Tadcaster Harriers Running Club

February Newsletter

Author:   |  Feb 4, 2024

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Harriers Annual Dinner

Author: Tom Derry   |  Jan 30, 2024

Tadcaster Harriers was re-formed in 1983 following a spike in interest after the first Tadcaster 10-mile race was held.  Approximately 2 to 3 years after the reformation of the club, the first Harriers dinner was held. Since then, the dinner has become an annual event that members of Tadcaster Harriers can look forward to.

This year it was held on the 11th of November at the Riley Smith Hall. The night began with some (maybe a bit more than some) drinks before being promptly guided to our tables to have the annually awaited meal.

Along with the excellent meal it is also a time to celebrate members of the club for their achievements throughout the year. The winners for the trophies are listed below.

Ladies’ Club Champion:

3. Sue Tindall

2. Jo Millican

1. Ruth Murphy

Men’s Club Champion:

3. Joe Slater

2. Wayne Wetherhill

1. James Eaton

For the Handicap Champion we have:

3. Richard Millican

2. Lina Sanchez

1. Debbie Mason

The Joe Knowles Trophy goes to:

Ryan Kavanagh

The John Nettleton Cup goes to:

Wayne Wetherhill

And finally, the Chairman’s Award goes to:

Keith Smith

Congratulations to all the winners!

 A big thank you to all the organisers who made the event happen, it is not easy to find a venue willing to hold an event with everything that was included. It was nice to see everyone dressed up smart for the occasion and not just in running shoes and running attire.

Roll on 2024 Taddy Harriers!

January Newsletter

Author: Dave Mullaney   |  Jan 1, 2024

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Valiant in Valencia

Author: AJ Marchant   |  Dec 7, 2023

Sunday 3^rd of December 2023 – 8:15am start time. Highs of 14°C. Wind 5mph SE. Humidity = 38%.

“What a day it has been! Proud to be a Taddy Harrier! Love you all!”

For the last 14 weeks, Wayne Wetherhill, Joe Firth, John Yoward and Dave Todd have been tirelessly training in preparation for this years Valenica marathon. The amount of effort that has gone into this block has been absolutely phenomenal and when the chance came for me to fly out to Spain for the weekend, I couldn’t pass up on the opportunity.

The weekend started bright and early on Friday morning with myself flying from LBA to Alicante at 6am, Pauline and John Wetherhill departed at 6:20am (my eyes lit up walking through the departure lounge as I had some friends to enjoy a 5am Guinness with) and the 4 boys flying from Manchester a little bit later at 8am.

Luckily, my dad and grandma live 40 minutes south of Alicante so I could double the trip up with some long overdue family time. The Friday and Saturday consisted of running in the morning followed by food and beer in the afternoons/evenings. Meanwhile, the boys had made their way up to Valencia by train and had hired an Airbnb for the weekend.

After travelling abroad for major running races myself, I sympathise completely with the nerves and excitement that will have been buzzing around Valencia in the days leading up to Sunday. I imagine there was a lot of “hanging around” and resting their legs ahead of the big day.

On Friday evening, the boys enjoyed a 5-mile shakeout down the beach front followed by another 5 miles on Saturday morning with 1000’s of other runners. The last runs to make sure everything is moving well the day before.

On the Saturday afternoon, the lads made their way up to the expo to collect their race numbers. An experience that was “a bit of a pain” as the venue was over 5 miles away. Not ideal when you’re trying to rest your legs and using public transport only. After the expo, it was time to rest up and eat plenty.

It was an early start on Sunday morning with my alarm set for 4:30am. Leaving my dads house in Los Montesinos at 5am with a 2-hour 20-minute drive ahead of us up to Valencia (big Kudos to my dad for driving me up there that early). During the journey, time was spent messaging the lads to see how they were feeling and making sure that everything was prepared for the day.

After the 130-mile drive, we arrived in a very busy Valenica just after 7am. With many Spanish cities, parking is on the street and free. However, finding a spot is like finding a needle in a haystack but after 20 minutes of searching, we finally dropped lucky and the old “it’ll be reyt” was said. We made our way down to the race start keeping our eyes peeled for familiar faces warming up along the streets of Valencia. With the sun rising at 8am, the atmosphere and conditions couldn’t’ve been any more perfect. The bright orange sky formed a perfect backdrop behind the Queen Sofia Palace of Arts.

