Club Chairman Chris Wills writes a weekly blog for all of our members to enjoy and be updated with the latest club information.

Knowsley Harriers takes pride in being a club that caters for all abilities from competitive athletes to first time runners. We have several training options for all, with social runs also being available for our members to get to know more about each other, and get fit in the process.

19/01/2020

Coming Soon

12/01/2020

Parkrun
Great to see so many of our members getting out on a Saturday morning to complete a parkrun. Well done to all those who completed parkrun tourism this week.
Congratulations this week to Alan Spencer who reached the milestone of 100 parkruns, which he completed at Widnes on Saturday. Well done Alan!
As part of my birthday celebrations this week, I was lucky enough to complete Bushy parkrun in London. Bushy parkrun was the founding event of the whole parkrun movement in 2004 & as such attracts a large field of runners each week. When the first timers briefer asks about parkrun tourists & his first question is “is anyone here from a different continent” you can be assured it’s a prestigious event!
In total there were nearly 1700 runners at Bushy & had the feel of a big running event in the build up. The start was very much like the cavalry charge at the start of a cross country race, with a very wide start line. It was a single lap course which started off on the grass by the Diana Fountain & mostly involved trail path for the remainder of the course. It was very flat & even with the big field It was quite easy to run at your own pace & try to go for a good time.
It was definitely a fantastic event that I would recommend to anyone who enjoys parkruns & I hope to get back there again in the future.
Knowsley C25k
Registrations & enquiries continue to land in my inbox for the forthcoming couch to 5k programme starting in February. Many thanks to all those members who have helped to promote the event on social media , amongst colleagues & friends.
It looks like we are going to have another successful programme, as we have nearly 30 potential graduates already on my register. If registrations continue at this rate we will have to cap applications to ensure that the group remains manageable. If you do know anyone who is interested they should get their registration completed quickly!
KHAC Road Running Championship 2020
This week members have been voting for the 3 extra races they would like to have included in our road running club championships for 2020. Voting closed on Friday evening & I now can confirm that the following races will be included as the members choices:
Liverpool Spring 10k – 3rd May
Liverpool Rock n Roll Half Marathon – 24th May
Lyndale Halewood 5k – 5th September
It looks like these will be a great addition to our championship calendar & I’m pleased that they are of varying distances to help suit all members.
KHAC Off Road Club Championship 2020
The vote for additional off road club championship races is currently live on a Facebook post by Katie Pownell on the members page. If you would like to vote or nominate a race, please see our members page for further details. On this poll you will be able to vote/nominate a maximum of 2 races to be added to the 8 races already included. Voting will close 6pm, Friday 17th January.
Congratulations
The Rivington Petzl Night race was held on Saturday which looked great fun. Congratulations to Nicola Roberts & John McCaffrey for taking part.
Four Villages Half Marathon
Good luck to all members taking part in the Four Villages Half Marathon this Sunday. For myself, this will be the first major race this year & has always proved a great event. Just watch out for the weather, as it can be quite chilly!
Knowsley Harriers AGM 2020
Myself & the committee are pleased to announce that we will be holding an AGM on Saturday 1st February at 11:45am in the Environment Centre, Okell Drive, Halewood. All club members are welcome to attend.
The committee are meeting over the next couple of days to finalise an agenda for the AGM, which will be made available to you in advance of the meeting. If you would like raise any issues yourself, we would welcome your comments following the publishing of the agenda.
I look forward to welcoming you all on the 1st February.
In the meantime though, all see you all tomorrow in Halewood for training!

05/01/2020

Happy New Year!
Hope you all had a great Christmas & your start to the new decade is treating you well. Good luck for your training and racing ventures in 2020!!
Knowsley Couch to 5k
The Knowsley Couch to 5k programme makes a return this new year! We’ve had a number of very successful programmes since we started in 2017, & now I think we are again, as a club, in a position to help others in the local area, whilst also hoping to recruit new members!
The programme starts on Saturday 1st February at Stadt Moers Park. There are 3 sessions per week & the course lasts for a duration of 9 weeks. Upon completion, all participants are invited to take part in the Lyndale Halewood 5k in April, where they will all graduate.
The success of previous programmes, I believe, is thanks to the help & support shown by the members of our running club, & I hope this continues this year. Registration for the course has been open for around a week & we already have confirmed registrations into double figures. We also have a number of current & ex members taking part, as a way to get back into running after time away.
If you have any friends, colleagues or family members that you think might be interested, please pass on the details of the programme or ask them to email me at Knowsleyc25k@gmx.co.uk or contact the club directly.
Lyndale Halewood 5k
On Saturday we held the very first Lyndale Halewood 5k of 2020. A huge thank you to all of our members who were involved in the organisation of another very successful event. In total we had 90 runners take part with many quick times posted. Well done to all our hoops that took part!
We collected a fantastic £217.65 for Lyndale Cancer Support which has now been donated & gratefully received.
There was also another food bank collection organised, with another brilliant amount of food donated to the Knowsley food bank. Thank you to all involved for making this happen.
The next Lyndale Halewood 5k will be held on the 1st February & will also include the award ceremony for the overall winners & age category winners for last year’s series.
Merseyside XC Champs Race – Stadt Moers
Stadt Moers Park was the host for the Merseyside XC Champs race that was also held on Saturday. The XC action kicked off in the morning, with junior races & concluded with the senior races in the afternoon. It was a great event with another good turnout of hoops, both competing & supporting. Conditions were fairly mild for this time of year & we did see a bit of blue sky throughout the event. Personally I think it was one of the toughest races I have taken part in & my sore calves are still agreeing with that fact this evening! What doesn’t kill you can only make you stronger I suppose!
Sutton Manor parkrun
Congratulations to the hoops taking part & volunteering at Sutton Manor parkrun last weekend. A special mention to John Mclaren who was the first runner over the line, finishing in a great time of 19:59. It was also a clean sweep for the top female finishers, with Danielle Scott crossing the line first for the ladies & 10th overall with a time of 21:55. Well done both!
Road Running Club Championship Races
We are now in the position of finalising the races for our own Road Running Club Championship for 2020. As in previous years, we have included all the Merseyside Grand Prix races. There are also 3 races that will be decided by our club members & the voting is now well underway with a Facebook poll to decide the most popular events. Voting will close at 6pm this Friday, so make sure you get yourselves involved before it’s too late! See the post I published on the members page on Saturday for further details.
Best Wishes
I was shocked to hear the news today that Jay Battersby was involved in an accident on his road bike yesterday. It looks like Jay will be out of action for a few months with facial bruising & a nasty collar bone break. It appears that his quick thinking at the time prevented the crash form being more serious. My thoughts are with him & Stephanie at this challenging time & hope he makes a speedy recovery.
Club Training
Club training for 2020 commences in Halewood & at the track tomorrow evening. I hope you are all looking forward to getting back on it after the excess of the Christmas & New Year celebrations. See you all tomorrow!

22/12/2019

Season’s greetings to you all!
Festive Mile
The last training session of this year was held on Thursday and, to help celebrate this, all training groups completed our first ‘festive mile’. We all ran in our festive outfits for the first mile of training together up to the Cookhouse roundabout. Thank you to all members who looped back to keep everyone together. It was great to see all the groups taking part & there were some great costumes! I think we all enjoyed getting into the festive spirit & it is an event I would like to replicate next year.
Congratulations
Here come the girls…….
Danielle Scott – Danielle ran at the newly formed parkrun at Sutton Manor, St Helen’s at the weekend. Danielle put in a great performance over the challenging 5k terrain & in doing so set a new female course record, crossing the line in a fantastic time of 21:34! Well done!
Lila Carragher – Lila completed the Elf Mile on Sunday & finished the course in a brilliant time of 7:20, knocking 11 seconds off her previous pb. She also received some much deserved goodies at the end of the race too.
Alex Ball – Alex set a new FU9 2k club record when she completed the Bold Forrest Junior parkrun in St. Helens on the 8th December. She ran the course in 8:52, which equates to 7:08 min/mile pace! Brilliant performance Alex!
Merseyside XC Championship
Just a reminder about the Merseyside XC Championship on the 4th January at Stadt Moers Park. If you would like to take part in the races, unlike normal XC, we need to pre-enter our teams. If you haven’t already done so, please let Chris Pownell know & he will put you on the list. Junior races kick off from 10:45, with the ladies race starting at 13:15 and the men’s race starting at 14:00. Would be great to have a good turnout from the club at our local XC race.
Lyndale Halewood 5k
The first Lyndale Halewood 5k also starts on Saturday 4th January 2020. Kelly has just renewed our race licence for next year, so we are all good to go! If you think you could spare an hour or so of your time to help out, please contact Kelly for further details. It would also be good to have a great turnout of hoops in the race itself. What better way to blow away the excess from the Xmas & New Year festivities!
Season’s Greetings
On behalf of myself & the KHAC committee, I would like to wish all our members a very Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year! Congratulations on all your running achievements throughout 2019 & I look forward to seeing you all strive for greater things in 2020. Have a great break (although I still want to see you all posting your social runs, parkrun touring & races) & I will see you all back in the New Year for the first session of the new decade on the 7th January.

