Harwell Fun Run Records

The Harwell Fun Run has been going since the 1970s. We have some results on paper from 1977 but no formal records from before 1988.

Jump to Bomb Dump Courses | Diamond Courses | PHE Courses (current)

Since September 2016 - Health Protection Agency

Since September 2016 we have been starting and finishing outside the Health Protection Agency (formerly Public Health England). This puts us closer to the majority of the people on the site, and also keeps to areas that are not currently scheduled for building. The different courses are set up as Strava segments, which means that the records are logged automatically for anyone who uses Strava and are not tabulated below. You don't need a fancy GPS watch (although one will give you a more accurate trace); Strava works just fine as a free app on a phone.

2006 to 2016 - heading for Diamond

Preparations in 2006 for the new housing estate forced a radical re-think of the traditional route, resulting in a route that we hoped (in vain!) would avoid any further building work. Starting south-westwards from the rugby pavilion, we joined an old runway north of where the E6 Building now stands, headed west to Eighth Street and then ran down the east side of the drainage pond, heading for Chilton School. The return trip used essentially the same route.

Yet more building work put paid to that route so we moved the start to the western end of Building 329, initially retaining the route down the east side of the pond but changing to this route (Google map link) when the ESA building was constructed.

These various 'Diamond' courses, which have been used since January 2006, were carefully measured to have the same length and all have a single set of records, listed below. (Awaiting update to include Sep 2010 - Apr 2016.)

Normal Course, 4.3 miles
(January 2006 - April 2010)
13.03.2007 Roger Thetford 25:10
24.01.2006 Chris Colbeck 26:09
30.10.2007 Matt Hart 26:18
23.10.2007 Kevin Smith 26:24
23.10.2007 John Thornhill 27:11
24.02.2009 Steve Williams 27:15
19.02.2008 Gary Belben 27:32
17.03.2009 Jon Hyde 27:36
18.12.2007 Andy King 27:44
27.04.2010 George Hostford 27:50
31.03.2009 Pete Stepney 27:55
22.01.2008 David Roberts 28:04
19.12.2006 Susan Baigent 28:39
23.10.2007 Graham Wiggins 28:40
21.03.2006 Andrew Harwood 28:57
Women
30.01.2007 Frances Burge 28:26
19.12.2006 Susan Baigent 28:39
23.01.2007 Lucia Singer 30:20
26.01.2010 Ann Rostern 30:33
27.11.2007 Emma Pell 31:03
20.04.2010 Joanna Davies 31:30
24.04.2007 Fiona Hunter 32:08
31.03.2009 Helen Brackenbury 32:22
31.03.2009 Victoria Jay 32:37
25.04.2006 Melanie Hobson 33:10
24.10.2006 Claire Sweeney 34:18

Short Course, 3.1 miles
(January 2006 - April 2010)
27.03.2007 Roger Thetford 17:28
03.04.2007 Chris Colbeck 18:20
04.12.2007 Matt Hart 18:29
04.03.2008 Gary Belben 18:31
02.10.2007 Kevin Smith 18:55
06.11.2007 Steve Williams 18:58
04.04.2006 Susan Baigent 19:12
04.12.2007 John Thornhill 19:12
06.11.2007 Jon Hyde 19:17
02.10.2007 David Roberts 19:22
04.12.2007 Andy King 19:31
04.04.2006 Andrew Harwood 19:33
Women
04.04.2006 Susan Baigent 19:12
01.04.2008 Frances Burge 19:48
12.09.2006 Emma Pell 21:24
04.11.2008 Lucia Singer 21:39
02.12.2008 Ann Rostern 22:03
06.04.2010 Joanna Davies 22:03
01.05.2007 Fiona Hunter 22:30
04.04.2006 Melanie Hobson 22:38
03.03.2009 Helen Brackenbury 22:54
03.04.2007 Victoria Jay 23:10
04.03.2008 Otilia Nuta 23:41
22.01.2008 Karen Aplin 25:42
05.09.2006 Castel Fairlie 26:24
12.09.2006 Gail Steer 27:34

Mini Course, 2.1 miles
(January 2006 - April 2010)
01.05.2007 Roger Thetford 11:27
14.04.2008 Susan Baigent 12:34
21.09.2010 George Hostford 12:47
23.12.2008 Jon Hyde 12:58
30.10.2007 Graham Wiggins 13:01
17.04.2007 Frances Burge 13:14
11.12.2007 Pete Stepney 13:31
14.11.2007 Gareth Smith 14:41
17.11.2009 Ann Rostern 14:45
14.11.2006 Colin Moore 15:03
Women
14.04.2008 Susan Baigent 12:34
17.04.2007 Frances Burge 13:14
17.11.2009 Ann Rostern 14:45
14.10.2008 Helen Brackenbury 15:39
28.02.2006 Melanie Hobson 15:49
01.05.2007 Castel Fairlie 18:26
01.05.2007 Barbara Lambers 25:51

Up to 2005 - the Bomb Dump


Normal course, 1988-2005, Short Course 2000-2005,
Mini Course, 2000-2005

Normal, Short and Mini courses, 2005-06

We used to start and finish at the pavilion on the main sports field. This involved starting (and sprint-finishing!) across the main gate. To improve safety, at the relaunch in 1988 we moved the start to the rugby pavilion, trimming about 300m off the distance. At that time the landfill site in the old railway cutting hadn't yet opened and we crossed the field by Prospect Farm on a muddy footpath rather than on a good track. The return leg skirted the 'Bumb Dump' (Southern Storage Area): up the long straight road towards Upper Farm, then round the old runways. From the top of the footbridge the quicker runners could see a long string of targets ahead: the challenge was to catch them.

