ALNWICK HARRIERS

The Gordon Smith Virtual relays are coming up and we would like Alnwick Harriers to submit some teams, so please contact Diana Weightman if you are interested in taking part. Diana.weightman63@hotmail.com

There are men’s & women’s teams of 3, one team member must be V35 or older, minimum age is 16 years old. Each leg has to be 2 (consecutive) miles with no more than -20ft elevation. The legs must be ran between Sunday 9 May & Saturday 15 May. Each clubs’ men’s and women’s club captains to verify their club’s results on Garmin/Strava – it would be great if everyone who uses Strava can add the following text on Strava ‘Gordon Smith Memorial Virtual Relay’.

Further details below

http://www.alnwickharriers.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/2021-Virtual-Gordon-Smith-Relays-Team-manager-input-sheet-St.Oswalds-Hospice.xlsx

Only one race reported for April, the Washington 10k Trail. It puts 6 harriers onto the table with Diana taking the top spot.

Remember, all races count this season, just send me a link to the results. The Grand Prix uses WAVA scoring to make the competition fair to all ages.

Six Alnwick harriers travelled to the wonderful James Steel Park, Washington to run in this popular urban trail event.

Almost 300 runners enjoyed some beautiful woodland trails along the banks of the River Wear including some 475 foot of ascent. To fall inline with current Covid-19 guidelines a continuous start was in place over a two hour window where runners arrived at the start with their chip timing numbers attached and crossed the start line as they pleased.

Sixth placed female finisher was Jo Powell thoroughly enjoying this well organised and friendly event. Revelling in the scenic and hilly trail Diana Weightman finished a brilliant 2nd V50. Closely followed by Karen Kelly who was lured to the event by Midget gems!! Ian Stephenson made a credible return to racing finishing 5th V60. Linda Patterson and Lorna Stephenson had good runs around this picturesque 10k trail.

Results: (28) Jo Powell 50:35 (59) Diana Weightman 53:54 (60) Karen Kelly 53:58.(138) Ian Stephenson 1:01.24 (222) Linda Patterson 1:12.54 (273) Lorna Stephenson 1:26.56

The track and field athletics season got underway once more at Darlington two weeks ago. The Kieran Maxwell Open hosted by Darlington Harriers attracted athletes from across the North East keen to get back to competition after a long winter.

Alnwick Harriers Talia & Leila Thompson competing in the Shot both won their respective age categories. Tal winning the U17 category and Leila the under fifteen age group.

Closer to home this weekend the girls competed at Morpeth in the first North East Counties Athletic Association open meeting. Once again, they both had a great Shot Putt competition winning their categories and Talia throwing a brilliant personal best of 10.99m.

Lilia Purvis also competed in the shot and managed a massive 83cm personal best throw of 8.5m! Leila & Lilia are currently ranked 1st & 15th in the UK!

On the track Lilia and Finlay Telfer both raced the graded 800m. Lilia raced first finishing just outside her personal best time from the end of last season. Finlay was next setting himself an ambitious target of a 7s personal best on last year. The race started slowly so after the first 200m Fin took the lead, picked up the pace and lead from the front to win the heat by a clear 20 metres in 2 min 31s.

Harry Knox was the only Alnwick Harrier to brave the 3000m and put in a good time of 10 mins 48s in his first attempt at the distance.

Leila Thompson managed a good set of throws to win the Discus and Talia still a bit rusty managed an excellent second place in the hammer throw.

An excellent day’s athletics and some great results for those athletes that persevered with their own personal, lonely training over the long lock-down winter.

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