15/12/2019

Arrowe Park XC
With the festive season rapidly approaching, Sunday saw the last of the cross country action for the year at Arrowe Park on the Wirral. It was my first visit to Arrowe Park for the cross country, although I had completed races there previously as part of the BTR Whistle Stop Tour, so yet again I wasn’t 100% sure what to expect. Conditions leading up to the event were very wet, so mud was definitely assured! What I wasn’t expecting though was the ‘sinking grass’ which appeared to be a normal field at first, only for you to find your foot sinking into the soggy green abyss by about 4 inches! Thankfully though there weren’t too many major inclines along the course but there were very few places where you could stretch your legs to their full potential. One of those tough races at the time, but enjoyable retrospectively!
Congratulations to all those who took part and we had a great turnout for the club, with enough counters for a full men’s & women’s team. Up front for the hoops we had Chris Pownell who crossed the line initially in 3rd place, only to be promoted to 2nd place following actual race winner being disqualified due to not wearing the correct club vest! Overall, the men’s team finished in provisional 10th place & the ladies finishing in a brilliant 11th place. Well done all!
Huge thank you also to those members who braved the conditions to come & support us.
The next cross country action will on the 4th January at the Merseyside Cross Country Championship race at Stadt Moers Park. As with the recent Sefton Park race we will need to enter all participants in advance. Watch out for further information on this from Chris Pownell.
The next North West League Cross Country will be on the 2nd February 2020 at Croxteth Hall Park in Liverpool.
Aintree 5k
There was also some race action this weekend at Aintree too with the Aintree 5k. Congratulations to George Whitehurst, Carl Philips & Leanne Jones for completing the race & bagging that final bling of the year! Well done hoops!
Halewood 5k Charity
Nominations & voting for the next charity that we will be supporting next year has been taking place over the last week or so. I’m pleased to announce that the chosen charity by our club members will be Lyndale Cancer Support based in Huyton. All proceeds that we collect from the race series in 2020 will go to this very worthy cause. Thank you to all who voted.
We will also be supporting the local food bank at various points throughout the year too thanks to the success of our first collection earlier this month. Thank you to all who helped support this.
Junior Track
Last Tuesday was the last track session of the year for our junior runners. To help celebrate this they finished off the year of training with a Christmas Awards Night, with many of them picking up prizes for great performances throughout the year. Thank you to Karen, Gavin & Daniel for all your hard work this year. I’m looking forward to seeing how well all the juniors progress with their training in 2020 & beyond.
Baby Hoop!
I was delighted to hear of the safe arrival of Ayria Hope Williamson earlier this week, born on the 10th December, weighing in at 8lb 15 ounces! Congratulations to the proud parents Kay & Alan Williamson who I’m sure you all know from G3. I hope that when she grows up she follows in her parents foot prints & gets to wear the hoops vest with pride! I’ll look forward to meeting her in the flesh soon & I’ll apologise now if the sight of me makes her cry!
Best Wishes
Sending thoughts to Rachel Kettle who suffered a fractured elbow this week following a fall whilst jogging. Hope you have a speedy recovery & are back training with us all very soon.
My thoughts this week are also with G4 coach Phil Robinson, who is currently suffering from COPD & will be out of action for a little while. Hope the recovery goes well Phil & I’ll look forward to hearing some of your great jokes in person very soon! Take care of yourself.
Training
This week will be the final club training week of the year at both the track tomorrow & Halewood on Thursday. To celebrate the end of another great year for the club we will be completing a ‘festive mile’ on Thursday. All groups will complete the usual club mile route up to the Cookhouse roundabout before heading off in their own directions to complete their sessions. Please wear your best xmas outfits to mark the event & I will be looking out for the best dressed xmas hoop who I will be awarding extra kudos to!
Thanks for listening & I hope to see you all in Halewood tomorrow!

08/12/2019

Willowbrook Halewood 5k
This Saturday was the last Willowbrook Halewood 5k for this year & also played host to the Awards Ceremony for the Merseyside Grand Prix. Thank you to everyone who has got involved with either volunteering or taking part in our monthly 5k race series this year. In total, we have hosted an incredible 20 races throughout the year including The Fab 4 Race series & the kids 1 mile race.
This month we had 19 club members volunteering & 15 members running. Congratulations to Stephen Campbell who finished the race in 2nd place with a time of 16:29. Louise Jackson was also first lady finisher in an extremely close finish right on the line! Louise completed the course in 19:53 with the exact time as 2nd place lady Kelly Hamilton from St Helens Striders. It was great to watch & really pleased that Louise held her off!
We are currently in the process of choosing another charity for next year’s race series to benefit from our charitable donations. Apologies for the misunderstanding in the original voting process, which now has been rectified. Please see Chris Pownell’s post on the members page for further details. Nominations will be open until midnight Wednesday & a facebook poll will be posted following that for you to cast your vote. Once this has been completed, Kelly will be able to apply for our race license for next year.
Following the success of the food bank collection on Saturday, we are keen to repeat this at our future events, alongside our charitable donations. Thank you to all members who gave so generously. We had some great feedback from the food bank as they were very grateful.
KHAC Christmas Party
Thank you to all members who attended our Xmas party on Saturday. I hope you all enjoyed the evening & congratulations to all award winners. It was great to see so many of you there, all celebrating a great year of running for the club.
Many thanks to all involved in organising the evening. This year we decided to use caterers to provide the buffet & I think it was a great success. Thank you Karen for organising this.
I’d also like to thank Anja for organising all the awards & trophies for us all & ensured that they all arrived on time. Anja also implemented the club standards this year, which again were a great success & we foresee this to be even more popular in the future.
Cross Country
This weekend there was cross country action at Beacon Park in Skelmersdale, with the next L & D cross country race. With a lot of members competing or volunteering at Halewood, it was left solely to Daniel Issawi to represent the hoops. Well done Dan for completing the race & doing it for the hoops!
This Sunday coming (15th December) there is further cross country action at Arrowe Park on the Wirral. It would be great to have a huge turnout of hoops for the final XC race of 2019.
Training
The last club training session for this year will be on the Thursday 19th December. It would be great if all members at Halewood could run a ‘festive club mile’ at the start of the session. If you would like to wear your best Xmas running attire it would be a fun way to end the year on. Once completed, all groups would then complete their session as normal. I’m also suggesting that we go to the Cookhouse Pub for tea afterwards if anyone would like to.
Training will then commence again in the new year, starting back on the 7th January 2020.
Thanks for listening & I’ll see you tomorrow at training!

