Arrows Running News - July 2024

July News

Welcome to July and hopefully the start of some long-overdue good weather. We are looking forward to seeing everyone at some of our organised runs. Make the most of it while you can.

Please see below under section 1, the highlights of the month. But for now, some announcements:

MWRRL Results

A great achievement for the Club.  Thanks to everyone who helped to achieve these marvellous results:

Overall team - 5th
All men - 7th
All women 4th
Men's vets - 3rd
Women's vets - 1st

Track Night

We had intended to be back at the KWS this Tuesday 2nd July - however, there must be an event at the school and the facility is closed/unavailable. Rather than a last-minute change to Stockwood, we'll find a location (Rothamsted Park being a likely venue to do some speed sessions). Please come to the school for the normal time and we'll set off at 7:30 pm.

Hatfield 5k series

Remember that Race 2 (4th September) is part of the Club League. If you've not signed up already then entries are open at https://myracesresult.com/277948/.

Club League

The latest standings following the MWRRL at Harlow and Trent Park:

1 - KC Lloyd
2 - Cathy Jeremiah
3 - Lynne Miles / Tessa Whitmore

1 - Phil Dean
2 - Mark Pattison
3 - Brian Yates

Lastly

If you have achieved anything during the month, please do let a committee member know, or post on our FB page, and it will be included in our monthly publication.

We look forward to seeing more of you in 2024 at one of the events we run as a Club - we've made a start putting a schedule together with the standard runs - and will put the club league events, etc on soon.

All the best, Sharon & Speirsy.

Arrows at the fourth 2024 MWRRL at Trent Park

Arrows at Trent Park MWRRL - collecting their League points. See the current podium standing above and how you are faring here.


For now, this issue contains:

  1. What's been going on?
  2. What's coming up?
  3. This Month's Club Timetable
  4. General Notices and Reminders

As ever, please do join the Facebook group as we may have missed something and post updates about any proposed Parkrun tourism or other festive events.


1. What's been going on

Highlights for May were:

  • Louise and Viddy took part in the Comrades Ultra Marathon in South Africa. Starting in Durban and finishing in Pietermaritzburg the distance to cover was 85.9km with a 12-hour cut-off period. Added to all of that the event was run uphill this year. Both achieved amazing results - Louise 10.40.40 hours and Viddy 9.34.39 hours. What an amazing achievement. I’m sure we are looking forward to seeing them both in person to hear more about their story.

  • Ultras: Ammon has been on his adventures again. This time he participated in the Centurion South Downs Way 100-mile race and then the Skyrun Eryri 14 Peaks Ultra and Peter Thornton completed his first 50km with 25 2km loops at the Sikhs in The City Summer Samosa. Natalie Edwards also managed The Mighty Hike up in the Lake District on the 15th of June.

  • Janice Nisbet retained her W70 trophy and gold medal in the British Sprint Orienteering Championship. She was fourth in the Qualifying race but overtook three runners in the Final to win by five seconds; Many congratulations.

  • 11 Arrows took part in the Club 5k on Tuesday 25th, won by Mark Pattison with a very strong run. Thank you to the volunteers of Djerk, Julie, Taras and Speirsy, who made this happen.

  • 11 Arrows took part in the St Albans half marathon. Congratulations to our first male and female runners - Dean Murley 1:26:30 and Inga Cobb 1:28:17.

  • The annual Oval Run took place on the 8th of June. Organised by our own Sharon Neely - many thanks to all Arrows who either helped in the organisation of this popular event or to those who ran.

  • MWRRL continued with three races taking place at Royston, Harlow and Trent Park during June. Thanks to everyone who took part, with a particular note to Mark Pattison who achieved a PR at Harlow, as well as our wonderful Women vets who finished in FIRST PLACE.

  • Mark Pattison took a group out on Arrows social / pub run. Starting from the Marquis of Granby then followed a trail route to the Cross Keys pub with a well-earned hydration stop. Watch this space for future events.

  • parkrun tourism took place at Luton Wardown. This coincided with several milestones for June and John Rowlands. Both ran their 250th parkrun and volunteered for the 100th time plus June was celebrating her 70th birthday. All adding up to an amazing 770! There were a total of 48 parkrunners out this weekend - well-done everyone.

    Congratulations to Alison Bygrave on reaching 50 parkruns and James Blackburn on 200.

2. What's coming up

A number of things to take note of for the coming months!

  1. Speed from St George's Start at the normal time. - Tuesday 2nd of July.

  2. Ware 19k - Sunday 7th of July.

  3. MWRRL mob match in Welwyn - Wednesday 10th of July.

  4. Club 5k / social. Tuesday 16th of July (A bit earlier this month than normal - but pre-school holidays).

  5. August Track Night. Will be reviewed nearer the time once we see who is interested in attending.

  6. Hatfield 5k Series Race 2 - Wednesday 4th of September.
  7. St Albans Stampede - Saturday 7th of September. This is a 12-hour enduro event. If you've not done this before it's a great event - you can run solo or in a team.

  8. Herts 10k - Sunday 6th of October.

  9. The Stevenage Marathon only comes around once every 10 years. There is also a Half Marathon for those who prefer that distance. The date is 20th of October 2024, and you can register now so don’t miss out and register ASAP if you are interested.

  10. Hot off the press - 2025 Marathon Weekend. Next year Arrows will be travelling to Vienna so please make a note in your diaries: 4th - 7th of April 2025 - further details to follow.

Please feel free to suggest impromptu socials post-event or even attempt a pub visit post-run - which has proven successful in these past months.

