Elise Thorner (no 827) shows good form coming out of the water jump at a Track 3,000m Steeplechase
The Club training sessions which for the past 18 months, when permitted under Covid-19 restrictions, have been taking place at Strode College are due to switch to Millfield track as from this coming week. The Club has submitted what it believes is all the required paperwork including lists of qualified DBS checked coaches & list of members, as well as insurance documents over the past 4 weeks or so.
The Monday junior session which continues to attract a dedicated and talented group of age 8-15 year olds will hold its first session at Millfield this Monday 14th June. What has been the Thursday group (age 14-84) will now revert back to being a Tuesday session (starts 15th June). Please note that Millfield can only let us hire from 7.15pm to 8.15pm. Please do not arrive any earlier nor stay any longer. Read on for details of training & latest competition updates.
HARRIER TRAINING SESSIONS
Monday Juniors age 8-14 start 7.15pm at Millfield Track & finish 8.15pm. Cost £2 per session to be paid monthly. Book 24 hrs ahead by contacting Paul. Coaches: rota of Graham, Paul, Al, Tom & Chris. (rosta set by Paul) Members only.
Long Jump & Shot put as well as sprints & endurance running. Parents required to assist by holding stop watch, raking pit etc.. Currently limited to 24 junior athletes until a parent or senior Harrier takes the Assistant Coaching course – ask Paul if you are interested. (Qualified Coach: athlete ratio 1:12)
Book via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 07761 967075
Tuesday older juniors age 14 upwards and seniors, start 7.15pm at Millfield track for group warm up 7.20pm. Finish by 8.15pm. Cost £2 per session to be paid monthly. Book 24hrs ahead by contacting Graham. Coaches: Jon, Graham, Paul, Al, Tom & Simon (rosta set by Jon). Sessions set by Jon. See Training tab for latest session plan for June. Members only. (Qualified Coach: athlete ratio 1:12)
Book via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The above sessions are covered by Club insurance as are the Wednesday evening training sessions from Wells Rugby Club. See training tab for information.
If you are not sure which session is best for you please contact Paul (secretary & Coaching co-ordinator) or Graham.
Track reports
Gearing up for National Championships
Harrier Life Members Elise & Ollie Thorner are now back in the UK and we have the latest update from Al on recent competitions and what next:
“On 29th May in the summer heat and humidity of College Station, Texas, u23 Elise Thorner competed in the 3000m steeplechase in the NCAA (National Collegiate AA) West Coast Preliminaries, the final competition to decide the athletes who will compete in the forthcoming US national NCAA finals in mid-June. On paper it was looking like a tough ask for her to qualify with only the first three of 12 from each of three heats being selected along with the three fastest non automatic qualifiers.
With two potential contenders for qualification for the Olympic Games in Tokyo in her heat and ranked 4th fastest on time, Elise gave it her best shot but came up just short and placed 16th out of the three heats with only the top 12 being selected out of the 36 competing, coming home in 6th place in her race with a creditable time of 10 mins and 07 seconds”. This is a little outside her pb – see previous reports
“This race completed her freshman track and field season competing for New Mexico, ending with a second placed ranking in the US as a freshman over the 3000m steeplechase. She now returns to the UK with eyes set on a qualification spot for the U23 European track and field championships in Tallinn, Estonia (*) in July and competes in the England U23 Championships in Bedford on Sunday 20th June. " (* These Championships were originally slated for Bergen but have been re-located due to Covid-19 issues)
Meanwhile, Elise's twin brother, Ollie, will be competing at the National Championships to be held at Manchester at the Decathlon at the end of the month - watch out for coverage on the BBC. See previous report.
BMC Junior Meet at Millfield – Saturday 27th May
No report nor photos yet received – if you were there and competed please send in. Include all Harrier results and any good photos.
Please remember to check out the Team website tab for details of competitions coming up and the link to the team managers as we compete at T&F with Yeovil Olympiads.
Road Running reports
Aime & Neil Biss have been in action this past few weeks competing at the Egdon Easy 10k, down at Weymouth, which attracted 154 finishers on Monday 29th May. Aime ran a pb in 56.12 for 94th place with Neil finishing in the same time. (photo below shows Aime pacing Neil)
Coming Up
A number of senior Harriers are now looking to compete further afield with multi-terrain races available in Dorset, and fell races in the Brecon Beacons over the next month. Two teams of 6 have now been recruited to run for the Harriers at a 10k multi-terrain race along the River Parrett on Thursday 15th July. Please contact Paul if you want to be 1st reserve or need more information on any of these events.
5k Park Runs are now due back on Saturday 26th June (*fingers crossed) – check out local venues for details of these time trials suitable for all abilities and paces.
See previous postings for information and links to the Haselbury Trail race and the Baltonsborough races in August.
REMEMBER : If you compete for the Harriers, then send a report and any good photo(s) into Paul by Monday 8pm for that week's web-posting and into the local newspaper.
MEMBERSHIP UPDATE
154 Members have now paid their Membership fee – 151 are 1st claim & 3 are 2nd claim.
WELCOME TO ALL OUR NEW MEMBERS
There are a further 12 or so members that have advised us that they wish their membership to be ‘on hold’ either because they aren’t currently able to train with us, or due to injury, or they are away from Somerset at this time (or a combination of those reasons). All others that have previously been on the database that haven’t yet paid will now be resigned from the Club as it is assumed they no longer require Membership.
Please contact Paul if you need to reinstate your Harrier Membership. You need to be a Harrier member to train with the Club.
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See Membership tab if you wish to join the Club.
& Finally….Don’t Try This at Home!
We have some great ultra runners within the Club – some of whom have run for 45 hours or more at the tough Ultra Trail de Mont Blanc (!) – but even they would probably not want to compete at the ‘Last Man/Woman standing race reported this week on the BBC Website – running for over 80 hours!
See Suffolk Backyard Ultra: Runner completes 337 miles in 81 hours straight - BBC News
Some reports you might have missed?:
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