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This Thursday (20th November) 44 fantastic Harwell Harriers laced up their trainers and headed out not just for miles, but for a mission. In a brilliant show of community spirit, the club completed a dedicated run to Didcot Baptist Church, carrying bags filled with tins, pasta, and other essentials for the Didcot Emergeny Foodbank run.

The sight of nearly four dozen runners trotting into the church with armfuls of donations was nothing short of inspiring. Foodbanks rely heavily on community contributions, and even small additions. An extra tin, a packet of pasta, a few toiletries make a real difference to local families who need a little support to get through tough times. This simple act of adding an item or two to the weekly shop helps keep these vital shelves stocked.

Community runs like this are part of what makes Harwell Harriers such a special club. It’s not just about kilometres, PBs, and race days - it’s about showing up for our neighbours and using our shared love of running to do some good along the way.

A huge thank-you to every Harrier who took part and who donated. Your generosity, kindness, and team spirit continue to make our club something truly exceptional.

Well done, Harriers

https://www.didcotbaptist.org.uk/regular-activities/didcot-foodbank

Well she's only gone and done it! Our very own superstar Tammi has won the England Athletics Regional Volunteer Award for Newcomer to Volunteering.

As a dedicated committee member, she’s streamlined and automated many of our club processes. She led the organisation of our beginners’ course — designing marketing materials, coordinating sessions, and making everyone feel welcome.

Tammi also gives her time generously at parkruns, cross country meets, and other local events so we couldn’t be prouder of the commitment and energy she brings to our club and is another reason why the Harwell Harriers is such an amazing running club.

 The Harwell Harriers' annual Beginners/Returning Runners Course wraps up in March, and what a fantastic twelve weeks it’s been!

Capped at just 30 places to ensure a welcoming and supportive environment, this year’s course saw an impressive 80% attendance rate. Life and injuries occasionally got in the way, as they do, but the commitment and enthusiasm from everyone involved never wavered.

Starting in the dark, chilly Wednesday evenings of January with just one-minute run intervals, our beginner runners laced up in wind, rain, and cold evenings. Fast forward to 8th March, and we had a fantastic turn out for our runners to complete Didcot parkrun – a full 5km! A huge milestone for anyone new to running and a moment of pride for both runners and our course leaders and volunteers alike.

The course didn't stop there. For those keen to keep going, we offered an extra three weeks of optional sessions, gradually building up to a club run of around four miles. Our final four mile run is next week.

We’re excited to welcome some of these brilliant new runners into the Harwell Harriers club as full members. More importantly, we hope everyone who took part has discovered the joy of running – for health, headspace, and the simple pleasure of putting one foot in front of the other.

To all our beginner runners: you've done something amazing. Wherever your running journey takes you next, we’ll be cheering you on.

Happy new year everyone!

2024 saw a change around of our coaching staff and our committee within the space of a few months which threw everything into a bit of a spin but fresh faces bring fresh ideas.

In fact, we had an amazing 2024 here at the Harwell Harriers. It all started off with yet another briliant beginners and return to running course, we then started trialling an AI powered video analysis tool to improve running form, we had our first (official) summer party and closed out our summer with an incredible puzzle run at our annual clumps of fun event.

We didn't stop there either with new volunteers we have seen new routes starting to work their way into the rota including a spooky night time trail run along the ridgeway, an inaugural run-archery event hosted by the Harlequin bowmwn and we finished out the year with some brand new awards at our Christmas party to recognise outstanding member achievements.

On top of this our members have achieved amazing things throughout the year. We have had loads of people hit PBs in various distances, people doing their first ever half marathons, marathons and ultras. Members have also tackled quite fankly stupid challenges like completing as many loops as possible on a running track within 24 hours, completing a half marrathon for every month of the year and completing the UTMB ultra race.

We hope you also had an amazing year in fitness. Let's do it all again.