Wells City Harrier members have been out competing at track and field events and at a local fell race this past week. Whilst Elise Thorner was in action at the England u20 Championships in the 800m, u17 Harry Barton came 5th with a new pb in the South West Schools Octathlon. Mid-week saw a group of senior Harriers run well at one of the local fell races, Beacon Batch,  with Christian Green 2nd and Chris Kelsey 1st V60.

Elise, seen here chasing hard in the white vest (photo by Al)

U20 Elise Thorner, one of the Club's Honorary Life Members who gained selection for TeamGB last summer in the Steeplechase, ran at the England Athletics u20 Championships at Bedford this past weekend competing in a tough 800m race. Elise finished in a time of 2mins 12 secs for 4th in her heat but was pleased with her race tactics and her second lap split time showed an impressive turn of speed.

On Sunday, U17 Harry Barton achieved a 5th place at the South West Schools multi-events Championships at Exeter. Harry competed in the Octathlon and recorded personal best marks in 4 of the 8 events whilst equalling his current pb in one other. Perhaps most impressive was his High Jump, with a 1.83m clearance, with bests also recorded in the Shot Put (8.20m), Discus (23.71m), and Javelin (34.42m). His points tally for the 8 events was 4,211.

The previous weekend saw another of the Harriers Hon Life Member, Oliver Fox, smash his personal best when running a track 5,000m in a BMC meeting at Watford, finishing in a shade over 14 minutes - 14.00.19. This time ranks him in the top 25 nationally for 5000m at the current time.

Meanwhile last Wednesday, June 19th, a squad of senior Harriers competed in the tough Beacon Batch Fell Race over 5miles with 800 feet of climb in mid-week. Starting from Burrington Combe the course took them up and down the Mendips a few times.Finishing in 2nd place was the Club's Deputy Chairman Christian Green in 35.41, with Alex Coombs 4th in 38.26, and Oli Frost 15th in 42.10. 1st V60 in 28th place was Chris Kelsey in 45.40, then Pete Clothier 38th in 49.45 and finally Gary Tubridy, 55th in 57.40.

The next Fell race in Somerset will be the Crook Peak race in August, and those looking to really test themselves should consider entering the Southern Fell Running Championships on the Isle of Wight on the weekend of 14th & 15th September - see calendar entries, and speak to Paul who administers these Championships.

The Harriers have two teams of 10 senior runners competing this coming Saturday in the scenic 103 mile Cotswold Way Relay. The Club celebrates 25 years of entering teams at this event and has high hopes of another good result.

The Harrier training sessions for juniors on a Monday continue to attract a good range of eager youngsters for running, jumping and throwing training, and these sessions continue through to the end of July when the volunteer coaches take a well earned break. Junior teams for the Southern Road Relays at Crystal Palace on September 22nd are now been formed over the next month. We need parents of the relevant juniors to volunteer to team manage their specific daughters or sons team. See Calendar entry for more details on the Road Relays. (There may also be some sub-regional road relays in early September tbc)

Coming up:

Wed 26th June - Harrier Pub Run from Croscombe 6.30pm - see previous news item. Beware of heavy traffic going to the Festival!

Sat 6th July Charmouth Challenge Fell Race

Sun 7th July Quantock Beast MT (race full) - next race in Somerset Series

Wed 17th July Pawlett Plod 10k MT - also in Somerset Series

(As always check the Calendar entry for any further info or links)