This week saw strong running from the GVH crew across multiple distances, Parkruns, 10k’s, half Marathons, 20 mile events and general training runs. Well done to everyone that got out for a run whatever the distance.
GVH visit Leavesden country Parkrun en mass
The Leavesden parkrun saw an incredible turnout, marking one of our largest fields ever at that particular parkrun. What made it even more exciting were the stunning results, with a wave of personal bests tumbling throughout the event—something we haven’t seen in quite a while. What’s even more impressive is that many runners included the parkrun as part of their long run, either by running to or from the venue. Well done Jack, Tom, Ines, Chrissy, Nathalie, Clare and Sam !!
A huge shoutout to Tom Evans, who secured an impressive 4th place, with Jack Boughton right on his heels, clinching 6th place, both having snatched new PBs despite run in from Hemel. Kim Morgan finished as the second woman overall, and Natalie Warren made her mark by snatching a parkrun PB. A great trip out by the GVH crew ! Full results and all Pbs below
GVH at the Leavesden Parkrun
Leavesden Country Parkrun results
If you weren’t at Leavesden, the next best place to be was Rickmansworth Parkrun, where the competition was just as fierce! Nick Crowther claimed 8th place, just ahead of Stephen Newing, with Stuart Gallagher, hot on their heels. Stuart, who had already logged 12 miles running to the parkrun, was closely followed by Dylan and Andy Cook, both putting in strong performances.
The first GVH lady to cross the line was Sue Crowther, just ahead of Helen Cook, with Sandra Flynn and Amanda Barker rounding out the top spots for the women. Rickmansworth is a buzzing parkrun, with a staggering 588 runners taking part taking part this week! For all our runners to finish in the top 75 of their respective genders is an incredible accomplishment. Well done all
Elsewhere at parkrun
Michael Linden also included Bushy parkrun as part of his 20 mile run !! impressive !
Simon Morris finished 10th with a new course PB Gadebridge parkrun despite the usual slippery conditions. He was joined there by Jono Marval another harrier that had run 12 miles first Well done ! Well done too to Rachel Haffenden,
Nick Joseph ran his parkrun at Wendover Woods , Andrew Wells made a first visit to Jersey Farm ( near St.Albans) . Rob Hawkes ran at Harrow and Martha Woollett ran at Brighton and Hove
Barcelona Half Marathon
Looking for a running adventure and a chance of some Winter Sun this weekend, were Kitty Cole and Peter Green,who both (independently !) travelled to Spain to take part in the Barcelona Half Marathon. This is Spains biggest Half Marathon with 30,000 runners and the 2nd largest Half Marathon in Europe (The Great North run being the biggest) . The Barcelona half is billed as a spectacular run through the heart of the city and up along the Mediterranean coast with some great support. Jacob Kiplino from Uganda stole the headline by smashing the world half marathon record to finish in 55 mins 42 seconds! He took 42 seconds off the old record.
Just as impressive, but a little further behind were our two runners. Well done to Kitty on a great run with a speedy official finish time of 2.05.44. An especially good pace considering how unwell kitty has been recently.
Well done Peter too, who declared it “not his best run” but still finished in a nice 2.32.50
Closer to home was the Love Welwyn 10k
We had 7 Gade Valley Harriers, 1 Gade Valley Hariers, and local celebrity Eastendender Ian Beale ( Adam Woodyatt), running in this event which starts and finishes at Stanborough’s north lake in Welwyn Garden City. A special congratulations to Polly Cripps and Louise Nash who were bravely running their very first 10k – Great results ladies.
Congratulations too to
- Roland Kendall our first finisher and 2nd in his age category
- Kim Morgan, first GVH lady home and 2nd in her age group
- Vince Ellerby 3rd GVH runner home and 1st in his age group
262 Poly Cripps 01:01:47 14
Extra kudos to Kim Morgan for taking the GVH women’s V45 10K record 
. Congratulations Kim!!
Bramley 20
Finally well done to Heather Timmis who ran the Bramley 20 event this weekend. A 20 mile road race organised by running club Reading Roadrunners. Heather had an incredible run, finishing in 2:20:25 ! She was 4th woman overall and 1st in the F35 category. Fantastically well Heather.
Looking ahead to major races coming up on the calendar :
- Berkhamsted Half Marathon -2nd March – 2 weeks to go
- Tokyo Marathon – 2nd March – 2 weeks to go
- Brighton Marathon and Southampton Marathon – 6th April – 7 weeks
- Chilterns trail Marathon 12th April – 8 weeks
- Paris Marathon and Boston UK Marathon – 13th April – 8 weeks
- London Marathon and Manchester Marathon 27th April – 10 weeks
- Belfast Marathon and Milton Keynes Marathon 5th May – 11 weeks
Berkhamsted Half
The Berkhamsted Half, just two weeks away, is the club’s most popular event this spring. We usually have around 60 runners taking part and this year we have a few Harriers tackling it for the first time. Across strava these last few weeks we have spotted members starting to include Little heath Lane, the first big hill into the weekend run plans and running the Ashridge loops to as a recky. It definitely a good idea to at least drive the route so that you know when the up hills, and down hills are coming. Good luck all
Lovely to see Nick featured in the race handbook 
Tokyo Marathon
3 Harriers that won’t be running in Berkhampstead are Stuart Gallagher, Jack Boughton and Jane Phillipson. They are off to Japan for the challenge of the Tokyo Marathon. But why Tokyo? With the expense, long flight, jet lag, and unfamiliar Japanese cuisine, aren’t there plenty of great marathons closer to home?
The answer is the elusive Six Star Medal, awarded for completing the 6 Abbott World Majors – London, Berlin, New York, Chicago, Boston and Tokyo. With the introduction of Sydney this year and more to follow next year, the 6 star medal remains but for how long? For Stuart (London, Berlin, Chicago) and Jane (London, NewYork and Berlin) this will be their 4th Star and they are in a rush now to collect all 6 . For Jack it will be his first star, and first marathon event, only ever having run a marathon distance during an ultra event. Good luck to the three of them, looking at the runners handbook it certainly looks like it is set up to run with the expected Japanese efficiency.