As is traditional, we start with Ashford parkrun where we had our usual good turnout from club members. The weather was much improved on last week, dry with sunny spells and not too chilly. Adam Booth finished first Strider with 21:00, followed by Justin Burden 23:50, Jason Sanders 26:03 and Graham Troman 26:05. Amanda Cooper completed an unofficial milestone of 150 parkruns, finishing in 28:01. Next was David Gadsby 28:10, then Pauline Tallett 28:35, Catherine Wall 30:57, Justine Wearn 31:08, Martin Whittingham 31:30, Siobhan Hagan 31:31, Lisa Gribbin 31:33, Rachel Tomsett 31:35, Rachel Misson 31:36, Kevan Strand 32:26, Rita Cooke 32:37, Victoria Shrubsole 33:25. Michelle Brice was this week’s only Strider with a parkrun PB, finishing in 33:27. Delia Millen came in with 34:24, then Danielle Moss 41:39 and Dave Winchester 01:17:16
Volunteering at Ashford this week were Dave Warner, Jennifer Watts, Mark Niles, Richard Randle, Sharni Copham, Simon Jackson and Terry Sellen. Many thanks all of you!
Two Striders went to other Kent parkruns. Lee Standen completed Maidstone parkrun in 59:12 and Sally Davidson-Daniel made her second trip to Tonbridge parkrun, finishing in 48:29
Tamsin Ritchie was holidaying in the Cotswolds and chose Stratford Park in Stroud for this week’s parkrun fix. The weather there was sunny and warm and Tamsin ran the hilly and muddy course in 29:47 Also travelling westwards was Lucie Shrubsole who went to Henstridge Airfield parkrun in Somerset and finished in 30:58
Top tourist prize this weekend goes to Nicola Crawley who went to The Hague in the Netherlands to grab a Z for the unofficial parkrun alphabet challenge. Zuiderpark parkrun seems to attract a fair number of British visitors. Nicola ran this flat course in 27:00
Sunday racing
The clocks went forward on Sunday morning, it must be spring! Unfortunately the weather had other ideas, so our large contingent of racers had to put up with getting up an hour earlier for their races, AND getting soaked. But Striders are not put off by such inconveniences and went out and raced in style.
Smugglers 10k and 5k. Up on the wet and windswept North Kent coast, this pirate-themed race takes place on the flat path between Minnis Bay and Reculver. Our runners enjoyed having their photos taken with pirates and parrots, and the race was started with the firing of a cannon!
Richard Randle was the first Strider running the 10k and earned himself a PB of 0:52:38. First lady Strider Kay Hunt ran a PB of 0:54:48, and Adam Thomas also finished in 0:54:48. Dermot Carr was the next Strider to finish with a PB of 0:57:23, then another PB came from Dee Millen in 1:10:10. Next was Rachel Forrester 1:12:30, Hazel Forrester (unofficially with the best costume of the weekend) 1:14:44, Kirsty Theobald 1:16:12, Brian Forrester 1:17:38 and Danielle Moss 1:26:26. Vicky Shrubsole chose the 5k distance and finished in 32:48
Whitstable and Herne Bay Spring Half Marathon
Along the coast a little, two other Striders also had a successful weekend as both of them gained new half marathon personal bests. Jamie Bartlett’s time was 2:01:43 and Martin Whittingham finished in 2:19:09. Well done also to Lynette Whittingham who volunteered handing out finishers medals.
Hampton Court Half Marathon
Sunday’s furthest travelled racers were also running alongside the water, but this time it was the river Thames. Conditions were more challenging at this race as the recent rain meant that large parts of the course consisted of churned up mud and huge puddles Despite this, two Striders managed to earn themselves new half marathon PBs!
Mark Niles flew round the course in 1:50:18, Siobhan Hagan was next with a PB of 2:13:15, followed by Lisa Gribbin in 2:19:02, Becky Somerford 2:20:40 and Jo Mason 2:20:42. Jayne Hatton was the second strider to PB at this race with 2:20:43 and Rachel Misson finished in 2:27:33.
Well done everyone, it’s great to see so many personal bests this weekend and lots of smiley faces despite the rain and other tricky conditions. I hope everyone is warm and dry now and putting their feet up.
Report by Lisa Fulcher.
