Latest News
Oxford Cross Country League Sunday 5th February 2012 - CHANGE OF VENUE
20 January 12
Note that there has been a late change of venue for the next Oxford XC League – the race will now be held at the original venue of Cirencester Park and not at Ascott-under-Wychwood as earlier announced.
Posted by Ray Bell
Club Kit
18 January 12
Just a reminder that we have a variety of club kit for sale at very reasonable prices, this includes;
Waterproof Jackets (fleece lined) (£35)
Hoodies (Juniors £12, Adult £15)
T-Shirts (Juniors £6)
Sweatshirts (Juniors £12, Adult £15)
Beanies (£6)
as well as club vests and crop tops (in anticipation of the warmer weather!)
Full details are available here.
These are all available from the track or through Val Gibbons.
Should you want any more details contact either Ray Bell or Sarah Bellamy.
Posted by Ray Bell
Highworth Half Marathon - Sunday 15th January 2012
17 January 12
Congratulations to all our athletes who took part in the Highworth Half Marathon last Sunday and took 1st place!
Individually Kate Jacobs was 1st in the Ladies race and Gary O’Brien 3rd and Nathan Blundon 6th in the Mens race.
The full results were as follows;
Position Time
3 1:15:44 Gary O’Brien
6 1:18:24 Nathan Blundon
15 1:21:21 Simon Green
16 1:21:31 John Lewis
20 1:23:32 Martin Townsend
28 1:25:31 Kate Jacobs
31 1:27:09 Mike Tune
33 1:27:47 Mike Beard
41 1:29:22 Bernie Merron
75 1:38:16 Crispin Garth
99 1:42:27 Graham Hutchins
117 1:45:50 Jenny Garth
Again, congratulations to all!
Posted by Ray Bell
Recent Cross Country Results
17 January 12
South West Inter Counties ; Bicton, Devon – Sunday 8th January 2012
A number of our athletes made the long trek to Bicton for the SWIC Cross Country Championships, in the Under 15 Girls Charlotte George (7th) and Maddie Perrins (9th) helped the Wiltshire team to 1st place; Ciaran Cooper was 13th in the Under 15 Boys; Lillie Bellamy 6th in the Under 17 Ladies; Kate Jacobs 6th in the Senior Ladies and Shaun Mochan 13th in the Senior Men.
Oxford Cross Country League – Sunday 8th January 2012
The third race of the Oxford Mail League was held at Middleton Cheney, near Banbury on an interesting hilly course with the added feature of a long uphill straight to the finish!
The full results can be found here with special mention to;
Under 13 Boys – Will Crisp – 1st and remains 1st overall for the season, the Under 13 Boys team was 2nd and is also 2nd for the season
Under 15 Girls – Carla Huynh – 8th and 4th overall for the season, the Under 15 Girls team is placed 2nd overall for the season to date.
Under 17 Boys – Nyle Clinton 1st, Will Ballard 2nd and Matt Raymond 12th with the team coming in 1st; for the season to date these three are 1st , 2nd and 6th respectively with the team retaining 1st position. Our strength in the age group is shown by our other teams finishing 6th and 11th on the day and standing at 5th and 11th for the seaon to date.
Senior Men – Heath Bampton was our first Senior Man home in 19th place with Chris Reade 24th and Paul Key 33rd, the team was placed 6th. For the seaon to date Heath Bampton is in 4th place in the V40 and Brian Gardner leads the V50 category.
Posted by Ray Bell
Wiltshire Road Race League
12 January 12
This year sees the launch of the inaugural Wiltshire Race League; this will start in February 2012 with the Longleat 10K and run for 12 events finishing with the Downton Half Marathon in November.
As an affiliated club to the Wiltshire Athletic Association we are automatically entered into this league, to compete individual members simply need to enter the races within The League in the normal fashion.
Clubs will then achieve a score according to the finishing position of your members relative to other athletes belonging to Wiltshire affiliated clubs (including Team Bath AC) and of the same sex. There is a cut off as to how many athletes can score for a club and for the inaugural League this has been set at 10, with the first five scorers forming the ‘A’ team and the second five scorers the ‘B’ team.
With the first Wiltshire athlete scoring 100, the second 99, the third 98 and so on, the team then achieves a total score for the race – this then translates into League points. With the highest scoring team gaining 20pts, second 19pts, third 18pts etc.
The League table is then built on the basis of a team’s best-10 point’s tally, this prevents clubs like Corsham Running Club or Chippenham Harriers being prejudiced by the inclusion of a race such as the St Georges 10K or Chippenham Half into the League where there may be an expectation for members to assist with the race organisation rather than compete.
The scores achieved at those ten events are also tallied and used as a differentiator, a bit like goal difference in the Football Premiership. The League winning teams (Men & Ladies) will be rewarded at the end of the League season as will the top points scorers, including those in the V40, V50 & V60 age categories.
Wiltshire Athletic Association will make all of the necessary calculations based on the results of the League race and publish the League standings on the county website at www.wiltshire-athletics.org.ukand it is planned that award presentations will be made at the final race of the League season.
The League will also provide a means to identify athletes for inclusion in the Wiltshire county team and the revenue generated from Race Organisers “buying” their races into The League shall fund expenses enabling the Wiltshire team to compete at events much further afield than at present.
