Welcome to the Autumn 2026 edition of the hj Newsletter.
I’m currently reading a book called ‘Run Forever’.
I’ll be honest, it takes me a long time to complete a book from start to finish, as I tend to be around halfway through a book before I switch off and move to another one. Thus, meaning I have ‘half-read’ a lot of books, and so when someone asks me if I’ve read the crime thriller ‘4.50 from Paddington’ by Agatha Christie (just for example), I can say that I have (but not all of it). Luckily in that instance, I have also seen the film (all of it), so I know the ending, though whether that differs from the book I won’t know.
Anyway, this ‘Run Forever’ book I am actually very likely to make it all the way through. I’m proudly well over halfway through it already. One of the sections tells me that the peak age for a Marathon runner is 27 for a male and 29 for a female, which is interesting as I ran the London Marathon in 2005 aged 27 (and nearly combusted).
I’ve also read that, as I’m now in my 50th year, I should be doing more Resistance training. Why it suggests ‘more’ I’m not quite sure as I really don’t do any now. I don’t know about any of you, but my idea of Resistance training over the summer was to look out of the window and decide a venture to the (jingles blaring) ice cream van was more favourable to the 5-mile run I was dressed for.
However, there’s a real seriousness to the section and its right. As we age then ideally, we should build more Resistance training into our schedules, and I’m sure a lot of you already do. My calf/Achilles deserves a little more help for sure, a repeated weak area of mine these days, and regular niggles could probably be avoided or at least reduced by embracing some extra training.
It’s a good book, and notably also covers a section about the female side of running too (albeit it is a male writer of this book, there are contributions from women which cover some important topics).
On that particular topic, there are encouraging signs of more data now being available, showing the beneficial effects of running for women, and a lot of this information which is now being gathered is being done by women too – which I think is critical, as so much research in the past has been conducted by (and commented on) by men only, which doesn’t seem right. Let’s hope this area develops in the years ahead.
Anyway, moving on and what a busy quarter it has been for the club!
We’ve had the Horsham Round, Alf Shrubb, Barns Green, WSFRL races galore and some fabulous individual achievements along the way, and there’s a lovely write-up by Tanya Boardman and Gareth Sear following their Ultra in Finland in July too. There is also a feature on our England Athletics athlete Simon Perkins for the ‘5 minutes with’, including a couple of cracking photographs.
And our Chairman Ian Dickinson has now thankfully recovered from the nasty shoulder injury that he ended up with, whilst catching a flying ball playing rounders.
We read on with the Newsletter (and more than half of it hopefully)
Unsung Hero – Dawn Whamond
The Unsung Hero for this edition of the Newsletter is one of our WSFRL superstars, Dawn Whamond.
Dawn has been instrumental in driving forward the WSRFL events this year, encouraging our members to take part and helping ensure the good work done by the previous incumbent has seamlessly carried on.
I know there is a lot of hard work involved with the task, so it’s a huge credit to Dawn (and all those who have also helped this year, including Sandrine Yeates, Nikki Barnes, and Andrew Wright amongst others) to make it so popular. And, at the time of typing, we’re top of the table aiming to regain the crown we last held in 2023!
Thank you, Dawn.
Committee Places – We Need You!
Please note there are currently two vacancies on the Committee. If you would like more information about joining this very rewarding role, please contact the Committee by email at [email protected] or alternatively speak directly to a current Committee member for details.
Specifically, the club are looking for someone to work on our Social Media posts, such as Instagram, Facebook etc (those which go out to the wider community.
Also, we need someone to Champion the Sussex Grand Prix. These events are historically very popular within the club, but a little less so in recent years. So, if you want to consider these please put yourselves forward for this and email the Committee who can provide more information to you.
Matt Gordon – Battersea Top Flight 5k, 24th July
Matt’s currently awesome form saw him run at the elite Battersea 5k race on 24th July. Once again having to contend with the heat, Matt smashed his season’s best with a terrific time of 16.08, certainly holding his own in this race.
Loop of Jersey – Gary Tomlinson’s at it again, 26-27 July
On 26/27 July, Gary Tomlinson embarked on a ‘Jersey Round’, basically a run around the entire coast of Jersey. This 76.5km loop took Gary just over 7 and a half hours, with elevation gain of some 1,640 metres. To top this off, the average temperature during his run was 25 degrees. I believe this is a new World Record (or Jersey record?!) to complete a loop of Jersey in that time. A frankly outstanding effort!
Kaldoaivi Ultra (the world’s northernmost Ultra), 27th July 2026
In July, Tanya Boardman and Gareth Sear took part in the Kaloaivi Ultra and they have sent this fantastic analysis of the event. Well done to both of you for completing this!
