Horder sets a new World Record! + BUCS and South West Schools XC

07 February 2022

A club, British, European and World record for Horder over 60m hurdles!

In her first indoor race in two years Jane Horder looked as impressive as ever, with textbook form, focus and an elite mentality the Harrier showed why she’s number 1. Competing in the Loughborough Indoor Open Horder took a huge 0.29 seconds off the existing world W65 record running an incredible 10.29!

Horder will now head to Portugal on the 22nd to compete in the European Master's indoor Championships over the hurdles and as part of the 4x 200m relay team! How much quicker can she

(Photo: Jane Horder will compete in the GB vest once more in a few weeks, this time indoor!)

This weekend saw our university athletes compete in the biggest event of the winter season, the BUCS Cross Country Championships. The Women’s long race features the top 4 athletes from each university across the country, making it unofficially the A race and with good reason with the top ten and beyond being filled with GB athletes. The event was made ever harder by the deep mud that seemed to spread across the majority of the course. Running for the University of Bath Ella Burfitt ran a hard fought race, gliding across the mud to finish in 46th. Cardiff University fresher Georgia Palmer looked at home in the race, running hard until the end and was next home in 51st. Undeterred by plantar fasciitis Rachel See was determined to return to make her University of Gloucestershire debut, and still managed to finish in 63rd. The three Harriers completed the race within 40 seconds of one another, an impressive performance for their university and the club. 

(Photo: Ella Burfitt, Georgia Palmer and Rachel See competing at BUCS XC)

George Hawthorne was a last minute addition to the UCL A team, meaning he had 10km of mud ahead of him, but Hawthorne showed he deserved his place regardless, running well to finish in 143rd. In the men’s short race Jamie Harper may have missed the warmth and dryness of indoor athletics but it didn’t show with a fantastic 45th place finish for Coventry University and competing for the Liverpool John Moores Matt Dwerryhouse finished 235th. 

Meanwhile at the South West Schools Cross Country Champs our school aged athletes got the chance to compete for Gloucestershire. Making the most of the opportunity Patrick Paul improved on his South West Intercounties 5th place from early in January with an incredible win in the year 7 boys race. The Harrier appeared to run with ease to cross the line 12 seconds clear of 2nd place and lead the Gloucestershire team to gold. Jack Pennell also had a great run finishing as 2nd Gloucestershire and 6th overall.

Mirroring Pennell in the year 7 girls race Olivia Avery also finished 2nd Gloucestershire in 6th overall, arguably her best performance to date. Just 9 seconds behind Evie Avery also ran well to finish as 3rd Gloucestershire in 12th. The girls helped the Gloucestershire team finish in 2nd place. 

Moving up in age to the Year 8-9 races, Gloucestershire County Champion Maddie Thomson took part in a close battle with a Devon and Wiltshire rival. The Harrier worked hard throughout, eventually finishing in a fantastic 3rd just 8 seconds behind the winner, especially impressive as Thomson is in her first year in the age group. Evie Henderson, Bluebell Heath-Smith and Georgia Howell were almost inseparable finishing just 1 second apart in 24th, 25th and 27th respectively. Ellis Woolley returned to competition for the first time in 2022 finishing in 40th place. The Gloucestershire team also won a convincing team gold. In the boys race Sam Wilson was the 1st of the Gloucestershire team home in a superb 5th place, just 11 seconds behind Dominic Martin finished as 2nd Gloucestershire athlete in 11th place. A sprint finish saw Freddie Coombe and Thomas Wightman awarded identical times but Coombes was deemed to cross the line fractionally earlier in 42nd. Luke Johnson ran well to finish in 51st. 

The Year 10-11 races saw Tom Gavin, Raff Welch and Isaac Henderson help the Gloucestershire team win a silver medal. Gavin was the first of the trio home in 24th place and 4th Gloucestershire. Welch and Henderson finished in 36th and 41st respectively. In the girls race Chloe Sheppard finished as 3rd Gloucestershire in 26th, Eleon Wightman was 42nd and Isobel Watt finished 51st. 

Finally, the Years 12-13 races saw 3 Harriers take on the challenge. In the women’s race GB international’s Kaitlyn Sheppard and Kiya Dee faced tough opposition and took to the race as determined as ever. The duo pushed the pace early on and ran well with Sheppard eventually finishing on the podium in 3rd and Dee coming in 5th. In the men’s race Jamie Bell finished in 26th. 

On the road Ashley Stevens made his club debut competing in the Dorney Lake Half Marathon. Despite being faced with strong winds and rain Stevens knocked over 2 minutes off his previous best, dipping under 90 minutes for the first time in 1:29.43.

The ever popular (800 runners) Liswerry 8M returned to Newport, Wales, this weekend. A pancake flat course, but very exposed to the winds on the day. Kathryn Morton made the most of her first visit finishing in 1hr 46s and claiming W60 gold, with fellow Harrier Nick Holliday returning for the 9th occasion in 15 years finishing in 50mins 06s for 2nd M60.