Worksop Harriers enjoy successful week

Thomas Shaw celebrates his Leader of the Year award, which recognises his contribution to the Harriers.

On Saturday they were are back at Berry Hill, Mansfield, again but this time for Nottinghamshire Schools XC series with some great performance across a range of age groups.

In Y5/6 girls, Anne Kemp finished with a podium in 3rd, joined closely the biggest team of the day was in the Y8/9 girls with Martha Hazlehurst (8th) joined by Kitts Laurence (a PB and 20th) and a 1-2-3 Charlotte Ayton, Lily Johnson and Nadia Jonczyk (30, 31 and 32nd).

Onto the boys where Freddie Marks finished 19th in the Y8/9 group whilst Chris Williams bagged 8th in Y10/11. It wasn’t just at Berry Hill for all the cross country success though as junior Harrier Holly Bulmer took part in the Y5/6 Bolsover District Schools to lead the field home and bag a gold medal with first place.

Saturday also hosted the Northern Athletics indoor open meeting, at the EIS in Sheffield, with Alicia Wells and Alexandros Tohovitis competing in the U17 age group.

Alicia achieved PB’s I U17W Shot Put (8.30m) the 60m (8.96s) whilst Alex had some speedy PB’s in the U17M 1000m (2:56) and in the 150m (19.4s)

Not content with just one day of racing though our juniors were in action again on Sunday as seven athletes in the U13/15’s took part in Indoor Sporthall competition at Mansfield for a range of sprints, jumps and throws.

On to the senior side this week and Saturday night saw a festive trail torch social organised from Hardwick Village, Clumber with 4 and 6 mile trails by (head)torch making for a great evening of running around the trails of Clumber.

Success this week wasn’t just out on the run this week however, as Thomas Shaw was awarded ‘Leader of the Year’ in the East Midlands England Athletic Regional awards.

The awards celebrate individual contribution to both run clubs and running in the community.

Tom is one of several qualified run leaders within the Worksop Harriers who work hard to plan routes, training sessions and generally help runners, new and experienced alike, to progress on their running journey.

Tom was one of several Run Leaders newly qualified in 2021 and supported by the great team they have around them in the Harriers ensures they deliver great sessions for runners of all abilities and help people achieve their goals.

Obviously still elated by success in the regional awards, Tom was back in his racing shoes on Sunday at the Tadcaster 10.

Starting from the town of Tadcaster (of John Smith’s fame!) the undulating 10 miler takes in the quiet country roads of Healaugh, Wighill and back to Tadcaster.

Strong winds made for a challenging effort but a speedy time of 56:06 was enough to secure Tom a podium with 2nd place.

Just under 10 miles but no less challenging was that Bakewell Trail Race.

It was tackled by Natalie Cunningham which offered spectacular views on a beautiful day to match 1000+ ft of elevation gain as Nat made her way from from Bakewell, over to New Piece and Manners Wood before looping back in to Bakewell from the South.

Nat completed the course in 1:33:31, besting not only her previous time but also enough to earn a series silver standard!

Next week is sure to be an action packed end to November as the Harriershead all over the region in both the Doncaster and Edwinstowe 10k’s as well as the Clowne Half Marathon.