A review of the Kaldoaivi Ultra by Tanya and Gareth:
Do this race: for wilderness under the midnight sun.
Skip it: if fast, flat roads are your thing.
A week before the run, our first communication since signing up months earlier finally arrived. It covered the kit list— including options of mosquito hat and spare energy—number pick-up and the course. In hindsight, reading the small print would have helped…
The Kaldoaivi Ultra Trail in Finnish Lapland is a weekend of running, mountain biking and road cycling races from 18km to 225km. We chose the 57km ultra: a point-to-point run from Mieraslompolo to Utsjoki, with 650m of ascent.
The trail follows reindeer-herding routes through the Skulluvaara round-up area, culturally important to the Indigenous Sámi people—and strategically important to runners, as it held our only aid station.
The briefing happened in an unassuming woodland car park: 6km uphill, first river crossing at 18km, keep the emergency number handy. Go well! So we did, walk-running up through the forest and onto the tundra.
Loose rocks made the trail a trip-hazard obstacle course. Pine became birch, then no trees at all, while the path shifted from firm ground to mud, bog and swamp (difference between bog and swamp is still unclear—answers welcome).
The race info promised three river crossings—an optimistic count after a week of rain. For 2027, I note that this has become three major crossings, and major they were. Our plan to remove shoes and socks lasted until the first river; like everyone else, we just stepped in and waded across.
We carried on through rain, thunder, lightning and sunshine, fuelled by wild blueberries, clean river water and fellow runners’ camaraderie. There was plenty of time to absorb the landscape, 500km inside the Arctic Circle, with no danger of finishing after nightfall. A celebratory refresh at the aid station gave us just enough oomph for the finish.
Ironically, the riskiest stretch was the final 200m, where two curious reindeer intercepted us. We finished to cheers, hot food and our medals, pleased to be the first British home for the 57km run.
Recommended: a tough run through a unique landscape—an ideal respite from any future heatwaves.
Tanya and Gareth
Summer Handicap – 28th July (Horsham Park)
The annual Summer Handicap took place in Horsham Park on another of those balmy summer evenings we had this year.
Richard Cornell came home in 1st place, closely followed by Chris Garner and then Sam Flux. Congratulations to all of you.
A little shout out too to John Docherty, who on returning from injury realised he was actually in better shape than he initially thought and so gave up the 1st place he was sitting in.
Naked Run, 18th August (Horsham Park)
The annual Naked Run took place on 18th August. As ever, some of you were extremely close to your predicted times, and none of you turned up naked so it was definitely a win-win.
The winner of the run with a time only 2 seconds off their prediction was Alex Masters, so its huge congratulations to him.
In the runners-up spot there were three runners who were 6 seconds off their predictions, namely Rob Shapland, David Malins and Rob Black.
Having run many times with David Malins, I am frankly amazed he got so close to his prediction. Since he relinquished leading the 7.45/mile Tuesday night group a few years back his pacing seems to be going all over the shop these days!
Horsham Round, 30th August
A beautiful day arose for the annual Horsham Round event, where a plethora of teams from not only Horsham Joggers but also Mel’s Milers, Crawley Run Crew, Henfield amongst others took part.
Massive thanks to everyone for organising this event and for testing out the routes beforehand, and of course to Roger Johnson for his relentless effort in ensuring the day was a success.
As ever, a few teams dressed up for the occasion. Not least our very own Stranger Loopers team who for 2026 decided superheroes was the theme.
To be honest, anyone who took part in the day should be classed as a superhero (even John Docherty who didn’t quite manage the whole thing as he wished…. but he did run further than he ever previously has!).
Sussex Relays, 13th September
The (re-arranged) Sussex Relays took part in Preston Park, Brighton on 13th September and there were plenty of superb achievements.
These 2 mile-relays are tough, up against the top teams in Sussex (some of whom specialise in short track/road racing events mainly).
The Ladies two Senior teams came 9th and 10th overall, with super running by Anna McLauchlan, Kerry Short, Lilian Tse, Holly Shazell, Kat Owens and Frankie Cooper.
The men’s over-60s team took home the gold medal – the fantastic trio of Bryan Camfield, Dean Angell, and Pete O’Connell, with Pete holding on in the closing stages to take top spot ahead of the teams from Chichester, Lewes and Brighton.
Impressive running all of you!
Alf Shrubb, 13th September
Horsham Joggers once again amassed in huge numbers for the Alf Shrubb races on 13th September.
We also do an awful lot of work as a club (together with other clubs like Mel’s Milers and Horsham Blue Star Harriers on the race committee) to make sure the race is a success every year. Huge thanks must go to everyone at the club and everyone on the race organising committee who worked tirelessly to ensure the day was a success.
