Nick Hughes’s group and Steve Perkin’s group combined to have an intra-club ‘open-graded’ 3000m race session at Merchant Taylor’s School on Saturday.
 
In cool, blustery conditions, fast times were hard to come by, but the athletes worked hard and there were some good performances, despite several athletes having run at Harrow on Thursday.
 
It was good to have some competition at the beginning of an autumn and winter season where cross country opportunities are likely to be at a minimum.

RESULTS

Harrow AC hosted another middle distance open meeting on Thursday featuring both 800m and 1500m. In quite good conditions a great turnout of Chiltern youngsters ran excellently with a high proportion of PBs achieved.
 
800m
Race 1
Marlie Nkoane (U13) made her age group track debut with second place in a  promising 2.44.61. Fellow first year U13 Charlotte Grosse also made her debut with 2.58.53.
 
Race 2
Two further first year U13s got underway in Race 2 with Zach Cleary seventh in 2.43.71 and Charlie De Sousa tenth in 2.52.51. U15 Savarnah Pandya was ninth in 2.48.63
 
Race 3
Second year U13 Lily Jessop-Tranter ran a big 9-second PB to be third in Race 3 with 2.31.94. U17 Charlotte Docwra made her track debut with a good run of 2.34.84.
 
Race 4
Second year U13 Olivia Clarke was also in PB form, fifth in 2.33.69.
 
Race 5
U15 Lesedi Nkoane was fourth in Race 5 in 2.29.61.
 
Race 6
U15 Ethan McCall took a whopping 12 seconds off his PB to be second in this one in 2.18.45.
 
Race 8
In-form U15 Isaac Jessop-Tranter won Race 8 with an excellent 2.11.32, four seconds ahead of his recently set PB. Frankie Baxter (U15) was 11th in 2.23.89.
 
Race 9
A further Chiltern win came in Race 9 courtesy of Thomas Askey with 2.03.87, again a new PB.
 
Race 10
The wins and PBs kept coming in Race 10 with U15 Alden Collier proving his record-setting year in 2019 as an U13 was no fluke with 2.01.42, putting him inside the top four in national rankings.
  
1500m
Race 1
U13 Emily Ford made an excellent track debut with second place in 5.19.96. First year U13 Katie Allsop made her target with a solid run of 5.50.26.
 
Race 3
In-form U15 Ellie Shield was seven seconds inside her previous best to be second in Race 3 in 5.08.69. Fellow U15 Rosa Williams was seventh in 5.18.62.
 
Race 5
U13 Alex Hughes ran a PB to be second in 4.56.73. Fellow U13 Daniel Munn made an impressive track debut to be close behind Alex in 4.57.62. U15 Maddie Hughes ran a season’s best 4.57.73 to be sixth in a close, exciting finish.
 
Race 6
U17 Will Shield has been away from track racing for a while but put his good training form into practice with a win in 4.34.00, in what was in fact Will’s debut at the distance. U15 Max Baxter ran a PB of 4.47.95 to be fourth. Callum Powell found himself in a race ahead of his fellow U13s Alex and Daniel, but hung on gamely to log a nine second PB of 4.58.87. All three lads are in the national top 30.
 
Race 7
U15 twins Euan and Archie Pinder impressed to be second and third in Race 7 with 4.32.02 and 4.32.27 respectively – both PBs by over ten seconds. In fourth was their coach Vet 50 Nick Hughes, running an impressive 4.35.22. Another PB came from U20 Joe Day, tenth in 4.48.82.
 
Race 9
U17 Louis Peterson, hampered by illness and injury for a long time, ran well to be third in 4.21.44, just off his PB.
 
Race 11
U20 Alex Johnson ran very well to continue his good season be third in 4.05.89.

A lack of races hasn’t stopped the Harriers from taking on endurance challenges.

