Following the success of Roger Ellerby's marathon training group, he has kindly volunteered to run an eight week training programme to improve 5K race performance.

The two controlled sessions for this programme will be at our normal Tuesday and Thursday meeting spots.
The plan is for all those interested to be assessed by me to evaluate their current fitness, this will be derived from various tests carried out on a Tuesday evening ( or another convenient day-time ). Each athlete would then discuss their desired goal/s from the programme.

The intention is for me to oversee the Tuesday sessions which will be focussed on skills, agility, strength and balance and the Thursday session will be a progressive, incremental speed programme at the track, tailored to meet the individual's goals, conducted by Mike.

The rest of the weeks sessions will be outlined in the programme but carried out as and when by the athletes.

The Tuesday's sessions will be at the same location as the normal summer club locations. This will enable athletes to opt in or out as they wish throughout the 8 week programme.

The content of both Tuesday's and Thursday's sessions will be published before each session.
​If this initiative proves a success then further plans for 10K and Half Marathon could be carried out leading up to the usual Marathon programme.

Interested athletes should contact Roger directly - you can find contact details here

South Bucks got off to a solid start in the YDL at Bournemouth on Sunday. Despite a smaller than usual turnout, the team battled hard and achieved a creditable third place in the division of seven teams. The team features U17s and U20s from Chiltern Harriers and Wycombe Phoenix.
Conditions were mostly good: dry, mild and still with an occasional light shower. The atmosphere was enhanced by hearing the Bournemouth v Leeds match at the Vitality Stadium next door.
 
Under 20 Women
There were just two South Bucks U20 women competing but both were in great form. Christina Poulsen won 200m in 26.1 and was second in 100m in 12.7. Chisom Nwafor tackled five individual events and looks good for her heptathlon summer. In shot Chisom threw 13.28m to go third in the UK rankings. This was backed up with 6.08m in long jump to go joint top, and 14.7 in 100m hurdles, again third nationally. All three events were convincing wins. In the afternoon, there were fewer fireworks but 1.50m in high jump for second and 34.76m in javelin for second completed a great day. Christina led a 4 x 100m relay team to fourth aided by U17s Ffion Harman, Lyla Griffin and Melody Ball.
 
U20 Men
Caleb Hambrook (U17) and Caleb Akinsipe ran well in 100m and 200m A and B string, Caleb Hambrook logging a 200m PB of 23.9 and Caleb Akinsipe gaining PBs of 11.9 and 24.3 in both. Raihan Lenoire won 800m, Sammy Bennetts won 1500m and Matt Evans was second in 3000m to keep the points going. Decathlete Ryan Wells performed well with three second places in discus, hammer and shot, one third in javelin and a win in 110m hurdles in a PB of 15.20. Leo Selcon Park provided good back up in B string hammer, shot and javelin. The 4 x 100m team of the Calebs plus U17s Harrison Sears and Finn Walsh ran well for 50.1, and a diverse quartet of Raihan, Sammy, with U17s Ibrahim Achichi and Issa Phillips-Pope ran well for 3.28.1 in 4 x 400m.
 
U17 Women
The U17 women were the largest South Bucks team of the day. Lailah Pope and Olivia Edwards looked after short sprints and Ffion Harman tackled 300m. In middle distance Rebecca Lawson and Lyla Griffin ran well with Ivy Uhart and Emma Readman in 1500m. Allegra Massey was third in 3000m. Florence Lee-Rubis ran a PB of 13.8 in 80m hurdles and Ffion ran a PB of 50.2 in 300m hurdles, Jo Snelling also running well.
 
In the field, Florence and Aoife McAuley jumped well in long jump and high jump, and Rebecca Lawson made her triple jump debut. Melody Ball threw well in javelin and hammer, backed up by Lyla in hammer and Ffion in javelin. Ivy and Emma filled in well in discus and Aoife and Melody looked after shot. The 4 x100m relay team of Lailah, Olivia, Florence and Aoife were second as were the 4 x 300m relay squad of Jo, Rebecca, Ivy and Emma.
 
U17 Men
Harrison Sears ran PBs in A string 100m (11.7) and 200m (24.6) with support from Issa Phillips-Pope in 100m and Finn Walsh in 200m. Ibrahim Achchi won 1500m steeplechase in a PB of 4.43.8 and helped out in 400m. Daniel Cogan worked hard in 800m and 1500m. In the field Finn was A string long jump and high jump and Caleb Hambrook helped out in shot. Issa Phillips-Pope won pole vault with an impressive 3.10m.
 
