HPH Chair’s Blog and HOTM for September

Another month passes and summer is officially over, meaning high-vis season has returned… but that doesn’t mean the running stops! It’s been a busy month (as always), with the 10km canal time trial; several trail races, including club favourite Leeds Country Way Relay; the Leeds Golden Mile; and a club social at Saltaire Brewery. If anyone wants to write up about anything they did in September (or earlier, for that matter!) please feel free to post on the Facebook group or send it to hello@hydeparkharriers.co.uk – make sure to include some photos too!

Our HOTM winners this month are Coralie Bell and Steve Prust!

Coralie hasn’t been running for long, but has made incredible progress in a short space of time. She smashed her target time in the HPH 10km time trial on the canal towpath and followed that up with an incredible performance at the Meanwood Valley Trail Race, where she finished third female and second in her age category. She also ran a fantastic first Parkrun, managing a great time of 20:49 and first female finisher. Cracking job Coralie, we’re excited to see what you do next!

Coralie at the Meanwood Valley Trail Race

Steve has overcome a number of health problems over the last year which made it difficult for him to run for a while. He continued volunteering at parkrun and turned out to cheer Harriers on races. He has persevered and achieved his target of running the Great North Run this September – truly demonstrating that there Ain’t No Barriers! He’s always a friendly face and source of good conversation, too. We’re honoured to have you in the club, Steve – well done from all of us, brilliant running.

Steve and Jane – Team Prust!
  • Anne Akers – Anne is always supporting us HPH’ers (and the wider Leeds running community) she seems to be at almost every race taking pictures and giving us cheers. She’s also organised lots of lovely social events, things to find on our runs, and is so supportive of her fellow runners. Thanks for being such an awesome part of HPH Anne – we’re so lucky to have you on our team!
  • Carlos Botello – Carlos finished a brilliant second in his age category at Ilkley Triathlon, narrowly beaten by a matter of seconds
  • Chloe Wilson, Ella Mitham, Chris Kemp, Eliza Taswell-Fryer – They all smashed their first ever triathlon at Ilkley!
  • Curtis Broadhead – Curtis absolutely smashed it at the North Leeds 23. It was the furthest he’s ever run and a really hilly trail run. He paced it perfectly and came 9th place. This isn’t even the first race he’s smashed this year, he’s had a whopper of a year!
  • Dan Coffey – Insanely dedicated to his training and had some impressive PBs over the summer. He’s also an incredibly friendly, supportive team mate – an all-round great person.
  • Danni Bryant – A brilliant job coordinating and organising the LCW relay teams!
  • Flick Burton – For a stonking result at the Vale of York Half. A half marathon in under 1:26 is just incredible. Inspirational, well done Flick, you’ll be missed whilst you’re in London
  • George Webster – George has been on fire recently – he’s got several parkrun PBs at Woodhouse Moor and last week, he got a 10k PB at Bradford – all the while with a smile on his face and a cheerily hello for a fellow Hyde Park Harrier. We are so lucky to have George as part of our awesome club!
  • Gordon Crawford – For smashing first in his age category at the Meanwood Valley Trail race, and generally running absolutely fantastically at the moment. Gordon is such an awesome HPH, he is always great company on a run, great chat and he will reliably come to most social events. We are so pleased to have you Gordon!
  • Indi Lacey –
    • Coming third Female at Ilkley Triathlon and doing a 3 hour 10km Swim and smashing out some PBs at WHM parkrun
    • For finishing third female and first in her age category at Ilkley Triathlon, an outstanding achievement!
    • Indi is known for being outstanding at very, very… Very long races. To underline this she finished 5th overall, 2nd Female at Blue Lagoon’s amphibian race swimming 10k.. Yep. Swimming. 10k. However, just to mix things up a little she’s only gone and won in her age category at Ilkley Sprint Triathlon!! (500m swim, 14.5km bike, and 5(ish)km run) Outstanding performances!
  • Jason Newell – Jason has got faster and faster, and running further and further all while getting back to fitness. He is knocking time off his 5k every month and ran a 20 miler in September.
  • Lucy Jobson-Wood – For finishing third in her age category in her first ever triathlon! Points off for not sticking around for a photo with Jonny Brownlee
  • Rupert Jordan –
    • 1:16:13 GNR half marathon… 3 seconds off the 7 year old club record.
    • Rupert has really upped his training and been a regular at the interval sessions. He is now reaping the rewards. He managed 16.37 and 16.33 at Armley parkrun in August, but this month achieved a half marathon PB of 1.16.13 in the GNR, which is just 3 seconds off the club record! I know he has a marathon PB attempt coming up which I’m sure will be a worthy mention next month. Well done Rupert! You are well and truly smashing it.
  • Tobias Adkins – Toby is the first guy I’ve known since joining Hyde Park, and I’ve always thought of him as a truly remarkable gentleman, always striving and pushing to the limit. His performance at Meanwood Trail Race the day after the Beer Festival was incredible, finishing 5th overall, and then running a 77-minute HM at Vale of York the next day was simply incredible. Stunning performance, and I can’t think of a better male harrier to honour this month than him.
  • Vale of York Half/10k HPH Volunteer Team – 10 HPH members stepped up and got great feedback in their role as marshals at the VoY Half/10k. Not only did they do a great job, but they ensured that the club fulfilled its agreement to provide a team of volunteers for this event whilst generating income for HPH.
  • William Dow – Smashing a 5k PB AND 10K PB Wooohoooo!

A great number of nominations this month; thank you to everyone who took the time to nominate a fellow Harrier. Keep them coming over the winter months! Any HPH of the Month nominations, as well as nominations for other successes for next year’s Awards Do, can be submitted at any time of the month/year at this link.

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.

Our next committee meeting is on Sunday 23rd October 2022 – make sure you send us anything for discussion before then.