01/12/2019

Liverpool Santa Dash
Congratulations to all our members who took part in the Liverpool Santa Dash at the weekend. The weather looked great for you all on Sunday morning and I bet those santa suits kept you all warm! Hope you all had a great time!
Inflatable 5k Obstacle Run
An unusual run took place at Haydock Park this weekend with the Inflatable 5k Obstacle Run. Congratulations to Nicola Roberts, Paul Roberts & Laura McAllister who all completed the race. Sounds like you all had a great time, well done! I hope you weren’t wearing your spikes for this one??!!
Willowbook Halewood 5k
This Saturday sees the final Willowbrook Halewood 5k of the year. On behalf of myself, Kelly & all the KHAC committee, we would like to thank everyone who has supported our monthly race this year. It has been another successful series, with good support from other clubs & a fantastic amount of donations raised for our chosen charity Willowbrook Hospice.
The award presentations for the Merseyside Grand Prix will take place after the race. It would be great if you could show your support to all award winners, but in particular Chris Pownell (Men’s Champion), Louise Jackson (Women’s Champion), Rob Owens (Men’s 3rd place), Danielle Scott (Women’s 3rd place), Andy Fearns (MV40 winner), Alan Joyce (MV60 Winner), KHAC Men’s Team (3rd place) & KHAC Women’s Team (3rd place). Well done to you all!
If anyone would still like to help volunteer for the race please get in contact with Kelly.
As with every year we choose a new charity to support & we will be opening up nominations for the forthcoming year this week. If you know of any charities that you would like us to support then please let us know as soon as you can & we will set up a vote to select the final choice.
KHAC Christmas Party
We also have our Christmas Party this Saturday too. If you haven’t already paid, then please do so as soon as you can. Payment can be made to any coach or committee member in cash at training or via PayPal if you prefer.
The committee have been very busy finalising the last arrangements to ensure you all have an enjoyable evening. As mentioned in a previous blog, we have arranged for caterers to supply the food for our buffet this year (thanks Karen!). If you would like to be entered into the draw for the club London Marathon place, then you only have the remainder of this week to do so. Please email your proof of rejection to the club email address.
Here is the provisional programme of events for the evening:
7:30pm – Arrivals
8:15pm – KHAC Awards & Club Standards Ceremony
9:00pm – Buffet
9:45pm – KHAC Raffle & London Marathon place draw
10:00pm – Disco continues…….
Hope you are all looking forward to the party this year & I look forward to welcoming you all.

24/11/2019

UKA Cross Country Challenge – Sefton Park
Sefton Park played host to the UKA Cross Country Challenge on Saturday & was also the 2nd fixture of this season’s L&D XC races. The event comprised junior races in the morning before the senior fixtures in the afternoon. We were lucky enough to have some of our juniors taking part, so congratulations go to Alex, Tom, Lucas & Dylan for tackling the demanding course! We also had a great turnout from our senior members. In total we had over 20 hoops lining up, including myself, who was completing this race for the first time. Conditions were looking challenging leading up to the event which meant a tough muddy course awaited us all. The conditions were indeed very tough, with numerous sections of the course covered in deep wet mud. Congratulations to all those who took part & the camaraderie amongst the club was brilliant. Thank you also to those members who came to support, especially Richie Deane & Paul Roberts who were on hand to capture some of the muddy action!
Next cross country race is on the 15th December at Arrowe Park, starting at 10:00am.
Wilmslow Festive 10k
We had many members of the club taking part in the Wilmslow Festive 10k this weekend too. This was also a race that I hadn’t ran before, so was really looking forward to it. As races go it was very well organised, with ample parking & great facilities at the race HQ in the leisure centre. The route was fairly flat, with a few undulations but thankfully the inclines weren’t as bad as some of the hills we train on! Conditions were good considering, with only a little bit of light drizzle towards the end. Well done to all those members who finished the course in a pb time. Great stuff!
Congratulations
This weekend Liz Gemmell completed the Florence Marathon in Italy. She ran an awesome race & finished the course in 3 hrs 25 min & 42 secs. Liz also broke the senior ladies club record in doing so which is a fantastic achievement. Well done.
Talking of club records, it was noted this week that Rob Owens has being doing rather well this year! In total, Rob has broken the V35 club record for 5k, 10k, 5 mile & 10 mile so far. Congratulations!
Xmas Party
Final preparations for the Xmas party on the 7th December continue. This week Anja has been busy collating the club championship points & ordering the respective trophies for those lucky individuals. She has also been finalising the club standards which has been a new addition this year. The voting has now closed for the ‘runners choice award’, the winner of which will be revealed at the Xmas party. Many thanks to those members who have paid their entry fee so far. If you wish to attend please try to pay a member of the committee or the coaching team as soon as you can.
Club Mile
This Thursday sees the return of the club mile for this month, where has November gone! As usual, all groups run the first mile together up to the Cookhouse roundabout, before heading off in their own direction. Please try wear your club vest so we all can experience the ‘Where’s Wally’ abuse together!
See you all Tuesday for training at Halewood.

17/11/2019

Races
Conwy Half Marathon
This Sunday saw the conclusion of the Knowsley Harriers club championship at the Conwy Half Marathon. Conditions before the event looked very drizzly & a little chilly! That didn’t seem to dampen the spirits of any of our intrepid hoops who were determined to take on the might of ‘The Orme’. This was my 5th time at Conwy & is definitely one of my favourite half marathons. We had a great turnout from the club & it was fantastic to see all of the training groups represented.
Everyone put in a great effort throughout the race & a special mention to Rob Owens finishing in an incredible 6th place overall & congratulations to Louise Jackson for finishing 4th lady.
Alan Joyce was on another mission it seemed to smash yet another club record! Alan completed the course in a V65 record time of 1:51:56. Great stuff!
We also had Shelley Hignett completing her first half marathon in Conwy. You certainly picked a tough one for your first, so hopefully all the rest will be a little easier for you!
Special mention also to Sharon Martin who completed the trio of Run Wales half marathons having already completed the SnowdonHalf & Bangor Half earlier this year. Well done!
Thank you also to those members who braved the elements to support us all. It must have been freezing for you! Thanks to Richie Deane for capturing some great images of us all too.
Rock N Roll Las Vegas Half Marathon
This weekend we also had a couple of members take their hoops stateside to complete the Rock N Roll Las Vegas Half Marathon. Huge congratulations to Nicola Roberts & Danielle-Marie Stevens for completing what must have been an epic event. Well done on the bling!
Mo Runner
A little closer to home there was the Mo Runner race at Croxteth Hall Park. This was the 10th Anniversary of the event & congratulations to George Whitehurst for a great effort. He also wins the most unusual selfie award this week for his post race toilet cubicle shot!
Xmas Party
Quick reminder about the Xmas party on the 7th December at The Dales on Okell Drive. If you would like to attend the event please forward your payment of £5 to one of our committee members or coaches at Halewood or the track. Once you’ve paid your name will be entered into our raffle that will the drawn on the night.
If you haven’t already done so, now is the time to secure your place in the VLM club ballot, by sending our secretary Anja your confirmation of rejection in the main VLM ballot. You will also need to be a full UKA member to qualify & be able to represent the club in London in April next year should you be successful.
Club standards will also be awarded on the night, so you will need to contact Anja with confirmation of your times as soon as you can. For further details on this please refer to the club website.
Coming up……..
Cross Country
This Saturday sees the return of the UKA XC Challenge at Sefton Park. I will be hot footing it there shortly after Run Directing at the parkrun to set up the gazebo & flags. Good luck to all those taking part, I’m sure it will be a fantastic event. If any members are not running & can spare the time it would be great to see you down there supporting. Junior races start from 10:45am with the Senior Ladies starting at 13:05pm (8.1km) & the Senior Men’s race (9.8km) starting at 14:05pm.
Wilmslow Festive 10k
Good luck to all the hoops taking part in this Sunday’s Wilmslow Festive 10k. Race starts at 9:30am, so make sure you allow plenty of time to get there & get parked up. It will be my first time completing this event & I’m really looking forward to the race. Always great to try different races from time to time.
Florence Marathon
Good luck to Liz Gemmell who will be competing in the Florence Marathon on Sunday. Hope you have a great run Liz!

