Harriers have been shocked and saddened by the news of the sudden death at home last week of Wim Van Vuuren, a long standing club member.

Wim competed regularly for the club on the track, on road and in cross country events and had been planning to take up Triathlon. He was a highly popular and respected club member and one who was always at hand and happy to pass on advice, support and encouragement to less experienced club colleagues.

He will be greatly missed by all. Our thoughts and prayers at this time are with his wife Gemma and his family.

RIP Wim. One of the best.

The East Kent Inter Club Relays finished on a high on Tuesday with the final event in the series, organised by Canterbury Harriers, run in glorious summer evening weather.  A total of  around 300 runners of all standards and abilities  from the various East Kent Clubs took part in the event competing in the various male and female age category teams and each running a 2.35 approx mile leg starting and finishing in the Victoria Recreation Ground . A big thank you to all our club members who marshalled on the evening , to Liam Burke and his team at Nice Work for providing the timing and results service on the evening and throughout the series  and to Invicta East Kent for arranging use of the Canterbury Academy grounds for the end of series awards presentation.

Sunday 3rd February saw the final race in the KFL Cross Country League  at Blean Woods hosted and organised by the Harriers. It was a chilly start but luckily full of sunshine and plenty of frozen puddles and quality mud thrown in for good measure.

The Harriers have had another successful season with a regular turnout of over 20 at each race. Overall Harriers came 6th in the combined league, 2nd in the female standings and 8th in the men’s race, with 18 teams taking part in the league.

We had 3 ladies come in the top 20 in the league Claire Pluckrose (9), Jo Norrington (12) and Barbara Wenman (18), with a special mention to Barbara Wenman and Tina Jones who ran in all 7 races across the season.

Well done to Simon Jones who came third in the overall men’s race, and to Adam Elston and Wim Van Vuuren who came 35 and 41 respectively. Again special mentions to Steve Clark, Steve Reynolds, Jon Vann, Bob Davison, Matthew Northover and Gerry Reilly who ran in all 7 races.

Well done to all who turned out across the races. There were some tough conditions to run in but once again we have shown the league we are still tough competitors.

All results can be found  here
—
Gemma

Sunday 7th October saw one of the biggest turnouts the Harriers have ever had in a single race.  This was the date for the 4th Club Championship which was run within the Givaudan Ashford 10k.

Last Sunday, 12th August, saw a good turnout of Harriers at the ever popular, tough and challenging Mount Ephraim 10K.  It was a mild and overcast morning which provided excellent running conditions.  Coming in at first place, overall, was Robbie Higgins in 37.29, closely followed by the debut of Matthew Slark at an impressive 42.20, who was just ahead of Jethro Kimber at 42.58 which meant the guys picked up the men’s team prize for the Harriers.

For the ladies Emma Greatrix was the second lady and also the first Vet45 at 46.58 and Steph Bancroft at 52.48.

There were other impressive times for Jon Vann and Matthew Northover who have both been battling long injuries and have worked hard to come in at 52.28 and 53.40 respectively.

Well done to all who ran in a challenging and hilly race.

A full list of results can be found on the Canterbury Harriers website.

Friday 30^th March saw 14 Harriers turn out for the 35^th Folkestone 10 mile.There were 673 runners in total on the day and all Harriers came back in the top half of the finishers.   Extremely wet and windy conditions  made the race tough going on the way out, into the wind, but the rain came down hard in the second half.  Despite the weather there were 5 PB’s, including Yiannis, 1.00.13, Mark Baker, 1.08.12, Mark Duffy, 1.10.16, Daren Parris, 1.17.31 and Stephanie Bancroft, 1.21.18.  We had one debut from Lidia Hill at 1.27.01.  Well done to all those who PB’s as these challenging conditions.

Full results can be found in the results section of the website

Mike Denson battles the weather

Twenty nine Harriers braved the cold and damp conditions in Sunday`s Canterbury 10 Mile Race producing a range of great performances with impressive PB times and debut runs over the undulating course.In a field of 1390 runners Peter Hogben underpinned his recent good form finishing in 3rd place in a time of 54 minutes and 10 seconds( a PB of over three and a half minutes). Rhys Goddard finished strongly just behind him in 5th place in a time of 54.39(PB over 1 minute) and Paul Knight finished in 23rd place  recording  a time of 59.41 (PB  3 minutes)his first sub 60 minute run. The Harriers lost out narrowly to a strong Tonbridge AC squad in the mens team award. Gemma Jeffrey was first home for the Harriers` ladies recording a PB of 1hr .16.35 closely followed by Emma Greatrix in 1.16.40 (debut 10 mile) and Sian Smith – Keary in 1.18.26 (debut).Full results can be viewed via the link on  the Website.

Canterbury Harriers would like to wish all of it’s members and associates a happy new year!

We have had an excellent running year in 2017 and we are looking forward to plenty more debuts and PB’s in 2018.

Don’t forget training starts back on 2nd January, please check Facebook for updates on sessions.

Peter Hogben  running  his debut race over the distance won October`s Chelmsford Marathon in an impressive time of 2hrs 34 mins and 35 seconds. He took the lead with just over a mile to go and moved clear  to finish over a  minute ahead of the second placed runner. Having qualified for a championship place he is now looking forward to taking part in next year`s London Marathon

Sunday 8th October saw us going back to the 31st Givaudan Ashford 10K, in near perfect conditions,  for the club championship race for the 3rd year in a row.

There was a record turnout of 58 members, which is the most we have had over the 3 years, not only that, but the biggest turnout for a race in our racing history. Overall 18 PB’s were recorded and 7 debuts.

Notable performances came from Jenny Benson, who was 3rd lady overall with 39.28, Wim Van Vuuren who dipped under the 40 mark for the first time, coming in at 39.47 and there were 2 PB’s for the husband and wife team of Debbie and Daren Parris, with Debbie once again beating Daren, posting times of 45.05 and 45.29.

The debuts came from Henry Cox, 39.34, Fuse Campbell, 40.49, Claire Pluckrose, 41.44, Simon Cox, 45.12, Tewodros Negash, 46.12,  Karen Thorne, 51.45 and Lidia Hill at 52.32.

In the PB’s Fiona Craig went 55.33, Stephanie Bancroft and Tom Jessup both came in at 50.43 for their PB’s and Caroline Wetherill in 45.10.

In the overall race standings we had 3 men come in the top 10, new member Rhys Goddard, 3rd, Simon Jones, 4th, and Robbie Higgins 7th, as above Jenny Benson 3rd lady and both the men and women tok the team prizes.   As for the club awards, these will be announced on our AGM on Thursday 12th October

For a full list of results please check the results page on our website.