HPH Chair’s Update and Harrier of the Month for July

Yet another month of Lockdown((ish) -when will I be able to stop writing that?), yet another month of awesome challenges set virtually by our fantastic members and some incredible achievements from Hyde Park Harriers including many meters climbed and lofty heights achieved. Highlights from July have included a virtual marathon relay, a group Everest challenge, an individual Everest challenge and a series of Leaders ‘trial’ sessions in preparation for getting you lot back running from August.

On a quick personal note, I just wanted to thank the amazing volunteers who stepped up to help, and also my fantastic committee members who have helped shape what our next few months of running looks like. They’ve all clubbed together and ensured that we can get back to running in the safest, most inclusive way possible. I look for ward to seeing many of you back at sessions over the coming weeks and want to stress that, no matter what your ability, no matter what training you’ve (not) been doing: you’re welcome at any of these sessions.

A good Segway from our amazing volunteer groups to our amazing members and your fantastic achievement and contributions… It gives me great pleasure to announce that the winners of the Hyde Park Harrier of the month for July are Rob Heap and Grace Roberts! Well done to you both – read on for more about why these Harriers have been recognised this month.

The male competition was HOT for July, with several members achieving amazing PBs, or endurance successes so it was a tough month to choose. Rob Heap was nominated for running 105 miles in a week, in his entry to the Montane Lakeland 100 mile race, the virtual version of the race he physically ran a couple of years back. Not only did Rob have to work out a whole logistical plan for his week in order to ensure he got the 100 miles completed, he also managed to finish it in 185th position out of 682 finishers! Well done Rob and thanks to everyone who supported him throughout the week.

Rob, looking very pleased with his certificate.

The female winner this month is Grace Roberts! Grace has followed a plan throughout lockdown despite moving from Belfast to Leeds and then back again, she’s kept motivated and made sure she asked for help from her clubmates along the way. She’s achieved speedy 5kms during long runs, explored her new home of Belfast and planned routes to ensure the most scenery and great photos! This plan culminated in an epic marathon run where Grace set out to do her own marathon from home, instead of one she had planned to run earlier in the year. She even got now one, but two home-made medals for her efforts! Well done Grace, and good luck with the rest of your training! You can read about grace’s marathon effort here.

Grace, and medal 1
Medal 2 – amazing creativity!

Here is a list of everyone that was nominated this month. Thanks, and well done to all of you for everything you have done and achieved.

  • Lizzie Coombes for generally being awesome and spending so much of her free time organisng the amazing Beauty in the Ordinary competition. More to come on this once the judging is complete.
  • Amy Young for organising the Summer Mile-arathon, where 4 teams of 26 ran a marathon in mile intervals.
  • Lucy for maintaining #runandtalk throughout Lockdown and checking in on all of our members
  • Lou for all her work on Spond and getting the club back to running
  • James U for his absolutely amazing 5km PB and following a rigid training plan to achieve it.
  • Toby A for his 5km PB and for a brilliant lap of the Lake District in a bid for elevation in the Everest challenge
  • James T for organising the Everest challenge and for keeping us all motivated to climb higher and higher
  • John P for vEveresting! Yes, you read that right, for cycling his bike up and down the same hill for 16 hours to the height of Everest
  • Sarah U for all her graphic design on the HPH training plans
  • Zeni for checking in with members, going for walks and for all her hard work on the committee.

Just a reminder that the date of the next HPH Committee meeting is August 16th where we will be checking in on how the new session have been going as well as looking into the future strategy for the run club. Don’t forget to get in touch ahead of this date if you have anything for discussion.

Finally, keep an eye out on the weekly bulletins and in the Facebook group for more information about virtual races, our weekly sessions, updates on competitions and, most importantly, don’t forget to log into Spond every week to sign up for a club session on a Tuesday evening. Details on how to join us in these sessions is here.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.