10/11/2019

New Members Email
Anja has been busy the last couple of weeks compiling a welcome letter, that new members will receive via email. The email welcomes new members to the club & gives details of our website & Facebook group. It also provides information about the training sessions we offer for adults & juniors, both at Halewood & Kirkby, alongside details of the club championship, club standards, club merchandise & club races. All committee members, including myself as Chairman, are also introduced and it is hoped that this will help new members put faces to names & understand the committee members respective roles. This email will also be sent out retrospectively to existing members too. Thank you Anja for putting this together for us.
Safeguarding & Welfare Policies
A link to the relevant UKA Welfare policies can now be found on the club website in the section ‘Constitution and Policies’ within the ‘About Us’ section. Russ is also in the process of setting up an email address that can be used for all welfare issues. Details of the email address will be published as soon as it is available.
Club Vests
Our merchandise guru Richie Deane has taken delivery of the latest batch of club vests. Richie will be at training in Halewood on Tuesday 12th November for those of you who have ordered one of these. Club vests cost £18 and please pay as promptly as you can.
KHAC Xmas Party – 7th December 2019
Preparations for the most important social event on the Knowsley calendar continue to progress! This week Karen & the committee have been focusing on the buffet as we know you athletes like your food! This year we will be treating you all to food prepared by a catering company. If you have any special dietary requirements please let us know ASAP.
Committee members & coaches will now be able to take your payment of £5 which guarantees you entry on the night. We are not producing tickets, as a way to cut down on waste. Your name will be entered into a raffle which will be drawn on the night. Prizes for the raffle are yet to be confirmed, but normally include a year’s free club membership and also a free club vest, among other things.
Club standards will also be awarded at the Xmas party. Therefore, now is the time to claim your standards by sending of your 3 qualifying races to contact@knowsley-harriers.com. Further details of club standards can be found on the website.
The Xmas party also will see the draw for the club ballot place for the Virgin London Marathon (VLM) take place. There is one club place available. In order to be eligible to be entered in the draw you must a) be a current UKA KHAC member, b) have entered the 2020 ballot and have evidence of your rejection, and c) be available to represent KHAC at VLM on 26th April 2020. If you wish to be entered in the ballot please email contact@knowsley-harriers.com attaching your rejection evidence.
Congratulations
Windmill 10k – Well done to Liz Owens, Russ Owens & George Whitehurst for completing the Windmill 10k on Sunday. Conditions looked great for the race, even if it must have been slightly cold! Great effort by all.
John McCaffrey – Congratulations to John who completed the Heaton Park Half Marathon. I hear the course contained a few hills and John did extremely well to finish in a time of 1:53:26.
Knowsley parkrun – Congratulation to Nicola Roberts who completed her 50th parkrun at Knowsley on Saturday! She was joined at the race by quite a few hoops which was great to see. A particular well done to Alan Spencer who finished in first place! Thank you to Nicola for bringing along the superb cake, I’m glad I was on hand to try a piece!
Tom O’Dowd – Massive congratulations to Tom who took part in the Athens Marathon at the weekend. Tom finished the race in an amazing time of 3:04:39 and ran in the memory of his friend Chris who sadly passed away in 2012. He has raised nearly £600 in charity donations for The British Heart Foundation along the way. Well done Tom!
Knowsley parkrun
This Saturday Knowsley parkrun will be celebrating its 150th event since its inaugural run in December 2016. It would be great to see a good turnout of hoops to support the occasion. Richie Deane is Run Director this week & if you would like to act as a volunteer then please do get in touch with Richie.
Conwy Half Marathon
Good luck to all members taking part in the weekend’s Conwy Half Marathon. It is the final race of the club championship & there is still plenty to play for! It sounds like we are going to have a great turnout on Sunday & I’m sure we are looking forward to taking on the might of the Orme! See you all on the start line!
Condolences
Myself & the committee would like to send our condolences this week to Clare Orm who sadly lost her Dad last Monday. Our thoughts are with you at this sad time.

03/11/2019

New Members!
I am very pleased to welcome the following new members;
Sophie Cassidy
Chris Cassidy
It’s great to be able to welcome you to Knowsley Harriers. I hope you will enjoy being a member of the club & that we help you strive to reach your own personal running goals. I know Sophie & Chris have been training in G4 & G2 respectively for the last couple of weeks & are making great progress!
Cross Country
This weekend we had a great turnout for the North West Cross Country League race at Clarke Gardens in Liverpool. In total we had 18 runners take part, which is a great improvement on last month’s race at Beacon Park. Official results are yet to be released but we had a great result with Rob Owens finishing in fifth position overall and both the ladies and men’s teams finishing in the top ten. Great stuff!
It was a brilliant event & the first time that I had ran that course. My favourite bit was the water splash in which you took a leap of faith jumping into the water to get across, not knowing it’s depth! Luckily I didn’t sink & made it across safely, but I believe a few others were not so fortunate!
Special thanks to Steph Charman, Mick Charman, Lisa Minshull, Steve Minshull & Andrea Marsh for their support on Sunday. It was a great surprise to see you out on the course & gave us all a much needed boost! Mick also took some photos of us all which were of course excellent & capture the spirit of the event perfectly.
The next Sunday league XC is on 15th December at Arrowe Park on the Wirral. I’m looking forward to it already! However, in addition, on the 23rd November the UKA XC challenge will be held at Sefton Park. We currently have 17 adults and 4 juniors signed up to this prestigious event. This race is slightly different to the League races as entries do need to be submitted in advance. The entries will be submitted tomorrow (5th November) so if anyone else wishes to take part please let Chris Pownell know by early tomorrow morning at the latest!
Tatton Park Half Marathon
Congratulations to Jayne Ellis, Norma Forrester & David Dodd who all took part in the Tatton Park Half Marathon yesterday. Lindsey Hagan played a great supporting role & ran the 2nd half of the race with Jayne. Special mention to David for completing the race to raise funds towards the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation. In total, David has raised over £350 for this very worthy cause, well done!
The Houghton Brothers
Our very own ‘Brownlee Brothers’ Lucas & Dylan Houghton, were doing a bit of parkrun tourism this weekend visiting Prestatyn in North Wales. Lucas & Dylan finished in 1st & 2nd place overall which is a fantastic achievement. Well done boys!
Willowbrook Halewood 5k
Many thanks to all members who volunteered for us this weekend at the Willowbrook Halewood 5k. Congratulations to those members who ran & put in a great performance. It was a great event & even with it clashing with the Rugby World Cup Final we had plenty of runners taking part. We were visited this month by Widnes Running Club who were using the race as part of their club championships. It’s great to see the local running clubs supporting our event in this way.
Special mention to Vinnie Edwards who currently runs with G3. Vinnie crossed the line in a fantastic time of 22:22 which was a massive PB for him. Amazing result & I’ll see you in G2 very soon!
Thanks also to our resident photographer’s Mick Charman & Richie Deane who were out on the course taking photos of the event. Your time taking & processing them is much appreciated!
In total we raised a fantastic £176.29 towards the Willowbrook Hospice fund. As with every year, we choose a local charity to support, so shortly we will be thinking of who we will be supporting for 2020. If you have any suggestions or charities that are close to your heart, please let us know & we will include them in the voting which will take place towards the end of the year.
Knowsley parkrun
This weekend I’ll be Run Directing at Knowsley parkrun. We have a few core team members away this week, so if you think you can help out please let me know. I’d also like to see a number of hoops taking part if possible.
This week we are having a ‘Pumpkin Amnesty’, so if your little orange friend is now looking a little worse for wear, please bring them along to enjoy the fun! After the run we’ll be placing the pumpkins amongst the trees & bushes as a treat for the local wildlife.

Thanks for listening & I’ll look forward to seeing you all at training this week. 🙂

