Seasonal Greetings Striders. This weekend was completely dominated by Parkrun with no races to report and nice to see so many of you out and about making room for the influx of Turkey and Brussel Sprouts.
Judging by some of the fantastic times recorded, I hope you all recovered well with your feet up watching Mary Poppins with a glass of your favourite tipple.
Christmas Eve was the first of the weekend double-header at Ashford and Keith Haynes took the No1 spot with a superb run of 20:10. Mark Niles was next with 22:39 and Adam Thomas took third with 23:26. Terry Sellen was hot on Adams heels but just failed to catch him so had to settle for fourth with 23:46. Hazel Turner was first Strider lady with 24:53 and Justin Burden was next to cross the line with 25:03. Then followed the female trio Nicola Crawley, Claire Hall-Dawson and Aimee Donohue with 25:49, 27:04 and 27:06 respectively. Claire’s time was a new PB for her so well done mate!! Darren Laker was just one second behind Aimee with 27:07 and then Graham Troman and Dermot Carr came through with respectable times of 27:27 and 27:44 which was also a new PB for Dermot so congratulations to him. Richard Randle, in full fancy dress, finished next to Dermot also in 27:44 and just behind him was Siobhan Hagan with 27:49 and once again a new PB for her so well done Shiv. Cristina Adams ran a great time of 27:57 and also set herself a new PB so a huge well done to her and she finished just ahead of Vicky Stevenson who ran 28:25. 28:54 and a brand new PB was the time recorded for Michelle Bryant, congratulations Michelle, and she was followed by Lee Standen with 29:08. Amanda James and David Gadsby completed the Strider Sub 30 list with 29:12 and 29:52 respectively.
Lisa Gribbin crossed the line in 30:23 just three seconds ahead of Martin Whittingham with 30:26. Clare Maxlow ran an impressive 30:46 and got a great new PB to go with it, well done Clare !! Sharon Gardner not far behind her in 31:15. Catherine Wall, Rachel Tomsett and Rachel Oliver completed the christmas eve Strider line-up with times of 31:43, 31:47 and 32:25.
Thanks once again to all the Strider volunteers who gave up their time. These included Don Dewar, Sara Dewar, Lisa Fulcher, Simon Jackson, Rachel Tomsett and Justine Wearn and also a special little mention to Ozzy the latest recruit to the Strider Canine Team who came along to offer his support. We had just the one tourist for Christmas eve and that was Peter Broom who ran the Buckingham event in 31:01.
OK, so now onto the Christmas Day:
Keith Haynes kept up his impressive form with a 22:10 finish to take the Strider Christmas number one spot. SANTAstic running Keith you SLEIGHED it (sorry). Jason Wearn put in an excellent shift to take second with 23:50 with Terry Sellen in third with 24:15. Jack Farrant came through next in 25:32 and then Andy Found, sporting his impressive new shoes and lucky Christmas hat, came through in 26:22 and a new PB. Disco Dave Helme could only look on in admiration as he had to settle for sixth place and a time of 27:24 with no hope of catching old Foundy. Hazel Turner celebrated her 50th Parkrun with 28:58 and first Strider lady spot, congratulations Hazel. Richard Randle came dressed as a Brussel Sprout and the extra flatulence inspired him to a 29:01 finish with Graham Troman next through in 30:02. Adam Thomas and Mark Archer were next over the line with respective times of 30:18 and 31:36 and they were followed by Rachel Theobold and Kevin York who were neck and neck in 31:47. Martin Whittingham came next in 32:07 followed by Rachel Tomsett in 32:12. 33.47 was the finish time for Rita Cooke with Siobhan Hagan and Michelle Bryant hot on her heels with times of 34:10 and 34:14. Sharon Gardner crossed the line in 34:25 just ahead of Sharni Copham in 34.34. Justine Wearn started her comeback from injury with 54:07 and was spotted on the course sharing a bottle of bubbly with her dad and tail walker Nicola Crawley. Not sure who led who astray there but great to see you back Justine.
An extra big thankyou to the volunteers for giving up their time to enable the Christmas Day event to go ahead. These included Dermot Carr, Mandy Cooper (excellent job as RD and she managed her speech without getting her mucking words fuddled up despite the heckling), Nicola Crawley, Simon Jackson, Ian Watson and Lynette Whittingham.
Christmas Day Tourism was again in short supply but Three hardy Striders were out and about. Tamsin Ritchie and Paul Baker were up at the Whitstable event and recorded times of 26:02 and 30:34 whilst Peter Broom continued his festive travels by visiting Linford Wood and completing it in 32.14.
Well done everyone on some really impressive performances and lots of new PBs and I hope you have all had a great Festive weekend and look forward to seeing you all at club runs ready to burn off the surplus calories.
Report by Andy Found
