Created by : Tom Shaw On : Wed, 04/30/2025 - 00:22
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Grab a cuppa and a couple of your favourite biscuits for bumper, record breaking and PB filled race report with a very busy week for the green and black.
We’re starting Stateside where Monday’s are for Marathon as Tom Shaw took part in the worlds oldest and 129th edition of the Boston Marathon. Bussed out 26.2 miles to Hopkinton, the Boston course is famous for its fast downhill start, rolling course before runners hit the hopkinton hills at mile 16 culminating in the heartbreak hill at mile 21 before descending in to Boston. Tom ran a PB of nearly 3 minutes to finish in 2:31:30 adding his name to some of the fastest times run by Harriers Men and the current fastest verified Marathon time in a Harriers Vest!
Monday wasn’t just about marathons as the popular Trunce place with a bank holiday edition on the 4 mile fell series as Chris Lawrence scored himself a PB in 34:30 with Sam Robinson making her Trunce debut in 39:19
On to mid-week racing and the Notts Summer League returned on Wednesday with a welcome new venue at Sherwood Pines. Just over 5 miles on a challenging hilly course, as 33 Harriers made it a strong turn out. Ben Rhodes led home the Harriers men with a top-10 finish followed by Henry Brady (27th), Barnaby Gray (50th), Paul Parry (68th) and a tapering Matt Daly (87th). The team put the Harriers men in 6th after the 1st match with Barnaby also 2nd in AG making a good start on the medal hunt! For the ladies Sally Ormrod and a tapering Hannah Miller finished 31st and 32nd followed shortly by Madi Spencer (46th) and an excellent run by Lucy Binch (58th) to also put the ladies in 6th.
By the weekend it was time for some T&F action and on Saturday a super turnout for our Juniors at the first mini-league Newark and the event started with some excellent results as Henry Marks was award the Jack Walters award for his contribution over the last year. On to the days results and…
On to Sunday and the County Development League had its first match also at Newark. A busy day for the Harriers. Miley Townrow made a superb start to her first year at U17 level as she knocked over 8s from her 1500m PB to run 5:00.05. On the senior front and a triple-set of PBs for Nick Mould in 1500m (5:23), the 3000m (12:02) and a quick blast in the 100m. Busiest man of the day was Chris’s Bliss as he raced 400m (1:17), 800m (2:45), 1500m (5:14.3), 3000m (11:33) and finished with the 1500m Steeplechase for good measure (6:37)
further results...
Before we return back to the Marathons a few Harriers jetted over to Croatia for a sunny edition of the Dubrovnik Half Marathon. A steep climb out of Old Dubrovnik before runners head out and back along a scenic coastal path North of Dubrovnik before returning to summit the climb again and a fast dash back in to the old town. Paul Marriott snuck in to the top-10 in 1:23:22 followed by Kerry Savile in 1:37:18, Sam Marriott in 1:56:03 and Tanja Maric in 2:06:51.
Finishing back with the Marathons and the UKs two biggest were head to head as Manchester Marathon had Rachel Silcock ticking off another marathon. The usual fast and flat marathon as it loops around the Manchester suburbs had an unwelcome heatwave to add the challenge as a common theme was battling with the heat in the later stages.
The final race sees us go back to the start with the second marathon major of the week with 12 Harriers among the 56,000 runners at the UKs most famous marathon. Point-to-point out of the multi-start points from Greenwich, runners start with a fast first 6 miles towards the Cutty Sark before making there way over Tower Bridge, out and back to Canary Wharf before the final few miles down the Embankment, waiting the view of Big Ben to know there’s less then a mile to go as runners pass Buckingham Palace, finishing on the Mall. Again the weather posed an additional challenge as the direct sun and heat made the time out there ever more challenging. First over the line for the Harriers and out of the fast-GFA pen, Matt Daly scored a PB of nearly two minutes in 2:47:41. Trevor Symcox ran 3:27:40 whilst Sarah Worley ran 3:42:04 and then came another PB as Gabs Bower overcame some last minute derailment in the taper to ran a superbly paced PB in 3:48:19 and one of the few to negative split of 3:15 on a challenging day. Cath Mhembere ran excellently in 4:07:27 with Camilla Mercer next in 4:39:30. A glut of Harriers next as Mark Manley (5:02:43), Matt Smith (5:04:47) and then Michelle Atherton running with the club ballot place (and an excellent support crew out on course) as she narrowly missed a PB despite the conditions in 5:24:41 and Adrian Thompson rounded out the Masses start in 5:28:56.
The final runner from London sees us go full circle this week and in to the Championship start. Following qualification at York Marathon last year (and in a storm no less!) Hannah Miller qualified for the England Marathon Championship. Limited to 500 men and women each with 2:38 and 3:08 standards required, the Championship starts with Elite Men as clubs compete for team honours. Running Nearly perfect splits in 1:31:41/1:31:07, Hannah not only ran a 5 minute PB to finish in 3:02:48 and in the top 300 women from the entire field, but also knocked over 3 minutes off the Worksop Harriers Women’s Marathon Record, set back in 2004!