27/10/2019



Races
Snowdonia Marathon – On Saturday, myself, Kelly Marrin, Danielle Scott & Scott Robertson took part in the Snowdonia Marathon starting in Llanberis. Conditions before the start looked pretty wet, with persistent rain all morning, so we were all prepared from quite grim conditions! Shortly after the first mile though the rain seemed to end, although it was still quite cold. Conditions underfoot were good on the road, but less so on the off road sections. The worst off road sections were the last couple of miles, which were mostly downhill. We had a few wobbles as we came down the hill, but thankfully we both stayed upright! It was tough race with plenty of long uphill sections, but the fantastic scenery throughout the course makes it a bucket list race for many marathon runners & one of my favourites.
Congratulations to Scott Robertson who was the first hoop home, finishing in a great time of 3 hours 26 minutes. Danielle Scott ran a great race to finish around 10 minutes behind with a time of 3 hours 37 minutes & was 20th lady finisher overall. Fantastic result!
Myself & Kelly completed the course together in 4 hours 27 minutes.
Venice Marathon – Tadie Abeki’s international marathon adventures continued at the weekend when he took part in the Venice Marathon. The conditions in Italy seemed to be a lot more favourable than North Wales & Tadie completed the course in 3 hours 31 minutes. It’s great to see Tadie enjoying all these races overseas & I’m intrigued to see where his hoops vest pops up next!
St. Helens Striders Trail Race – Closer to home we had a few members running the St. Helens Striders Trail Race this weekend. I ran this one a few years ago myself & I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to try something a little more different. Well done to all who took part!
Delamere Night Run – Congratulations to Nicola Roberts & John McCaffrey who completed the Delamere Night Run. As if running around Delamere isn’t tricky enough, the intrepid two took on this trail race in the dark. Hope your torches were up to the job of lighting the way for you & you enjoyed the race.
Scouse 5k – It was great to see so many hoops donning the scouser wigs this weekend & taking part in the Scouse 5k. You all looked great & the red wig’s definitely complemented the red of our vests. Congratulations to all!
Knowsley Schools XC – It was the Knowlsey Schools XC race too this weekend & we had 3 of our junior runners taking part. Congratulations to Henry Kilty, Dylan & Lucas Houghton. It was a particularly great run for Lucas as he finished in 9th place overall. It’s great to see our juniors doing so well.
Willowbrook Halewood 5k – This Saturday sees the November edition of our monthly 5k race series in Halewood. Thank you to all who have offered to volunteer for us this weekend. If anyone would still like to help then please contact Kelly for more information. It would also be great to see as many of you taking part in the race as well. Looking forward to seeing you all.
Monday Night Social Runs – It’s been great to see how well our Monday night social runs have been progressing over the last few months. We are lucky to have two runs that take place on the same evening, one starting in Prescot at 5pm & another starting at 7pm from the Village Hotel in Whiston. Both runs cater for all abilities & is a great way to get out & enjoy your running without the pressure of a set session. Huge thank you to those members who organise these & look out on the members page for details of future events.
Safeguarding & Welfare – This week our newly appointed Safeguarding & Welfare Officer Russ Owens has been looking into getting our club policies in order. It is hoped that we will be able to include these policies on our website before too long, for you to refer to should any issues evolve. Look out for further information on this over the coming weeks or speak to Russ directly for updates.
Car Park Safety (Halewood) – With the dark training night firmly upon us, please be mindful of the car parking arrangements at Halewood. We had an incident last week where one of our members cars was damaged. Please be careful when arriving & leaving the car park as you all know it is not the biggest space & can be very dark in places. Also a reminder to those arriving by car not to leave any valuables on show. We haven’t had any incidents of that nature for a few years, but please do be careful.
Club Mile – Just a reminder to all members that it is club mile this Thursday. To any of our newer members who might be unaware, on the last Thursday of every month, all members attending training on the Thursday are to wear their club vests. All groups then run the first mile together up to the Cookhouse roundabout, before splitting up & going to complete their own group sessions. If you haven’t got a club vest, please try to borrow a spare or wear something red & white.
Cross Country, Clarke Gardens – This weekend sees the second race in the Sunday League Cross Country taking part in Clarke Gardens in Liverpool. I’m hoping it will be a great turnout for the hoops. Refreshments will be available again afterwards, this time at the Aigburth Peoples Hall just off Sefton Park. Hope to see you there!
Many thanks for listening & I’ll see you for training in Halewood tomorrow

20/10/2019



Races
Beat The Reaper
Congratulations to all our members who completed the Beat The Reaper Race today at Croxteth Park. I have seen a number of photos and all the costumes looked great! Hope the conditions through the park were good for you. A very well done to all those who ran a PB today and to John McLaren for an impressive fourth place.
It was also a great result for one of our junior runners, Henry Kilty, who completed the kids 1k race today. Henry finished in 3rd place, which is amazing. Well done!
Yorkshire Marathon
Chris Pownell, Katie Pownell & Lindsey Hagan travelled across the Pennines to compete in the Yorkshire Marathon in York today.
The ‘Pownells’ were on the hunt for marathon PBs & I’m pleased to say it was mission accomplished for both of them! Chris ran an amazing race to finish in 11th place overall, crossing the line in 2 hours 28 minutes! This is a fantastic achievement & further improves his club record at that distance.
Katie was also on the hunt for her first sub 4 marathon & ran the marathon in a awesome time of 3 hours 51 minutes. Congratulations on your new PB Katie & I’ll be expecting a sub 3:50 from you next time!
Congratulation to Lindsey Hagan who successfully completed her first marathon in York today. Lindsey finished the marathon in a great time of 4 hours & 12 minutes. There are rumours that there might be a repeat performance in Manchester next year? If so, I’ll probably see you on the start line!
Amsterdam Marathon
John Gilbert who currently runs in the G2 squad took part in the Amsterdam Marathon today. I think John was aiming for a time of under 3:30 & he smashed his prediction by crossing the line in 3 hours 27 minutes! Well done & I expect to see you back on it at training on Tuesday!
Beacon Park XC
Today, myself & a few other hoops took part in the first Sunday League XC in Beacon Park in Skelmersdale. I’d never ran this course before & hadn’t even been to Beacon Park before, despite working in Skem for over 5 1/2 years! The course was not as hilly as I had feared, although there were a few steep inclines to deal with. The biggest obstacle was the mud, thanks to the wet conditions over the last few weeks. Thankfully, the weather was kind to us this morning, with mild conditions & with bright conditions allowing us fine views overlooking Merseyside.
Everyone who ran put in a great effort & even though we had a smaller turnout than most clubs, we figured quite highly in the results respectively. It would be great if we could get a larger turnout for the next one at Clarke Gardens in Woolton.
BTR Medal Muddle
Today was the October edition of the Medal Muddle series organised by BTR. The race today was in Hoylake on the Wirral & congratulations to anyone who took part.
Stephanie Charman
It was great to see Steph Charman back on her feet this week after she had hip surgery following a fall at Croxteth parkrun a few weeks ago. Steph was out & about on Saturday morning & was marshalling at Knowsley parkrun. I saw Steph again this morning at Beacon Park, as she was on hand to show her support to the Cross Country runners. It was great to see you & thanks for the encouragement up those hills!
Next Week
Good luck to all members who will be representing the hoops at various races next weekend.
Snowdonia Marathon– Good luck to myself, Kelly, Danielle Scott & Scott Robertson.
Petzl Night Runner – This race is part of our off road club championship, so make sure that head torch is fully charged!
Scouse 5k – Good luck to all you scousers taking part in the 5k race around the town. Remember to wear those (red or white!) wigs with pride!
Striders Trail 5 Miler – This is another race that is included in the off road club championship. Good luck to you all!
Thanks for listening again & I’ll hopefully see you at Halewood at some point for training.

13/10/2019



New Members
Very pleased to welcome Damian Stankiewicz who joined the club this week. Many of you will already know his sister, Daga, who completed our C25k programme & is doing so well with her training in G3. I’m expecting great things from you too Damian!
VLM
This week saw the results of the general ballot for the London Marathon. Congratulations to the following members who have been lucky to get a place.
Kelly Marrin
Glen Wilkinson
Ian Broadhurst
Katie Nicolson
It will be great to watch you all complete the 26.2 miles around London next year. Watch out for me popping up along the route at various points to cheer you on! Don’t forget, if you were unsuccessful, you also qualify for the club ballot, which should hopefully give you slightly better odds of a place! Remember to keep your rejection details as proof & results of this ballot will be revealed at the Xmas Party.
We also have Danielle Scott & Stephen Campbelll running for us, who both qualified with a GFA (Good For Age) entry.
Chris Pownell also has guaranteed entry thanks to his strong performances at that distance giving him a championship place.
Well done to Natalie Canavan who has secured a place in the marathon thanks to obtaining a charity place. Looking forward to seeing you all!
Races
It was another very busy week of racing for the hoops. Congratulations to all members who took part in the following:
Hell Runner
MAMAthon 5k
Tatton Park 10k
Manchester Half Marathon
Palma Half Marathon/10k
Cross Country – Sherdley Park
Club Merchandise
This week our club merchandise guru, Richie Deane, has been looking into updating the club vests for us. Following a facebook vote, it was decided that we were to include our club badge on the front of the vest. We also took on-board suggestions that the ladies club vests could do with being a little longer for some. Therefore, we can now offer 2 lengths of ladies vests, varying by about 5cm.
Cross Country
The cross country season continues this week when Beacon Park, Skelmersdale plays host to the first in the Sunday league races. It is always great to see members trying out cross country for the first time & I’m hopeful for a good turnout this weekend. It will be the first time this season that I will be dusting off my spikes, so I’m really looking forward to it!
Congratulations
Talking of cross country, one of our junior members, Ava Buckley, took part in the Sefton Schools Cross Country. She finished in 2nd place, which if fantastic. Well done Ava!
Merseyside Grand Prix Results
This week saw the revealing of the Merseyside Grand Prix results. It was great to see how well we finished across all levels, given that we are up against many larger clubs. Congratulations to the following:
Women:
Louise Jackson: 1st overall
Dani Scott: 3rd overall
Stephanie Charman: 1st v65
Men:
Chris Pownell: 1st overall
Robert Owens: 3rd overall
Andy Fearns: 1st v40
Alan Joyce: 1st v60
We also finished in 3rd place overall for both the men’s & ladies teams.
Well done hoops!
The award ceremony for the Merseyside Grand Prix will take place at the Willowbrook Halewood 5k in December. The awards will be given out after the race, so if you can hang around a little while longer to support those receiving awards that would be great.
Training
If you are attending training at Halewood throughout the week, please be mindful that the sessions now start whilst it is dark. If you can try to wear bright clothing & a head/body torch that will help the safety of all members of the group. If you haven’t got a head/body torch I would urge you to try to get one. Those members who do have them should be able to give you advice on which are the best buys etc.
Good luck
Chris Pownell, Katie Pownell & Lindsey Hagan will be taking part in the Yorkshire Marathon in York this weekend. Good luck to you & I’m expecting some strong times from you all!
That’s all for this week, see you all tomorrow for training in Halewood!