In the races themselves, we had some very high finishers in the 10k.
For the women, we saw Johanna Terry come home 3rd, Laura Stephenson 4th, Rosaline Pollard 6th, Helen Franklin 7th, and Crystal Barrell 9th.
For the men, Rob Sherwood finished 2nd, Mark Alger 8th, Shaun Black 9th, and Oliver Wilson 10th.
There were also plenty of HJers finishing high up in their respective age categories, not least Christina Harrison who came 1st in the Female V55-59 (once the issue of Mike O’Grady appearing in that category had been resolved!).
Congratulations to Christina and everyone else who ran at Alf Shrubb.
Run Reigate Half Marathon, 20th September
It was huge congratulations to Nicola Barnes and Sandrine Yeates on running their first ever Half Marathons at the Reigate Half on 20th September.
Alongside other HJers including Jane Adams, Mike Clark, Dawn Whamond Shaun Black and the extraordinary Paul Barnes (who ran the Great North Run only the week before), it is always fantastic to see people hitting new achievements. After all, that is a strong part of what running is all about – to push beyond what we once thought was our limit.
Copenhagen Half – Super Half Marathons completed!
It’s a huge well-done to 3 HJ’ers who have now completed the Super Half-Marathons out there. Luke Minogue, Hadley O’Dwyer and Lee Jestico picked up the (huge) medal for this feat.
For those unsure, the SuperHalf series of Half Marathons takes in Valencia, Lisbon, Cardiff, Prague, Berlin and now Copenhagen.
A few other HJ’ers also took part in the Copenhagen Half, so well done to all of you that took part.
Barns Green, 27th September
Personally, I think the organisers of the SuperHalf Marathon series should shove Barns Green in their list too.
A whopping 150 hj’ers (approx!) turned up to run at Barns Green on Sunday, 27th September to take part in the annual 5k, 10k and Half Marathon races (not forgetting the kids colour run too!).
This wonderful day saw the local community come together and it was a really lovely occasion. The club also made up ‘most’ of the pacers for the races, again showing (like with Alf Shrubb too) what commitment we have as a club to ensure our local races are a success.
The weather was a little humid, and I know a number of runners found it harder going than they otherwise might have. That being said, there were terrific performances across the board.
Without being able to name everyone who took part (that would be both time consuming and a little dull), a few HJ’ers walked away with prizes.
In particular, Lilian Tse was thrilled with the jar of honey (as well as the trophy) she won for finishing 3rd female in the 5k – she was certainly continuing the ‘buzz’ of the day with that result!
Apart from Lilian and her ‘free-bee’ pot of honey, there were also podium places for Matt Gordon (2nd male in the Half Marathon) and Melissa Galea (3rd female in the Half Marathon – though Melissa was incorrectly named in the WSCT as ‘Saz Harris’ when Melissa finished about 9 minutes ahead of her – mind you, she’d be happy with the 1 hour 14 minute finishing time the paper also quoted!).
I also know within the various age categories that HJ’ers were swarming all over the top positions too.
Some fantastic results – well done everyone!
Big thanks too for those who gave up their Sunday mornings to plan/post/host the various routes for the Half Marathon training, in particular Kelly Docherty, Liz Giannopoulos, Matt Horne, Angela Scott, John Docherty and Trevor Scott.
And a special extra mention to Trevor for completing the 10k at Barns Green – I think we all agree this was so great to see.
Berlin Marathon – 27th September 2026
On the same day as the Barns Green races, some HJ’ers ran some outstanding times at the Berlin Marathon.
Simon Markham finished in a brilliant time of 3.09.16 to come 39th in his age category of 60+.
Also out there were Richard and Penny Barron. Us HJ’ers get everywhere!
Well done everyone.
Now, I had thought most of the races were done and dusted by the start of October, but as I attempted to finalise the Newsletter a stack of Joggers seem to have taken part in various Half Marathons and 10ks and other races … but I’ll include some of these in the next Newsletter, otherwise it will be after Christmas by the time you finish reading this edition!
Summer Time Trials, Roosthole
The popular Summer time-trials up at Roosthole have now concluded. After 4 events, there were some fantastic runners who really improved their 5k times.
The winner for most improved across the 4 runs was Marcus Leach, who improved by 2 minutes and 22 seconds.
In 2nd place was Leia Judge, who improved by 1 minute and 23 seconds.
In 3rd place was Roz Pollard, who improved by 46 seconds.
Three runners actually made it to all 4 events, namely Roz Pollard, Martin Melaugh and Kelly Docherty.
