Wednesday 21st May saw the start of this year’s Mid-Week League in Highfield Park, St Albans. 70 runners turned out from NHRR for this fast and flat 10K, giving us a super start to the 2025 MWL season with both ladies and men’s teams coming 3rd which put us 2nd overall after race 1, behind a strong start from the hosting team St Albans Striders.
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Katie Harbon was first lady home for the Club with Karen Townsend, Rhia Botha, Tracey Pitcairn, Rachel Arnott, Alice Carty, Paula Adams and Paula Holm completing the scoring team.
Scoring for the men were Mike Roberts, Ben Hadman, Sam Coxon, Ben Sewell, Andrew Leach, Shahab Ahmed, Matt Sayers, Abdullah Athar, Ian Datlen, Kris Whitmore, Mike Bannister and Oliver Parsons,.

Midweek League Rep Rhia Botha said “I'd like to extend a heartfelt thank you to each and every one of you that came to run or support last night. We were definitely the best team there, if you ask me. It was great to see so many squirrels turn out and there were plenty of runners taking part in their first race for the club”.  Everyone was really grateful to Rhia for organising the mini-buses to take us to St Albans and as Carina Quayle said “It was great to chill and chat with fellow squirrels”.

​Full results for club are below:-

Run The Wade 5K
Now in it's second year, this friendly, well organised 5k race starts in Biggleswade town centre and heads to Jordan’s Mill via twisty road and track before heading back into town. It has a nice finisher medal and a goody bag and all for only £10!  Out of 412 runners 9 Squirrels took part.  Rob Harris was overall 4th in 18:11, Hannah Ridley was 3rd lady in a time of 20:49 and feeling very happy with her time given that she’d had a month off due to injury.  Michael Over was 15th and 1st in his MV55 age category with a time of 19:57 and Lucy O’Connor was 1st in her FV60 age category in a time of 24:36. Despite having a tumble at 4km Rosie King valiantly carried on to the finish line after being seen by the St John Ambulance.

The Great Annual Bird Run - Oughtonhead Common
Thanks to James Walsh, Astrid and Steve McKeown who host this lovely event.  A 5k run/walk around Oughtonhead Common.  James with his expert eyes and ears spotting various birds en-route and Astrid for her delicious home-made breakfast afterwards.  It is always a delight to attend.

​Gosling Stadium Welwyn Garden City was the venue of an extraordinary event last Thursday evening. The event was the inaugural 4 X 400mtr Relay Race. 
 
It was an amazing evening, a fabulous atmosphere with lots of cheering from everyone, even the spectators enjoyed themselves. Thank you to the supporters who came along!! 
 
Bearing in mind most of us have never run a 400 metre race, this was an eye opener!! Nevertheless, the spirit was there to compete and have fun. Despite the 400 mtrs being a tough race, the runners enjoyed it so much they would love to do it again. 
 
Taking part were 26 teams from Hertfordshire, 4 of which were from NHRR.
 
Senior Female Team - Kardasheruns
Katie Harbon, Tracy Pitcairn, Rhia Botha and Hannah Ridley. 
 
Senior Female Team - Les Ecureuils
Alice Carty, Natalie Phillips, Lucy O'conner, and Karen Dodsworth.
 
Senior Male Team - Quads of Fury
Stuart Cocks, Mike Phillips, John Auld and guest Nile Odejimi-Riley. (Ringer) LOL!!
 
Vet Male Team -  Chafing the Dream 
Mike Banister, Darren Matussa, Ian Datlen and Mike Over. 
 
Results
Kardashsheruns - 1st in group 7th overall
Les Ecureuils - 4th in group, 21st overall
Quads Of Fury - 3rd in Group, 5th overall
Chafing the Dream - 1st in group, 2nd overall. 

As Nature Intended - Brocken Hurst Naked 5k
Elsewhere, Kris Whitmore ran the Brocken Hurst Naked 5k in Orpington, Kent, finishing third overall and second (over 50) veteran with a fantastic time of 19:23. The course was a tough but enjoyable three lapper through a mixture of woodland trail and a campsite, where the campers were waving (their hands) and supporting the runners. 
 
Kris noted that it was an unusual and interesting experience that you can't get at parkrun, however, he didn’t believe it was wise to share the race photographs! He was also glad that race numbers were drawn onto the runners rather than the more standard safety pin style attachment and that chip timing was achieved by virtue of an ankle bracelet. Enough said.

John Archer of Headway Herts, the North Herts Road Runners Charity of the Year in 2024/25, started off 145 runners as they took on the beautiful Greenway Challenge on Sunday with funds raised being donated to this brilliant local charity. There was a very touching moment with Sarah Chalmers expressing ‘delight to complete the course after herself being a benefactor of Headway Herts back in 2012.’ Headway Herts work to improve life after a brain injury for adults who have been immediately affected and the loved ones who care for them.

Phoenix 5mile Race​
​Stevenage Phoenix Running Club held their second five mile race. A number of squirrels participated in hot conditions on a course with little shade. Kris Whitmore was the first squirrel home in13th place with a time of 32:09 and said ‘fortunately there were two points to take on water en route and the event village had plenty more plus a very welcome ice cream van!’