Created by : Thomas Shaw On : Mon, 12/08/2025 - 16:11
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It has been another incredibly varied week of events, from athletics to mud and fell to road for the Harriers, with lots of festive themed activities.
Saturday saw athletes of all ages tackle a very hilly, muddy course, in wintry conditions, for round three of North Midlands XC Allestree Park provided the venue for round three and by far the hilliest of the series with anything from one nearly 2km lap for the u11's up to three laps for the senior men which despite only just being 10k took in nearly 300m/1000 ft of climbing! Starting with our youngest Lauren Townrow led home a team of Libby Mould, Lydia Spencer and Isla Arthur whilst our boys continued there strong season as George North finished top-10 with Oakley Allsop, Freddie North and Freddie Parente doing their bit to keep the U11 boys in the hunt for series medals. Next up Holly Bulmer (u15G) had a single large lap of over 3km and Harry Cole (u17M) a double lap for two excellent runs.
Also with a double lap our Senior ladies saw a fine run from Darcie Wasnidge our First Lady home followed by Madi Spencer, Claire Allsop, Sam Robinson, Cath Mhembere and Sally Bulmer as our ladies continued with some excellent XC performances. Rounding out the day as always the senior men were led home by Adam Turner, Bryan Cherry, Tom Pettit and Adam Jonczyk. Dave Bulmer followed next (embracing the full XC experience!) followed by birthday boy Neil Allsop, Peter Spencer and our second Harrier looking for the most mud competition, Nick Mould!
Also on Saturday, several of our under 17 and under 20 athletes headed to the English Institute of Sport in Sheffieldfor the Northern Indoor Open. There was a glut of PB’s, with athletes representing the Harriers in the 60m hurdles, 60m sprint, 300 and 600 metres and shot put and high jump.
In the U17W 60m hurdles, all three athletes came away with PB'S. Summer Johnson led with 9.8s, followed by Darcey Croshaw (10.32s) and Amelia Read (10.38s). Grace Walton then ran in the U20W 60m hurdles and recorded a PB in 10.85s.
The trio then achieved another full house of PB's in the 60m flat, with Summer recording 8.62s, Amelia close behind on 8.63s and Darcey running 8.92s. Dabeer Yousuf ran in the U20M's race and recorded a time of 8.25s then followed this with a 2 second PB in his 600m competition in 1m 33.17s. Zac Ellery completed the track events running his 300m in 43.12s - another PB.
In the field events, Grace recorded a new PB, putting the 4kg shot a distance of 9.14m, then equalled her high jump PB, clearing 1.50m. This same height was achieved by Summer (equal indoor PB) with Darcey completing the days events jumping 1.40m.
Our 6 athletes competed in 14 events and achieved new, or equal, PB's in 12 of them; an excellent day’s work!
Sunday saw many Christmas themed events, with Sally, David and Holly Bulmer winning this week’s Christmas spirit award! They donned full Santa outfits to run the Leeds Santa Dash, a 3km run with a very special twist, as it formed the final leg of Kevin Sinfield’s 7 ultras in 7 days challenge, in aid of MDNA.
Over in Tinwistle, fell racing regulars Kerry Dickinson and Sally and Jim Staveley took on the Gravy Pud Fell race, a 5.5 mile race with over 1000ft of elevation (most of it at the start!) across moorland, farms and woodland. Jim finished in 55:08:23 , Sally in 1:15:34 and Kerry in 1:20:49.
And finishing the Christmas theme this weekend was the ever-popular Percy Pud 10k in Sheffield, with runners rewarded with a hat and a Christmas pudding! Paul Parry led the Harriers home with another club gold standard time, followed by Henry Brady and Hannah Miller finishing together, with an amazing PB of 38:03 for Hannah! On the PB theme, Aaron Buckland came in at 38:47 with Matt Daly on pacing duties. Great runs followed for Lucy Binch and Tamara Hazlehurst, adding to their club standards with a silver each, Nat Cunningham with a PB and club bronze, Charlotte Randell on day 37 of a 50 day running streak for charity with a club bronze, Rachel Silcock making it two silver standards in 2 weeks and Emma Shaw making a welcome return to racing with a fantastic run!
A great weekend showing the variety and depth of the events the Harriers get involved in- well done to everyone!