Huge thanks to anyone who volunteered at any of these events and of course Florian for his organisation of them.
WSFRL Update – keep it going!!
The summer has seen the WSFRL races fly by, and we still remain top of the table!
We scored terrifically well across the races, and when it looked like we might get pulled back, we have stridden away again.
However, we still have the Chichester Runners and Haywards Heath Harriers right on our heels, and there are just three races remaining, the Ardingly Amble on Sunday 11th October, the Steepdown Challenge on Sunday 25th October, and then it’s our very own Gunpowder Trot on 1st November.
The key for us to have a strong turnout at both Ardingly and Steepdown – a good result for us at those will see us take the title.
Please take part in these events if you can so we can score highly.
The next Newsletter will include a special feature on the WSFRL, so let’s try and bring home the trophy!!
Gunpowder Trot – volunteers
Now, it’s worth pointing out that for our own Gunpowder Trot actually racing it matters a little less than usual, because of the way the points are distributed when you are the host club.
What we do need are a large number of volunteers (around 100) for the day to be a success. At the time of typing, we have around half the number we need so please put yourselves forward to help if you are free the morning of Sunday 1st November. There is a form to complete which is on the HJ Runs group on Facebook and Liz will allocate roles in due course.
Let’s make the club/day a success.
Parkrun Away Days
The Parkrun Away Days continue to be extremely popular. The next one is at Guildford on 17th October.
Marathon ballot places
The Marathon ballot places will be drawn at the start of December, but you only have until the end of October to put your name forward if you think you qualify to be included in the criteria for this draw. The criteria to qualify to have your name put forward is on the HJ website but you must notify the Committee of your wish to be included in the draw.
At the time of typing, we don’t yet know how many places we will receive, but it will be at least 1 from England Athletics (potentially 2).
New Membership System
A new membership process will be rolled out in the coming months using a third party system called MemberMojo.
This will make the process of joining and renewing your annual membership more straightforward.
More details will follow in due course.
Five minutes with … Simon Perkins (including a photo and his car!)
- How long have you been a runner and what made you start?
I did cross country at school and made the cross-country team, but unfortunately pubs and parties got in the way until around 15 years ago when I took it up again more seriously. Parkrun totally sealed it for me! - Why do you run?
Running is way more than just a way to keep physically fit. There is something almost primeval about it, like its in our DNA. Your body evolved to run and therefore you feel like you’re doing what it wants, and that’s why it feels so great – and fantastic for mental health too. - How long have you been at Horsham Joggers?
I joined Horsham Joggers 10 years ago. Just felt like a natural progression. - Biggest running achievement so far?
Probably getting involved in the Parkrun ‘core’ team, encouraging the community to get involved in running and seeing them getting so much from it. - What are your future running goals and ambitions?
I got my 10k and Half Marathon PBs at the age of 52, but I think more PBs are probably unlikely, so I will enjoy more age category racing. - What’s the best thing about Horsham Joggers?
The people. Everyone is amazing. I’m always in awe of all the talent, dedication and determination of the runners and committee. I have also made some wonderful ‘lifetime’ friends who I appreciate so much and always look forward to their company. I feel incredibly lucky. - Specialist subject on Mastermind?
Meteorology. I’m obsessed with weather. - Tell us something we don’t know about you?
I’ve run a 5k race completely starkers (apart from running shoes) and was 1st over the line. I used to have bouffant ginger hair styled somewhere between Vanilla Ice and Rick Astley, and drove a 1972 WV Camper. I now bomb around in a 1989 Austin Metro called Brenda (sorry, that’s four things!).
Other News
Membership Numbers
As of the end of September 2026, HJ currently has 625 members, of which approximately 177 of us are EA affiliated.
If anyone wants to know more about EA affiliation, then please feel free to ask for an explanation into how this works and whether joining EA is suitable for you.
Dates for your Diary
As ever please check the HJ calendar (and HJ Runs group on Facebook) for any updates/changes which take place.
WSFRL (West Sussex Fun Run League, SGP (Sussex Grand Prix)
- 11th October – WSFRL Ardingly Amble
- 17th October – Parkrun awayday, Guildford
- 18th October – Great South Run
- 18th October – Guildford 10k and 5k
- 18th October – SGP Hove Prom 10k
- 25th October – WSFRL Steepdown Challenge
- 1st November – WSFRL Gunpowder Trot (HJ are the hosts)
- 1st November – SGP Crowborough 10k
- 17th November – Winter Handicap (Horsham Sports club, 7pm)
- 17th November – Awards Evening (Horsham Sports club, 8pm)
- 18th November – Curry Night
That’s it for now, I hope you all have a lovely autumn.
Be lucky.
Simon Holmes