ALNWICK HARRIERS

Alnwick Harriers entered three women’s teams and one men’s team in Elswick Harrier’s Good Friday relays; entrants could run a two mile distance of their choice at any time from the week commencing Good Friday, with the majority of Alnwick’s runners choosing to battle the cold and windy conditions over the Easter Bank Holiday. Overall there was 145 complete teams (82 women & 63 men). Team results are as follows:-

(15) Diana 13:52; Jo Go 12:47; Laura Stubbings 13:02 (27) Rosie Davison 12:28; Lisa Baston 13:32; Caro Fentiman 15:35 (40) Sue Skirrow 17:46; Jo Powell 13:09; Alice T Paul 14:28 (48) Ian Simon 12:23; Stu Morris 14:06; Andy Stephenson 15:32; Ian Stephenson 14:30

Elswick Harriers who organised the event did not charge an entry fee but set up a just giving page to raise funds for a defibrillator, which currently stands at £1,390.00.

Full results are at http://www.alnwickharriers.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Good-Friday-Virtual-Relays-Final-Results.xlsx

With restrictions beginning to lift and races now being planned Alnwick Harriers has now launched their highly anticipated Grand Prix Event for 2021, kindly organised by Ian STEPHENSON.

For this year the Grand Prix is offered in a more flexible format and further details are provided in the link below. So to all the Alnwick Harriers out there, its time to dust off your racing flats and get your calculators at the ready!

http://www.alnwickharriers.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2021-Grand-Prix.pdf

Race Report by Caro Fentiman

A collection of hardy harriers braved the winter weather to compete in the Greener Miles Virtual Moon Runner Challenge last weekend. The absence of a moon to take a selfie with made it hard to grab extra points, but special mention must go to Paul Dellbridge and Karen Kelly for fully entering into the spirit with their icy night-time 10kms!

Fabulous efforts also from Jo Powell, George Williams, Rachel Heeley, Jo Clemmit, Ruary Slater and Diana Weightman who all completed 10k, and to the combined efforts of Mark Tyler, Sarah Giles and the Fentiman family, who topped the distance up to 100km. Brilliant to have a collaborative event to run while we are all still unable to see each other, and Alnwick Harriers placed 16 out of 18 teams. Over £400 was raised for the Greggs Breakfast Club Charity.

Thanks everyone.

Alnwick Harriers Committee have sadly had to make the decision to roll over this year’s event scheduled for the 25th July 2021. With the uncertainty of the lockdown restrictions, we felt we had a duty to ensure the safety of all our entrants and those of our community over our desire to hold the event.

Your options are therefore as follows:

Transfer your entry to 2022 – NO ACTION REQUIRED

Unable to run – Give cost of place to Charity

HospiceCare North Northumberland are based in Alnwick and like many charities, have had their donations drastically reduced during this pandemic. Our committee felt that if you were not able to run and were able to donate the cost of your place it would be of great benefit to the charity. To do this, please submit your full name and race number (found on Results Base) to the email listed below.

Unable to Run – Request a Refund

Please reply to the email listed below with your full bank details, including the exact name on the account, sort code and account number. The refund will be the amount paid minus the admin fee paid to Results Base. This process is being solely managed by our finance manager so please bear with us regarding swiftness of response.

For all correspondence please use the following email:

ahcoastalrun2019@gmail.com

Kind Regards

Alnwick Harriers Committee

In addition to the post concerning membership fees below, please note that there is a reduced membership fee for this year, this in the main is due to the lack of group training that we have have been able to offer our members (due to Covid-19 restrictions) and the associated costs that come with that.

The £16 fee remains however, to pay for England Athletics Membership fees, which we are unable to waive. Amongst the benefits of being a member of EA are liability insurance for both the club and its members.

Please follow the link provided in the membership page to renew your membership.

Harriers! Annual subs are now due!

Please renew via the link below.

https://www.theentrypoint.co.uk/events/alnwick-harriers-senior-membership-qMxD2ObDv4WK6pm

Renewals are due by 28^th February 2021

If you are an Honorary Life Member, email Diana Weightman with all of your up to date information. The email address is  diana.weightman63@hotmail.com  Anyone with any questions should also email Diana.

Keeping up your membership will mean that:
*you will be insured to train at group sessions.
*you will be eligible to receive subsidised club trips and transport.
*you will be eligible to take part in Grand Prix competition.
*you will be registered with UKA and be able to represent your club at races including our very own cross country.

