Haslemere Border athletes return with speedy finishes

Runners are allowed to run in groups of six again and have had a chance to catch up after a long time apart.
Haslemere Border athletes have been out in some wintry conditionsHaslemere Border athletes have been out in some wintry conditions
Haslemere Border athletes have been out in some wintry conditions

Training sessions have resumed for Haslemere Border AC, organised by Dave Bateman and following the England Athletics guidance.

The coaching team led by Daniel Allaway arranged three group sessions with staggered start times for 12 runners to sign up to.

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Meeting at Woolmer Hill, the home of HBAC, in glorious sunshine, they welcomed several keen, very excited and smiling athletes ready to be put through their paces again.

Annalisa Alexandar braves the cold for a runAnnalisa Alexandar braves the cold for a run
Annalisa Alexandar braves the cold for a run

The club have welcomed new members and a new coach, Dean Kellaway, who is an experienced ultra runner.

A week later and the second week of club training saw coach Sarah Barnett’s group take on the infamous ‘triangle of doom’ session held at Bramshott Chase.

In a blizzard and freezing conditions, with gritty determination, everyone completed the session.

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There have been members doing their own challenges in recent weeks and months.

Karen SinclairKaren Sinclair
Karen Sinclair

Alastair Doyle took on the challenge of running every day in February, completing 406km. He began with a 1k trot and finished with a 28k run that took 3hr 11min.

Susie Cooper joined him for the first half of the challenge and has been enjoying longer trail runs in preparation for her Serpent Trail 50k in June.

Club runner Dave Jarrett headed to the South of England showground at Ardingly to take part in the Ardingly PB 5k on Easter Monday. In a strong headwind and on a difficult course to navigate at pace. he secured a new PB at 16.08.

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Club coach Sarah Barnett had been due to run the Hampton Court Palace Half Marathon on March 28 and with the event postponed, she opted to run the race virtually. Injury meant she was unable to run but she set out to walk the 21km along the Horsham riverside walk.

Dean Kellaway knows how to keep warm...Dean Kellaway knows how to keep warm...
Dean Kellaway knows how to keep warm...

Her tremendous effort was rewarded with the prestigious Hampton Court Palace medal.

Centurion running, who normally organise ultra-trail events of 50 or 100 miles, have put on a number of virtual events, with 50 per cent of proceeds going to charity. Karen Sinclair has taken on some of these events. Centurion One Love saw her completing a half marathon. Next, the Centurion One Community Virtual Slam brought a number of different distances to be completed in February and March.

Karen was joined by Lari Williams, with both running an incredible 200 miles in 59 days. Last week Karen took on the Centurion 50k, an amazing achievement for her.

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Easter weekend brought a catch-up for Haslemere Border AC Leader in Running Fitness Coach Philomel Bennett and two of the last Get Up and Run course runners, Phil O’Connor and Julian Smith. The trio completed nine miles, taking in most of the hills around the Devil’s Punchbowl.

Haslemere Border AC will be starting their ‘Get Up and Run Course’ from Wednesday, April 28, tailored towards those who have perhaps thought about taking up running but didn’t know where to start.

It is open to all ages over 18 and the course costs £45 and will run for 10 weeks, taking in a mixture of roads and trails and is open for up to 15 people with a 5k parkrun finale. Anyone interesting in taking part should go to www.hbac.co.uk or email [email protected]

Haslemere Border AC is a friendly, growing and social running club for runners in Haslemere and surrounding areas. They meet on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 7pm, catering for absolute beginners through to top club runners.