06/10/2019

New Members
I’m pleased to welcome another new member to the club this week. Paul Blaney has joined us & has already completed a couple of sessions in G4. He is also a regular at Knowsley parkrun, so any of you who are regular parkrunners may recognise him. Hope we will all make him feel very welcome.

Races
It seemed to be a very busy weekend for many of our members with lots of races taking place. Hopefully I haven’t missed any……
Chester Metric/Marathon
It was another great event for Knowsley Harriers in Chester this year. In the marathon we had Leanne Jones, Hazel Brennan & John McAffrey all taking on the 26.2 miles of rural Cheshire & North Wales.
Chris Pownell put in a fantastic performance to take another victory in the Metric Marathon. Chris completed the 26.2km route in an amazing 1:30:47! Congratulations also to Louise Jackson who finished in 4th place overall in the ladies standings, well done!
There were many club records either claimed or increased which were the following:
Marathon
Leanne Jones – F V35 – 3:46:59
Metric Marathon
Chris Pownell – M Senior – 1:30:47
Louise Jackson – F Senior – 1:54:47
Chris Wills – M V40 – 2:07:51
Kelly Marrin – F V40 – 2:21:32
Norma Forrester – F V50 – 2:39:47
Alan D’Henin – MV65 – 3:06:27
A special mention to the following hoops; Clare Orm, Danielle Scott, Anja Pownell, Joyce Connolly, Natalie Canavan & Rob Owens. Many thanks for your support in Chester, was great to see you pop up in various positions along the route!
Loch Ness Marathon
Congratulations to Jayne Ellis & Cara Bartlett who completed the Loch Ness Marathon this weekend. Great to think that the hoops vest has travelled all that way north! Well done!
I’m presuming that whilst Cara & Jayne were putting in a shift along Loch Ness, Nick Bartlett was doing similar in the River Ness 10k. Great stuff Nick, think you definitely had the better deal!
Branham 10k
We had another great finish yesterday, with John McLaren taking 2nd place on the podium at the Branham 10k. Well done John, those 4 miles of being chased by the kids at the Fab 4 race are certainly paying off!
Bangor Half Marathon
Well done to Paul Fitzgerald & Sharon Martin who took on the 13.1 miles in Wales. Hope the weather was kind to you!
Rotterdam Harbour Run
We also had Nicola Roberts taking part in the Rotterdam Harbour Run in the Netherlands. It looked a great race with all those obstacles & mud! Well done!
Rainford 10k
Congratulations to all members who took part in the Rainford 10k yesterday too. Well done!
World Athletic Championships – Doha
It’s been a great couple of weeks watching the athletic races in Doha that concluded at the weekend. It was great to watch local man Tom Bosworth take part in the men’s 20km walk race. Tom can be often found training on ‘the ralla’ & has completed our Halewood 5k race a number of times. Tom put in a great performance to finish in 7th place overall. Will be interesting to see how well he does at the Olympics next year!

VLM Ballot
This week sees the start of the VLM ballot results being sent out for 2020. Congratulations to those of you have been successful so far!
Don’t be too disappointed if you are not successful, as you always have another attempt at the KHAC Xmas party in the club place draw. Remember to keep evidence of your rejection as you will need this to qualify for entry into the club ballot. You will also need to be UKA affiliated members in order to qualify for this.

#RunForAndy
On Saturday Knowsley parkrun hosted the #RunForAndy event at Stadt Moers Park. Congratulations to all team members who took part to show our support to Andy Bradley as he continues to recover. A very well done to David Dodd who was Run Director for the event & for smashing the attendance record with 200 runners taking part. What a great way show our support to Andy.

Cross Country
The cross country season will soon be upon us, when it commences this weekend with the L&D League on Saturday at Sherdley Park, St Helens. Cross country is a great way to maintain fitness levels throughout the winter period & I hope to get to as many of these as I can myself. For further details of the dates & locations, please have a look on the club web site.

Hope you are all well & looking forward to another eventful week. See you all in Halewood for club training tomorrow.

30/09/2019

A slightly quieter week behind the scenes at Knowsley Harriers HQ! Nevertheless, Xmas party organising continues, as we investigate catering options for our event. The new coaches are now looking into getting booked onto their courses, which hopefully should be completed over the next few months. Good luck to Russ this week as he leads his first session in G4!
Knowsley Safari 10 miler
Miserable conditions certainly didn’t dampen the spirit of the hoops as they tackled the 10 miles around Knowsley Safari Park yesterday. It was so great to see so many of us take part. Whilst some were chasing pb’s & victories, it was great to see members taking on the distance for the first time. Well done to you all!
It was a Knowsley Harriers clean sweep at the sharp end of the race, with our very own Chris Pownell taking overall victory & Louise Jackson taking victory for the ladies. What a great way to show the rest of Merseyside what us hoops are made of!
I knew it wouldn’t be long before I was writing this again, but congratulations again to Alan Joyce for smashing the previous V65 record 10 mile record by 8 minutes. Superb effort!
The Safari 10 miler was the final round of the Merseyside Grand Prix. We are awaiting the final standings of the series & confirmation of a successful year for the hoops!
Racing
Multi Terrain – This week saw the Steve Saunders multi terrain series conclude at Arrowe Park on The Wirral. Well done to all members who have represented our club throughout the series. Congratulations to Katie Pownell & Nicola Roberts for completing the final round.
BTR Medal Muddle- Congratulations to all our members who took part in another medal muddle race on Saturday.
Great Scottish Run- Liz Gemmell took part in the Great Scottish Run in Glasgow this weekend. Liz completed the 13.1 miles in an incredible 1:35:45. Absolutely superb!
Knowsley parkrun – Congratulations to all our runners who took part in the parkrun this weekend. One of our newest recruits, Jay Battersby completed his 50th parkrun with Knowsley on Saturday! Jay wore the red 50 cape during his run & provided a fantastic cake to celebrate. I can confirm it was the best breakfast I’ve had for a while!
Berlin Marathon – We were sorry to hear that Tracy Meharg suffered an injury whilst taking on the Berlin Marathon. All of us at the club wish her a speedy recovery & hope to see her back at training soon.
#RunForAndy
Great to hear reports the Andy Bradley is showing signs of improving. Thanks again to David Dodd for keeping us all informed on his condition throughout the week. Our thoughts are with him & his family as he continues to recover.
This weekend is the #RunForAndy at Knowsley parkrun. Good luck to all those taking part & showing your support to Andy.
New Members –
A huge hoops welcome this week to the following:
Marie McEvoy – Who has already trained with G4 a couple of times. Well done!
Jonathon Grieve – Jonathon ran at Knowsley for the first time on Thursday with G3. Apparently he has got great pace, so will be joining G2 with immediate effect! See you Tuesday!
Upcoming Events
Chester Marathon & Metric Marathon – Good luck to all those competing in Chester this weekend whether taking on the full marathon or metric marathon! I’ll hopefully be there in time to wave all you marathoners off, before lining up myself for the metric. Good luck!
Loch Ness Marathon – All the best for those members tackling the Loch Ness Marathon! Hope all goes well for you!
Willowbrook Halewood 5k- This weekend we also have our October edition of our monthly 5k race. Many thanks to all those who have offered to volunteer this week. We couldn’t host these races throughout the year without your help, which is greatly appreciate by myself, KHAC committee & all the runners.
I think we still need a few more volunteers for this Saturday, so if you think you can help please let Kelly know.
Hope you all have a great week & I’ll see you at training tomorrow!