If for any reason you are not renewing, please email Diana so that we can keep our records up to date.

Membership benefits….

All members will be affiliated to England Athletics which will give you a couple of pounds discount when entering races. (Your EA membership card will be posted out directly from them)

Discounts on running clothes & shoes…..

Club members can get 10% discount at Start Fitness on production of their EA card.

Advice from coaches…..

Improve your fitness and performance by getting help & advice from one of our qualified coaches.

Subsidised club trips…..

All members are entitled to benefit. Recent examples have included Aviemore Half Marathon, Brampton to Carlisle 10 Miler, Tweed Tunnel Trail Race and the Lakeland Trails Dirty Double Weekender

And lastly you will find new people to run with and quickly make new friends.Edit

Greener Miles Running have organised another virtual event for this weekend and Caro Fentiman is putting a team together. She needs 10 runners who are each able to run 10km. Alternatively, if you have children or want to run a shorter distance you can enter a family/group as long as the total distance is 10km. The details are below, but basically it is to replace the usual Moon Runner race and there are extra points for grabs if you run in the dark and get a selfie with the moon! Entrance is £1 (Diana Weightman will collect monies) and proceeds go towards the Greggs Breakfast Club Charity.

Please email carofentiman@gmail.com or message Caro on Strava and your name will be added to the team.https://www.strava.com/clubs/598149/group_events/881171

Alnwick Harriers are pleased to announce that we have a provisional date of the 25th July 2021 for the Coastal Run to take place. We are of course working with England Athletics, the National Trust and Natural England, to ensure your safety is paramount regarding this event. We will be starting the race early morning but will announce timings nearer the date, as we will need to consider both staggered start times and the tide.

For anybody who has signed up for our event in 2020, and did not request a refund, you do not need to do anything further. Your details will be used for the 2021 event and carried forward.

There will be a small number of spaces available that will go on sale once we have confirmed dates and clarity of timings. Please keep an eye on our website and Results Base Website for further updates.

Alnwick Harriers Committee would like to thank you all for bearing with us at this difficult time. We very much appreciate you retaining your place and we look forward to hosting you all on the 25th July 2021.

Any queries/concerns please contact the Race Director: Laura McLean on ahcoastalrun2019@gmail.com

Now that the Northeast has been moved to Tier 4, unfortunately once again Alnwick Harriers Wednesday evening training sessions are cancelled until further notice.

Note that you are still allowed to exercise with one person from another household in outdoor public spaces; so Alnwick Harriers can “buddy up” for runs.

Under current government guidelines under eighteens are still allowed to train outdoors in a coached, controlled environment; therefore training for Alnwick Harriers juniors will resume as planned on Tuesday. Please contact the relevant coach for further details.

Race Report by Jo Powell

Not quite 48 hours after the feast of Christmas dinner, eight eager Alnwick harriers travelled to the picturesque village of Whalton for the Run Northumberland Festive 5 miler! A cold and crisp December morning awaited the 117 runners taking part in this undulating 5 mile road route which started in waves to enable the race to follow socially distanced guidelines.

The odd icy patch kept all runners on their toes but definitely didn’t cause any lack of speed for Alnwick harriers pathfinder and V60 crown winner Carole Page completing the road race in 36:23 . Close behind came Jo Powell very happy to be out wearing a number in 36:28. Mike Henry certainly made his stamp on this festive event finishing in 39.20 and claiming 1st V70! David Hindmarsh making the most of a number of socially distanced races in Northumberland over the last few weeks came in next shortly followed by marathon master Cris Atwell. Having successfully swapped her cleat shoes for running trainers again came home a smiling Jo Clemmit. Ian Stephenson was next through the finish enabling him to watch wife Lorna complete the race. Lorna was delighted the snow forecast at the time her start wave was due off didn’t materialise!

Runners were rewarded with a commemorative festive race mug containing chocolates.

Results: 44) Carole Page 36:23 ( 1st V60 ); 46) Jo Powell 36:28; 61) Michael Henry 39:20 (1st V70 ); 64) David Hindmarsh 39:46; 72)Cris Atwell 40:29; 82) Jo Clemmit 41:46; 104) Ian Stephenson 47:35; 117) Lorna Stephenson 1:02:16