With 20 minutes to spare, my dad and I made our way to the 1-mile mark to see the runners go by. The helicopter for the TV coverage circled above and the excitement became real. As the clock struck 8:15am, we watched the runners set off via BBC iPlayer and within 4 ½ minutes, they were in front of us. Seeing the likes of Joshua Cheptegei, Kenenisa Bekele and Sisay Lemma stride past is a memory I will never forget. Absolute legends of running. Shortly behind the leading men were the British contingents such as Mahamed Mahamed and our local friend Phil Sesseman who runs for Leeds City AC.

Within the next few minutes, my eyes felt dizzy. Trying to spot a Tad Harrier vest was almost as bad as trying to find a parking spot only 60 minutes prior. I spotted Joe Firth and gave him a shout (whilst also giving 30 runners between us a heart attack with my booming northern tone).

As the runners passed, it was time for me to organise a form of transport to ferry me around the city to provide motivation and get some good photos of the elites… Aka, the Tad lads. The transport came in the form of a 10-tonne push bike that I hired for the day at a very reasonable €3.99. Let’s put it this way, I got my monies worth.

Luckily, Valencia is a very forward-thinking city and cycle paths are very well maintained and clean. I cut a few corners and using the handy app, eventually bumped into Wayne at around 8k. I gave him an encouraging shout and as he looked over, I could see him giggle and think “where the bloody hell has he got that bike from?” He was running well so I dropped back slightly leaving him to ponder where I might pop up next. Dropping back slightly, I found Joe who was equally running well and happy to see me. He laughed too and made the comment “get off the Spanish A1”.

Passing 10k, the boys were looking strong with Wayne in 34:29, Joe in 35:08, John in 36:51 and Toddy in 38:04. Not too shabby to say the end goal was over 4 times that distance. As I made my way around the route, I rode past British Athlete, Holly Archer. I would’ve stopped for a photo, but the Taddy lads were too much of a priority. I found John and shortly after Toddy. They were both looking strong and in good spirits.

After seeing everyone, I decided to cut a few corners and make my way back to the front runners. After drafting some speedy Spaniard for a mile, to which I made sure to shout “muchas gracias” as we parted ways, I was alongside Gabriel Gaey and Kibiwott Kandi. Struggling to keep up, it was time to cut a few more corners to see who was leading.

At halfway, the Tad lads were flying! Wayne in 1:12:53, Joe in 1:13:31, John in 1:17:47 and Toddy in 1:20:35. Once again, phenomenal times that would be up there in most half marathon races.

I found a nice quiet spot at around 15 mile which was a good place to stop for 20 minutes to watch everyone go by (mainly for me to have a rest). Wayne was the first (harrier) and tucked into a lovely little pack. The beauty of Valencia is that the depth of the field means even the top elites are not alone out there for 26.2 miles. Joe came through a couple of minutes later and looked well as I told him that it was “the business end” to which he nodded in agreement. Unfortunately, I missed John at this point (probably running too fast) but I’m sure he was looking well. And then came Toddy, just doing Toddy things and giving me the good old thumbs up as I shouted in the most Yorkshire twang “come on lad”.

After the boys had passed 15 miles, it was time for me to make my way to the finish line. I made it just in time to ride next to Sisay Lemma for the final mile of his marathon which would result in being the 4^th fastest marathon of all time – 2:01:46. An absolute amazing achievement and unreal to watch in the flesh. He was shortly followed by many other elites such as Mutiso in 2^nd and Wolde in 3^rd place.

Mahamad Mahamad was the first Brit back in a time of 2:08:40, narrowly missing the British Olympic qualifying time of 2:08:10 with Phil Sesseman just behind him in a time of 2:08:48, just passing a very fatigued looking Joshua Cheptegei on the final stretch. The first lady home was Worknesh Degefa in a time of 2:15:50.

I dumped/parked my bike and made my way into the jampacked stand adjacent to the finish line. After going to Leeds festival for many years since I was 14, I’m very good at barging through crowds and let’s say, the Valencians couldn’t compete. With the clock ticking over 2:20, I knew it wouldn’t be long before the boys would start streaming through and had my camera at the ready.

As the clocked ticked over the 2:26 mark, I saw myself a cowboy striding home. It was very emotional, and I couldn’t be any prouder. Wayne has worked bloody damn hard, not only over the last 14 weeks but over the last 2 years. A time of 2:26:11 would stand as a new men’s senior record for the Tadcaster Harriers and raise the bar even higher for everybody else to aim for. This also puts Wayne 31^st male of all British V35’s this year and 138^th out of all British men. 138^th! Just let that sink in! Out of all British men, Wayne is 138^th!

Second Harrier across the line was John Yoward in a time of 2:36:24. A real crowd pleaser, the Valencians took to John like a duck to water as he waved and flaunted himself across the line. A real credit to the club and such a great achievement.