The next match sees another trip to the seaside, Brighton on Sunday May 28th. The team can build on a good opening match.

There was good Chiltern representation in the London Mini Marathon which this year took place on the Saturday, the day before the race. Most were taking part in the British Athletics Road Championships for their regions but Ellie Shield was running in the Borough Challenge for Westminster. All athletes ran the same 2.6k course around St James Park.
 
U13 Girls
10th        Kara Gorman (South East) 9.08
U13 Boys
21st        Tom Ford (East)  8.45
U15 Girls
16th        Lucy Wilkinson (South East) 9.01
67th        Emily Ford (East) 10.00
U15 Boys
31st        Alex Hughes (South East) 8.07
U17 Girls
35th        Maddie Hughes (South East) 9.13
21st        Ellie Shield (Westminster) 9.50
U17 Boys
29th        Thomas Redmond (South East) 7.51         

Saturday saw the Wycombe Phoenix Club Champs and Invitational meeting – this time held at Stoke Mandeville. As usual this also included the Buckinghamshire AA 3000m Championships for U15 and U17 athletes. Conditions were good with mild temperatures and a still, dry day.
 
Bucks 3000m
There was good representation from Chiltern in this event which also included the Oxon Championships. The male athletes all went together as did the females, so two races in total. The boys’ race was well attended but the girls race a bit light.
 
In the Bucks U17 men’s race it was a Chiltern 1-2 with Daniel Munn running a PB to win in 9.39.87 with Rory Hilton second in 10.39.56. There was another 1-2 in the U15 boys’ race with James Holdsworth victorious in 10.01.24 and Aidan Suleyman second in 10.10.95. Mattie Gemmell was sixth in 11.44.29.
 
Marlie Nkoane was involved in a competitive race and was narrowly second U15 in 11.14.93 in her debut at the event. In the U17 women’s race it was another Chiltern 1-2 with Alice Peckham winning in 11.43.49 and Jocelyn Davies silver medallist in 12.34.86.
 
Invitational
The main part of the meeting featured events for U13s and U15s that are in the YDL programme plus a quadkids competition for U11s.
U13 Girls
In the 75m there was a bronze medal for Zoe Partridge in 11.34. The 150m saw PBs from Holly Knott and Bronwen Harman. In the 800m there were good runs from Annie-Rose Quantrill, Bethan Lloyd and Nia Brown and in the 1200m Soraya Roughton was victorious in 4.39.77. Bethan Lloyd won 70m hurdles.
In the field there was a win for Zoe Partridge in long jump with 3.71m and good efforts from Holly Knott, Anais Majekodunmi and Bronwen Harman. In high Jump Holly Knott and Nia Brown gained PBs. Zoe gained another medal with bronze in javelin in a PB of 18.13m and Bethan Lloyd and Bronwen Harman also did well.  
 
U15 Girls
Ysabelle Majekodunmi gained a PB of 14.45 in 100m won 75m hurdles in a PB of 15.54. Evelyn Wildman took a convincing win in 800m in a PB of 2.30.40. Zoe Aleksandrova made her 1500m debut and jumped well to be fourth in long jump with 3.95m. Evelyn Wildman and Isla Dalby also jumped well.
 
U13 Boys
Isaac Taylor ran a PB of 11.87 in 75m. Luke Coultate took a win in 800m in 2.35.16 with Isaac fourth. In 1200m Kit Dixon ran well for bronze in a PB of 4.17.85 with Jacob McCall and Isaac McCall close behind in fourth and fifth.
 
U15 Boys
Chiltern’s U15 boys look to be a strong team in YDL this year. Emile Morti won the 100m final in a PB of 12.35. Nirva Raj Khantharuban was third in 12.39 and there were good runs also from Taye Chan and Aarav Johnson. Ryan Allbrook took silver in 200m in a PB of 26.85. Dylan Rossi won 300m in his debut with 45.07. In 800m Dylan was fourth, Eddie O’Brien fifth and Theo Roughton eighth. Charlie Quantrill took silver in 1500m in a PB of 4.53.39 and Charlie De Sousa also gained a PB to be sixth. There was a Chiltern 1-2 in 80m hurdles with Emile Morti logging 13.11 and Taye Chan right behind in 13.25, both PBs.
 
