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.

800m
Race 1 – Savarnah Pandya (U15) won the first race of the evening in 2.48.8
 
Race 2 – Hannah Ashby (U15) was third with 2.43.8.
 
Race 3 – There were two Chilterns in this one, Ellie Shield (U15) second in 2.35.4, just outside her PB, and Rosa Williams (U15) sixth in 2.43.3.
 
Race 4 – Soraya Lockwood (U20) was third in 2.35.8 and Marea Logan (U15) fifth in 2.42.0.
 
Race 6 – The Henderson twins (U17) were fourth and fifth, both off their best, Holly running 2.24.9, Abbie 2.27.1.
 
Race 7 – U15 Issac Jessop-Tranter won this one in an impressive PB of 2.15.4, and U20 Joe Day ran a PB of 2.20.8 to be fifth.
 
Race 8 – U17 Thomas Askey dropped his PB by nearly five seconds to win Race 8 in 2.06.4.
 
Race 9  - More U17 PBs came in this one – Finn O’Brien second in 2.08.7 (a ten second PB) and Charlie Stone fourth in 2.09.8.
 
Race 12 – U20 Tom Hunter ran another PB in the last 800m of the evening to be sixth in 2.04.8.
 
 
1500m
Race 3 – U15 Maddie Hughes was fourth in 5.02.6.
 
Race 4 – U15 Thomas Redmond ran a PB of 4.31.9 to win Race 4 by a good margin.
 
Race 7 – In-form senior Aran Davidson ran big PB to be fourth in 4.17.1.

Track
Adam Day looks like being Chiltern’s most prolific track performer this season.
 
On August 16th Adam made the trip to Nuneaton to run in the open meeting there. He was in the top rated race and won in another strong time of 1.55.00, just half a second down on his recently set PB. A week later Adam was back at Nuneaton as a guest in the Birchfield Inter Club match and ran a big 1500m PB of 3.57.96.
See video of Adam's race
 
On August 27th Harrow AC is hosting an 800m and 1500m open meeting and 16 Chiltern athletes have entered.
 
Road
On the road Aran Davidson put in two great runs in quick succession. On Friday 21st he took part in the MK 5k PB Special round Willen Lake and scorched to a big PB of 15.18. Also running was Ali Young who ran a great race of 19.21.
 
On Sunday 23rd Aran was back on the roads in the St Albans Summer 10k where he was an excellent fourth in 32.29. Mike Turney was also involved, clocking a rapid 37.35 to be fifth Vet 50 and 61st overall. Andy Wiseall was 122nd in 40.22

The British Milers Club hosted an 800m meeting at Lee Valley on Wednesday. As with previous meetings this Covid-19 summer, the races were 800m only, run in lanes, with athletes in alternate lanes only.
 
This requires a different set of skills to normal middle distance running, and athletes were pleased to hear that all races after August 8th would revert to the traditional format, albeit with a maximum of six in a race.
 
On Wednesday Cameron Reid was in the B race, Harry Cox the C race and Adam Day the D race. Temperatures were mild but a gusty wind made for some tricky conditions.
 
Harry was first up in the ‘outside’ lane of lane 5. Harry put in a solid effort to be third in 1.57.16. Cameron ended up in a race of only two, but ran well from lane 1 to be second in 1.55.60. Adam Day was also in lane 1 in his race and was closing fast in the closing stages to be second in 1.55.58.

Under 23 Adam Day went up to Longford Park track in Trafford, Manchester on Saturday (25th July) to take part in the British Milers Club Gold Standard meeting.
 
The meeting was solely 800m races, all run in alternate lanes (1,3 and 5) with a pacemaker in lane 6. There were fourteen male races, and six female. With a PB of 1.54.84 Adam was seeded to run in the fifth race, Race E.
 
Adam, running in his red Birmingham University vest, was in lane 5 so followed the pacemaker, unaware of what was happening inside. The final straight, when the long stagger finally unwound, saw Adam in a good battle with Joseph Rogers of Halesowen in lane 1. Adam was just pipped on the line but still recorded a PB of 1.54.49, a reward for all his hard work during the Covid-19 crisis.
​
Vinco video – Adam Day running in red vest (lane 5)     https://www.runjumpthrow.com/videos/43354/

Adam, U23 Harry Cox, and U20 Cameron Reid are all planning to compete at another BMC meeting, at Lee Valley on August 5th.

Our virtual 5 mile relay saw 84 harriers, both juniors and seniors, compete over their own circuits in a bid to run the fastest time possible for their team.
And the runners did not disappoint. The vast majority of people ran significantly faster than their predicted times, some by nearly 5 minutes, showing that lockdown training really is paying off for all. ​