Weekly Update - 6th August 2025

Noel Carmody
Aug 6
4 min read

Updated: Aug 7

Novuna UK Athletics Championships, Birmingham (Sat. 2nd & Sun. 3rd Aug.)

Hannah Hopper took British gold with a dominant performance in the 5000m race walk, winning by a margin of some twenty seconds in 24:24.42s, a huge personal best.

Putting the disappointment of a false start in the100m final the previous day behind her, Daryll Neita ran a season’s best time of 22.30s to secure the world championships qualifying time and win British bronze.

In a very competitive women's 1500 Holly Dixon finished in eighth place in 4:18.93s. Second claimer Luc Legon took bronze in the men's 5000m race walk in 23:19.99s.

Club Records Tumble

With the change to junior age groups due in April 2026 the club’s current records will probably be moved to an archive with the Under 17/15/13 never to be broken again, writes Mick Bond. They are an impressive set of records meticulously kept in recent years by our Membership Secretary Noel Carmody and can be found here on the club’s web site - https://www.cambridgeharriers.org/club-records. Steve Backley’s javelin and Marilyn Neufville's 400m were both world records at the time.

As time moves on towards the age group change however two were broken in two days in impressive style – Sunday at the Derek Crookes Under 13 Inter-County match twelve year old prodigy Oladesire Ayinia cleared 1.74m in the high jump to not only break the club record but move to the top of the UK all time rankings for Under 13 Boys. Then on Monday at the Blackheath and Bromley Open Meeting at Norman Park Elijah Olaleye took 0.7s off his own Under 17 Men’s club record running 49.12s for 400m.

Southern Counties Veterans League (Kent) #6, Eltham (Fri. 1st Aug.)

The last match in the series saw the women win again and gaining promotion back to division one for next year, writes Christine Bond. The six matches have seen some excellent results and many PB’s, Katie Saunders strengthened the team this year in the middle distance events, Natalie Mann in the throws, whilst Joanna Parke our only real sprinter. Natalie Mann and Christine Bond competed in all six matches.

A really gutsy men's team performance cemented our 4th place on the night and 4th place overall to ensure our Division 1 status for next season, writes Tim Carter - marginally behind B&B in 3rd position. This was achieved in spite of illnesses, injury and holiday commitments which depleted our team to a great extent.

Big thank you to all our officials & volunteers last Friday for making us good hosts for the last match, there were some lovely comments, Jackie Tyler on refreshments, for Ceinwen Giles & Meredith Cummins making Cambridge Harriers cupcakes, to Christine Head-Rapson our field referee, Jan Clifford for organising officials, to Barry Ferguson and Roz Tabor up on the stand, Phil Pape marshalling the starts, Hilary Lawrence, Maryse Ford and Mick Bond out on the field, and Noel Carmody for his work behind the scenes.

Borrowdale Fell Race, Rosthwaite, Cumbria (Sat. 2nd Aug.)

The Borrowdale Fell Race, one of the "classic" Lakeland fell races, was run in perfect conditions, warm and dry, and, for once, reasonably dry underfoot too. The demanding route is 17 miles with 6,500 feet of ascent (27km, 2,000 m), taking the runners from Rosthwaite onto Bessyboot (550 m, 1,804 feet), skirting Glaramara and Allen Crags to reach Scafell Pike (978 m, 3,209 feet) via Esk Hause. The return route is along the corridor to Sty Head Tarn, Great Gable (899 m, 2,949 ft), and across to Honister, Dale Head (753 m, 2,470 feet), and back into Rosthwaite.

A firm fixture in the club’s fell running calendar, John O’Mahony, James Floyd, and I made it up to the lakes this year, writes Christian Poulton.

The Borrowdale Fell Race is a lot tougher than its 17 miles suggests and is considered one of the toughest races in the fell race calendar. You realise this as you haul your almost dying body up Great Gable, thinking that it can’t get any worse, but it does! – the record is still held by local legend Billy Bland, undoubtedly one of the greatest fell runners of all time, in an unbelievable 2 hrs 34 mins 38 sec, set in 1982.

All three of us consider ourselves pretty fit, but we still ended up picking our way across the boulder fields and down the tricky descents in true 'southern wuss' style while the local club runners leave us for dead... and unfortunately, we don't know the most canny routes. However, it's still a hell of an experience! A thoroughly enjoyable day in the mountains around Borrowdale. We all agreed that it was one of our favourite fell races. A joy to be a part of!

Results: 196th John O’Mahony 4:44:51 (M45 53rd), 261st Christian Poulton 5:34:34 (M55 56th), 273rd James Floyd 5:54:41 (M45 109th).

Blackheath and Bromley Harriers AC Summer Open #3, Bromley (Mon. 4th Aug.)

Ten Harriers contested the 800m at Norman Park on Monday with no less than eight PB's and one SB. Great running from David Poungui (2:02.71s), Thomas Ellis (2:02.87s), Herbie Tobin (2:19.37s), Lizzie Sanders (2:24.30s), Meredith Cummins (2:25.84s), Isabel Brand (2:28.43s), Violet Turner (2:29.67s) and Isla Turner (2:38.63s). Felix Brand just missed a PB and Wole Odele (M60) ran a SB of 2:19.61s.

In the mile Alex Van Den Berg-Hows (5:05.26s) and Callum Pattyson (5:40.94s) obliterated their PB's by 15 and 44 seconds respectively.