22/09/2019

Run Leadership Courses
When I took over the role as Chairman, one of the things I wanted to improve was the training for each of the groups at Halewood & the track in Kirkby by encouraging a few members to help out with coaching. After a few weeks of discussion with the coaches & the committee, we all agreed that each group would benefit from another coach. The club therefore is now able to offer 3 members of the club the opportunity to complete a run leadership course funded by the club. I am very pleased to announce the following people will be joining the coaching team;
Alan Williamson – Has proven leadership skills shown in taking the sessions for G3 on numerous occasions. Alan will continue to assist with the training of G3 when needed & step in to coach G2 in my absence.
John Connolly – John has been helping coach the G3 for a number of years & has become a great asset to the club. He will continue to lead sessions in G3 & has offered to assist the members of G4 with the transition of moving up by offering a 6 week intermediate group to help with this.
Russ Owens – Russ has been a valued member of G4 for over 18 months now & has shown great support towards all members of the group. He will continue to help the existing coaches & will deputise when needed.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all members who showed an interest in completing a run leadership course. If there becomes an opportunity in the future for the club to fund further training I will be contacting those individuals in the first instance to offer them first refusal.
Junior Sessions/Track
Daniel Izzy – Dan has stepped forward to help Karen coach the juniors & offered to take both the junior & adult track sessions in her absence. I think Dan will be a great asset to the club & I wish him well.
JDRF Charity Run
Congratulations to the members of G4 who completed a 4 mile charity run for The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation on Thursday as part of their training. Thank you to Phil Robinson for arranging this.
Racing
It’s been another great week for our members this week taking part in races of all distances across the country.
Steve Saunders Multi Terrain – Congratulations to all the members who took part in the final race of the series for this year. Well done all!
Scottish Half Marathon – Nicola Roberts & John McCaffrey both ventured across the border to complete the Scottish Half Marathon in Edinburgh. Great to know that the hoops vest travelled so far North!
Alder Hey Run Together – Congratulations to all members who took part in the 5k race this week. It was part a world record attempt for the most linked runners to complete a 5k. Hope you all enjoyed the experience!
Trailfest Wales – Well done to Karen & Gavin Parry who completed the trail race in Wales running from Blaenau Festiniog to Porthmadoc. Well done guys!
Dig Deep Trail 60 – A massive congratulations to Ste Campbell who completed a 60 mile trail race this weekend. Ste completed the run in an incredible time of 11 hrs 30 mins which included a 1000ft climb & finished in 12th place overall. Fantastic achievement!
Parkrun Tourism
Well done to all members who took part in the following parkrun’s this weekend;
Knowsley
Widnes
Runcorn
Nobles (Isle of Man)
Paarkrunsomnia – (Running from the Fiveways in Childwall to complete the Croxteth Hall parkun & back)
King’s Lynn
Clitheroe
Clemont – Florida…….well done George, you win this week!
Best Wishes
Our thoughts again this week are with former member & friend of the club Andy Bradley, who is still recovering from a brain haemorrhage that occurred last week. Thank you to David Dodd & Simon Ellis for keeping us updated on his condition throughout the week.
I’m sure we are all wishing a speedy recovery too to Stephanie Charman who is recovering from hip surgery following a fall at Croxteth parkrun last week. Hope to see you back at training very soon!
Club Mile
I’m not sure how we’re nearly at the end of September already, but don’t forget that it’s club mile this Thursday. All members to wear their vests if they have them & all groups to complete the first mile of training together. See you all there!

15/09/2019

KHAC Xmas Party!
Tickets for the KHAC Xmas party will cost £5 per member & will be available from your coach nearer the time. At the party there will be a buffet, disco, raffle, awards ceremony & the London Marathon club ballot results. We will be continuing to finalise the final arrangements over the next few weeks & we will do our very best to ensure you all have a great evening.
We did look at other venues during this week, but all the places we tried were all fully booked. At times it did feel like I was back in a nativity playing Joseph with no room at the inn! Next year we will start the ball rolling earlier & will look at other venues should we all want to try elsewhere.
I hope you are all looking forward to it & I look forward to welcoming you on the evening.

Run Leaders Course
Both myself & the committee are continuing discussions in regards to recruiting members to complete the course & help out with club training. The club is willing to fund 3 people to attend the course this year, which will benefit all training groups, including the junior sessions at the track. Moving forward, the club will be willing to fund a further 2 members to complete the course per year, should we require it.

Best Wishes
Yesterday we heard some sad news that former member Andy Bradley had suffered a brain haemorrhage & was in intensive care. My thoughts are with him & his wife Natalie at this critical time & I’m sure we all hope to see him back to full health soon.
Stephanie Charman suffered a fall at Croxteth Hall parkrun which resulted in a broken hip. She has undergone surgery today & I hope she makes a speedy recovery.

Parkrun Tourism
As usual we had a lot of members taking part in our local parkruns, including Knowsley & Croxteth. Well done to our members who travelled further afield with their barcode & completed others such as Tawd Valley & Penrith.

Racing
I’m sure there were a lot of us who was expecting to complete the English Half Marathon this morning. Nevertheless there has been many hoops in action across the north-west today. Well done to you all who completed the BTR Wirral Half social run, Hoylake 10k, Chester Triathlon & Yarrow River Splash.

Congratulations
We had some great performances from our members today. A special mention to the following;
Chris Pownell – Who won the Yarrow River Splash, beating his own course record in the process.
Danielle Scott – Was first lady over the finish line today also at the Yarrow River Splash. Congratulations also to the KHAC ladies team who came away in 1st position. Well done!
Alan Joyce – Another week, another race & it’s another club V65 record for Alan today! Alan completed the Hoylake 10k in a remarkable time of 43 minutes 36 seconds. Great stuff!
Jake & Abbie Irving (juniors) – Jake & Abbie both took part in the Chester Triathlon today. Jake won his age category & Abbie finished in 9th place for hers. Well done both!

Welcome!
I’d like to Stephanie & Jay Battersby who have become Knowlsey Harrier members this week. As established runners already, I’m sure many of you already know them and I hope we all give them a warm welcome at training. Great to have you with us!
A very warm welcome also to Simon Ellis who has returned to us from Kirkby Milers this week. I look forward to seeing you back at training & at the Monday social runs also.
We also had Rachel Kettle join us this week too. Welcome to the club!
Have a good week everyone & I’ll see you in Halewood for training.

08/09/2019

Seems like we have had another busy week at Knowsley Harriers! Here is what we’ve been up to!

Committee Elections

After a week of voting by members, yesterday saw the conclusion of the election results. We had an amazing 94 of you voting for who you wanted to represent the club in the roles of Safeguarding/Welfare, Secretary & Merchandise Committee member.
A huge well done to Richie & Anja who will continue in their respective roles & it’s a massive welcome to the committee to Russ Owens who joins us as Welfare/Safeguarding Officer. I’m sure we will all wish him well in his new position. I’d also like to wish him a very happy 60th Birthday for yesterday!
I’d like to thank all the nominated members who weren’t successful this time for showing interest in the positions. It’s great that we had so much interest. I believe we have a great club & it’s only as strong as our members. With all the committee roles full, we will all be working hard to utilise our own individual strengths to ensure the club grows sustainably in the future.

KHAC Xmas Party

With the committee elections now complete, we will now start to organise the famous KHAC Xmas party! We will update you as soon as we have any more information for you. Watch this space!

