Rye Summer Series
Once again, Ashford Striders’ running weekend started early with a club member racing on the Friday night. Having run the first two 10k races in the series at Rye Harbour nature reserve, Justin Burden switched to the 5k option for the 3rd event of the series and finished in a time of 22:48
Ashford parkrun
Fewer club members were running at our home parkrun this week, partly due to a number of races taking place this weekend.
Keith Haynes 21:57 was this week’s fastest Strider at Ashford parkrun, followed by Terry Sellen in 26:21, David Gadsby 28:42, Stephen Rumsey 28:49, Amanda James 31:03, Catherine Wall 31:41, Sonette Schwartz 32:08, Martin Whittingham 32:30, Rachel Forrester 32:31, Rita Cooke 33:37, Graham Troman 35:09, Brian Forrester 35:21, Hazel Forrester 36:26 and finally Siobhan Hagan who was volunteering as tail walker and finished in 46:59
Our awesome volunteers at Ashford parkrun were Darren Laker, Don Dewar, Jason Caldwell, Lee Standen, Kevan Strand, Rebecca Somerford, Sara Dewar, Simon Jackson and Siobhan Hagan.
Parkrun tourism Justin Burden ran his second 5k in two days, completing his 150th parkrun at the lakeside course in Eastbourne in 25:02 Travelling across the Thames to Basildon parkrun were Rachel Theobald, who finished in 30:32, and Kevin York who ran 30:33
Also going north of the river was perennial parkrun tourist Nicola Crawley, completing Mile End parkrun in East London in 25:28
Closer to home, Jamie Bartlett ran Mote Park parkrun in 28:48.
Dock 2 Dock
Also on Saturday, two Striders were in swimming, instead of running, action this weekend. Both swam the gruelling 5km distance at this open water event at London’s Royal Docks. Richard Randall swam a personal best of 2:02:06 and Amanda Cooper finished in a time of 2:15:57.
Badlesmere 10k
On Sunday, Martin Whittingham was the sole strider at this race around the country lanes not far from Ashford. He finished in a time of 1:11:18.
The Big Half
Also on Sunday, several club members travelled up to London to run this half marathon on a similar route to part of the London Marathon, but in the opposite direction. The race started not far from the Tower of London and finished by the iconic Cutty Sark in Greenwich.
Completing the race were: Simon Jackson 1:56:55, Siobhan Hagan with a terrific personal best of 2:20:50, Karen Edwards 2:21:03, Lisa Gribbin and Rachel Misson ran together and both finished in 2:26:09, Lisa Fulcher 2:33:34, Vicky Shrubsole 2:37:40, Sharni Copham 2:37:47 and Sarah George who also earned herself a shiny new half marathon PB of 2:59:40. And lastly, an honourable mention goes to Nicola Crawley, supporting instead of running at the Big Half, who displayed superb selfie taking skills by managing to grab a photo with Sir Mo Farah,
Well done everyone!
Report by Lisa Fulcher.
