Good evening fellow Striders, I hope that you are all well and enjoying the beautiful weather on this, the last Sunday of June; where did that time go?
We’ve once again had a week full of maximum effort and amazing achievements and I will begin the recap with, of course, Ashford Parkrun.
It was a hot Saturday Morning and Ashford saw 210 attendees at the weekly gathering with over ten percent of those being Striders! First to cross the line for Team Striders, and in 6th place overall, was Keith Haynes, coming in at an amazing 19:59, Justin Burden was next in at 23:28, Jason Wearn finished in 24:09, Brian Marsh; 24:17, and Terry Sellen 24:48. Now, you may have read something somewhere about Parkrun record being broken by a Team GB Olympic Runner, Andy something or other? Well anyway, that’s not important. OUR Andy gained a new PB at Ashford Parkrun yesterday. He was, and I quote, ‘Blowing by 4k but held on for dear life at the end’! Andy Found, new PB; 25:31! Next through the funnel and first lady strider was Hazel Turner; 25:44, Simon Pharoah was just behind at 25:58. Graham Troman finished in 27:26, Jason Brice; 28:04, and then Gayle Bailey was the last of our sub 30’s finishing in 28:13. Sonette Schwartz was next in at 30:18, then Rita Cooke; 30:35, Amanda James; 30:47, Aimee Donohue; 31:17, Catherine Wall; 31:28, Martin Whittingham; 31:48 and then Peter Broom at 33:30. Dee Millen completed her Parkrun in 33:44, Rebecca Somerford; 34:03, Rachel Misson; 34:07, Jennifer Watts; 34:33, Lisa Gribbin; 36:16 and then Birthday Girl, Siobhan Hagan came in at 36:17. Michelle Bryant completed her 49th Parkrun in 36:18, Dermot Carr was 36:20 and then we have the lovely Dani Moss finishing things up with 44:28!
Volunteers this week included Jason Caldwell, Terry Sellen, Lee Standen, Kevan Strand, Pauline Tallett and Lynnette Whittingham, thank you all so much for giving up your time so everyone else can run. As always, if you can volunteer, please do, it’s so good supporting your fellow runners and is really rewarding!
There was a fair bit of Parkrun Tourism this week, starting with Canterbury Parkrun where 89 runners and walkers took part. We had three members representing the club and first to finish for Striders was Paul Baker in at 27:30, Tamsin Ritchie was next at 29:53 and Jamie Bartlett finished in a time of 30:34.
Mark Niles was solo Strider at Pegwell Bay, and he finished the course in 29:53.
Rachel Tomsett ran the Lullingstone Parkrun in 37:33.
Further afield, over at Jersey Farm Parkrun in St Albans, were Justine Wearn and Nicola Crawley. Justine completed the course in 31:52 and Nic, who volunteered as a broken collar-boned, one-armed Tail-walker, completed it in 1:03:47.
Lisa Fulcher ventured over to Mote Park for their Parkrun and completed it in 38:27.
Finally, and furthest travelled, was Leigh Freeman who was in Holyrood, Edinburgh and finished the mountainous Parkrun there in a time of 33:48. Well done all of you.
On Sunday, Jason Kennedy took on the 18th Midsummer Munro Half Marathon which, I am reliably informed, is Britain’s Toughest Half Marathon. With elevation gains/losses of 3000 feet, it’s not for the faint hearted! Jason completed the half in 2:41:17, well done.
Today also saw three of our members running the North Downs Run. Hazel Turner, Lisa Gribbin and Siobhan Hagan braved the Brutal 30km in 30 degree heat and conquered it in times of 3:51:49; 4:14:49; and 4:14:51 respectively, well done ladies.
A special mention goes to Rick Newman who took part in the Metro Blind Sport Games in Mile End Stadium yesterday. Rick competed in the 100m, 800m, Javelin and Shot Put, achieving a Bronze and a Gold for the latter events. Fabulous Rick, well done!
Finally, I feel a very special mention should go to the Oceans 23 Team that includes a couple of our very own Striders. Richard Randle and Andrew Cornwell were part of the relay team swimming across the channel to raise money for British Heart Foundation. Training for this has been ongoing for a couple of years and consisted of Sea Swims in freezing cold waters in the middle of winter…Brrr! The 21 miles was completed yesterday in 15:54:00. This is an amazing achievement, and you should be so proud of yourselves!
Well, that’s all for this week, well done to all who went out and clocked up some steps, whether official events or not, you’re all superstars! Have a brilliant week.
Report by Sharon Gardner.