The following races will form the first League season:
1. The Longleat 10K – Warminster (5th February 2012)
2. The Devizes 10K – Devizes (4th March 2012)
3. St Georges 10K – Corsham (22nd April 2012)
4. The Highworth 5 – Highworth (29th April 2012)
5. The Bath Hilly 10 – Bath (3rd June 2012)
6. The Springfield 5K – Corsham
7. The TBAS 10K – Castle Coombe
8. The Foxtrot 5 – Broughton Gifford (26th August 2012)
9. The Melksham 10 – Melksham (16th September 2012)
10. The Cricklade Half Marathon – Cricklade (7th October 2012)
11. The Clock Change Challenge 10K – Calne (28th October 2012)
12. The Downton Half Marathon – Downton (25th November 2012)
Details of these races will be published on the website as they become available.
More information about the league can be found on the Wiltshire AA website.
Posted by Ray Bell
British Masters XC Championships 25th March 2012
9 January 12
As you may already know, the British Masters Cross Country Championships are coming to Bath this year. What an opportunity for a strong Swindon Harriers presence! The championships could be held anywhere in he UK ; this year they are on our doorstep.
There are two races, both on Sunday, 25th March :
1. all women plus M65+
2. all other men M35+
You can find out more on the BMAF website
If you want to run you will need to post your own individual entry form. Make sure you put Swindon Harriers as your 1st claim UKA club (unless it isn’t, of course) and the organisers will automatically score the first three in each age group (unless you wish to declare for a younger team, but the main thing is that we get our individual entries in on time).
IF you want any further information email Brian Gardner using this link, he has been running in national vets XC races for sixteen years now. It’s a great experience but usually he is the only Swindon Harrier there! It would make such a difference if we could turn out in force this year and put our club on the cross country masters map!
Go on – give it a go – you won’t regret it!
Posted by Ray Bell
Club Road Race Records
9 January 12
There have been some further updates to Club Marathon records, new club record holders are;
Michael Tune – MV40 record holder – London 2008 in 2:49:18
Bernard Merron – MV50 Record Holder -London 2010 in 3:09:01.
Michael Affleck – MV60 Record Holder – London 2010 in 3:31:03.
Congratulations to all!
Posted by Ray Bell
Oxford Cross Country League Sunday 8th January 2012 - UPDATE
4 January 12
The venue for the next race in the Oxford XC league is Middleton Cheney near Banbury.
Full directions are on the Oxford XC League website.
Posted by Ray Bell
Christmas Track Sessions
14 December 11
There will be no track session for the Under 11 group on Wednesday 28th December 2011
All other training groups will be individually advised by their coaches as to when sessions are running over the Christmas/New Year period.
Posted by Ray Bell
Club News 13th December 2011
13 December 11
A busy weekend with club members active in both the Wiltshire XC Championships at Bath and the annual Santa Dash at Coate Water.
Wiltshire XC Championships Full results can be found here together with details of those selected for the SW Inter Counties XC on sunday 8th January 2012.
Best performances in the Wiltshire Championships were Bethany Brewer (1st) in the Under 11 Girls; Carla Huynh (1st), Charlotte George (2nd) and Maddie Perrins (5th) in the Under 15 Girls; Ciaran Cooper (1st) in the Under 15 Boys; Nyle Clinton (2nd) and Will Ballard (3rd) in the Under 17 Boys); Kate Jacobs 1st (Senior Ladies); Shaun Mochan (3rd), Heath Bampton (5th) and Dan Pidgeon (6th) in the Senior Men – the Senior Men team also took 1st place.
Santa Dash Another large turnout for this annual charity event, Gary O’Brien led the field home followed by Alex Bampton.
Road Running Records There have been a number of further updates – Heath Bampton now holds the M40 10 Mile Club best and Julie Goulding has been added for the Ladies V40 category for a number of distances.
Upcoming Fixtures
See the Fixtures section for full listings.
Road & Multi-Terrain
| Date | Event | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 05 Feb 12 | Longleat 10K | Longleat | Longleat is now a firm favourite amongst South West runners and many who come from much further afield to enjoy a run around the beautiful Estate. Full details available on the website. The 1st race of the inaugural Wiltshire Road Race League. |
| 19 Feb 12 | SMaRTT Smasher 10k Run and 1 mile fun run | Calne | Starts and finishes at Calne Town Hall, a flat, fast multi terrain 10k. Full details and entry froms available here. |
| 04 Mar 12 | Devizes 10k | Devizes | Full details available from the Devizes Running Club website. |
| 01 Apr 12 | White Horse Half Marathon | Grove, Oxfordshire | Flat and fast through the villages of the Vale of the White Horse starting at Grove. Limit of 500 entrants. |
Track & Field
| Date | Event | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 Apr 12 | Young Athletes Super 8 | Marlborough | A short track and field format for young athletes (under 13/15/17 Boys and girls) involving all 4 Wiltshire clubs (Team Bath, Marlborough, Salisbury and Swindon). |
| 21 Apr 12 | Southern Joint Mens/Ladies | Swindon | First meeting of the joint men/ladies league |
| 06 May 12 | National Young Athletes League | Swindon | Match 1 |
| 19 May 12 | Southern Joint Mens/Ladies | Portsmouth | Match 2 |
Cross Country
The Cross Country season starts in October