Indoor Competition - Manchester 25th February 2007

Richmond and Zetland’s Ken Harker is once again deep in preparation for the World Masters Indoor Championships, which will take place in Helsinki from 22nd March 2007, where he hopes to repeat the fantastic achievement of a bronze medal, which he claimed in the 800m, at the same competition in Poland in 2006. This week he was competing at the Reebok Open Indoor Meeting at Manchester on Sunday 25th February, over the slightly shorter distance of 600m; a short, fast preparation race, which he hoped would act as a sharpener for the real thing in just over 3 weeks time.

Ken was ideally looking for a good performance, which would act as a confidence booster going into his final weeks of lighter training and the outcome was certainly encouraging. Finishing 5th in a time of 1.31.1, he has shown that he is in shape for a time of 2.01 or 2.02 over 800m, exactly where he wanted to be at this stage. Pleased with the way the race went, Ken said “I felt really good all the way and could definitely have kept the pace going for another 200 metres.” The pressure has now eased for a little while, before he makes the journey to the competition itself, where he will compete over 800m and possibly also the 1500m distance and we wish him all the very best of luck.

South of England Cross Country Champs & BUSA Cross Country - Jan & Feb 2007

Andrea Woodvine

Back to the more seasonal surface of grass and mud in the cross country arena, where second claim member, Andrea Woodvine has been very busy of late. On 27th January she took part in the South of England Cross Country Championships at Holkham Hall in Norfolk and had an excellent run, finishing a fantastic 12th place overall from over 200 competitors and helping her team to 4th place in the process over the challenging and undulating 8K course. She then went on to compete in the BUSA Cross Country Championships, as part of the University Of Birmingham team on 3rd February. With Andrea managing an excellent 4th place and her remaining 3 team mates all taking honours in the top 10, they quite literally ran away with the title in the women’s race, against some stiff opposition, as the races act as part of the UK selection trials for the upcoming World Cross Country Championships.

Inter Services Cross Country Champs - 14th February 2007

Kelley Haniver was also in action over hilly and muddy terrain on Wednesday 14th February, when she represented the Army running team at the Inter Services Cross Country Championships at RAF Halton in Buckinghamshire. In her own words, she had an “absolute flyer” over the 6K course to finish 3rd overall in the ladies race and was highly delighted with the results, beating many worthy opponents to the line and is now feeling back in top form.