Weekend Racing Round Up 10-13/12/2020

13 December 2020

This weekend saw many Harriers make a long awaited return to racing. It is brilliant to see so many Harriers running well and producing personal bests after such a tough year.
The racing got kicked off Friday night at the Swindon Harriers night of 3000m. Only in 2020 would we see track races in December! A fantastic evening of well organised races with many Harrier success.
Under 15s Hetty McCartney and Abigail Thornley got the evening started with PBs of 11:51.96 and 11:52.89 respectively. In the following race fellow under 15 Molly Dibden ran strong to finish in 11:52.59.
Race 4 featured mother daughter duo Chloe and Sarah Sheppard. In this instance it was youth over experience with Chloe running an impressive PB of 11:05.42. Sarah also ran a brilliant time of 11:39.36.
From then on it was Harriers PBs all round from Ciara Thornley (10:20.11), Taya Dee (10:51.82), Isaac Henderson (9:29.52), Kiya Dee (9:55.40) and Kaitlyn Sheppard (9:59.48)!! These incredible performances rank Ciara, Isaac, Kiya and Kaitlyn all within the top 20 in the UK in there respective age groups. 
On Sunday it was brilliant to see a group of senior distance runners return to racing at the Westonbirt House Christmas 10k. Sue Townsend, Nicola Knight, Sam Pickering and Melanie Schofield all braved the wind and rain to produce strong performances.
Sue Townsend finished as 3rd Vet50 in 52:22, followed closely by Nicola Knight in 52:24 and Sam Pickering in 52:26. Melanie Schofield completed the three lap undulating course in 53:46.
Meanwhile, Christina See took part in the Virtual Westonbirt 10k producing a strong solo run.
Over in Leicestershire George Watson competed in the Mallory Park 10k. The event was restricted to tier 3 only due to the location, which allowed the Loughbrough student to make a rare appearance over 10k. He was rewarded for his efforts with a personal best of 31:21!