July is now drawing to a close and we have the last report of the month.
Ashford parkrun
Victoria Park looked a little different for Saturday’s parkrun with the opening of the new park, café and toilets. I know there were a few striders that tested out the new café at the end of the morning’s run/volunteering and I’ve heard the bacon baps are definitely worth a try (photo evidence provided).
Onto the running, Keith Haynes was the first Strider to cross the line in a very impressive time of 20.18 followed closely by Adam Booth in a time of 20.32. Mark Niles came through the tunnel in 22.17, next was Dan Green in 24.00 and Jamie Penfold in 24.45. Stephen Cleaver finished in 25.11 with Terry Sellen running home in 25.25. Claire Green was the first female Strider to complete the 5k route in 25.58. Well done all.
Richard Randle (26.36), Andy Found (27.29), Darren Laker (27.47), Josh Stephens (achieving a PB of 27.53), Scott Hawkins (28.23) and Don Dewar (29.00) completed the sub 30 Striders of the morning. Great running everyone.
Next coming across the line was Amanda James in 30.49, David Gadsby finished in 31.05, Catherine Wall in 31.08 and running in together were Lisa Fulcher and Michelle Brice who both ran in 32.58 and earning Michelle the 2nd Strider PB of the morning. Huge kudos to you all.
Doing it for the girls were Jennifer Watts (33.34), Michelle Bryant (33.48), Sally Davidson-Daniel (35.53), Sara Dewar (34.01), Nadine Lidbury (34.22) and Leigh Freeman (34.24), well done ladies. The Wearns running together finished just seconds apart with Justine Wearn (35.03) pipping hubby Jason Wearn to the post (35.05). Julie Foster completed the course in 40.56 and rounding up the Strider gang for the morning were Danielle Moss in 41.59 and Hazel Forrester in 42.00. Great going everyone.
Thank you to this weekend’s parkrun volunteers. Peter Broom, Jason Caldwell, Amanda Cooper, Holly Forrest, Lisa Fulcher, Sharon Gardener, Simon Jackson, Terry Sellen, Vicky Stevenson and Nicola Crawley.
Now we are into the school summer holidays, the volunteer roster is looking little sparse in places, if you’ve got a couple hours free on a Saturday morning in the coming weeks, please pop your name down to marshal, the parkrun team really appreciate it and I know the runners love the Strider support they receive.
parkrun Tourism
There was a little bit of parkrun Tourism on Saturday but the farthest afield award has to go to Andrew Maund who went all the way to Germany and completed the Schwanenteich parkrun in Giessen with an amazing time of 20.27.
Staying in Kent and remaining close to home was Julia Nicolson who completed Folkestone parkrun in 36.29. Then we had a bunch of Striders who went over to Swanley even doing a bit of publicity and appearing on the Swanley parkrun FB page (photo below). Justin Burden was the first Strider to complete the course in 23.14, followed by Dermot Carr in 25.31, Lee Standen in 30.01, Siobhan Hagan crossed the line in 31.52 and Martin Whittingham finished in 35.19. Finally showing you can also volunteer away from your home parkrun was Lynnette Whittingham who was the morning’s tail-walker with Lisa Gribbin as company completing in 1.02.46 and 1.02.47 respectively. Well done everyone.
East Peckham 10k.
We had Strider representation at one race over the weekend. Michael Davies and Jamie Bartlett both completed the East Peckham 10k in sub 1 hour finishing in fantastic times of 43.50 and 53.49 respectively. Great times guys!
Well done for another great weekend of running whether completing parkrun, races or the clubs long runs, it was a strange weekend of weather (it’s supposed to be Summer right!?) and as always Ashford Striders gave it their all.
Report by Kirsty Theobald.
