WHAC is an all year round club and there are many exciting activities taking place during the summer. You are welcome to join in any or all of them.
The Track & Field Section meets for a club night at Newtown Park every Tuesday evening at 6.00 pm. There will be a sprint, a middle distance event, a jump and a throw. Our athletes train on Tuesdays and on other week nights at the track. Saturdays at 1.30 pm caters for all track & field athletes at an inter-club level. Contact (for the over 14s) is our track & field manager Peter Rendall obnz@paradise.net.nz
Our Junior (14 years & under) track and field section have their own club meeting every Saturday at 11.30 am at Newtown Park . Some of the older athletes stay on for the afternoon track session. Some Junior athletes also participate in the Tuesday club night. Contact is our children’s manager Louise McDonald lou@fatcat.co.nz
Every Wednesday evening at 6.00 pm from outside the Freyberg Pool there is an easy road run over 40-50 minutes. Contact is Daniel Clendon danclendon@gmail.com
Every Saturday afternoon at 2.30 pm there is a longer, scenic, easy-paced run over a wide variety of terrain and at a different location each week. The runs last 70-90 minutes (occasionally longer), with an average of close to 90 minutes. The runs cater for most abilities with plenty of re-grouping. However you do have to be able to run for up to 80 minutes, including a few rests, on hills before joining this group. Contact Derek De Lisle kiodel@paradise.net.nz
Saturday's club run and prize giving wound up the 105th year of competition for the Wellington Harriers Athletic Club. Despite the lack of depth in the women's and senior men's grades, club numbers and results were very positive in the junior and masters men's grades. My highlights for each grade were:
Junior Women.
At the beginning of the year, Hayley Green, Barbara Roy, Anna Roche, Alice Feslier-Holmes and Katherine Vance were an invincible group. Hayley had a stellar cross-country season with clear victories in the Wellington, North Island and New Zealand Championships. Unfortunately Barbara was the only one of the "fab five" remaining by the time of the National Road Relay, but she had wonderful results throughout the whole season. A very young team went to Dunedin and they showed that the club is in good heart for the future. In addition, Kelsey Foreman won the G10 race at the North Island Cross Country Champs, while Alison Samson followed her win in the Wellington Junior Women's Walking Champs with a great second in the national race.
Junior Men.
This year a star emerged from the M16 grade. Nathan Barrett won so many titles that even his coach couldn't remember them all, but they certainly did include the National M16 Cross Country and Road titles. Max Biggs, Tim Cornish, Nick Bingham, Mike Krause and Simon Rogers rounded out a very strong junior team that placed a close fourth in the National Road Relay. The club also has an emerging group of very talented younger male runners including Kieron McDonald (who won the B14 National Road title), Nick Lucie-Smith (who won the B14 National Cross Country and Y8 Inter-Provincial titles) and Noah Billingsley (who won the Y6 Inter-Provincial).
Senior and Masters Women.
For many years, Wellington Harriers have been blessed by the presence of two outstanding athletes - Victoria Humphries and Gabrielle O'Rourke. Throughout both the cross country and road seasons, Vickie and Gabby ran in events ranging from the Boston Marathon (an age-group second to Gabby) to the humble club pack runs. Their successes were too many to list, but my favourite was the Wellington Cross Country Champs where, with Melissa Moon (another ageless Wellington running icon), the three masters athletes ran 1, 2 and 3 in the open women's race. Sadly, this year the club had very little depth in the women's ranks and was not able to enter a team in the open or masters sections of the National Road Relay.
Senior Men.
The season started well with Daniel Nixon taking a clear victory in the Vosseler Shield mountain run, but lack of depth counted against this group in team events. Jason Cressingham and Daniel Clendon both recorded solid results right through the season and Patrick Mackay went very well in the club's handicap races. It is hoped that some of the "relay ring-ins" (Trent Stallard, Ross Sommerville and Craig Renshaw) can become regulars in 2009.
Master Men.
The Wellington Harriers Masters Men's team won the local season's first major event (the Vosseler Shield) and competed at the top of their game right through to their splendid second in the National Road Relay. The club has over forty members in the masters men's grade, and this ensured that strong teams could be selected, even allowing for the inevitable injuries. The core M40 group consisted of Paul Forster, Ian McFarlane, Paul Hewitson, Mark Te Punga, Liam Healey, Jonathan Hales, David Carrigan, Gordon Clarke and Dean Patton. The M50 group was also numerically strong, but despite an injection of speed with the graduation of Ian Mitchell and Chris Hansen into the grade and a strong hill by Dave Mason, we tailed the Road Relay field home.
Tony.
With one week to go until the National Road Relay Champs, Saturday's club run was the last chance to haggle over lap running orders and check up on the general state of health and fitness. Fortunately there were no late changes required and everybody seemed happy with the lap they had been allocated.
The whole senior club headed off on a mystery run led by Gordon Clarke - in fact so mysterious that at times even Gordon didn't seem to be sure where we were headed. The youngsters took off up Mt Victoria, while the experienced (masters) made a more conservative start while their bodies creaked into action. A regroup at the top and then a flashy descent, a cruise around the waterfront and another regroup near the railway station.
Across to the Botanic Garden and another regroup before a spectacular trot past the tulips. Somehow the group fragmented as the route became less defined, but with runners appearing from several different directions, the Kelburn regroup amazingly had us all accounted for again. A loop down Aro Street gave the relay downhill runners a chance to test their skills. By this time the group was beginning to stretch out over quite a bit of territory. The frisky youngsters were starting to find the return journey a bit testing, while a loop past the Scottish clubrooms encouraged the senior men to put on a bit of a spurt. Eventually everybody reported back to the clubrooms, invigorated by a solid 80 minute workout.
Meanwhile the club's junior runners continue to score outstanding results in local and national competitions. In the Wellington Secondary School Road Champs, Kieron McDonald won the year 9 boys race and Jess Paton the girls U16. Barbara Roy and Nathan Barrett continued their irrepressible form taking out the senior titles. In the annual NZ Primary and Intermediate Schools Cross Country Champs, Kelsey Forman took silver in the girls year 6 event, while Noah Billingsley and Nick Lucie-Smith scored golds in the boys year 6 and year 8 races respectively.
Tony.