Ryan Allbrook took a second silver in high jump with 1.45m and Taye Chan took a good bronze with a PB of 5.01m in a high quality long jump. Theo Roughton tackled shot and discus.
 
Quadkids
Jack Dixon gained good experience with performances in 75m, 1200m, long jump and vortex howler throw, with a 600m PB of 2.09.14 a highlight.

Happy Easter, Race Report fans from a quiet Race Report HQ where we are enjoying the fact that the rain went away and the sun came out to see out the long weekend. I hope you have had a truly egg-cellent time and have eaten copious amounts of chocolate. ​

Spring is definitely feeling like it did pre-Covid, like the season of road racing. And Harriers didn’t disappoint this weekend.​

We’ll kick things off with parkrun events from yesterday, Saturday 1 April: there were first placed finishes for Yours Truly at a muddy Church Mead (Amersham) in a time of 22.54, and for Aidan Suleyman in a far more glamorous-sounding Groeneweide, South Africa (19.58). Richard Quantrill was rewarded with a course PB of 20.27 for his efforts at Rickmansworth.

April training sessions - please note the venues are now changing as we move from winter to summer training.
We are continuing to operate a more standardised monthly posting of training session details, and in order to locate the meeting points we are using: what3words.com to enable the accurate location of the car parking and meeting point for each training session during April.

We currently have a 'Hanson’s Method' Spring Marathon Training Group, under Roger Ellerby’s supervision on Tuesday evenings, usually, but not always, meeting at the Rear Hall at Broadway Baptist Church, 78 The Broadway. Chesham HP5 1EG (stove.simply.froze), with free parking in the adjacent Star Yard Car Park, Chesham. Some of the sessions will involve meeting at other locations, so you need to join the whatsapp marathon training group to ensure you have the latest session details. If you are new and would like to join the group, then please let Roger Ellerby, Mike Shrive or Trevor Brawn know.
     
Thursday Sessions: Ready to run at 7pm at the Track at Merchant Taylors School Track, through to September.
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TUESDAY NIGHTS - Ready to run at 7pm.  The Tuesday night routes will usually be on trails in various locations, sometimes with an opportunity to regroup for refreshments after the session, at a local pub. There will not generally be a Hall to access, or Toilet facilities during the summer activities.


Tuesday 04 April: Ready to run at 7pm: Meeting at the Rear Hall at Broadway Baptist Church, 78 The Broadway. Chesham HP5 1EG (stove.simply.froze), with free parking in the adjacent Star Yard Car Park, Chesham.       
 
Tuesday 11 April: Ready to run at 7pm: Meeting at the Rear Hall at Broadway Baptist Church, 78 The Broadway. Chesham HP5 1EG (stove.simply.froze), with free parking in the adjacent Star Yard Car Park, Chesham.                                           
                                  
Tuesday 18 April: Ready to run at 7pm: Parking at the Westwood Park Car Park, Little Chalfont and meeting on the playing field (forced.mole.scenes) near the Pavillion  
We hope some of our marathon runners will come along to stretch their legs with an easy jog around the playing field and after the session for drinks at the White Lion Pub - HP7 9LJ - where food is available to order up to 9pm. 
 
Tuesday 25 April:  Ready to run at 7pm:  Parking and Meeting at Dovecote Meadow Car Park, Old Amersham (risk.trial.focus)
 
Thursday Track Sessions organised by Mike Shrive at Merchant Taylor’s School, Moor Park. Individuals may design their own session, or run on the grass playing field.
 
 Thursday 06 April: Ready to run at 7pm: Meeting at Merchant Taylor’s School Track (inspector.once.reader) and parking in the school car park at (activism.space.pills)
 
Thursday 13 April: Ready to run at 7pm:  Meeting at Merchant Taylor’s School Track (inspector.once.reader) and parking in the school car park at (activism.space.pills)
 
Thursday 20 April: Ready to run at 7pm: Meeting at Merchant Taylor’s School Track (inspector.once.reader) and parking in the school car park at (activism.space.pills)
 
Thursday 27 April: Ready to run at 7pm: Meeting at Merchant Taylor’s School Track (inspector.once.reader) and parking in the school car park at (activism.space.pills)

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