Chairman’s Report 2011

Thank you all.

Colin.

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Ladies and gentlemen the King’s Speech! It gives me great pride to be here today, to award what must be the finest, most wonderful exponents of athleticism in the county. It is also an honour that I have been given once more the opportunity to host at such a huge occasion! To the people that are here for the first time, welcome comrades to the red and black brotherhood. Yes a brotherhood because we are bonded together by one thing and that one thing is love. We love running, we love the vest, we love training, we love racing, we love our president, we love our captain, both of them, we love our coaches, and strangely and quite bizarrely we even love our chairman. What I’m going to do tonight is share this love in the form of these trophies, and celebrate our sporting success of the last year and acclaim our prize winners, heroes every one!

Let us take a gentle jog to the first award tonight which is for the most improved Harrier of the last 12 months. Those considered were the stunningly, the super Sue Cooper and the jovial, the jocular Jo Curran. But the most improved Harrier has excelled herself on road, cross-country and triathlon. She was the first woman home at the 2010 Beachy Head Marathon taking nearly 30 minutes of her 2009 time. She took part in the 2010 ETU European long triathlon. Now a standard triathlon consists of s 1.5k swim a 40k bike and a 10k run. The European long triathlon takes in a 4k swim a 120k bike and a 30k run. It took our heroin 7 hours and 20 minutes and she came home with a gold medal. She is a perfect athlete but what is even more wondrous is that her personality excels her athletic achievements she is of course the electrifying, the elegant, Emma Richards.

Let us pick up the pace and amble towards the next award for the trier of the year aptly named in memory of our wonderful friend and coach John Faulds. Some consider, myself included, this to be the most important award of the night and those considered were the dexterous, the dynamic, Don Currie, the alluring, the angelic, Annette Feakes and the fantastic, the fabulous, Flick Webster. Now I am delighted that the winner has finally earned the recognition she so richly deserves. She is the epitome of what this award is all about, she has turned out reliably for her the ladies team throughout 2010 and was rewarded with a Sussex County cross-country medal for coming joint second in the over 35 age group. Please show your appreciation for a well deserved winner the joyful, the jubilant, Juliette Sukoco.

I am delighted that our club has attracted so many new members in the last year and in particular in the men’s section. Three of them have been put forward for the award for the most promising newcomer. Those considered were the noteworthy, the novel, Neil Pysden, the stunning, the sensational Stuart Sorrell and Adrian Elliott. The winner is the ultimate ultra running machine. If I tell you that some of his personal bests are for 100 miles 20 hours and 42 minutes, for 100k 11 hours and 35 minutes and for 54 miles 8 hours and 50 minutes you can tell that he is in it for the long haul. We saw him first when he won the Grove Hill Mile back in May. He finally moved to East Sussex in September and on his first weekend took part in the Hellingly 10k. In his own words he said “I was 2^nd Harrier to finish that day and very proud to be part of the winning team. Thanks to the Harriers for organising a great race and for making me feel very welcome”. Since then he has turned out for us on numerous occasions. Let us continue to make him feel welcome by showing our appreciation for the winner of the most promising newcomer award the magnificent, the majestic, Matt Dowle.

