Year: 2021

Congratulations to everyone who took part in this mornings Christmas 10k race, the race was won by Charlie Jones of Western Tempo Running Club & Annie Birch of London City Athletics Club

In the men’s race it was London City AC runner Luke Rowlands in 2nd with Matthew Brunnock of Hereford & County AC in 3rd.

In the ladies 2nd place was taken by Donna Morris of Builth & District Running Club & Samantha Harris of Forest of Dean Athletic Club runner in 3rd.

A special mention you to our race sponsors The Studio – Hereford for your sponsorship of the race and to our race partners Ready Set Go & Point To Point Services and a big thank you to Hereford Rugby Football Club for being amazing hosts.

A big shout out to all of our volunteers, days like today don’t happen without our awesome team of helpers.

The full results along with the category prizes can be found here: https://www.readysetgotiming.co.uk/2021results

Can you help? Local Member of the Hereford running community Jan Edwards is missing

Much loved Wye Valley Runner Jan is missing – West Mercia Police issued the following statement. If you can help please get in touch with them.

MISSING || We’re growing increasingly concerned for 66-year-old Janet Edwards who has been missing since 2.30pm on Friday (10 December) from Hereford.

Herefordshire local area commander, Superintendent Edd Williams said: “This is very out of character for Janet and we are growing increasingly concerned for her welfare. If anyone has seen her or knows where she is please get in touch.”

He continued: “Janet, if you are reading this, please get in touch with us asap, we want to make sure you are safe.”

At the time of Janet going missing it is believed she was wearing a grey Raab puffa jacket, blue jeans and walking boots.

If anyone has seen Janet or knows of her whereabouts please call 999 quoting incident 654 of 10 December.

We are pleased to announce that this Saturday the 11th December we will be teaming up with the Co-op for a collection for Hereford Food Bank at Hereford parkrun.

We will have a drop off point for any donations you may have so keep an eye out for the Couriers red tent prior to the event on the 11th.

We’ve got a small wish list from the Foodbank so if you can bring an item or 2 of the below it would be gratefully received:

• Small (100g) Jars of Instant Coffee
• Custard (Instant Packets & Cartons)
• Jam
• Packets of Biscuits Both Sweet & Savoury
• Shampoo
• Men’s Toiletries
• Washing Up Liquid
• Small Laundry Powder/ Liquid
• As always, thank you for your ongoing support.

See you Saturday.

Congratulations to everyone who took part in our first ever club beer mile the weekend before last, It was a close run race for first and second but Harry Woodhouse held off Andy Tyler’s late charge to win the case of beer!

Charlotte House took victory in the females race finishing just ahead of Bryony Dean It was great fun, well done to all that took part, shout-out to Graeme Walker for organising, Kevin Kerrigan for supplying the beers & everyone who volunteered

The results are as follow’s;

• 1st Harry 7.24
• 2nd Andy T 7.35
• 3rd Ben. 10.12
• 4th. Charlotte 11.17
• 5th Bryony 11.33
• 6th. Graeme. 12.15
• 7th. Jessica. 13.08
• 8th. Ryan. 14.18
• 9th Chris C. 14.23
• 10th Kirsty. 14.37
• 11th Clare M 14.50
• 12th Holly. 14.58
• 13th Steve. 18.07
• 14th John N. 20.00

A few weeks ago Bronwen, Hollie and Ben headed to the Co-op on Grandstand Road for a Saturday morning of celebration as part of its cause payout week The club received a cheque for £4,619 which will help continue to fund and develop our run leader and coaching programmes.

The Couriers were joined by The ELY Memorial Fund & The Living Room Hereford who also were celebrating as all 3 causes received over £15,000! A massive thank you to the Co-op, its members and colleagues for selecting us

The Couriers were celebrating a successful evening at the England Athletics Regional Volunteer Awards that was hosted last week, The Couriers, who this year are celebrating 40 years of running around Hereford finished runners up in the West Midlands Club of the Year category, it turned out to be a double celebration for the team as Club Secretary Ben Skinner finished runner up in the Unsung Hero category. 

The club continues to go from strength to strength having overcome the challenges of lockdown with a key focus on keeping its members involved and engaged and as a result the club’s membership 170% up year on year. 

In the last 12 months, the club has successfully hosted 2 Jon Ward 5k memorial races, raising over £6,000 for Mind and the Samaritans along with its successful Christmas 10k Race and a record attendance for its Spring 3-race 5k Series. 

In its 40th year, the club continues to stay true to its founding core values of rewarding and investing in its members, improving and delivering local races and supporting the local community. 