The Short Course, then new, was a modified version of the normal course, run in reverse. It cut out the Bomb Dump loop and also by-passed Prospect Farm, using a different muddy footpath just east of Chilton village. We ran this uphill, and the key to a good time was controlling your effort on the climb so that you still had some leg-strength to exploit the downhill back to the village.

In 1999 we introduced the mini course: just two miles, down to the school and back. Shortly afterwards we realised that it was more fun to have the last part of the Short Course coinciding with the normal course. A much bigger short-cut up Chilton High Street saved enough distance to add the Bomb Dump, so the runners on the short and normal courses joined battle at the church.

By 2005 the site management had fenced off the runway at the SW corner of the Bomb Dump, forcing us to use a rougher route around the north side of the school and removing the spectacle of all the returning runners on the Bomb Dump straight. The records weren't segregated though: the tables below list the records for the normal course, the mini course, and the old and 'new' versions of the short course.

Normal Course, 4.48 miles
(since September 1988)
27.01.1998 Jan Swenson 24:01
14.05.1991 Roger Thetford 24:08
25.03.2003 Chris Riley 24:09
19.01.1993 David Clark 24:43
27.11.2001 Pete Wilson 24:53
21.01.1997 Pete Flavel 25:00
08.10.1996 Trevor Taylor 25:15
25.04.2001 Vincent Malachanne 25:30
13.04.1993 Ian Vatter 25:55
08.09.1998 Graeme Cox 26:13
24.09.1991 Thornton Greenland 26:17
17.10.1990 Will Atkinson 26:24
Women
18.10.1994 Susan Baigent 28:48
26.10.2004 Frances Burge 29:21
29.11.2005 Emma Pell 31:51
24.09.2002 Ann Cummings 32:05
05.08.1999 Wiki Daniels 32:10
26.03.2002 Helen Brackenbury 32:46
08.03.2005 Melanie Hobson 32:49
25.02.1997 Alison Walker 33:29
08.04.1997 Alison Smith 34:16
New Short Course, 3.134 miles
(since September 2000)
03.09.2002 Chris Riley 17:04
04.09.2001 Vincent Malachanne 17:29
01.05.2001 Roger Thetford 17:46
01.03.2005 Chris Colbeck 17:46
07.11.2000 Trevor Taylor 18:06
14.11.2000 Pete Stepney 19:16
27.02.2001 Will Atkinson 19:20
06.11.2001 Ian Ross 19:38
18.10.2005 Susan Baigent 20:06
02.09.2003 David Oakley 20:07
08.04.2003 Andrew Harwood 20:17
18.09.2001 Bob Talbot 20:31
04.09.2001 Jon Hyde 20:37
03.09.2002 Ian Vatter 20:40
Women
18.10.2005 Susan Baigent 20:06
02.11.2004 Frances Burge 20:42
01.10.2002 Ann Cummings 21:51
03.04.2001 Helen Brackenbury 22:39
01.11.2005 Emma Pell 22:44
01.02.2005 Melanie Hobson 23:13
27.04.2004 Claire Handley 24:24
07.12.2004 Fiona Hunter 25:14
07.09.2004 Penny Rush 25:18
02.11.2004 Rachel McCarthy 25:18
07.01.2003 Fiona Willmott 26:45
03.12.2002 Josephine Talbot-P 28:45
Mini Course, 2.129 miles
(since May 1999)
02.05.2000 Roger Thetford 12:01
06.05.1999 Pete Stepney 12:41
06.05.1999 Ian Vatter 13:09
18.12.2001 Ian Ross 13:34
16.09.2003 Susan Baigent 13:35
21.03.2000 Will Atkinson 13:42
02.08.2001 Bob Talbot 13:52
16.04.2002 Jon Hyde 14:05
10.02.2004 David Oakley 14:05
08.03.2005 Frances Burge 14:22
05.11.2002 Paul Butcher 14:40
06.05.1999 Stuart Brookes 14:57
06.03.2001 Adrian Foster 15:00
Women
26.10.2004 Susan Baigent 13:32
08.03.2005 Frances Burge 14:22
11.03.2003 Helen Brackenbury 15:43
15.02.2005 Melanie Hobson 16:02
24.02.2004 Fiona Hunter 18:10
27.01.2004 Rachel McCarthy 19:28
21.09.2004 Josephine Talbot-P 19:43
Old Short Course, 3.15 miles
(up to August 2000)
06.02.1991 Roger Thetford 17:09
06.10.1998 Pete Flavel 17:51
06.09.1994 David Clark 18:05
14.06.1993 Ian Vatter 18:11
03.04.1990 Pete Stepney 18:16
05.05.1992 Will Atkinson 18:22
13.10.1998 Graeme Cox 18:42
01.10.1996 Paul Spare 18:54
04.04.1995 Thornton Greenland 19:06
06.04.1999 Stewart Scott 19:06
Women
06.10.1998 Susan Baigent 19:45
01.12.1998 Wiki Daniels 22:50
05.03.1996 Alison Walker 22:51
05.11.1996 Alison Smith 23:27
11.04.2000 Helen Brackenbury 27:51