Third across the line was Mr.Todd. Toddy, toddy, toddy. What more is there to say? After recovering from DVT a few months ago which was a major setback, Toddy had an amazing marathon block and reaped the rewards with a finishing time of 2:47:06. Another great achievement that I know Toddy was over the moon with.

Now, a lot you will be wondering about Mr.Firth. Unfortunately, Joe DNF’d at 22 miles. Just after I saw him at 15 miles, the stomach issues kicked in and as everyone who has ran a marathon before knows, this can affect you and knock you off course. With no phone and not much energy left, Joe found a rental bike (identical to the one I was riding) and rode that to the team meeting point at the finish (quite appropriate that it was a McDonalds).

Joe. You’ve trained bloody hard for the last 14 weeks (I’ve even lost my Sunday evening drinking partner due to this race) and everyone knows that you have plenty more in the bag and deserve more. Mope around for the next week, feel sorry for yourself and then get over it. Fish and chip paper now. Yesterday’s news.

After the boys had eaten their weight in burgers, they headed back to their Airbnb for a shower and change of clothes. We later met outside their Airbnb and travelled into the old town via the metro to meet Pauline and John and ended up at a “lovely Spanish bar”, The Bear Club. British football and Guinness, I’ll leave it at that.

After a few pints of Guinness, laughing and sharing experiences, it was time for me and my dad to travel back down south 130 miles, just in time for tea at 8:30pm and a couple of hours sleep. At 6am, I left Alicante and flew back to Leeds just in time for work at 9am (mad I know and trust me, I won’t be doing it again).

What a blast Valencia 2023 was, and it was an absolute pleasure being part of it. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. The strength and depth we have in our club is something else and it makes me proud to say I run for Tadcaster Harriers.

Oh, I nearly forgot… Toddy had his nipple plasters on since Thursday and probably still has them on now as they’re welded to his skin lol.

December Newsletter

Author: Dave Mullaney   |  Dec 4, 2023

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Harriers Take a First Stab at Leeds Country Way

Author: Tom Derry   |  Nov 28, 2023

Leeds Country Way Relay is an event that has been occurring annually since it was first set up in 1990. Hosted by Kippax Harriers the race takes place around the end of August to the beginning of September. Beginning at the Garforth leisure centre, the first leg of 6 begins their race. With about 64 miles total as a team, each leg must do about 10 miles each. Each team consists of 6 legs and there are two runners partnered per leg.

On Sunday 3rd September our very own Tadcaster Harriers took their first shot at it.

The legs and times were as follows: 

1.       James Eaton and Wayne Wetherhill   01:07:35

2.       Darren Tomlinson and Jon Yoward       01:20:06

3.       Dave Todd and Alex Young                      01:13:04

4.       Joe Firth and Joe Slater                            01:15:59

5.       Dave Murphy and Andy Sloan                 01:07:14

6.       Ash Money and AJ Marchant                   01:11:22

With an overall time of:  07:15:20 

This netted the group an overall first place!

Each pair was tactically chosen. Andy Sloan said, “sort of like the Ryder cup it was key to get pairing right”. I reached out to the team captain AJ for an insight into how teams were chosen and why. AJ said, “Longer legs were assigned to faster runners from a tactical point of view to maximise their abilities”. This strategy allowed them to push their advantages as much as possible. While the legs were even, some were slightly longer than others, so this strategy certainly helped obtain a lead. 

They managed to secure first place with a lead of 4 minutes and 38 seconds ahead of the second-place team! Though this did not come easy, and they all had to fight throughout the entire race. With the first leg they gained a solid 5-minute lead putting them comfortably ahead. With the second leg they were still 3 minutes ahead. Due to tactical reasons, they were caught on leg 3 as they had put some of their strongest runners on this leg. However, victory was still in sight as they were still in view and 1st place was still very much in reach. Due to this on leg 4 the team of Joe’s were able to successfully retake 1st place with a nice lead of 11 minutes. Leg 5 only pressed this advantage netting them a 20-minute lead. The final leg brought home the 1st place but not without some issues along the way. Ash had become poorly mid race however fortunately was able to push through the pain, winning them the race! 

Following this there was a night of celebrations which was heavily enjoyed. 

This team of runners are all strongly bonded friends. They support each other whether in training or in races. They showed great strength and resilience throughout the race and that surely netted these good friends their victory. Now looking forward to next year they are hungry to retain their title and aim to enter a team into the veteran, mixed or ladies' race if they get enough people interested. So, if that is something you yourself have an interest in keep your eyes peeled for next year. 

The race is expected to take place around the same time next year as if has for years prior.