Club chairman Jon Edwards said ‘It’s an incredibly proud moment for everyone involved with the club. The club committee & run leaders have worked so hard to make this club what it is, to bring our values to life and help us achieve our vision of being an all-inclusive club for everyone.” 

Jon went on to say “I would like to personally thank all of our club members for all of your support & to those who voted for us. It’s quite remarkable how far we have come over the last few years. What a way to celebrate our 40th year.”. 

There has never been a better time to join the Couriers, the club membership is £15 and offers sessions on a Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from Hereford Leisure Centre for all abilities, you can join the club by visiting: https://www.entrycentral.com/CouriersMembership

The Couriers are celebrating the news that they have been shortlisted for a regional athletics award. The reds, who this year are celebrating 40 years of running around Hereford have reached the final of the West Midlands Club of the Year in the England Athletics Regional Volunteer Awards. 

This year has seen the club continue to go from strength to strength having overcome the challenges of lockdown with a key focus on keeping its members involved and engaged and as a result the club’s membership is 160% up year on year. 

In the last 12 months, the Couriers have successfully hosted 2 Jon Ward 5k memorial races, raising over £6,000 for Mind and the Samaritans along with its successful Christmas 10k Race and a record attendance for its Spring 3-race 5k Series. 

In its 40th year, we continue to stay true to its founding core values of rewarding and investing in its members, improving and delivering local races and supporting the local community. 

Club chairman Jon Edwards said ‘It’s an incredibly proud moment for everyone involved with the club. The club committee & run leaders have worked so hard to make this club what it is, to bring our values to life and help us achieve our vision of being an all inclusive club for everyone.” 

Jon went on to say “I would like to personally thank all of our club members for all of your support & to those who voted for us. It’s quite remarkable how far we have come over the last few years. What a way to celebrate our 40th year.”

It’s also a double celebration for the reds as Club Secretary Ben Skinner has been shortlisted for the West Midlands Regional Volunteer Awards in the Unsung Hero category. 

The awards evening is being held virtually on Monday 22nd November and will be live on YouTube for all to watch the evening unfold. 

There has never been a better time to become a Courier, club membership is £15 and offers sessions on a Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from Hereford Leisure Centre for all abilities, you can join the club by visiting: https://www.entrycentral.com/CouriersMembership 

Up next for the reds is it’s popular Christmas 10k race on Tuesday 28th December sponsored by the Studio Hereford, entries are going quick and the club are expecting the race to be a sell out, you can enter here at : https://www.entrycentral.com/Christmas10krace2021  

CLUB UPDATE | We continue to make great progress as a club, at the half way point in our membership year our club Chairman, Jon Edwards gives us an update through his half yearly report.

Here are a few highlights:

• Club Membership 143%
• Record (sell out) attendance for the 5k Series
• We continue to develop more run leaders
• We were delighted to raise £, for mind in memory of Jon Ward.

Thank you to every Courier for all of your energy & support with mass participation events returning, the Cross Country League re-starting this month, the Christmas 10k Race in December & our showpiece AGM planned for March.

There has been no better time to be a red!

The Couriers are proud to announce that last months Jon Ward 5k races have raised £3,000 in memory of former runner and decorated runner Jon Ward which will be donated to the charity MIND.

The money was raised from the Jon Ward 5k and the virtual events which were held in August 2021. 

Chairman Jon Edwards said “We are delighted to confirm that we have raised £3000 in memory of Jon. I’d like to thank everyone involved who got involved with the race, those who competed virtually, the many kind donations and to everyone at the club for their continued support.” 

Additional donations can still be made here: 

https://www.justgiving.com/jonwardhereford5k2021

RUNNERS Ryan McLennan of Moray Road Runners & Couriers own Clare Mallender came out on top in the Virtual Jon Ward 5k race this August helping raise funds for the charity Mind. 

The race was another successful virtual race held by the Hereford Couriers which was created to run alongside of the physical race that happened last weekend & saw over 50 finishers from all across the world with racing taking place in Africa to Scotland running many routes in between in memory of Jon who sadly passed away in 2020.

In the men’s race, McLennan was the fastest recording a superb time of 18:15 to seal victory. 

He was followed virtually all the way by his team mate Simon MacDonald who finished in a time of 20:43 with Christopher Barnicoat picking up 3rd place in 21:11.

Quickest female was Hereford Courier Clare Mallender who finished in first position in a fantastic time of 21:58

Second place was Hereford & County youngster Eva Tyler, who finished her race in 22:40, ahead of Moray Road Runner’s Karen Norvell who finished in 3rd place in a time of 23:34.

The club would like to thank everyone who took part and got involved in the event, we really appreciate the support for this great event. 

The full race results can be found here: