WELCOME TO THE Thirsk and Sowerby harriers

Welcome to Thirsk and Sowerby Harriers – proudly celebrating over forty-five years of running in North Yorkshire. Formed in October 1977, Thirsk and Sowerby Harriers has grown into one of the friendliest and most respected clubs in Yorkshire. Our members come from all over Hambleton and Ryedale with a wide variety of ages and abilities. 

Whether your passion is road, trail or fell, weekly parkrun, 10kms or marathons, the club can offer support, guidance, and inspiration. We’re a friendly bunch so why not pop along to one of our weekly training sessions and say hello ?

 

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CHAMPS: Northallerton 10k
Town Hall Buildings, High St, Northallerton DL7 8QR
28th May 2023
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HDSRL: Harrogate
Junction Cardale Park and Beckwith Head Road, HG3 1RY
23rd May 2023
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Announcement: ​Thirsk and Sowerby Harriers named Yorkshire’s running club of the year

Club News

What a weekend for racing!

What a weekend for racing!

May 31, 2023

Sunday saw the start of the Northallerton 10k on the High Street on a fine sunny morning, with 32 Harriers in the field of 830 for the latest Club Championship race.  The course, hillier than you might imagine, went through local countryside, and was successfully covered  by Matt Jones who took...

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Weekend races under sunny blue skies

Weekend races under sunny blue skies

May 23, 2023

Stuart Waters took part in the Outlaw Half Iron Man Triathlon at the weekend at Nottingham, and when most of us were enjoying the lovely sunshine, it made for tough going for the half marathon section of the race.  It was based round Pierre Point natural water sports centre, and involved a 1.2...

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Our Coaches

Rob Burn, Head Coach

Our head coach, and Yorkshire legend, Rob, has been with the Harriers for over 40 years and has been running even longer. test
He has participated in running events on all seven continents. He won the National Four Peaks team race. He was also awarded a Bronze medal at the World Masters Mountain Running Championships in Ireland. And another Bronze medal in Australia in the cross-country discipline.
It is also about helping the less fortunate, so he raised funds several times for the third Cancer Unit at the Manchester Hospital. He is very proud of this very worthy cause.
Rob oversees our training activities and trial events when he is not carrying out training sessions himself. You may also find him out on the moors hitting the trails.

Andy Butcher

Coach

Yorkshire lad, and former Endurance Leader in the British Army, Andy trained to become a Coach in Running Fitness in 2015.

With a  fantastic sense of humour and running knowledge,  Andy loves to inspire beginners and novices looking for improvement on their running skills.

When he's not coaching you're likely to see Andy up on Sutton Bank with his energetic young Spaniel, Henry, trotting ahead.

Bronwyn Mayo

Coach and Leader in Running Fitness

South African born Bronwyn moved up North and joined the Harriers in early 2021 after spending 17 years in London and Surrey. With her warm smile, friendly approach and calm manner, Bronwyn is an extremely popular coach.

Running has played a huge part in her life since growing up in South Africa.  At school, she took part in athletics and cross country, often bare-footed, and found that she was rather good at it.  And so she carried on going and going.

Her childhood dream was to one day take part in the Comrades Marathon, a 56 mile ultra-marathon which takes place between Durban and Pietermaritzburg.  Many Comrades' days were spent either ‘braaing’ on the side of the road and cheering runners on, or sat on the couch watching the TV footage all day long. One way or another, this race gets under your skin.

Fast forward to now, and Bronwyn has successfully completed the Comrades Marathon, within the 12 hour cut off three times. She has taken part in many other marathons and ultra-marathons both locally and abroad.  A big fan of parkrun, Bronwyn is already well over her 250th.

Duncan Fothergill

Duncan has been a Harriers member for 8 years now. He fell soon in love with the club (and it’s members) and was made men’s captain at the very beginning.

His contagious enthusiasm and eagerness to make things happen resulted also in him being elected as Club Chair.

Duncan is an accomplished Leader in Running Fitness.

Helen Ashworth

Leader in Running Fitness

Helen has been running for over 16 years now. It all started with the 5k Race for Life 5k with some friends.

She is a keen fell runner who has represented GB in the World Masters Championships in Italy and Ireland.

She has started coaching club sessions and has been focusing on strength and conditioning workouts.

Jody Sygrove

Jody has over 8 years experience as a Coach in Running Fitness.

He focuses currently on core and circuits workouts and enjoys road running.