Arrows Club League

Mark Pattison has very kindly put together a list of several of the races, highlighting which are now open to enter so please see below an update on the year’s remaining races:

  • 7th July – Ware 10k – entries open here (NOT the 10 mile!)
  • 10th July – MWRRL #5 Welwyn (mob match)
  • 4th September – Hatfield 5k series Race 2 – entries open here.
  • 6th October - Herts 10k
  • 24th November – Hatfield 5m – entries open here.
  • 29th December – Buntingford Year End 10m
  • Dates TBC
    • October / November / December – various XC races

No registration is needed for WMRRL or XC races. And don’t forget to use the ATW discount code where applicable.

As always full details of the club league can be found here on this site.


3. Club timetable for July

As ever, a combination and variety of running is available. We're trying to offer 4m, 5m, hills and/or speed sessions. Is there any interest in a shorter 5km run? Please let us know. All combinations rely on RunLeaders taking care of existing, new and potential joiners to Arrows. If you don't feel you have the confidence or skills to do this... we'll help. Please let us know.

REMEMBER

  1. Once we go back to the darker nights, remember to wear high viz and head torches (don’t forget to charge them up).

  2. Any new members - please pre-register on RunTogether, this will help the admin to register you just at the start of each run.

Start times:

St G's club runs: 7:15 arrival for 7:30 departure.
Track: start at 7:00

Tuesdays

02/07 - Speed at St Gs (7:30 pm)

09/07 - Hills / Road at St Gs (7:30 pm)

16/07 - Club 5k / Social (7:00 pm, 7:15 start)

23/07 - Speed / Road at St Gs (7:30 pm)

30/07 - Hills / Road at St Gs (7:30pm)

Thursdays

04/07 - Regular St G's Road / Trail runs (7:30 pm)

11/07 - Regular St G's Road / Trail runs (7:30 pm)

18/07 - Regular St G's Road / Trail runs (7:30 pm)

25/07 - Regular St G's Road / Trail runs (7:30 pm)

 

Wednesday

10/07 - MWRRL - Mob - Welwyn

 

Track Nights at KWS/Stockwood

Please aim to arrive by 6:45 pm for a prompt start at 7 pm.


4. General Notices

Free t-shirt for RunLeaders

We've distributed a few and got a few more on order - but we're always on the lookout for more run leaders to share the load of helping people out with their runs.

If you're good with a route or two and would like to lead runs for Arrows, please let us know! We are always looking for more people to join our core team, either as occasional helpers or as regular run-leaders. All you need is confidence and we'll give you more of that and some of the knowledge to keep everyone safe - it's not onerous and a lot of it is common sense.

If you're interested in leading please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and ask for more info.

Kit Shop: The club shop can be found here:

https://www.iprosports.co.uk/club-zone/harpenden-arrows/

The range of available kit includes club vests and t-shirts, hoodies, jackets, caps, beanies, and a new line of colourful hi-viz t-shirts bearing the club logo.

All kit can be personalised with names or messages on the front, back or both – so no more melting your t-shirt trying to iron on wonky letters (or was that just me)?

If you would like to see or try on any of the kit samples, please come along to our monthly 5km, Kit and Cake night, and speak to our kit secretary, Rowland Hughes. (email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

 

10% OFF SPORTSSHOES.COM - July code

If you haven't found what you want from the Arrows online kit shop, we have secured a 10% discount code specifically for Arrows, plus there's free shipping for orders of £30 or more from www.sportsshoes.com.

This is redeemed via a unique discount code, which is changed monthly.

Please do not share the code with non-members. Any Arrows in receipt of the code must not share it on social media or any public websites.

This month's code valid for July 2023 has been sent by email to paid-up members. 


Active Training World 10% off race entry with the code ....

(Sent by email to all paid-up Arrows Members)

We have some exciting news for you - Arrows have obtained a 10% discount for members on all ATW races. Why not use it for entering the Hatfield 5-mile event this November? Fast, flat and local race with PB potential. (Webmaster - and Arrows League points too!)

Just enter the code at the checkout to obtain your 10% Arrows discount. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS FOR ATW ORGANISED EVENTS (there will be a big banner on the site when an ATW event. Please do try to avoid confusion as occasionally ATW provide the booking system/support and the 10% fee is not available on these occasions).

Please do not share the code with non-members. Any Arrows in receipt of the code must not share it on social media or any public websites.

Can you marshal for an ATW event?

Earn £20 and free race entry, or £10 per hour, in exchange for marshalling at ATW events. 

If you're interested in marshalling, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

 

#JustTurnUp - St George's runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays

If you want to attend any of our regular run groups at St George's, please #JustTurnUp on the night. No pre-booking is required for our regular runs from St George's. 

We will also always adapt any run groups to those that turn up on the night, or if possible form additional groups to suit varied paces. Nobody will be left behind and we operate a *looping policy if we happen to have a wide pace range in the group.

*That means that faster runners are asked to loop back to keep the group together.


Safety reminder for Arrows Club 5km events

Please note, for the safety of all members when participating in the Club 5km event, the following advice applies:

No headphones. For your own safety and to ensure you can hear instructions from marshals and cars on the road, headphones are not permitted whilst taking part in any club activity. If you are seen wearing headphones during the Club 5km event, you may be disqualified!

Wear high visibility clothing and/or your Arrows vest - this makes it easy to see you running on the dark roads.

 

Stay safe everyone, and stay well!

Thank you for supporting your club. If you have concerns or suggestions please get in touch.

Harpenden Arrows Running Club

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.