Living up to her most inspirational award at last years’ social, Miriam Kempson ran the length of the
Ridgeway in a solo effort.  Not deterred by the official R86 being cancelled, Miriam set off to run it solo, with the support of many of her fellow Harriers.

Tim Dawson took on a lot of the organisation and, together with Rashi, offered support across the
whole 37 hours from a van. They raced from checkpoint to checkpoint, making sure Miriam had
everything she needed and that her support runners were all in the right place at the right time.
Ben Hetherington, Harriet Lemon, Tamsin Finch, Ruth Holroyd and Victoria Lucas all took shifts
supporting Miriam.

A special shoutout must also be given to Ellie and Neil Bates, who shared the
dreaded ‘night shift’ between each other.

Miriam thanked all her supporters, saying: “You were all stars and I can’t thank you all enough for
putting yourselves out for me. We are blessed to be part of a wonderful Harrier family.”

Harrow Open Meeting
 
Chiltern Harriers athletes had a very successful evening at Harrow on Thursday at the 3000m open meeting. The meeting was again covid-secure with controlled arrival times, warm-up areas and departure times, but maintaining a friendly atmosphere.
 
Race 3
A race full of young Chiltern talent saw several athletes making their debut at the event. U15 Max Baxter was the race winner in 10.24.93. In fourth place was U15 Maddie Hughes who ran a great race to log 10.44.31 (third in national rankings), and fifth was fellow U15 Frankie Baxter in 10.45.14 (fourth in national rankings). Also making their debuts were U17s Abbie Henderson (sixth in 10.50.03), Holly Henderson (eighth in 10.53.39) and Alice Brown (11th in 11.15.79). Alicia Bushell (U17) struggled with a stitch and was tenth in 11.07.93, well off her best time set last season.
 
Race 5
Vet 50 Nick Hughes was fourth in race 5 with a good run of 9.47.37. Also making his debut was U15 Isaac Jessop-Tranter who ran a very impressive time of 9.55.56 to be ninth (third on national rankings).
 
Race 7
In a very exciting race, U20 Alex Johnson ran a huge PB of forty seconds to be narrowly third in 9.05.45, less than a second behind the winner.
 
Race 8
Senior Aran Davidson just dipped under his target of nine minutes with a thirty second PB of 8.59.65 to be seventh.
 
September 24th sees the final in this series of Harrow open meetings which have been a great opportunity for Chiltern athletes to get some track experience. Several have already signed up for the 800m and 1500m on offer.
  
Aldershot Night of 1500m
 
U23 Harry Cox made the trip to Aldershot to run in the final race of the evening at a high quality 1500m meeting. Harry was an excellent fifth in Race 15 to log a seven second PB of 3.54.9.
Video of Harry's Race

BMC Gold Standard Lee Valley 27th August
Three Chiltern lads ran in the latest British Milers Club Gold Standard meeting at Lee Valley. All tackled 800m. Harry Cox ran close to his PB to be fourth in the B race with 1.53.50. Adam Day was also very close to his PB, being third in the C race in 1.54.89. Max McGarvie made his season debut to be second in the D race with 2.00.13.

Videos of the Races

B race – Harry Cox
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7Pmb4quHV4
 
C race  - Adam Day
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jh1XZu2_2cg
 
D race – Max McGarvie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhV4PM7VvAg

Trafford Open (22.08.20) Nuneaton Night of 800m PBs (28.08.20)
Zoe Gilbody ran 1500m at Trafford on August 22nd and ran a good time of 4.48.86 to be fourth. Zoe followed this up a few days later with a win in Race 8 at Nuneaton’s 800m open evening with 2.23.62.

SEAA Covid Games Chelmsford 30th August
With South of England Athletics Association not hosting any age group championships this year, they put on a one-off meeting instead at Chelmsford.
U15 Jemma Thomson was the sole Chiltern representative, running 300m. Jemma ran very well to be second in her heat in a good time of 43.57, just outside her PB. Jemma backed this up with a good run in the final to be fourth in 44.32.