Lindsey Collins

Leader in Running Fitness and Qualified Canicross Coach.

Lindsey started trail running with her dogs (Canicross – canine cross-country) in 2017 and since then has steadily increased her running distances and has now completed over 40 trail marathons / ultra-marathons.

Lindsey has developed recently an appreciation of shorter, faster training and events. She loves supporting others during their running journey to meet their goals and have fun along the way.

Whenever she has a free moment, Lindsey can usually be found running up on the Yorkshire moors with her four energetic spaniels!

Lorraine Hiles

Lorraine has been a member of the Thirsk and Sowerby Harriers since the 00’s. After being challenged by her brother to run her first 10k in Lincoln she’d caught the running bug so joined TASH. The Harriers have certainly helped her to keep running!

She qualified as a Leader in Running Fitness in 2022 and is looking forward to starting her Coach in Running Fitness course in February 2023. She is keen to help and encourage other runners through coaching whatever their goals are.

Lorraine likes running off road and you might see her running behind her running buddy Border Collie or fellow Harriers around Thirsk or up on the hills.

Matt Jones

Matt completed recently his Leadership in Running Fitness with England Athletics. He enjoys running and racing any distance up to marathon, both on and off road. Matt brings positive energy and enthusiasm to the club and supports runners to reach their goals.

Nigel Morgan

Nigel joined Thirsk and Sowerby Harriers to keep fit in the early 1990s, after having played football, cricket and squash.

With the help of coaches and other members he was encouraged to enter monthly time trials, handicaps and many local races, eventually running all distances up to marathon.

In 2014 Nigel undertook a Running in Leadership course and now you’ll see him supporting the coaches by blowing a whistle, taking warm ups and encouraging other runners.

Olivia Mulligan

Liv has been running for over 10 years. In 2018 she won the North Yorkshire senior ladies cross-country league. She is passionate about sharing her love of running with others through coaching - bringing a fun energy to her sessions.
"I try not to complicate running but rather, take it back to basics. I like to focus on building good fitness, good form, good recovery and keeping it fun. A hard session will feel tough, but it's important we enjoy it too.”
She is also an accomplished writer and poet, who balances her love for running and words.

Paul Goacher

Sonja van der Westhuizen

Chartered physiotherapist, Level 2 UK coach and lifelong member of Thirsk and Sowerby Harriers

"My running career started at a very young age as a hurdler and I later became involved with longer distance running and developed my coaching skills whilst representing my University and county alongside my full-time physiotherapy career.

Physiotherapy and Pilates gave me the sound foundation to make sure that each coaching session focused on good form and quality of movement.

My aim with coaching is to educate and equip each athlete with this knowledge and the understanding of how to maintain and follow a balanced training program and to incorporate this into their love of running."

Tom Levi

Leader in Running Fitness

Having represented his county at rugby and triple jump in youth, Tom came to running in his 20s after a drunken bet with a friend. He lost the bet (by about 20 minutes over a half marathon...) but still won a love for running.
Since then, he's run races from 5k to over 100 miles, on road, trail and fell.
Tom enjoys being a run leader and especially helping people newer to running to develop a love for it. And he's always happy to chat about any aspect of the club, training, racing or anything else. You'll usually find him at the Wednesday night outdoor training sessions.

Walter Bussutil

Level 2 Triathlon Coach since 2012. Qualified Personal Trainer and Sports Therapist
"I was born in Zimbabwe but moved permanently to the UK way back in 1978. I have lived in London, Surrey & Edinburgh until finally in 2000 I moved to Thirsk.
In 1992 I achieved 2:30:52 in the London Marathon (finishing in 162nd place out of over 24000 finishers) on my second attempt at the distance. In 1996 I qualified to represent GB in my Age Group in the World Triathlon Championships in the USA.I finished 22nd (4th for GB team of 15) out of over 70 competitors. Since then I have represented GB in both World and European Duathlon Championships 4 times.
My dream is to qualify in the World Triathlon Champs in my present Age Group (60-64) to prove that 30 years on I can still compete at this level."

Want To Run Farther and Faster?

If you want to know more about the club, then why not pop along to one of our Monday, or Wednesday training sessions. Here you’ll find a friendly group of enthusiastic runners training under the expert eye of one of our fantastic coaches. The club guarantee’s a proper Yorkshire welcome, especially extended to those who come to ‘test’ us.

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