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

A month of full-swing races including multiple marathons, club races and PECO prep has meant that things in the HPH-world have gotten pretty busy this month. This has meant club sessions were back in full, hi-vis, swing; Kirkstall Hills has returned; #runandtalk is back and so are some of our all time favourite races. This month we’ve also made it to 270 members, too, so there are tonnes of reason to celebrate.

As we start to look on to the dark nights and muddy footpaths, please make sure you take care out there with your running. Get headtorches and reflective gear out, and make sure you have good grip if you’re going anywhere muddy. Talking of mud, the first cross-country race is coming up this weekend. Good luck to all HPH racing on Sunday, don’t forget your pom poms for finish line cheering.

One final announcement before we get onto Harrier of the Month: Christmas Party! 11th December at Head of Steam on Park Row. There’s a couple of spots left (at the time of writing) – please pay £8 to the club account and let us know by email whether you want vegan or not for your ‘buffet in a box’. There may be non-food options available at a later date, but we are prioritizing food-spots first.

And now on to the main event, here are your October Harriers of the Month!

Ally Fellows won for the men this month for a fantastic marathon performance at Manchester and adapting his training when COVID struck. Ally has also started to become a regular leader on a Tuesday, taking each session in his stride and getting great feedback from his groups. Thanks Ally!

Ally proudly sporting his Manchester Marathon medal!

Honor Baldry is our female winner this month for an absolutely amazing marathon performance at Liverpool! Honor’s dedication to a training plan is second to none, she’s stuck to it and exceeded expectations. Well done Honor, all your hard work has paid off. Great job!

Honor looking pleased to see her HPH support crew.

This month we had absolutely LOADS of nominations, which is fantastic. They went to:

  • Jane Prust – for her amazing sub 5-hour finishing time at the Yorkshire marathon and all the training that went into it. To believe Jane only started running about 2 years ago is amazing!
  • Grace Roberts – for running a brilliant Manchester marathon and completing it in under 5 hours, despite feeling rubbish in the last few miles.
  • Lizzie Coombes – for her dedicated training and performance at the London marathon
  • Honor Baldry – for an absolutely amazing marathon performance at Liverpool!
  • Clare Evans – for a monster year of membership and being so fabulous. She’s always on top of her role as Membership Secretary as well as supporting other committee members, too. Not to mention her top cheering skills too!
  • Amy Ramsden-Young – for absolutely nailing how to chair a run club during a plague. To see the return to running handled in such a sensible and coherent and sympathetic way. For showing empathy as well as empowering so many committee and club members. And to be responsible for growing the club membership to a new level. I’d say she deserves a medal but perhaps something a bit more novel to such an express athlete would be more fitting.
  • Paul Ramsden and Paul Milligan – for running 83 miles in 27 hours on the Nidderdale Way as part of their quest to run in France at the UTMB next year.
  • Lorraine Beavis – who entered the Liverpool Half very late in the day but stuck to a good training plan and got a fantastic time as a result as well as a great medal haul – well done Lorraine!
  • Rachael Blackwell and Pritti Mehta – both very new to HPH who ran the Abbey Dash as their first race in red and white. They give a number of people fantastic support and encouragement with their running and, at the Abbey Dash, supported a fellow runner from another club to get to the finish line. Plus they did not even bat an eyelid when asked if they wanted to run in tutus. They brought many smiles to spectators and runners alike!
  • Adam Lomas – for finishing third at the Apperley Bridge Canter! Adam’s been training really hard over the past few months with a coach and the results are clearly showing!

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 the 14th November at 6pm. – make sure you get in touch with any agenda points before then. Don’t forget you can submit any future HPH of the Month nominations at this link.