Hatch Warren Runners – Preparing for our own event
As the date for our inaugural event gets ever closer Hatch Warren Runners are busy preparing for this significant event in our calendar. Many races in the local area are hosted by running clubs and it has long been an ambition of ours to host our own. Our first challenge was finding a venue that was willing to take us and thanks to the immense generosity of Lord Portsmouth we are able to hold our first event on our own doorstep.
The run is a 10K trail run for 250 runners. It will start near Farleigh Wallop Club and run on trails down to Cliddesden School. A quick skip down the road then back into the fields for a steep climb, then drop to the old Alton Railway Line. Onwards to Ellisfield Church, over the fields to The Fox at Ellisfield before returning to Farleigh Wallop via Bedlum Bottom. Virtually this entire run is over Lord Portsmouth’s private land and he has also lent us a barn for the race headquarters and fields to park in. The local community have also been supportive in our planning. And we have Baron’s Estate Agents and Fitique of Alresford (ladies sportswear) as our sponsors. All proceeds from the event will go to charity supporting our ethos to give something back to the communities in which we live.
The runners within our club aren’t able to run in the race – we all have responsibilities/jobs to perform on the day including car parking, marshalling, manning the water stations, timing, medals and after race refreshments. This has meant a lot of organisation and planning – a huge thank you to our race committee Sharon Bryan, Nik Bryan, Sue Kemp and Simon Brown for their efforts. All of us have at some point walked the full course to understand the route, potential hazards and our responsibilities. A final briefing this week and we’ll be ready to go.
In preparation and to test out some of our roles, we did a ParkRun takeover at the beginning of August. ParkRun is a 5K timed run held every Saturday at the War Memorial Park in Basingstoke. Hatch Warren Runners took over the event and performed all the volunteer roles within the run. We also used this event to promote our own race and very happily the event is now sold out. However, we would welcome any supporters who want to come and watch at any point on the course. The countryside is fabulous and only a stones throw from Hatch Warren. Come and join in the fun Sunday 25th September with the race starting at 10.30am. Visit www.hwrunners.co.uk for more information.
You may have read in previous issues about the support the club give for blind runners with some of our members being trained as guide runners for the blind. Tony Nicholls runs regularly with us at ParkRun and our guides have been helping Tony to train for the Great South Run. Last weekend we surprised Tony by making him an honorary member of Hatch Warren Runners. He was absolutely delighted to be presented with a running top and hoodie and couldn’t wait to put them on.
HWR meet on Mondays and Wednesdays at 7:15pm with runs going from the Portsmouth Arms and the Co-Op in Beggarwood. Members meet, warm up and then break into groups depending on what distance and pace they plan to run.
