Club History
Harwell Harriers was established in 2016 by a group of like minded individuals wanting to build a community of runners. Since it was first established the Harriers have gone from strength to strength
In 2019 we set up our own inter-club championships to provide some friendly competition between club mates. This has led us to be a staple of the South Oxfordshire running scene. Our vibrant green kit can regularly be seen at local and regional races, charity runs such as the Didcot 5, Chiltern Chase, Wallingford 10k as well as Oxford and Reading Half marathons.
Since it's inception the Harwell Harriers have been regular participatants and volunteers at our nearby Parkruns and in more recent time have even organised Parkrun takeovers where all volunteer roles including pacing are provided by the club.
Towards the end of 2020 our membership count grew to over 100 people and has been rising year on year since. We can't wait to see what the future holds.
Club Coaching
Coaches
We cater for most abilities across a wide range of distances and terrains by providing a variety of sessions each week. These include:
- Speed interval sessions around Boundary Park
- Hill interval sessions at Wittenham Clumps in the Summer
- Hill interval sessions at Great Western Park in the Winter
- A long version of our group club runs (normally about 7-10km/5-6mi)
- A short version of our group club runs (normally about 6-8km/4-5mi)
Run Leaders
Run leaders attend every session that you do. Their primary goal is to ensure you are safe and have fun.
Run leaders will provide a warmup before the session starts, give clear instructions on what the session is along with any known safety risks for that perticular session and will also provide a cool down set of stretches at the end of your run.
Safety
All of our routes are risk assessed by our coaching team to ensure that our club members are as safe as possible on their club runs.
Our run leaders will ensure that anyone who is unfamiliar with the session is partnered up with someone else so as not to get lost.
For your own safety we recommend that all members carry a mobile phone & to have ICE numbers with them on Club runs. Members should turn up on club night in appropriate clothing for the conditions. Hi-Viz for the dark nights, water for hot days etc.
If you are ever unsure or feel unsafe in any way our run leaders, coaches and committee will be there to help.
Where We Run
The Harwell Harriers are based at Boundary Park Pavillion, Greenwood Way, Didcot OX11 6EY. We meet every Tuesday and Thursday where a run leader will get you warmed up and ready to run for a 7pm start.
During the Winter months we all meet at Boundary Park for all of our sessions runs.
During the Summer months however we still meet at Boundary Park for our speed sessions on Tuesday and our club runs on Thursday. Our hill training sessions start at Whittenham Clumps, Little Wittenham, Wallingford OX14 4QZ, for our infamous clumps sessions.
Please note: Parking at Wittenham Clumps is very limited. There are extra spaces at the Earth Trust, Little Wittenham, Abingdon OX14 4QZ which is only a few hundred metres down the road from the Wittenham Clumps car park. We urge you to car share where possible.
Member Benefits
England Athletics Affiliation
By signing up to the Harwell Harriers we will register you with England Atheletics. With your EA member number you can get money off of some races and even some some running shops nationwide.
England Atheletics also have their own benefits section where they provide promotional offers on various different running brands and events.
Socials
The first Thursday of every month is our club social. Come and join us for a drink after our club run and meet your fellow Harriers.
We also put on Christmas parties, seasonal fun runs and occassional summer/one off social events throughout the year.
Club Championships
Club championships are a way to compete internally with your club mates.
Each year we declare about 20-30 races as official club championship races simply turn up in Harrier kit and run to get points.
At the end of the year we will present those at the top of the table with trophies.
Whilst the championships are likely to go to the faster club members you only get points if you turn up to races so this is often more open than you think!
Cross Country
We also participate in the Oxfordshire Corss Country League. There are 5 races in a season with a very small entrance cost for each one.
The races are hilly and muddy. Some teams take XC very seriously but we mostly turn up for the cake and the social aspect with our club members so don't be afraid to give it a try.
Other Benefits
As well as all of the above we offer a few of our own benefits such as discounted orders with High5 energy products and discounted local sports massages.
Full details are available within our member only pages
Become a Harwell Harrier today!
Visit our membership page for information about how to join Harwell Harriers today!
Fancy trialling us before you join? Contact Us to find out more!
Club Constitution
The Harwell Harriers are completely run by volunteers. The general structure and rules of the club are set out in our club constitution.
Click the button below to see our constitution.