop her from smashing it and even getting herself a top 5 finish – a fantastic achievement, well done Caitlin!

Caitlin receiving her medal after the race, and getting the watch stopped just in time!

Once again, please make sure you find time to read all of the nominations below, as there are some amazing things happening in HPH world every month, and it’s great to see all these people being recognised for their achievements and their contributions to our lovely club.

  • Abdu Ahmed #1: He’s underlined a real commitment and dedication to his training which was showcased in an exceptional performance at the Leeds 10k. His progression over the past few months has been phenomenal. Well done Abdu.
  • Adbu Ahmed #2: Abdu has been improving steadily since he joined us and deservedly was last months HOTM. However, his performance in Leeds 10k was a bit of breakthrough. Its not just that he has a shiny new PB, it’s the way he did it. Having seen this performance up close, it was inspiring to see his grit and determination to keep going as fast as he could no matter how tough it got and then still managed to find a sprint finish. A truly inspiring performance
  • Team You Deft Wet Runner @ Endure 24: Not only did the team win the large team award, finish 3rd overall and complete a massive 40 laps they were very supportive on course with comments to encourage as they flew past.
  • Naomi Miles: Another incredible placing at ANOTHER GB Age Group qualifier. This time P3 at Woodhorn Sprint Triathlon. Naomi’s performances are a reflection of such diligent and disciplined training. She continues to be a great inspiration and role model for amateur athletics.
  • Chloe Brooks: Coming 2nd lady and 13th overall at her 145 mile canal run this weekend. Chloe never fails to amaze with every event she runs at!
  • Flick Burton: Flick ran an absolutely stonking Ilkley Half on a day when you could almost have cooked an egg on the tarmac! She also smashed out a parkrun PB this month. Can’t wait to see what else is to come.
  • Grace Roberts: For putting on the most incredible event last week. The inaugural HPH day of the 5km PBs could well be the start of something… Grace was organised, she communicated fantastically, she had everything covered and everyone was regularly updated about where they needed to be and when. The goodie bags were awesome, the picnic was spot on, and the performances were outstanding! Thanks Grace, absolutely amazing.
  • Maddie Nowak: For running a 50km ultra in Germany with thousands of metres of climbing! Maddie just takes everything in her stride and has trained hard for this event through her winter mountaineering and big days out in the mountains. Well done Maddie!!
  • John Pratt #1: Despite a nasty bought of COVID, John has made sure he’s around at club events supporting his clubmates. He’s regularly been a chief supporter up at the crit rides on a Friday night, he’s consistently volunteered at parkrun, he coaches the Tri swim sessions, and most key, he’s led the Thursday intervals sessions fantastically. He’s a real asset to HPH and the club wouldn’t be what it is without him!
  • John Pratt #2: JP has been so great for the club in his time recovering from covid; whilst he sensibly ramps back up his own running, he led many interval sessions and was a key figure in the HPH track day – I know from my own experience I wouldn’t have made it round all those laps in the heat without his support at the halfway mark each time. Cheers JP
  • Toby Adkins #1: For leading HPH sessions 100 times!!! What a brilliant achievement. That’s 100 group runs that wouldn’t have gone ahead if it wasn’t for Toby. Wow. Thank you 😊
  • Toby Adkins #2: Toby (AKA Skyking) was our team captain for Endure24 and he helped create such a positive team spirit whilst absolutely smashing the laps out himself too, well done Toby!
  • Meghan Bentley: Smashing 5 mile race in Redcar, placing 3rd! Well done Meghan
  • Danny Clayton: Danny just keeps smashing out the PBs at every distance – a brilliant performance at the Wrexham 10K this month! Inspirational stuff. Danny was also nominated for supporting Rich’s Bob Graham on an incredibly hard leg 3. Stepping up to run alongside fell veterans Steve Rhodes and Adam Lomas.. and doing it with a smile on his face. As well as the fact he had an incredible run on the track at the HPH track day, despite THAT heat.
  • Karley Stringer: Karly has been working very hard this year and has earned herself another pb. This time for Leeds 10k, in a fantastic time of 54.21. Karly doesn’t like to make a fuss of her achievements, so I thought that I would.
  • Ellie Shipp: Ellie smashed her 10K PB at the Leeds 10K at the beginning of the month – a brand new PB of 51:28!
  • Laura Garratt: The other half of Team Garratt. Laura is always there, supporting, encouraging, doing stuff. A great team member and a wonderful HPH role model. / Laura oversaw the organisation and logistics of Rich’s Bob Graham Round and absolutely smashed it, with everything from lift organising, Facebook updates, and sorting the refuelling stations going really smoothly, and she was (as always) an amazingly supportive person to anyone involved. Well done Laura! / Organising all of Rich’s BGR support and for being absolutely brilliant on the day, keeping her cool and getting stuff done.
  • Ellie Williams: Achieved her first sub 50 min 10k at Leeds at the beginning of the month. Then got 2 5k PBs at the track day and the Brownlee 5k.

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 us at hello@hydeparkharriers.co.uk or messaging one of us directly on Facebook – hopefully you know who we are! If you don’t, you can find out here.

We are having a break over the summer, so there’s no meeting in August! Our next meeting is on Friday September 2nd 2022 – make sure you send us anything for discussion before then.

Don’t forget you can submit any future HPH of the Month nominations as well as nominations for other successes for next year’s Awards Do at any time of the month/year at this link.