Hatch Warren Runners – Running in the daylight
The changing of the clocks is always a time for runners to celebrate a little. The lighter nights mean running in daylight is accessible for more of us during the working week. It also opens up lots of our old favourite running routes that we can’t run in the winter months due to lack of street lighting. So off we go to explore our favourite routes over Cliddesden, Ellisfield and Farleigh Wallop and you’ll also seeing us heading off to the trails for some good cross country running in the evening.
March saw the start of the Half Marathon races 2015. Sadly for many runners, Fleet and Reading were scheduled on the same day so on March 22 two coaches headed off full of Hatch Warren Runners to both destinations. We had 80 finishers across both races. At Reading we saw Neil Cooper finishing in a very quick 1:24:20 with Nigel “Spidey” Bridgemean hot on his heels. At Fleet many of our runners completed their first half marathon – a fantastic achievement. We are particularly proud of those who started with us on C25K courses and have progressed to half marathons. We had a huge number of PBs in both races so it was a great day for the running club which was suitably celebrated in the Portsmouth Arms on Sunday evening.
As a club we continue to focus on helping people to enjoy running and reach their running goals, whatever they may be. One of our Leaders in Running Fitness, Jay Smith, has been running a 5K to 10K course to give new runners the confidence to up their distance. We look forward to celebrating their first 10k race with them at the St Michael’s Hospice run next month. We have also had a number of track training sessions at Down Grange and pyramid sessions in Beggarwood supporting people in increasing their strength, stamina and speed. Lots of aching muscles after these sessions but the results are being shown through runners individually improving.
The latest race for the club was Bournemouth Bay 12 April. A real favourite for us. Not only is it by the seaside but we get to have a paddle and fish and chips on the beach afterwards. There are lots of options at Bournemouth from a short fun run for the kids, 5k, 10k and the half marathon. The weather was sunny and it was a lovely, team day out.
Up and coming are the first of this season’s marathons and lots of charity fundraising – more on that next time.
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.
For more details on HWR please visit www.hwrunners.co.uk , email hwrunners@sky.com or look for Hatch Warren Runners on Facebook
