Early on the morning of Saturday 11th May, club legends, married couple and the best source of a cheap pun any bargain basement hack could hope for, Teresa and Chris ventured out again to (this time literally) climb the heights of ultra marathon running. If I don’t type their surname, I won’t find this inescapable urge to include it in …
Busy Post Marathon Ultras, Parkruns and Pednor
As happens every year, there is something of a break in competitive running after the London Marathon. Except I don’t really think that is ever the case. I just think that happens because I can’t move for several weeks and my running shoes gather dust. Apparently though, people do run just after they’ve done a marathon. The last Thursday of …
It’s London, Baby!
Sunday 21st April was the biggest date of the running calendar. According to marathonhandbook.com, the London Marathon is the second biggest marathon in the world by finisher numbers, around 48,000 in 2023, but is the hardest marathon in the World to get into (an estimated half a million people enter the ballot each year). This year 22 Harriers toed the …
Twice the Reasons for the Old Favourite Pun
The marathon season continued on the weekend of 13th & 14th April, with some high quality performances, a handful of Harriers at the Manchester Marathon and a surprise (to me, I’m assuming not to the participants) outing for two Reasons (sorry) in an ultra in Yorkshire. On Saturday 13th April, club legend Teresa Reason and her less well known (at …
Marathon Month Underway
With Easter having come and gone a little earlier than in many years, April was left open this year for the marathon season. The season duly got underway last weekend with a handful of GVH athletes travelling to Paris (lucky them) and a fine solo effort at the Milan Marathon. Sunday April 7th also saw the Brighton Marathon, but for …
Good Friday for Harriers
I’m not an expert on the origins of Easter but any religious festival with lightly toasted and heavily buttered sweet bakery products from the friday (and on through the long weekend) and various chocolate products from the Sunday, all within a four day weekend, is up there on my list of great religious festivals. Unlike Christmas, there is the added …
The 20 Mile Season of Misery
The Berko half always, in my mind at least, signals the transition from the “Races I always enjoy” season (Fred Hughes 10, Watford Half, Berko Half, muddy cross country races) to the 20 Mile Season (which only those actually doing a marathon take part in). Regular readers of this column will know that I, for one, thoroughly disenjoy 20 mile …
GVH Women at the Double
There was a slightly curious piece of scheduling over the weekend of 10th / 11th February as the final Chiltern League Cross Country fixture of the season took place in Oxford on Saturday while the February club league race took place on Sunday at the Love Welwyn 10k. Fortunately, GVH had built up a large cushion over their relegation rivals …
Hairy Outing for Fred Hughes
The early months of the year follow a fairly predictable pattern for many local runners as marathon training kicks in for some and the pattern of popular local races attracts both marathon and non marathon runners alike. After round 4 of the Chiltern League last weekend, another local race, the ever popular Fred Hughes 10 (mile) saw a large number …
Many Happy Returns!
It’s been a while. A cursory glance at the Latest News page on the club website shows that the last time a weekly report was written, it was also a cross country weekend, back at the start of December in Luton. What happened since? Well, there was the Milton Keynes Winter Half on December 10th, a load of Parkruns, the …