The next award pays tribute to the best athletic performance and has been named the Derek Wells trophy after our former president and founder member. We have had an outstanding last twelve months and so there were many performances to choose from. Emma Richards was nominated for this award. She has had a tremendous season as we have already mentioned and it is for her performance in October when she won the ladies race at the Beachy Head Marathon in an outstanding time of 3 hours 31 minutes. She was 14^th overall in a field of 1,500 entrants and took a huge 30 minutes off her previous year’s time. The awards evening never passes without mentioning the South Downs Relay. In 2009 all three teams entered came back with medals, in 2010 we weren’t so lucky. Despite their best efforts both the A team and Ladies team found themselves in places that were none too familiar. However the Hailsham Harriers B team carried the flag for the club and won the B prize for the 2^nd year in a row and it was they who were also nominated for this award. Well done to Cieran Bragazzi, Dave Coulson, Steve Delea, Pete Daws, Andy Ruffell and Jamie Tyler. At this year’s cross country championships at Stamner Park in January we had in my opinion the best men’s cross-country team the club has seen. This award is named the Derek Wells trophy after our former president and founder member and none would have been more proud than Derek himself of the performance of the Harriers that day, it will live forever in our memory. We had the newcomers Matt Dowle, Stuart Sorrell and Adie Elliott battling it out with old guard of Paul Payne, Andy Ruffell and Steve Avery. But it was our elite runners, the reigning champion Ben Warren and Todd Leckie who literally led the way proving that we have the very best runners in the county. In a titanic battle it was Todd who edged the contest and although Ben lost his title he was comforted by the fact that the Sussex title remained within the club. Todd has won the trophy this year for this performance and also his time last year at the Chichester 10k when he ran the race in 31 minutes and 31 seconds. Since the committee gave this award Todd has run the Chichester 10k in an even faster time. But that my friends is another story for another awards evening in the meantime although Todd can’t be with us tonight please let us give polite and respectful applause for our Olympic hopeful Todd Leckie.

The Carol Russell Trophy is presented each year to the lady who runs the fastest 10k of the preceding year. In 2010 there was a clear winner. At the Chichester 10k back in February 2010 in a time of 37.48 ladies and gentleman I give you the enchanting, the endearing, the engaging, the appealing, the charming, the fetching, the legendary the lovable Gill Wheeler.

Each year we hold our summer track grand prix series. The best six scores from seven races involved distances ranging from 5,000m to 100m. The series was a great success with 21 men and 12 ladies from the club taking part and they were ably organised by Colin Burgess, Sue Cooper and Eleanor Ruffell. The final results were as follows:- Ladies: 3^rd Lesley Delea 110 2^nd Felicity Webster 115 1^st Samantha Alvarez 120 points. Men: 3^rd Shaun Webster 104 2^nd Sam Shanta 105 1^st Don Currie 109.

The next two awards are connected with our annual event the John Faulds Hellingly 10k. The first award is for the most improved time and this year in an improved time of 1 minute 48 seconds it’s Donna Hinton. Donna completed the 2010 race in 54.08 and her 2009 time was 55.56.

This event is also the club’s annual 10k championship and I can reveal that in third place in a time of 38.19 was the Rob Chrystie. In second place was Matt Dowle in a time of 38.00. But in first place, our 10k champion for the second year in a row in a time of 36.12 Gary Judges. Unfortunately Gary is still lost on leg 4 of the South Downs relay and so can’t be with us tonight.

It is with a heavy heart that I come to the last award of the evening. This is the Clifford Lowen Trophy for the runner’s runner award which you yourselves vote to reward the Harrier who in your opinion has done the most for the club. The results of the ballot make interesting reading and here are just a few of the nominations; Samantha Alvarez, Roberto Proietti, Lesley Underdown, Julie Chicken and Flick Webster. Can I just say that the result was very close as Flick was only two votes behind the winner! The winner has excelled for many years now as our treasurer and for the last two years as club captain. Why has he won this award? It’s for his exact detail to the finances of the club because without a strong keeper of the figures we would be in disarray. It’s for his strong leadership as club captain, how he organises teams and sends us such inspirational emails and texts. This of course has a knock on effect because he shows faith in us and therefore we repay him with displays I have mentioned before such as at the cross country championships. Andy Ruffell, our leader, for the tremendous amount of work you do for us, and for the example you set us all, we give you the ultimate accolade and tribute, we have voted you the runner’s runner quite rightly for a second year in a row, and I have the honour and great pleasure in giving you this trophy tonight.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are almost at an end. May I say on behalf of us all a monstrously big thank you to the very commendable Lesley Underdown our club secretary for helping me with these awards and for organising another excellent awards evening.

And that, my friends was our annual awards. I will leave you with this thought, the majority of you have not won anything tonight, but when you are next out on a training run with the wind at your back, the sun in front of you, you’ll probably have a Harrier by your side, you’ll know then you’re a winner. Adieu my friends and may your enjoyment continue long into the night.