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It was so nice to see the sunshine at our sessions this week! Our Tuesday intervals session saw both our junior and senior sections enjoying their 'pyramid' training in Northallerton. On Thursday, we had our two social runs around Bedale, and despite the Met Office weather warnings, the skies cleared and we had beautiful sunshine to accompany our chatty group runs. ...

Friday 9th September saw the very first Presentation Evening for HARC members, this year held at Tom & Nellie’s in Bedale. Gemma Wardle, the Club’s Chair, began the evening with a moving, heart-felt welcome speech. Much laughter and camaraderie followed, as between courses members of the Awards Sub-committee took the opportunity to introduce the awards that would be available for presentation at the end of the forthcoming season, which runs annually from the beginning of September. Members are to be recognised for their achievements based on the club’s founding principles which set out the values and ethos of their members: Caring & Supporting; Coaching-Led; For Everyone; and Enjoying Our Sport. Full details of the criteria used to determine each award can be found on HARC’s website. In future, awards will be presented for the following: ‘Volunteer of the Year’; ‘Mighty Oak’ (for improvement); ‘Greatest of the Year’ (performance awards); ‘The Sinton-Hewitt Trophy’ (based on participation at Parkrun); ‘The Captain Cook Cup’ for...

Hearty congratulations to Chris Lees who has now received the final jigsaw piece in a much longer than expected journey to his Athletics Coach license (the 'small' matter of a global pandemic may have delayed things for a time). Still specialist in Endurance, Chris has added Athletics Coach/Throws to his coaching qualifications. Chris says "Massive thanks to Glen Hilton for his support and help throughout, and to the athletes at Hambleton Athletics & Running Club and Allerton Junior Athletics Club without whose help I literally couldn’t have done this." ...

Three Hambleton Athletics and Running Club members travelled to the beautiful Lake District last weekend to take part in races organised by Lakeland Trails. Chris Lees and Gemma Wardle tackled the Helvellyn 10k route which, as you’d expect, included a partial (but very steep!) ascent of Helvellyn and a tricky downhill return to Glenridding village. Despite the very wet and windy weather, and a slide on her bottom down a muddy hillside, Gemma completed the course in 1:21:18, closely followed across the finish by Chris in 1:21:20. Gemma said, “Really pleased that I completed the course to receive my event t-shirt which turned out to be HARC blue! It was a very tough course, the first half being uphill all the way with some really steep sections, but it was worth it for the chance to enjoy the lovely paths across the hillside and back down into Glenridding. Obviously, the best bit was the sliding on my bottom – mud maketh the trail run!” Chris went back for more on Sunday to complete what is known as the ‘Dirty...

Track and Field Taster DayOn Saturday 26th June, Hambleton Athletics and Running Club hosted a Track and Field Taster Day at Eastbourne Sports Complex in Darlington. HARC members were joined by friends from Team Caterpillar, a running group based from Richmond. After a safety briefing and warmup, the athletes tried their hand (or legs?) at the middle-distance events – 800m and 1500m. 23 athletes took part in these two events, and although it was the first track running experience for many, everyone enjoyed having a go. John Holliday from Team Caterpillar finished first in both events with some impressive times: he completed 800m in 03:01 and 1500m in 06:04, with his team mate, Adrian Putley, not far behind. After a short break, HARC’s Head Coach Chris Lees coached an introductory session for three of the four athletic throws: javelin, shotput, and hammer. After practising the basic skills with a range of beginner ‘equipment’ (which included basketballs in carrier bags to simulate the...