Couch to 5k
We have been discussing the future of the very successful c25k programme. At present we do not have the resources to accommodate another series of graduates, therefore there was not an autumn C25k this year. I believe that the work we are going to do in the near future within the training groups will free up space in our entry group G4 to allow this to happen. I foresee there will be a C25k programme starting next year hopefully in February.

Racing
We’ve had another very busy week of racing this week!
Congratulations to all those members who took part in the following;
Steve Saunders Multi Terrain
City of Salford 10k
Prague 10k
Tough Mudder
BTR Whistle Stop Tour/Wirral Half
Ribble Trail Half Marathon
Great North Run
Well done to all the members who took part & I apologise if I’ve missed any races off!
Parkrun Tourism
Congratulations to our members who have been visiting parkrun’s further afield again this week. We had members taking part in Whitley Bay, Aldenham & Sale Water. Well done to those of you staying more local too, with completing Croxteth & Knowsley too.
Willowbrook Halewood 5k
Thank you to everyone who got involved with helping out at the Willowbrook Halewood 5k on Saturday. This weekend was an especially important race as it was part of the Merseysie Grand Prix series. Although I wasn’t here I heard it was a great success and it was great to see so many local clubs taking part too.
Congratulations to Chris Pownell who won the event, finishing in 16:02 & well done to Stephen Campbell for an excellent 3rd place, crossing the line in 16:09. We also had the first lady finisher too, with Louise Jackson leading it home for the girls in an excellent time of 19:31.
Club Records
We had a couple of notable club records broken this week, especially if you are a V65 & your name is Alan!
Alan Joyce took another V65 club record at the Bebbington Oval, completing 3000m in a fantastic time of 12:20!
Alan D’Henin improved on his V65 at record this weekend at the Wirral Half Marathon, completing the 13.1 miles in a time of 2:19:50. Well done gents!
Next Week……..
We’ve just been informed this evening that this weekend’s English Half Marathon has been cancelled. We are not sure of the exact reason of the cancellation & we hope the race organisers are able to re-schedule the event in the near future.
Good luck to our members taking part in the next Steve Saunders race tomorrow. Don’t forget the team picture!
We also have members taking part in the Yarrow River Splash 10k on Sunday. Good luck to you all & try not to get too wet!
Have a good week hoops & I’ll see you in Halewood at training!

01/09/2019

Committee Elections
Another busy week for the committee, with nominations opening up on Sunday for the committee election process. Pleased to say that we have had a great response from our members, nominating some very capable candidates. Kelly has been working hard all week organising & collecting nominee statements for each role up for election. I am very pleased to announce, as you all probably now though that the nominees have now been revealed & voting is now open! Good luck to all the candidates & I look forward to announcing the results this time next week.

FAB 4/Kids 1 mile
This week saw the conclusion to the Fab 4 race series on Friday night. Thank you to all who have helped make this another success. We have received some great feedback from runners from other clubs which is great to hear. Following on from the new hi-viz vests we purchased for this year’s races, we have just invested in an extra first aid kit, some new re-useable race numbers & finish tokens. We will of course be using these for the Willowbrook Halewood 5k too.
A huge thank you to everyone who has volunteered so far this year. We are always on the lookout for members to get involved with volunteering. We especially need more members to help with this Saturday’s Willowbrook Halewood 5k, as many of the core team are away. Please let Kelly know if you are available to help.

Cross Country
Thanks to Chris Pownell for updating us this week on the forthcoming XC season. The Sunday league XC races kick off at Beacon Park on the 20th October. Cross country races are a great event & offer something very different to your usual races or training runs. Please show your support of these races & if you haven’t ran them before then please try & give them a go. They are free to compete in & normally have refreshments available afterwards.
Races

It was a very busy week this week for our members, taking part in many races throughout the week! This week we had the Harrock Hill, Mid Cheshire 5k, FAB 4, Cheshire Half Marathon, Run for Rhys, Grand Tour of Skiddaw, Dream Trail 10k & Golden Ball 20. Congratulations to all of you who took part representing our wonderful club!

Well done to everyone who ran at the Mid Cheshire 5k, I heard there were some great performances & many new PB’s! Thanks also to Anja for yet again updating the club championship standings. It’s starting to look very competitive!

A huge congratulations to Chris Pownell for winning the Cheshire Half Marathon today in an amazing time of 1hr 13min 40 seconds. Awesome!

Well done to one of our junior runners Lila Carragher, who ran in the Run for Rhys Charity mile event today. She finished the race in 2nd place overall, with a time of 7 mins 30 secs!

It was an amazing effort by Danielle Scott & Stephen Campbell who completed The Grand Tour of Skiddaw. The pair of them completed nearly 40 challenging miles in total & finished in an amazing 3rd place overall. Brilliant!

Parkruns
We had many of our members on tour this week, taking part in parkruns further afield, including Skipton & Blackpool. Hope you all had a great run! We had members taking part in the usual local parkruns such as Knowsley, Croxteth, Widnes & Ormskirk.

Congratulations to Andy Fearns who finished in first place at Knowsley parkrun. Well done!

Next Week
Another busy week of racing awaits our hoops next week! We have members taking part in Steve Saunders Multi-Terrain, Wavertree Mystery 5k, Halewood 5k & The Great North Run. Hope you all have a great run & don’t forget to post your pre & post run selfies on the members page! Both myself & Kelly are running The Great North Run, so I hope to see you there!

Have a good week & I’ll see you at training on Tuesday & Thursday!
#bethebestbeaharrier

25/08/2019.

Good evening hoops! Hope you are all well & have had a good week of running. It’s been an eventful last 7 days for me, firstly with getting voted in as chairman & secondly getting my head around everything that is required of the position!

So what’s been happening this week then?

Committee Elections – We’ve been in discussions about the committee elections, as at present we have one position that needs to filled and two positions that are up for renewal. Kelly has been busy this evening sorting out the nomination process for these positions, which has now gone live. Get voting!

KHAC AGM – It has been discussed previously amongst the committee & was mentioned by members this week about an AGM. This is something that we will be looking into & will hopefully organise over the next few months.

Club Training – We will continue to work with the coaches to ensure that all members are training in the most effective group for their ability. We are currently looking to recruit members who would be interested in getting involved with coaching. I’ve spoken to a few members about this & we will be getting the ball rolling once committee elections are concluded.

FAB 4 – It is our final FAB 4 race this Friday on the 30th August. Karen has been busy getting all the prizes, mementos and more importantly the sweets ready for both children & adults! We still need a few more volunteers to help, so if you can, please get in touch with Kelly. We will also be looking for help shortly for the Willowbrook Halewood 5k on the 7th September.

So what have our members been up to this week?

British Mile Relays – We had 4 teams entered into the Mile Relays this week & it was a pleasure to take part myself & witness how well all teams did. This event is growing as it becomes more established & it is an event in which I’d like the club to take part in next year. If you are interested in taking part next year please let me know. Congratulations to Alan Joyce who took part in the event & broke the club V65 record in the process. Well done!

Knowsley parkrun – The red & white army descended onto Stadt Moers Park on Saturday for our annual club championship race. It was great to see how many of us took part & it was great to see how competitive we all were! Many thanks to Anja for updating the club championship positions so soon!

Speke Hall 10k – We had a number of members, including myself, who took part in the monthly event this morning. It is a great event, organised by the National Trust & is an event that I would like us all to continue to support. Myself & Kelly ran down there from the clubhouse, completing 12 miles in total.

Congratulations – Huge congratulations this week to Tadie Abeki, who completed the Reykjavik Marathon in Iceland. Tadie finished the marathon in an impressive 3 hours 20 minutes, knocking 7 minutes off his pb!
We also had Shelley Hignett & John Cooney taking part in the West Lancs Triathlon today in Ormskirk. Well done both!
We also had a couple of our juniors producing great times at the Junior parkrun in Wavertree. Congratulations to Alex McElroy & Abigail Irving who broke the U11 male & female club record respectively. Great stuff!

Next Week – Good luck to all our members taking part in the Mid Cheshire 5k on Thursday. Remember to wear that club vest with pride!

Enjoy the rest of the Bank Holiday Weekend & I’ll see you in Halewood for training for Tuesday!